Snow and Mistletoe (6 page)

“
I
don’t want
you to ever leave me, Noelle. I can’t bear the thought of not having you for even a second now that I’ve got you under me.”

She smiles so big and brightly at me, it’s as if she can feel the same things I’ve always felt for her.

“This is insane,” she tells me, leaning up to kiss me quickly. “I feel this pull between us, and I’ve never felt anything like this before. It’s…it’s—”

“Love,” I finish for her.

“Love,” she repeats, and we stare into each other’s eyes.

Thrusting into Noelle gently, I try to take her tenderly this time. Less hurried and less afraid of the moment vanishing.

I kiss her passionately and whisper my promises of devotion and desire. And when we find our peaks together, her name on my lips and mine on hers, I cradle her in my arms and hold her while she sleeps, truly happy, inside and out, for the first time in my life.

I
reach
for her every hour throughout the night, making love multiple times until exhaustion carries us off to sleep. Most of the time, I wake up still inside her, one round of passion leading into another.

Her sex has to be sore, but she keeps clinging to me just as much as I’ve clung to her. Neither of us want to separate.

When the first touch of sunlight comes through the windows, I kiss her shoulder and nuzzle her neck. “Merry Christmas, Noelle.”

Smiling, she turns in my arms to face me, kissing my neck and burrowing deeper into me. “Merry Christmas, Alex.”

“I have a present for you.”

Noelle sits up a little and looks at me. Her hair’s a mess and she’s still half-asleep, but she perks up at the word ‘present.’

“You got me a Christmas present? How did you even know I would come here?”

“I didn’t know. I got it for you and I thought I would send it to you, but I chickened out. Then I thought maybe I would save it for your birthday.” I blush a little, feeling silly for the idea, but Noelle beams at me, leaning up and kissing my cheek.

I turn to get out of bed, not wanting to leave her warmth but wanting to keep that smile on her face, and I feel a sharp sting across my ass.

“Ouch. Did you just spank me?”

Turning around, I see her sitting up in bed with the covers around her waist, her full breasts on display. A mischievous look is on her face, and she just nods at me.

“Oh, turnabout is fair play, baby.” I dive back on the bed, and we giggle as I wrestle her over and give her three spanks on her bottom. Her squeals of surprise turn into moans as I lean down and kiss where my hand just made a faint pink mark. “Do you want more, or do you want your present?”

“Both,” she says into the pillow, and I bite her ass cheek, giving her what she’s asking for.

I climb on top of her as she remains face down on the bed. Spreading her legs just slightly, I press my cock to her opening from behind, her entrance tighter than normal in this position, and I have to work my way inside her.

She raises her ass, giving me access to all of her, and I slide in easily. Once I’m fully seated inside her tight channel, I lay most of my weight on top of her and start to thrust. Long deep strokes make the angle delicious for her, and she moans louder and louder.

My cock is still hard as a rock even after all our rounds of passion, and I’m ready to cum in her again. I don’t know if I’ll ever get enough of her.

I work to rub her sweet spot inside, making sure that every stroke is giving her the most pleasure possible, and she’s soon clenching around me. I kiss her neck and nibble her shoulder, and her over-sensitized skin responds.

She clutches the sheets beneath her and screams out her orgasm as I bottom out inside her. Once again I fill up her unprotected womb, letting my seed spill inside her. Noelle’s overflowing with it at this point, and there’s no doubt in my mind I’ve put my baby inside her.

Once her twitches have finally stopped, I pull from her body and turn her over. I kiss each nipple before moving down her belly and kissing her clit. Once I’ve tenderly kissed her sweet places, I stand up and go to the living room, grabbing her present from under the tree.

I come back to find her still in the same spot with a giant smile on her face. I laugh as I sit on the bed beside her and hold out the small box.

Sitting up, she takes it from me, her eyes twinkling with excitement as she opens it up. After she’s got the paper off, she opens the long skinny box and pulls out the chain.

“What is it?” she asks, holding the gold necklace in her hand.

“It’s your voice, actually.” When she looks at me questioningly, I point to the waves that run along the middle of the chain. “I listened to your recordings so many times, I think I have them memorized, so I took a couple of words and had the sound waves shaped in gold. The three small sections of lines show the words that I loved hearing from you the most.”

She looks at me with unshed tears in her eyes. “What does it say?”

“I love you.”

She throws herself into my arms, clinging to me. I cling to her just as fiercely, wanting her to know that what I say is true.

“I love you, too, Alex.”

I hold her close, kissing her and wiping away her tears. “I have loved you from the moment I heard your voice. Thank you for coming here, and being my Christmas miracle.”

“
B
ut what if
the power goes out?” Nicholas asks, a little fear in his eyes.

“Your dad is the greatest woodsman who ever lived. He won’t let anything happen to us. Besides, if the power goes out then we get to have Christmas dinner over the fire. It’s kind of fun.” His eyes brighten at the idea, and I kiss his forehead, tucking him into bed. “Goodnight, my love. Get some sleep. Santa will be here soon enough.”

“Goodnight, Mommy. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I close the door to his room and make my way downstairs. I find Alex in our bedroom, pulling out the train set ‘Santa’ got Nicholas for Christmas.

“Is he asleep?”

“Not even close. Better wait a bit before we set that out. Just in case.”

Alex puts the toy down, walking over to me with a seductive look in his eyes. “Hmm. I wonder what we could do while we wait. What could we possibly do with all this free time on our hands?”

I giggle and melt into him, loving the feel of him against me. We’ve been living here in our cabin for the past five years, and each day together is better than the last. I’m still head over heels madly in love with my husband, and if the way he can’t keep his hands off me is any indication, he feels the same.

We had our little boy, Nicholas, nine months exactly after our first Christmas together, and we decided to wait a while and see if we wanted any more. Alex and I are simple people and didn’t want a large family. A few years went by after having our son, and we agreed that our trio was perfect.

“I thought you were going to make me s’mores?” I moan as Alex’s tongue meets my collarbone.

“Tell you what. You let me eat your pussy, and then I’ll make you s’mores.”

“It’s like you’re not even trying to win anything here,” I laugh as I let him unbutton my jeans.

“Baby, I’ve got you. I’ve already won everything.”

My laugh turns into another moan as Alex kneels down in front of me, kissing me in all the right places.

He’s so good to me, I can’t believe it sometimes. Maybe I’ll read him that new Ruby Dixon book, Ice Planet Holiday, out loud tonight. He’s been waiting for the latest Barbarian story, and he loves it when I get to the sex scenes.

I close my eyes and smile, thinking this might be our best Christmas yet.

L
ayla O’Leary has had enough
. For years she has been haunted by the night she can’t remember. When she learns the only man she's ever loved has betrayed her, she escapes and crafts a new identity. She's finally free...

Carter has waited eight years to claim his woman. Locking him up only fueled his obsession. The day he gets out he's coming for her. Taking the Fall was just the start. Now he'll stop at nothing to possess what's his.

Warning: this book contains a hero who grunts and growls his way through life, a heroine nicknamed Cherry looking to lose it, and insta-love so fast and hard your panties might disintegrate. Note: not responsible for exploding panties.

B
ONUS
: Letters Carter wrote Cherry while in Prison.

I
ncludes Short Story on Jeanette
& Saint:

They met by chance. Or so she thought...

Losing her wasn't something he was willing to do. Sometimes life takes you to the edge, but Jeanette had a Saint to

catch her.

This is the short story of how they met, how they fell in love, and how much Saint loves going down on her.

“
W
hat the fuck
are you doing here, Cherry?” Carter growls and stands up from a metal chair.

I’ve never seen this look on him before. Well, not directed at me anyway. What should I expect though? The man is in prison and has been for four years, and still has another four to go.

I haven’t seen him since that night. The night I can’t remember. The reason I’m here.

“Did you get my letters?” I ask, ignoring his question. I sent hundreds over the years and never once did he respond.

“Yeah, I got them,” he fires back.

“But…you never...” My words trail off as the force of what he’s saying hits me. He got my letters; he just didn’t care enough to write back. The first ones started off asking what had happened, because I had so many questions. All I have is this giant blank spot in my mind driving me insane. One second I have a perfect life and the next I wake up in the hospital covered in bruises, with my mother missing, along with my bodyguard. Poof! No more Mom and no more Carter. For some reason, the loss of Carter hurt the most. After that my once-loving father turned cold. Others might have called my father cold before on account of his dealings with the dirtier elements of society, but I never thought he was…until now.

“Ever think there was a reason I didn’t respond? I threw them out. I don’t want you here.” Carter has always been blunt and to the point but he was never intentionally cruel, and never with me. He had been my bodyguard for six months before that night. I couldn’t turn around without tripping over him. Anytime I was allowed to the leave house, he was at my side like a shadow.

Shifting uncomfortably, I take him in. He’s huge. I remember him as always being big, but now he seems massive. His six foot four frame looks like it’s been chiseled from stone and could bust the seams of his prison uniform. I don’t recall him having so many tattoos either, but now every inch of exposed skin is covered in them, peeking up around the neck of his uniform. I also don’t recall ever wanting to lick them as I do now.

Slowly moving my eyes back to his face, I see his jaw is hard from clenching it. His eyes lock on mine, so green they almost look like colored contact lenses. Those blazing emeralds snap away and do a head-to-toe sweep of my body. My breath catches in my throat at the look he gives me. It was hard and deadly before, but now it appears hungry and consuming. He makes me feel naked, completely stripped.

In three long strides he’s in front of me, lifting me into his arms. Caught completely off guard, I gasp. He wraps his free hand in my long hair and pulls my head back, claiming my mouth. My fingers grab the fabric of his shirt and try to pull him closer. I feel like my whole body has just come alive. My body is overcome with all the passion and fervor I’ve felt all these years, but I don’t exactly have any experience to guide me. I’m twenty and I’ve never been kissed. But this doesn’t feel like any kiss I’ve ever imagined. It feels like he’s devouring my body with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue. It feels like Carter is ravishing my soul.

Going to an all-girls’ school kept me sheltered. I even took all my college classes online after I graduated. The only dick that was ever near me was hired by my father. His men were either deadly scared of him or had too much respect for him to touch me—probably a little of both.

I follow Carter’s lead and return his kiss. I’ve wanted this for years. Before he was taken away, I used to try to get his attention and shamelessly flirt with him. I think I was terrible at it because never once did he touch me. I never cared that he was ten years older than I was. I wanted him. I even had this silly idea that if I waited for him, he could be mine. That’s why I wrote him those stupid letters that he clearly didn’t give a shit about. Feeling my anger rush back at the reminder, I go to push at his chest, but we’re ripped apart suddenly. A guard has me in his arms and my feet are still off the floor. It takes three other guards to wrestle Carter down onto one of the tables.

His hands grip the side of the table, his white knuckles betraying his iron grip. “Fuck, Cherry, never thought I was the jealous type,” he says, his voice rough with a touch of fury and possession. “Until you.” His glare moves to the guard holding me. “Now get your fucking hands off her.”

I’m stunned by his words. He’s pinned to a table by three guards and he’s giving orders? I guess some things never change.

“Get. Them. The. Fuck. Off,” Carter barks again as he starts to rise from his position, even as the guards try to push him down.

“This is my prison, Carter. You may get some leeway because of who you are, but there are cameras in here,” the guard holding me says as he places me back down on the floor.

“I just came for answers,” I whisper, hoping he doesn’t catch on to my lie. I want answers, but I want him more.

“I got no answers for you here. I don’t want to see your little ass in this place again, Cherry.” ‘Cherry’, the name used to make me smile. Now it’s starting to piss me off.

“Says the man who just had his tongue down my throat,” I shoot back, feeling my anger boil over. Hell, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want him to know I care, but how can he not after receiving all those stupid letters? Letters that had started off as questions but slowly turned into a diary. I sent him my every thought. But, as time went on, they morphed into love letters to him. Maybe he doesn’t know what they contained. Maybe he threw them out before reading them. I’m grasping at straws. He may not know it, but he is all I have left.

After my mother disappeared, my father turned as cold as she had been. I had always been a silly child who just got in my mother’s way. She was too busy going to events and maintaining an image to devote any time or attention to me. I can still remember her offhand comments about my weight and frenzied red hair. I just always seemed to be in her way—a disappointing nuisance. Now my father can barely look at me. Does my father love me? Yes, I believe so. Family is everything to him. But does he show it? Can I feel it? Not anymore. Now I’m put away on a shelf, having to sneak away to come here.

“I haven’t felt a woman’s body in years, can’t blame a man for taking opportunities as they arise,” he says cockily as the guards slowly let him up. He drops down into a metal chair. He seems completely unfazed by what has just happened. I guess that was all it was to him—a man needing a fix. He didn’t possess my mouth, my soul for those few moments because he needed to touch me. No one touches me.

“I see I don’t have anyone now. Looks like I can go,” I say flatly, all emotion leaching from my voice. Hell, if no one else wants to show me any tenderness, why should I give any?

“Good. Get gone,” he snarls through clenched teeth, but I see his eyes soften for an instant before being replaced by his usual stoniness. Or maybe I’m trying to convince myself and it was never there.

Pulling the picture I have from my pocket, I let it drop to the floor and I take one last look at the man I’ve been thinking about every night for the past four years. I don’t want the reminder of him anymore if he doesn’t want me.

I’m done living in a world that seems to feel nothing while I feel everything.

I have the quarter million I took from Daddy’s safe before I gave the guards the slip. I’m starting my life over, a life with no more holes in it, a life where I can find people who want to feel with me.

I turn to make my way to leave. Behind me I hear Carter rise from his chair, the metal scratching across the concrete floor. Opening the door to leave, I toss my final words over my shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Carter. No one will be seeing me around anymore.” The door slams behind me and I hear all hell break loose on the other side.

I square my shoulders and keep on walking. I only have one feeling in my heart now.

Freedom.