by Hope Ford
I type it into the phone and hit send.
Almost as soon as I do, there’s a text back and I read it to Baker. “It’s about fuckin’ time. Merry Christmas Bro! love you too.”
I look at the phone and read the words again. “What does he mean it’s about freakin’ time?” I ask him with my face heated. I barely ever cuss, but I have to know the answer to this.
“It means it’s about time that I made a move on you.”
“Wait. What?” I ask him, wanting him to clarify.
But as soon as he starts to speak, there’s a knock on the door. “C’mon, you lovebirds. Breakfast is ready, and Mom’s freaking out that we’re going to be late to skate.”
“Coming!” I holler to my little brother through the door.
Baker jumps from the bed and leans over and kisses me. “Saved by the knock. I’ll be quick,” he tells me as he goes into the bathroom, leaving me to figure out if what he said was true or not. Could this be real?
6
Baker
All morning, I work on getting my mind right. Back home, I had convinced myself that I needed to take this slow, but now, having Tara by my side every minute is wreaking havoc on all of my good intentions.
“How you holding up?” she asks me as another ice skater flies by.
I’m lacing up my skates, but I stop to reach out to her and tug her into my lap. “I’m good. You weren’t lying when you said Juniper Junction is Christmassy.”
She laughs. “I told you so. None of my family is watching, ya’ know.” She tries to take her weight off of me. “Plus, I’m too big to be in your lap.” Her arms are around my neck, and I want to stand up and take her out of here with me. How have I resisted her this long? At the office, she’s uptight and serious. Seeing her smiling and with her family she’s so laid back.
I hold her to me, even when she struggles to get up. “You’re not, though. You’re perfect. And you never know. One of them could be watching.” Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright and twinkling. “You’re different here.”
She merely stares at me, glancing between my eyes and my lips. “You’re more relaxed. Back at the office… do I make you nervous?”
She giggles but tightens her arms around me. “Yes. I wanted to do a good job for you.”
“You do a great job. But I don’t want you nervous around me. I like you like this… relaxed… happy.”
“I’m happy with you… I mean, my job.”
I cup her chin to look up at me. “I’m happy with you too. That’s why I want to kiss you.”
“You want to kiss me?” she asks as I move in closer. Her breath is hot on my cheek.
“Yes.”
Her eyes are trained on mine. There’s excitement, longing, and maybe even a little bit of worry there. “But nobody’s watching us.”
“I don’t care,” I tell her and reach in, fully intending to have a sweet and simple kiss like the one I gave her last night. But as soon as our lips touch, I lose all sense of what’s right and wrong. Her sweet vanilla cinnamon scent is surrounding us, I can feel all her sweet curves pressed into me, and it pushes me further, wanting her more. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just the two of us here, sharing our first real kiss, and it’s more than I ever could have imagined. When she opens to me, I plunge my tongue into her mouth, tasting her.
A tiny moan brings me back from the brink. I pull back, realizing the sound came from her. Her satisfied whimper brings me to my senses. I can’t make love to her right here. Not at a busy ice skating rink and with families – her family – all around us.
I rest my forehead against hers and clench my eyes shut tight. I try to think of anything, but all I can focus on is her in my lap kissing me.
“Honey, this may be a little too much for you right now. I don’t want to embarrass you, but you’re going to have to get off my lap.”
She struggles to get up, and her bottom moving across my lap makes my situation even worse. When I groan painfully, she says, “See, I told you I was too big.”
I hold on to her hand, not wanting her to walk away.
“You’re not. Don’t say that again.”
She shrugs her shoulders defiantly and stares down at me. “Are you going to skate or what?”
I pull her down so that I have to whisper into her ear. “Yeah, I’m going to come skate. But first I need to calm down a little, or everyone here is going to know just how much I want you right now.”
She pulls her head back, and her eyes flicker to my lap, up to my eyes and then back to my lap again. As if my cock has a mind of its own, I swear it jerks in my jeans when she’s looking at it.
“Oh wowsers!” she says, her hands over her mouth. “Is that, uh, is that…”
“Yeah, honey. It’s because of you… so I’m going to need a minute.” I would laugh at her expression if I wasn’t trying to count backwards from a hundred.
She sits down next to me, and we sit there awkwardly for who knows how long. Her parents wave to us, wanting us to join them, and I swear it’s like I’m a teenaged boy that can’t handle his own hard-on. Tara puts her hand on my knee. “Baker.”
It’s innocent enough from the outside. But not to me. Her touch is like an electric rod prodding me, and when I look at her lust-glittered eyes I know that I can’t take much more. Through gritted teeth, I tell her, “Tara, go out with your parents. I’ll be out in a minute.”
Her eyes burn with desire. “I don’t want to just leave you. Can I do something?”
Like I’ve just had a punch in the gut, I bend forward. “Fuck, Tara,” I hiss. “If we were anywhere else, I’d take you up on that.”
She gapes at me, realizing what she said and how it sounded. Her lips part, and I get a mental image of her puffy pink stained lips wrapped around my cock. “Go. I’ll be out in a minute.”
She turns to go but stops. “If we were anywhere else I’d, ya know, help you.” And with a big smile, she twirls around and skates off toward her parents and brother.
And like a glutton for punishment, I watch her ass sway the whole way.
Tara
After skating, lunch, and some shopping, I’m lying on my bed exhausted. My dad has Baker cornered in the garage helping him with one of the big Christmas decorations that he couldn’t get to work. I left him there with an assurance to my dad that I’m sure Baker could fix it.
As I walked away, I saw the look Baker gave me. I thought it would be funny to subject him to some time with my dad, but he didn’t seem to mind.
So I came back to my room, hoping to bring myself back to reality. This is fake, I keep telling myself. He’s flirting with me, but it doesn’t mean anything.
I pull out the sweaters that I made for Baker and me. If we make it through Christmas, I may ask him what a girl’s got to do to win his affection. But looking down at the itchy, thick material in my hands, I’m pretty sure this is not the way to go about it.
7
Baker
She thought I’d say no. I saw it in the surprised look she gave me. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I don’t think I could tell her no on anything at this point. She’s got me hook, line, and sinker.
“Nice shirt!” Matt says and starts to laugh.
I look down at the tinsel covered green sweater. It has ornaments sewn on the tinsel and a big star attached to the end of my sleeve. I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to be, but Tara was excited for me to wear it, so I have it on.
“Where’s yours at?” I ask Matt.
“I’m going to my girlfriend’s tonight. Too bad I’m going to miss out on this. It looks like it’s going to be a swell ol’ time.”
He stresses the word swell as Tara comes in with a matching sweater the same as mine. “Get out of here, hooligan, before I tell Mom and Dad you should have to spend time with family.”
“Hooligan.” He laughs. “I swear sometimes I wonder what century you’re from. I’m out.” He hugs his sister and fist bumps me on the way out the doo
r.
“Do you like the sweater?” Tara asks me.
This is the first time we’ve been alone since we got back from skating and shopping, and I don’t want to talk about the sweater. I want to talk about us.
“You made it. I love it,” I tell her truthfully. “So…”
“But you haven’t seen the full effect yet. Watch…” She holds her hands together over her head. The black leggings she has on look like a tree trunk, and her green sweater flares out at the bottom and tapers up. The garland and ornaments make what look like a Christmas tree and she’s holding the star at the top, like it’s a tree topper. She made us matching Christmas tree sweaters.
“Wait. Stay right there.” I tell her, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I take a few shots of her and when her mom walks in, she offers to take a few of the both of us together as she gushes over our sweaters.
I swear I can’t wipe the smile off my face. If my brother Dawson could see me now, he’d never believe it. We were never the Christmas type. I take one of the images and shoot it to him as a message. I feel bad that I wasn’t there when he got home; it’s been months since I’d seen him last. It makes me feel a little at ease that Cassie is there with him. Well, if he didn’t run her off, anyway.
We walk two blocks down to the aunt’s house. I guess they alternate every year, and this year is Aunt Maggie’s turn. With a warning to stay away from the eggnog—“It’s laced with one hundred proof liquor” Janet warns me with a whisper—they leave Tara and me to walk around and mingle. Tara introduces me the first time as her boss, so I take over introductions after that. “Hi, I’m Baker, Tara’s boyfriend.”
It seems to get a squeal of delight from all the women of her family. We move around the room, and Tara stops suddenly when we are standing in front of a young woman that is around the same age as Tara. I can feel Tara’s body tense next to me. I look around the room, and from the glint in the eye of the woman standing in front of me she is the cause of the sudden frigid air around us.
“Tara. Looks like you’ll win the ugly sweater contest this year. Definitely the ugliest.”
“Hey!” I start, but Tara puts a hand to my chest.
“Baker, this is my cousin Hilda. Hilda, this is my b…”
“Boyfriend,” I say, interrupting her, pulling her close into my side and kissing her on the forehead. I don’t even look at Hilda because I can already tell I don’t like her.
Hilda looks between the two of us and grins mischievously. “Right! I don’t believe it.”
Tara seems to deflate on the spot. And it gets even worse when Hilda puts her hand on my chest. I’ve never wanted to harm a woman in my life, but right now I’d like to.
“So, Baker, when you get tired of playing games with her, how about you call me up?” She pats me on the chest and walks away.
Stunned, I stand there like a lump on a log. I’ve never dealt with anyone so arrogant and just a plain asshole. At least not a woman. “Tara—” I turn to her, but I realize it’s too late.
Tara’s face is white. So white she looks like she may pass out. “Are you okay?” I reach for her, but she holds her hands up, evading my hold. “I just need a minute.”
She tries to smile at me, but it’s right in the middle of a sob that she takes off running from the room.
I look around the room, wondering what I should do. Tara obviously doesn’t want to talk to me right now, but I can’t just leave her upset like that. I look to see if anyone else noticed it when a small man walks toward me. “Looks like my Hilda struck again.”
“Your Hilda? You’re married to that woman?”
He looks sad about it when he answers me. “Yep, I am.”
“Wow!” is all I say. Poor guy. She’s definitely not nice, and she seems to flirt with men even if she’s married.
“She’s always had it out for Tara. It got worse when I finally agreed to go on a date with her.”
Confused, I look at him in question. “Why’s that?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “Sorry. Let me introduce myself. I’m Cameron. I dated Tara in high school and up until she left for college. I would have stayed with her too, but she broke it off before she went.”
“So you married her cousin?”
“Yeah. Trust me, I should have waited for Tara and begged her to take me back,” he says, his voice full of regret.
My hands clench at my sides. I look around at all the people laughing and having a good time. Tara and I should be doing that. Not letting Hilda and now Cameron ruin this for us.
“Well, it was nice to meet you, Cameron,” I tell him, even though it’s a lie. I start to walk away and stop, feeling like I need to say more. “She’s mine. Tara’s mine now,” I tell him, wanting him to know without a doubt he doesn’t have a chance of getting her back.
I go in search of Tara all around the upstairs and then back to the main floor. Against Janet’s advice, I grab a glass of eggnog and down it in one swig. Christmas music is blasting in the backyard, so I go to the front. And there is where I find Tara. She’s sitting on the porch, her knees are pulled up to her chest, and she’s so deep in thought she doesn’t even lift her head up until I sit down next to her on the stoop.
“What are you doing out here by yourself?” I ask her.
She lifts her red-rimmed eyes to me. “Can I talk to you?”
“Yes.”
“Hilda is married,” she starts.
“I don’t care…” I try to butt in, but she holds her hand up to stop me.
I reach for her, but she shakes her head. “No. I can’t do this touching you. Let me just get this out. Okay?”
I nod my head because I can feel this is important, and I don’t want to mess it up for her. But the fact she won’t let me touch her doesn’t sound like this is going to go in my favor.
“I haven’t been very honest with you, and I hate that, because I’m usually a very honest person.”
She looks at me, but I just stare back at her and wait patiently.
“I like you, Baker Miller. I liked you the second I met you. You are the reason I stayed in town. After getting to know you, I well, let’s just say, I’m smitten.” She looks away and seems to take a deep breath, then pulls her shoulders back and looks at me again. “I know that’s maybe not what you want to hear. And I know that you’re probably used to women like Hilda or someone else, but I’m me. And well, I like me. But I can’t play this game anymore. I thought it would be harmless, but I can feel myself falling apart right now. It’s like I had a taste of what it could be like, and I know I’m not going to have that. I think it’s best if we stopped this charade we have going on.”
When she finally stops talking, I can tell she’s on the verge of tears. Because I can’t hold it back any longer, I reach for her and pick her up, pulling her to my lap. “You’re right, Tara. I don’t want to do this charade anymore either.”
She instantly starts to struggle and move from my lap, but I hold on tight, my arms around her waist. “I don’t want a charade because I want the real thing. I want it with you. Why do you think I did this? Insisted that I come with you and got so upset when I heard you had called for a male escort? It’s because I like you, Tara. A lot!”
She sobs. “You’re smitten with me?”
My voice is deep and clear next to her ear. “Totally smitten.”
8
Tara
“Where are we going?” he asks me as I pull him down the sidewalk.
I turn with a glint in my eye. “To my house. My parents will be here most of the night.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him, and he surprises me by picking me up, one arm under my back and the other behind my knees. He takes off running to my house as fast as he can.
We laugh the whole way, and I can’t believe this is the same guy that was bah humbugging about Christmas. He’s been such a good sport. Ice skating, caroling, shopping, ugly Christmas sweater party, meeting all my family… he did all of it… for me.
We run
up the stairs, and we’re both huffing and puffing as we race into the room. But my laughs stop when he’s standing in front of me, looking at me with desire. “Do you want to take it off or you want me to?” he asks, gesturing to my sweater.
I lean over and take off one of my shoes and then grin at him.
“Cute. But that’s not what I want to see. I want to see you. I felt you in my arms last night; now I want to see you.”
My lower belly rolls, remembering waking up next to him this morning. I could definitely get used to that. I answer him by pulling at the hem of my top and lifting it over my head. Before I lose confidence, I take off my other shoe and pull down my black leggings. When I’m standing in front of him with only a pair of black panties and my black bra, I look up at him.
“Fuck,” he says as he cups himself in his pants. “You’re breathtaking.”
I shake off his compliment and take a step toward him. “Baker, I want you.”
My whole body is trembling as I realize how true that statement is. I want him any way I can have him.
I pull at his shirt, and he lifts his arms so I can take it off him. As soon as I see bare skin, I run my hands all across his chest as if I’m memorizing the way he looks and feels. His muscles jump as I touch him, and it makes me happy, knowing that he’s reacting to my touch this way.
He just stands there and lets me, but when I reach for the button of his pants, his hands come out to stop me.
I look up at him questioningly. “Let me see you,” he says huskily.
He reaches behind me and unsnaps my bra, pulling it down my shoulders and off my arms. What he does with it then I have no idea because he’s dropped to his knees in front of me and sucks my nipple into his mouth. His hands are everywhere, kneading my other breast, feathering across my stomach, reaching around to cup my butt and bring me closer to him.