The Winter Spirit ARE (11 page)

For a second I could see the naked despair on his face, but he had it under control almost too fast for me to notice. Almost. “Yes,” he said. “Of course it is.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Here was one lie I couldn’t allow. “What’s going on?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing I can do about it anyway. Will you let me stay? Tonight?”

I didn’t answer him. I reached for his waistcoat and unbuttoned it, and he let me. I went for his shirt, and he let me unbutton that too. Before I could pull it off him, he stopped me.

“I’ll look ridiculous compared to you.”

I gaped at him. “Are you kidding me? You’ve seen me naked. I’m—”

“No. I mean, my undergarments compared to yours.”

“Ah, Gabriel,” I whispered. “I don’t care about that.”

He looked at me, then he nodded and got to his feet. For one panicky second I thought he was about to leave but he took off his shirt, his pants, and revealed the white union suit he wore underneath. And okay, it would’ve been pretty funny, and I would’ve laughed under any other circumstances, but then he took that off too and my brain went offline.

“Now you,” he whispered and climbed back on the bed. I tried to keep my eyes on his face, but I kept not so subtly glancing at his heavy penis and balls. And his six pack. And the muscles on his thighs. Holy moly. “Nathaniel.”

“What?”

“Take off your pajamas.”

“Uh, I don’t think so.”

He’d been stalking toward me like the most beautiful hunter on the planet, but he halted. “Why not?”

“Maybe because you’re gorgeous and I’ve always liked my food a little too much?”

His gaze darkened and his stalking resumed. “I’ve seen you before,” he said, voice low. “I’ve watched you. And now I want to touch you. So clothes. Off.”

He parted my legs and crawled between them. I gulped. I’d thought maybe he’d be shy about this, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. He pressed his face against my knee, bit the tendon there, then grinned.

“You smell so good,” he whispered. “I don’t know if it’s because I’ve forgotten or if it’s just you.” He reached for the snowman shaped buttons on my pajamas and began to undress me. “And nothing underneath,” he murmured. “Hmm, I do like this day and age.”

He grazed my nipple with his fingertips and I made an undignified noise. He kissed the center of my sternum, rubbed his cheek against my chest hair, and slowly worked his way down until all the buttons were loose. He fingered the waistband of my pants, raised an eyebrow at me, and while I tried not to hyperventilate, allowed him to tug them down.

When my cock was released from captivity, it stood to attention, did a silly little wave, twitched, and lay down against my belly.

Gabriel smirked at me and I suddenly wished I’d made fun of his underwear.

“Enjoying the view?” I asked when I couldn’t stand it anymore. Gabriel laughed, then slowly leaned over me and buried his face in my neck. I threaded my fingers through his hair as he slotted his hips to mine. “How does it feel?” I whispered.

He breathed against my neck and I felt him tremble ever so slightly. “Like I’m alive.”

“Is it always like this? When you come back once a year, I mean.”

“No.” He kissed my jaw, nibbled my earlobe. “It’s never this…real.”

I closed my eyes. He was right. It felt real. Too real.

Determined not to get maudlin, I explored the ridges and mounds of his back. His skin felt so smooth and soft, it made my palms tingle.

“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered, and rubbed my hand over the roundness of his ass. He bucked a little, pressed his erection to mine, and made a weird,
gnuh
, noise. “What? What is it?”

He looked at me, face a little red. “Just trying not to…you know.”

I bit my lip on a grin. “I guess it’s been a while, huh? So if I do this, does that help?” I tightened my legs around his hips and squeezed. Our cocks rubbed together, leaving a trail of wetness behind.

Gabriel’s eyes rolled back in his head. “Oh God.”

“Hell yeah.” I laughed when he glared at me, then stopped laughing when he kissed me breathless. After that I lost myself in him, in the moment, the wet heat of his cock touching mine, filling my palm, his foreskin like a brand new toy to play with. He didn’t last long, like I’d expected, but then neither did I. When he clutched me tight and came all over my belly, I added to the mess the minute he touched my balls.

“That,” Gabriel whispered in my ear, still breathless, “was the best I’ve had in a hundred years.”

I wheezed an exhausted laugh. “You ass,” I said, whacking him over the head with a pillow. He tickled my sides and I didn’t even care when it made my stomach jiggle. I drew him close and covered us up with my duvet, stickiness be damned. Gabriel’s breathing evened out not long after, the heat of him like a security blanket by my side. I wondered if this meant he really was becoming more real. Human again. Gently kissing his temple, I ran my fingers through his hair and sighed.

As the quiet enfolded around us, I felt adrift on a ship in the night. I was happy to be ensconced in the safety of his presence, but the balance of my world had suddenly become really precarious.

Chapter 7

Elisa had the twenty-fourth off as compensation for working Christmas day, which meant most of the dinner prep fell to me. I usually didn’t mind, since it didn’t happen very often I had actual guests staying during the holidays. Annie and Saul had made themselves scarce after breakfast, so it shouldn’t have been difficult to get everything done.

I clearly hadn’t counted on my friendly ghost, who’d barely left my side since we’d woken up that morning. “What’s this?” he asked me, pulling a grapefruit cutter out of my drawer. It’d been about the millionth time he’d interrupted me while I was preparing the spinach tarts I’d be serving as appetizers. I turned to snark at him and found him right behind me.

“I love your exasperated face,” he murmured in my ear as he placed his hands on my hips. “I used to tease you just to see you roll your eyes at me. You’re so cute.”

I huffed at him and turned back to the tarts. My hands stilled as he squeezed my hips and I forgot what I’d been about to do. His mouth grazed my neck and he held me tighter. Instinctively I arched my back, seeking the heat of him, and he made a low noise in his throat.

“Do you do that?” he asked, pushing his groin against my ass. “Would you do that for me?”

I opened my mouth but no sound came out and his right hand drifted, cupped me warm and tight. My legs went trembly and weak.

“I would,” I managed. “I’d let you. I’d want you to.” I took a shaky breath. “But not in the kitchen where I’m about to make food for more than ten people, because oh my God, health code violations.”

He ignored me, massaged me through my pants and under the apron I was wearing. “Nathaniel…”

“
Hnn
.” I went a little cross-eyed and it was a miracle I didn’t cut myself. “You know, maybe these tarts can wait.” Gabriel chuckled low in my ear.

“Oh, no,” he said, stepping back like the bastard he was. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your work.”

“Right,” I said between gritted teeth. I’d show him later what it was like being teased, that little see-through piece of ethereal energy.

“Nathaniel?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s this?” He held up a spatula and was clearly laughing at me. I stabbed the tomato I’d been quartering, stalked toward him, and messed up his stupid perfect hair and perfect clothes and perfect everything until we really were close to violating my poor kitchen.

“Jesus Christ,” I panted against his cheek. “What are you doing to me?”

“Nothing yet,” he said, reaching for my belt.

I took a step away from him and gently touched his face. I still couldn’t believe he was here with me, as much flesh and blood as anyone else I’d ever touched. What would I do when he went back to the way it was before, or worse, if he never came back at all?

“Can you eat?” I asked. “I mean, everything else seems to be…working fine. When’s the last time you ate?”

The sexy little smirk he had going on melted and he got a faraway look in his eyes. “The morning before I died,” he said.

I wanted him to tell me his story so badly, but I could tell he wouldn’t, not now. “Well, what do you think? Are you craving anything? What were your favorite foods?”

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “I’ve seen you eat ice cream,” he murmured. “And you always look like it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.” He opened his eyes and grinned. “Well, until I saw the face you made last night, anyway.”

“Hey, what happens in the bedroom, stays in the bedroom,” I told him, swatting at his chest as my cheeks began to burn.

“Hmm, even better. Ice cream and you in the bedroom, then.”

I pushed the hair out of my eyes and took another step back. “I need to get this work done,” I said. “But I’m going to feed you while I do. And then you should have dinner here with me on Christmas day.”

He blinked at me. “You’ll have guests.”

“Yes, but we still need to eat too, don’t we? You know Elisa and I usually eat here in the kitchen but I want to set a table for you and me. We can have a real dinner.”

“People will wonder who I am.”

I looked at the floor. “I could tell them you’re with me.” He said nothing and I tried to quell the disappointment. “Or not. We don’t—”

“What will they think when I’m gone?” he whispered. “I don’t want them talking about you, saying I left you…”

I looked at him. “I don’t care about that. I’d rather have a Christmas dinner with you. One I’ll never forget. It could be an annual tradition if—” The words lodged themselves tight in my throat.
If
.

“Okay.” He seemed to want to say more, but he just nodded.

“Sit down,” I said, brushing off the sadness that threatened to cloud our moment. “I’ll make you something good to eat now.” He caught my wrist before I could move away completely, tugged me closer and kissed me. His hand ran over my back, to the tip of my spine and down, softly, over the swell of my ass. I felt a little lightheaded when he broke the kiss.

“Thank you,” he whispered and touched my jaw. “I wish…” He sighed and looked away. “Just…thank you.”

I finished the tarts and put them aside to heat up tomorrow, then had a quick think what I could serve Gabriel as his first meal in a hundred years. I expected him to sit at the table and wait, but instead he was always near me, always touching me, making me feed him bites of left-over chicken pot pie, licking avocado off my fingers, and kissing chocolate chip cookie crumbs off my mouth.

By the time we’d cleaned up after ourselves, I couldn’t take it anymore and tugged him toward the lounge. The fire had nearly gone out but it took him no time at all to make it flare to life. He laid me down on the rug in front of it.

“This is so cheesy,” I said, laughing giddily as he kissed the line of my throat.

He pushed himself up and gave me a confused look. “Do you want to go to bed instead?” he asked, earnest.

“No,” I said, tugging him down again. “Not in a million years.”

I closed my eyes as he kissed me into oblivion. Maybe this special slice of heaven could only be mine for a day or two, but by God I was going to enjoy it. And I vowed right then and there, I’d never regret it. No matter how much it would hurt once he was gone.

“What would we do if we had all the time in the world?” I asked him. His chest was still sweaty, and it kind of blew my mind that he was sweating at all, but I didn’t allow myself to read too much into it. Gabriel had his hands hooked behind his head and looked like the cat who got the cream.

“What?” He shifted a little so he could see me and his expression made me laugh.

“Liked that, did you?” I bit my lip and rubbed my thumb over his nipple. “Well I liked it too.”

He kissed my temple. “Good.”

“So what would you do, if you could do anything you wanted?”

“Travel,” he immediately said, eyes on my finger as I traced it through the come on his belly. My jaw still ached a little, because he’d lasted a lot longer than I thought he would’ve. I wished he hadn’t pulled me off him before he came in my mouth. “I joined the Navy to see the world and I think I could’ve seen a lot more of it.”