AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Eurgh. Well, normally we host about twenty people at ours, there’s food and wine and everyone has to dress immaculately. My mother would inevitably be unhappy with whatever I choose to wear and make me change because the creepy old guys my dad is schmoozing can’t stop staring at my arse. Then, once we’ve eaten, the official program says ‘parlour games’ but it usually ends up being political talk and business deals.”
“Sounds…dull.”
“Oh, it is, but at least I can usually make my excuses and disappear to my room. This year, they planned to go to Innsbruck with the Mayor and his family, which would mean lots of talk about things I have no interest in, and they have no interest in hearing my thoughts, and I couldn’t just slink away as easily.” She pulled a face of disgust and gulped her wine.
I gaped at her, unsure how to respond. Yep, super-rich. “Well, shit.”
“Yeah. Suffice to say that sitting here drinking my choice of wine with a hot guy cooking me dinner is miles better.” We clinked glasses again and I gave her a wink. “How about you? Is Christmas at home so bad you would have rather spent it alone?”
I shrugged, adding the chopped sage to the onions and mixing in some breadcrumbs. “Christmas day is no different from any other day, except there’s a fibre-optic tree in the corner of the room. Mum doesn’t care if I’m there or not.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. Even my parents grumbled about me not being there for Christmas.”
I braced my hands on the counter and took a deep breath as I felt the need to say the thing I’d never said out loud. “She never cried.”
“What?”
“When my sister died. Mum never cried. She was solemn at the funeral, she accepted everyone’s condolences and I don’t doubt she was sad, but I never saw a single tear. She was disappointed Poppy died, but she had never wanted to be a part of our lives, so she didn’t really lose much.”
Elle’s head tilted slightly, her eyes were wide and wet. She got up, scraping her chair loudly on the floor and wrapped her arms around my waist. “I’m so sorry, Hayden.”
I chuckled but held her close to my chest. “You don’t have to feel sorry for me, baby-cakes.” I took a deep inhale of her hair, smelling of honey and meadow flowers. Her body soft and warm against me and the press of her tits on my upper stomach had my cock waking up.
“I don’t feel sorry for you, I just know that you deserve better than what you’ve had and want to start giving you better now.” She stroked one hand down my chest and laid her warm palmover my stomach, just under my left ribs where the poppy tattoo was. Elle had seen it on one of the many occasions she had come into my room without knocking and I was still in just by boxers. She asked me about it so I told her all about Poppy.
She reached up on tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on the corner of my mouth. It took a lot of restraint not to turn and take her mouth with mine. “And don’t call me baby-cakes.” She topped up both our glasses and sat back down with a smirk.
“Oh my God, Hayden!” Elle sat back stroking her belly. “That was incredible. How far you’ve come from burnt scrambled eggs.”
“Hey.” I pointed my finger at her in mock threat. “You were the one doing yoga in the doorway, I got distracted, I’m only human.” I didn’t tell her that Lance being next to her, shirtless and stretching into the positions she was showing him, was equally as distracting.
She giggled and held my chin between her thumb and finger, our faces so close that I could fully appreciate the silver of her irises. “Do you find me distracting right now?”
My gaze flicked to her cleavage on show in her tight little tank top. “I’ve got nothing to be distracted from right now, just you.”
She smelt so good, and the wine had given her a giddy haze. As easy as it would be to kiss her, to give myself the Christmas gift I’d been fantasising about for months, I couldn’t. As quickly as she leant forward, she let me go, her head snapping to the window.
“Oh my God, it’s snowing.”
We both stood, pressing our faces to the cold glass, palms flat next to our heads. Sure enough, there was a thin veil of white covering the pavement below. The lack of people around meant the settling was completely undisturbed.
“What do you say, chef? Fancy a roll around?” She smirked up at me.
“That sounds cold,” I grumbled.
“Don’t worry, I have plenty of ways to warm you up,” she scraped a manicured nail over my abs through my t-shirt and my dick jumped.
I grabbed her wrist. “Stop.”
“Stop what?” She looked up at me through thick lashes, her lips slightly pouted—the picture of innocence. Either she really had no idea, or she was very good at what she was doing.
“Are you provoking me, baby?” I stepped closer so my body pressed up against hers, pushing her back against the wall.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her voice breathy, she licked her lips as her gaze dipped to mine. My restraint snapped and my hand clamped around her throat causing her eyes to bulge wide and her lips to part. I didn’t squeeze enough to cut off her air but enough to hold her in place and to tell her thatshewas not in control here.
“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about,” I spoke against her lips. I could feel her pulse thrumming against my fingers and it made my cock twitch. “You want me to fuck you, Elle?”
She rolled her beautiful plump bottom lip between her teeth and her eyes flicked to my mouth. “I—”
