McDonald_MM_GEN_Dec2013 (6 page)

Eve shook her head. “I don’t—I’ve never been the kind of woman to romantically perform on cue. It takes me a while to warm up to the idea of . . .oh.” Sam’s hand sliding into her hair to cup her head made her swallow hard. “You make me more nervous than any man I’ve ever known.”

“That’s probably because your instincts are picking up on how much I crave you,” Sam said. His fingers tugged the back of her hair. “Kiss me, Eve.”

“I don’t think I can.”

But suddenly Eve felt him leaning forward. Sam kissed the corner of her eye until it closed. Then he kissed her temple. Lips trailed down her jaw and made her gasp at the sweet pleasure of his exploration. Only his fingers tightening in her hair revealed his honest intentions, which she suspected were a lot more fierce than he was revealing to her. A fluttering belly might have gone ignored, but moisture pooling in long forgotten places urged her to be honest with herself. Sam was effortlessly turning her on—again.

“Kiss me back,” Sam demanded, lips just a breath from hers. “Kiss me hard and mean it. I need to know making love to you is at least a possibility.”

Eve shook her head, but couldn’t get a denial out.

Sam’s lips trailed to the other side of her face and down her cheek, until he paused to press them at the spot where the curve of her jaw met her neck. Again those demanding fingers of his tightened in her hair, but this time they turned her face toward him as he raised his own to look into her eyes.

His mouth was there—just within reach of hers. Diving for it was not something Eve seemed to be able to stop herself from doing. His mouth gave hers a hot welcome, his tongue taking advantage of the opportunity to mingle with hers again. When Sam pulled away finally, Eve realized her fists were gripping his shirt to hold him in place for her attack. He looked down at her fingers, his low-lidded gaze very approving.

“I don’t know how you do it, but you have the most amazing power over my libido,” she said.

Knowing that might be as close as Eve was going to get to admitting she wanted him, Sam bent her back over his arm, his mouth holding onto hers as he slid one hand up under the faded shirt until it found a lace-covered breast. Her ragged sigh of pleasure had him gripping her tightly in his palm as he explored her mouth and breast with equal enthusiasm. This woman—this moment—this was why he had been waiting all those long, lonely months for her to want him back.

“If I drag couch pillows and a blanket over here, will you lay down with me? I don’t want to push you too far, but I can’t leave you either. I’d go crazy right now if you made me go home,” Sam said.

“I still think this is just some sort of temporary madness,” Eve said, but her fingers fisted tighter in his shirt. “But if you let me go for a minute or two, I can do a little better than couch pillows. I’m scared, but I don’t want you to leave either.”

Eve saw hesitation to let her go in Sam’s intense gaze, but finally he released her breast. Her keen disappointment was more illuminating to her than her desperate response to his kiss. For first time in years, she found herself actually wanting a man. She could almost hear Hilde laughing in joy and clapping over it.

When Sam moved away, Eve rose and headed to the guest bedroom closet. After gathering up a comforter, two blankets, and two pillows, she headed back. The man who swore he wanted her was now sitting with hands draped over his knees, staring into the fireplace. He turned and smiled when she arrived. His happiness to see her caused her heart to squeeze in her chest.

“Will these work?” she asked, her throat clogged with an unnamed hope.

Nodding, Sam used the chair to pull himself up. It took him only a few seconds to move the coffee table and rearrange the chairs to make room. He helped her spread out comforters and blankets. Then he pulled her down with him, rolling her onto a pillow. His mouth covered hers before she could protest. A shiver shook her body from head to toe.

“Are you cold?” he asked, when he let her up for air.

Not sure she had voice enough to talk, Eve settled for shaking her head.

“Good,” he said. “Some of your ugly clothes have to go.”

Looming over her, she let Sam sweep the sweatpants away, which he did in under three seconds. Then he pulled her close and lifted one of her legs over his.

“Better. Much better,” he said, kissing along her cheek and chin as he stroked the leg thrown over him. Soon his hands were drawing circles on her backside and Eve felt herself growing nervous again. Longing for the man in her arms consumed her with every trailing kiss he gave her.

She cleared her throat and forced herself to speak before it was too late. “I want to do this, but I’m not—I have no protection.”

“From what?” Sam asked, ceasing his kissing to look at her.

“From you,” Eve said pointedly. When Sam frowned, it made her giggle even though her cheeks heated. “Are you really going to force me to say this? Condoms, Sam. I have none. Do you have any with you?”

Sam nodded solemnly. He was grateful Eve had made that particular jump in her thinking even though he couldn’t take advantage of it yet. But Merry Christmas to me, Sam decided, pulling her leg tighter around him.

“Yes I have some. But we don’t need them tonight. This moment is too important to mess up with sex. My instinct says that I could give you a dozen screaming orgasms and you’d still kick me out without coffee in the morning. I’d rather you ask me to stay and spend Christmas day with you.”

“Really?” His reticence to act surprised her. “Forgive me for not keeping up, but that’s a pretty abrupt change of mind from what you’ve been saying since yesterday. Did you have a sudden change of heart while I went to the closet?”

Sam slid his hand up under the baggy shirt to cup her breast again as he pressed the hard ridge under his zipper against her belly. “No—not changing my mind. Sex just wasn’t all I thought about doing with you. I’ve also been waiting to hold you like this. I don’t want to risk the friendship we’ve spent years building either. I was intending to seduce you as soon as you’d let me. That’s honest, but that’s not all this is about. It’s important to me that you believe that.”

With her head now on the pillow next to his, Eve lifted a hand to run through his hair. The whole time she did, Sam palmed her breast as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Proof of his desire pressed against her and seducing him the rest of the way would have been very, very easy. Her hand itched to go exploring. But Sam was right, she didn’t want to lose their friendship either. Wanting more with him was still a very scary thing for her.

“Next time I screw up my courage to screw, you better make good on all that seduction talk,” Eve whispered.

Sam laughed at her bravado, and the fact that Eve moaned every time his hand tightened on her breast. But he finally let her breast go to gather the rest of her more tightly to him.

Sighing in contentment to feel her heartbeat next to his, he pulled covers closely over both of them. He counted his blessings when Eve let him have his way. Her perfume wrapped around him as she cuddled in his arms. It was truly the best present he could ever imagine getting from her and that’s what he thought as he kissed her eyes closed.

“It’s after midnight. Merry Christmas, Eve. See you in the morning.”

“Merry Christmas, Sam. I am glad you’re here,” Eve said, sighing as she let sleep claim her.

Eve woke under a weight, all toasty and warm, and smiled. It faded slightly when her eyes finally opened and saw Sam’s grinning face looming upside down over hers. One look around had her noting that he’d piled more covers on her at some point.

“Good morning,” Sam said.

“Good morning,” Eve said back. “You’re up early.”

“I’ve been up for a couple of hours. If I had stayed next to you—well, let’s just say I’d have shown you just how much of a morning person I am,” Sam said.

Eve giggled at his innuendo, and then her gaze focused on something he was holding over her head. “What’s that for?”

Sam looked at the small piece of mistletoe he had clipped from one of the boughs in doorways. “Dutch courage, I suppose. And it’s way less hard on my body than a couple triple-shots of bourbon.”

She laughed at Sam’s flirting and stretched, realizing as she did that she had slept in her bra. Her hands went to her breasts, automatically massaging them to relieve the tightness.

“Want some help with that?” he asked.

Eve blinked at his offer and stared up into his smiling gaze. He had the nicest eyes. They seem to laugh at nearly everything. What an amazing way to live.

She opened her mouth to give him a compliment, a bit shocked at the comment that popped out instead. “So you’re a breast guy? Your ass jokes last night had me thinking otherwise.”

Sam laughed and bent to give Eve an upside down kiss, the mistletoe still clutched in one of his hands. After finishing with her mouth, he couldn’t resist pushing the covers down and kissing the top of each breast through her clothes. Her arch up toward him was damn inspiring and he wished like hell that he had time to see if she’d let him kiss any lower.

Sighing, he pulled away because he had to. “I’m an everything guy. I like the whole package.”

“I’m a package kind of person myself, especially when it’s pressed against me all night,” Eve said, fascinated when Sam, who had been sexually teasing her non-stop, rocked back on his heels and blushed. “What?
That
comment embarrassed you? Two seconds ago your package was nearly in my face when you leaned over me.”

“Eve . . . God, you’re killing me,” Sam said, painfully aware of his arousal as he twirled the mistletoe between his fingers.

Eve rolled over and propped her chin up on her hand to better look at him. “Well, that makes two of us. My walls are down this morning even though I’m still dealing with the fact that you spent the night wrapped around me. Now I know that sounds like a guy’s line, but I woke up several times during the night and you weren’t turning loose. I had to pry myself from your fingers to go to the bathroom earlier this morning.”

Sam sighed and stared off into the kitchen. “You were very cuddly and warm.”

Eve smiled happily at the wistfulness in his voice. “Thank you. It was actually nice not sleeping alone. I’d forgotten how nice it could be to have company.”

Sam sighed. “Damn, I want to crawl back under those covers with you, but this day is not destined to go the way I planned. I was hoping to take you home with me and make you breakfast, but . . . I can’t. I got a call from Angeline’s folks. We weren’t the only ones with a crisis last evening. I need to run over and re-light the pilot on their furnace. It has a tendency to go out unexpectedly. They haven’t had a chance to get it looked at yet this winter.”

“Okay. Rain check on breakfast?” Eve asked, rolling until she could sit. She pulled the covers around her and groaned at the stiffness in nearly every limb. “Damn. I’m too old to sleep in the floor.”

Sam smiled at Eve’s complaining. “You’d have been worse off if I’d done what I wanted to you last night and this morning.”

Eve picked up a pillow and threw it at him. “Your lack of sympathy is not helpful, sir. I still hurt.”

“I’ll fix the stiffness for you later. I give great massages too,” he said.

Eve stopped struggling with the covers and stared at him. “Yes, I find that very easy to believe after my sample last night. That talent alone may make you worth dating. See? I’m making progress.”

She nearly melted into a puddle when his smiling eyes crinkled. Sam’s gaze on hers promised to make good on everything he was teasing her about. It made her underwear very, very uncomfortable imagining him rubbing her in all the places she ached. It had been so long since her body had gotten genuinely aroused that she’d forgotten what it had felt like until Sam started reminding her.

“So tell me Mr. Hero, when will you be back from your rescue mission?” Eve asked, as she slowly got to her feet.

Sam stood when Eve did. “I don’t know. They called an hour ago, but I couldn’t make myself leave until you woke up. They have a gas fireplace. It’s not like they’re freezing just yet, but they had to sleep in the living room all night. I don’t suppose you’d want to come along, would you?”

Wrapped in one of the extra covers he’d thrown over her, Eve padded across their makeshift bed on the floor to stand closer to him. “It would be kind of weird for me to go along, don’t you think?”

“No. I told Greg and Joyce that I was spending Christmas with you. My in-laws are not average in their outlook on life. They know I’ve been dating,” he said carefully, studying her reaction to his statement.

Eve pulled the cover tighter. “But Angeline’s death . . . it hasn’t been very long. This is their first Christmas without her.”

“Actually, she was in the hospital last Christmas. Everyone came to visit there. She slipped into a coma two days after that. Angeline’s sister is coming for their holiday this weekend. So Greg and Joyce are not doing anything today except fighting the cold,” Sam recited.

Eve worked one hand free of her wrap and used it to rub his arm. “I guess I don’t mind coming along if you really want me to. Let’s just promise not to tease each other in front of them. It seems cruel for me to be flirting with their son-in-law, even if he is a widower.”

Sam couldn’t help leaning down and kissing her again. When he lifted his head, it was to see her eyes still closed. “Life is for the living, not the dead, Eve. I want your company.”

“Okay,” she said. “Give me twenty minutes then. If the water is still running in the island’s prep sink, will you make us a couple coffees to go? I have some muffins and fruit we could eat on the way.”

Sam nodded and dropped his hands. “Sure. I’ll check. If not, I’ll run to my house and make some.”

He let her step away, but called to her as she left. “Eve? Thanks for being a good sport.”

Eve nodded and fled before she gave in to her need to go back and wrap her arms around him.

***

“I’m glad you’re staying for dinner. It makes me feel less guilty for pulling Sam away from his Christmas plans,” Joyce said.