Santa Baby (4 page)

Too busy for him. No big deal. He never
really seemed to hit it off with the type of woman who was all
career and no play. It always made for a dull date. “Look, it was
very pleasant to meet you Ms. O’Conner. I’ll see you around.” He
hated to think this would be the end of it. He had never been one
to pursue a woman who had her head above the clouds over a
career.

The excitement of the kiss and the thrill of
being caught all drained out of her with his last words of
disinterest. He was brushing her off. She would rather save face.
“Merry Christmas John Tally.”

He laid a gentle kiss on her check and rubbed
the back of his hand down her face and along her neck. “Merry
Christmas to you Callie O’Conner.” He turned and headed back behind
the bar before he made a fool out of himself. He was almost forty,
and she looked shy of twenty-five. He did not think he was too old,
but that she might just be that trouble he was thinking about when
he first laid eyes on her.

He watched her slowly walk out the door. He
wondered where she lived. If it was close to here, and if she might
stop back in before he headed back to the coast.

She walked slowly towards her subway station
back to her office and could think of nothing more than the kiss
and feel of him everywhere. A man with more packages than her
bumped into her and caused her to drop one of her bags. As she bent
to pick it up, she realized she was in front of the very store that
had brought her to tears over a stupid jacket. Through the window,
she saw the nasty clerk cutting open a box and then taking out the
very jacket she was looking for. She felt a new bravado enter her
soul. This was going to make her and her nephew one happy
christmateer.

She should never have gone back to work.
Claiming she picked up a few things while visiting her sporting
goods client was an ok way to explain coming back with all the
packages. Her mind was on John Tally and every inch of him. How he
felt, tasted, looked and how she wanted him naked so badly her body
created an ache and an uncontrollably desire for him. Than the pile
of messages and dozens of emails were making her head ache. She
thought just this once she was going to leave by five and get home
on time.

With a quick bribe to the shipping
department, she got her gifts off without a hitch. It was going to
cost her a promotional ticket to the Nicks game. However, this
ticket that she was giving away was from the weird client she had
to go out with Thursday night. He gave it to her in hopes she would
go and sit next to him at the game.

With her tennis shoes on for the walk to the
subway station, she realized that six was better than her normal
seven p.m. of leaving work, and she was not going home until she
hit the grocery store. She could not seem to keep from smiling at
total strangers and humming the holiday music that was playing
outside some of the stores along her way home.

The corner store by her apartment was
decorated for the three main winter holidays; Christmas, Kwanza and
Hanukah It made her feel so festive she bought a few decorations to
throw up in her window in her new apartment. She could not stop
smiling just thinking how her new neighbors and only friends would
stop hounding her for not getting anything up for the holiday. They
even threatened to sneak into her place and do it themselves.

With her keys ready to open her apartment
front door, she heard a noise and froze. What if it was a burglar?
What if it was a rapist? With her heart beating fast and her hands
shaking, she turned and knocked on her neighbor’s door across the
hall. They were always home and cooking dinner around this time.
Their relationship often made her jealous. There was no answer. She
heard a faint familiar giggle and then realized it was not coming
from their apartment, and she had not been interrupting anything.
It was from her apartment, and those sneaky neighbors were in her
place.

She opened the door to a loud “Surprise!”
Laughter from her two new friends and neighbors barreled out into
the hallway. They went and decorated her place with snowflakes and
angels made from paper hanging from the ceiling. There before her
stood a real Christmas tree, at least five feet in height, with
lights and ornaments. They had even put some wrapped gifts under
the tree. Surprised did not begin to express how she felt.

“Oh you guys! You’re gonna make me cry again”
She walked into the kitchen and set down her groceries and turned
to give them each a hug and a kiss. Those two men were the only
happiness in New York, she seemed to be able to find. Them and the
John Tally she kissed today. The man was still on her brain.

With a verbal round of
'you're
welcome'
and
'hope you like'
from both of them. She got
the whole scoop how they had played hooky and decided to sneak in
and decorate her place. Now she was jealous of them.

Then as she offered them each something to
drink, they bombarded her with questions to her reply ‘cry again
today’. She knew she had to watch what she said around these two,
not much got by them. She got them each a bottle of water, and they
sat on her couch in front of the tree. She grabbed a pillow and
held it to her stomach as she began the tales of her day. By the
time, she was done and not a word came out of their mouths, but she
could almost sense what was coming next.

“You most certainly need to go freshen up and
head right back over to that bar.” It was spoken so fast and
authoritative, by Mike, the stronger personality of the two in
their relationship.

“You think so. I mean, I kind of felt as if
he was brushing me off towards the end. He said something about
leaving in two weeks when his brother was better. I mean…”

Callie was interrupted by two very pushy men
insisting that she take a long hot bath and then get dolled up.
They wanted to drive her and drop her off wherever this bar was, in
hopes that her new sexy man would bring her home. Luckily, for
them, it was not too far away.

John’s night was humming right along. The
thoughts of the seductive kiss of one Miss Callie O’Conner kept
replaying in his head. He was holding out hope that should make it
by the bar before he had to head back to California.

The band playing tonight was good, but too
fresh that they did not seem to have quit the following yet.
However, John was sure that would change over time. He had gotten
his brother to stay home and rest with the fact that he was leaving
in a week’s time if he was better or not. He had a home and a
business of his own to run. Well living off early earned wealth,
but he treated it like a business as he had several investments he
still controlled.

The bar was not too smoky, and the crowd of
regulars was beginning to filter in to the bar. It was only nine
and by eleven, he figured the place to be packed. He had one of his
possible manager’s show up and he put him to work for the
night.

John’s mind was not too sharp after meeting
Miss Callie, and he kept peeking at the door to see if she might
actually show up. He had never obsessed over a woman like this and
definitely never gave it too much thought over a woman he barely
knew. Something about her was different and real. After getting
past her original grumpiness, which he could only imagine what had
put her there, she seemed so genuine and sweet. What he could not
put out of his mind was how sexy she looked.

With his back turned toward the door, he
heard the band stop for a minute, and he figured they would be
taking their break. Then they started singing a song; a song that
he was sure was not planned. Words of ‘it’s the most wonderful time
of the year’ filled the room, and John’s eyes squinted to scan the
bar. Only one brazen broad would be up to making the band play that
song, and she was walking right towards him.

As if he could not control what the rest of
his body thought, he joined in the mental process of drooling over
what she was wearing and how she was walking. The tight-fitting red
sliver of a dress that caressed every curve on her body was hitting
her just mid-thigh, exposing a very nice pair of legs he would not
mind wrapped around him. The four-inch heels and the up sweep of
her hair screamed fuck me now. She was over dressed for the base of
the bars atmosphere, but by the reaction to the customers, only
admiring glances stole her way.

She was back to taunt him. He still had hours
to go working behind the bar, and he knew she was here to make him
beg. The smile on her luscious lips made him read sex if you want
it and her eyes looked happy and bright. As if her holiday gloom
was gone, and she was all dressed up like a special package from
Santa.

“Well hello stranger.” Sliding from her lips,
as she could not help but smile to his admiring reaction. Those
friends of hers picked out her clothes and did her hair. They were
miracle workers. That and the fact they dressed famous stars for a
living. She looked hot. Damn hot and she knew it, felt it. She was
so glad they drove her out here. If she had taken a cab, she might
have chickened out on the drive and not made it back.

“Miss Callie.” He reached over the bar, and
grabbed her hand and laid a kiss on the top as if she was a
princess. “I was hoping you’d show. You look enticing. I mean
incredible.”

She felt some bravado walking in, but now she
felt flushed and shy. Not to mention the warmth between her legs
was beginning to pool. It was going to be a fun night.

Chapter Five

“So it’s two-thirty in the morning. Can I get
you a cup of coffee?” She watched him turn all the lights off but a
few behind the bar. The new guy to be hired did a great job and had
left minutes ago. This left them alone, attracted, and nothing but
themselves to entertain each other with.
What to do?
She
internally teased with herself.

It was a night filled with fun flirtations
and light kissing and touching between all the maddening rushes of
running a bar. She felt herself tingling with watching his every
move. He was smooth with the customers and funny to a fault. It was
as if he did not have a care in the world. However, his eyes kept
coming back to meet hers with an ‘I want to devour you’ look and
now that they were alone; she felt unsure.

She had been having so much fun flirting,
that now that the moment they were alone, all she could think about
was the table they kissed next to that morning. How maybe sex on
that very table right here, right now, would feel like the rush of
a lifetime. It was not her style, but she was feeling wicked
tonight.

“If you don’t mind my hotel suite is just
around the corner. I have gourmet coffee already ground and ready
to be made.” He had spent an entire night wanting the woman that is
standing under the same mistletoe that he tried to cheer her up
with earlier today. He could think of nothing more than his hard
cock pulsating inside of her tight walls, her slickness, her firm
round breasts and her luscious lips licking over his cock. If she
turned him down, he was almost sure he was going to shoot
himself.

“I. Well. I thought maybe coffee at the
corner shop or maybe…” She did not want to seem sleazy, but if she
went back to his place, she was sure she would not keep her hands
to herself. Second thoughts were getting the best of her. What if
she was just another wing girl? An off to the side, wam-bam thank
you mam. For some reason, she felt she wanted everything from this
man, or at least something more than a one-night stand.

He grabbed his coat off the hook and slid it
around her shoulders. “Coffee around the corner would be
great.”

She could tell he was just a tad
disappointed. That did not cover the vast disappointment that she
felt as he was so easily agreeable. If he really wanted her, then
he might have pursued the hotel thing more, but he did not.

As they rounded the corner, he pointed to the
coffee shop. “Bleak coffee here or.” He pointed to the very
expensive hotel on the main street. “Gourmet coffee, ready to be
freshly brewed, here. I have flavored creamer. And they make the
best cinnamon rolls to be delivered anytime of the day or
night.”

She did not have to be asked twice. He
pursued it, and she would live this fantasy out just this time.
Wing girl or not, she wanted to screw this man's brains out and
live to tell about it. She reached up with one hand to his face,
laid a kiss on the side of his ear, and whispered. “Gourmet coffee
would be perfect.”

The ride up in the elevator was quiet. Only
the sounds of orchestra holiday music filled the air. As soon as
the doors closed, John had reached for Callie’s hand and smiled
down at her. Their smiles appeared a bit nervous to each other when
they caught each other's reflections in the mirrored elevator
doors.

Callie felt safe holding his hand, but she
was thinking this was about the most risqué thing she had ever
done. Going to a hotel room, or any bedroom for that fact, with a
man she barely knew. Just the fact he was only in town for a short
time left, made her feel unsure. Although it was not as if she had
been looking for a relationship lately. Her work kept her very busy
and only being New York two months now; she had been very careful
about who she did get to know. Somehow tonight, she just wanted to
let all of that go and live out this fantasy that had been playing
inside her head since the moment that he kissed her alone in the
bar.

The door stopped and open on the top floor.
Callie had not paid much attention to the fact that John had used a
special key in the elevator. She had been thinking about how good
his hand felt. How his kisses earlier today had been so delectable
that all she wanted to do was tear his clothes off and devour every
inch of his naked body.

Now they seemed to be stepping off into the
penthouse, and the view from the windows was incredible. The floor
to ceiling windows showed the nightlife of this portion of the
city. It was breathtaking. It was a whole other world to her view
of the brick building behind her and an alley below. She began to
wonder what league this man was in, and if she was just some
evening entertainment.