Christmas Bride

by Noelle Adams

  “Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your help.”

  “What else would we do? You’re family now.” Mrs. Wilson paused where Carter was standing. She gave his hair a brief ruffle and then kissed him on the cheek. “You take good care of her tonight.”

  “I will,” Carter said as she left the room. Then he turned to give Ruth a rueful smile. “Do you need anything else? I could really use a shower.”

  “I’m good. You can go on. I don’t think I need anything else.”

  He stared at her for a moment as she lay in bed. It looked like he would say something. But he didn’t. He walked out of the room with nothing more than a strange nod of his head.

  Ruth closed her eyes. She was full and comfortable, and her headache was gone now. Her wrist wasn’t bothering her at the moment. All in all, she’d come out of the car accident pretty well.

  That was thanks to Carter. Who knew how she’d be doing right now if Kayla hadn’t called him. If he hadn’t come right out to the hospital to get her.

  It was nice. To have someone to rely on.

  And he hadn’t seemed to mind being stuck with her too much.

  SHE MUST HAVE DOZED off, although she hadn’t even thought she was sleepy. It was dark in the room when she opened her eyes. She breathed in the scent of lavender and citrus. The essential oils were still going.

  She repositioned herself and gasped when her arm connected with something beside her.

  Carter.

  She couldn’t see him in the dark, but she knew it was him. It felt like him. Smelled like him.

  When her eyes adjusted enough, she could see that he was dressed for bed in pajama pants and a T-shirt. He was lying on top of the covers with a throw blanket draped over him. And he was sound asleep.

  It made her happy. That he was there. That he was sleeping.

  She rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom as quietly as she could, relieved when she returned to bed afterward and hadn’t woken him up.

  She really liked having him there. She wouldn’t mind if he’d go to sleep beside her every night.

  In fact, she would like it a lot.

  THE NEXT MORNING, SHE was half-asleep when Carter slipped out of the bed. The vague recognition made her want to grumble, but she couldn’t wake up enough to do it for real. She heard the bathroom door close. Then a minute later she heard the toilet flush and the water in the sink. He came back to bed then, so that made her happy.

  She stopped trying to open her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep, but she couldn’t really. Now she was too aware of needing to pee. And too aware of Carter’s presence beside her. After a while, she peeked out her eyelashes at him, just to see what he was doing.

  He was watching her.

  She smiled groggily.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?”

  “I feel good. I think I’m all better.”

  “Is your wrist hurting?”

  “It’s sore if I move it the wrong way, but with the brace on it’s not a problem. But I really need to go to the bathroom.”

  When she didn’t move, he drawled, “It’s vacant, you know. You can go anytime.”

  “But that means I have to get up.”

  “It’s a sad state of affairs but unfortunately the way it works.”

  She made a face at him and managed to find the energy to roll out of bed and limp to the bathroom. She didn’t know why she was limping, but her body still felt a little sore.

  “It’s only seven o’clock!” She said that as she was returning to bed afterward and happened to see the bedside clock.

  “I know.”

  “It feels like I slept forever. How is it so early?”

  “We went to bed kind of early last night.” Carter was stretched out on his side of the bed, his head on a couple of pillows. His hair was sticking up in all directions, and he had two days’ worth of a beard, which was quite a lot of stubble for him.

  He looked sexy as hell. And somehow adorable at the same time.

  She’d never had particularly good walls around her heart, and the car accident had managed to topple the ones she’d had. She got into bed and crawled over toward him, unable to resist the urge to touch him.

  Carter went very still when she rubbed her hands up and down his chest. His eyes scanned her face urgently. “Ruth?”

  “What?” She leaned over and kissed the crook of his neck, just at the neckline of his T-shirt. Then she kissed his stubbly jaw. Then she kissed his lips.

  Carter still hadn’t moved. His body felt very tense. “What’s happening here?”

  “I’m kissing you.”

  “I thought you wanted me to back off.”

  “I don’t want you to back off,” she mumbled, pressing little kisses around his mouth. “That’s the last thing in the world I want.”

  “Are you sure?” One of his hands had finally moved to cup the back of his head. “Ruth, baby, are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” She tried again to kiss him.

  This time he returned the kiss, his lips moving against hers and his tongue darting out to tease the tip of hers. But he was still holding back. After a minute, he pulled her head back slightly so he could see her face. “You’re not sleep-walking or something, are you?”

  “No.” She giggled. “I’m awake.”

  “And you really want this? It’s not a concussion-fueled mistake or a—”

  “It’s not a mistake. Carter. I want this.” Her face twisted slightly. “Do you not want to—”

  He groaned and rolled them both over so he was on top of her. “Yes, I want this. I want you. I’ve never wanted anything more.”

  It was exactly what she wanted to hear. In exactly the sincere, possessive voice she might have dreamed about. She melted beneath him as he took control of the kiss with a naked hunger that was impossible to deny.

  He kissed her until her body was pulsing and her vision was blurred over. Then he kissed his way down her neck.

  She was wearing nothing but her little Christmas gown, and it didn’t seem to get in Carter’s way. As he got lower on her body, he pushed the gown up so he could get to her breasts.

  By that point, she was gasping and wriggling around, so turned on she couldn’t lie still. Her hands moved all over his back and shoulders, finally getting to the bottom of his shirt so she could slide her hands under it and feel his skin.

  After a few minutes, Carter returned to her mouth, and she kissed him with a shameless abandon there was no way to restrain. Her nails were raking down his back. She had one leg wrapped around his thighs as she tried to ride him from below.

  “Damn, baby,” he murmured when he finally broke the kiss. “You’re like fire. Look at you burn.”

  She whimpered and arched up, her head tossing back and forth on the pillow. “Carter, please. I need... I need...”

  “I know you do. I know you do, baby.” He kissed her mouth, gently this time. Then the throbbing pulse in her neck. Then he lifted her gown again so he could press his lips against her shuddering belly. “Can I please...?”

  He didn’t finish the question, but he didn’t need to. She knew exactly what he was asking. And she knew that it was exactly what she needed.

  “Yes,” she rasped, pushing his head down toward her groin. “Yes, please. Please.”

  Carter made a groaning sound and pulled her thighs apart, adjusting her body to give him better access. Then he kissed his way from her belly to the cleft between her legs.

  She cried out helplessly when he used his tongue to swipe her open. Then cried out again when he teased her clit with his tongue. He bent her knees up more and spread them apart, holding her open with his fingers so he could work.

  Her body was completely exposed to him, shamelessly sprawled out for him to see, to touch. And she couldn’t do anything to make things happen except to beg him to make her come, which she was doing with a lot of loud, babbling pleas.

  She couldn’t remember ever feeling so completely helpless
.

  Or so completely good.

  Her body was responding quickly to the ministrations of his lips and tongue. And the first time he closed his lips around her clit and sucked, she came hard, sobbing messily and shaking so much he could barely hold her still.

  She would have thought it would be over after that, but it wasn’t. She’d barely come down when he slid two fingers inside her and started to pump them. That felt different. Deeper. Incredibly satisfying. He found her G-spot and pressed into it with rhythmic pushes of his fingers. Then he sucked her clit again.

  She came and came again. And maybe again. It got to the point where she couldn’t tell anymore. It was just an extended rush of pleasure that didn’t end when she would have thought it was supposed to. She was flailing all over as she tried to handle the intense sensations. Clutching the bedding and grabbing the headboard and sometimes pulling on his hair so much it had to hurt. And she wasn’t even embarrassed about the sounds she was making. Desperate and primal and helpless.

  Eventually it felt so good for so long that she was almost frightened about it. “Enough,” she gasped brokenly. “Carter, it’s enough.”

  He lifted his head immediately to check her face. Whatever he saw there must have satisfied him because he smiled. He kissed her clit very gently. Then moved up to kiss her belly. Kept moving to kiss her lips. “How was it?”

  She gave a hoarse, choppy laugh. Her whole body still tingled, but all the tension was starting to soften into something resembling bliss. “How do you think it was?”

  “It looked pretty good.” He kissed her again. “And sounded pretty good. But that doesn’t mean—”

  “I loved it,” she blurted out. “Thank you so much. I loved it.”

  He let out a rough exhalation and took her in his arms. His arms were tight. His body was hot. “Thank you for trusting me enough to do that for you.”

  It said something about him. That he’d thanked her, even after he’d given her the best sexual experience she’d ever had in her life.

  It said something really good about him.

  She felt like she might ooze into a puddle of pure satisfaction. But then she started feeling a little guilty about it so she lifted her head. “Do you want me to do you now?”

  Carter frowned at her. “No. That was for you. I wasn’t expecting reciprocation.”

  “Okay. But I don’t mind doing you. Maybe a little bit later. After I’ve recovered.”

  He laughed softly, still hugging her close. “That sounds like a plan to me.”

  Ten

  THEY STAYED IN BED, lying tangled together and not speaking, for a long time. Almost half an hour. Ruth felt too good to wonder about it or begin her typical mental storm of questions and imagined answers.

  That kind of mindless bliss couldn’t last for long. Maybe it could for some people but definitely not for her. Eventually little prickles of worry started to pierce the cloud of satisfaction. Slowly they intensified and expanded until the prickles became a full-fledged panic.

  She sat up abruptly, sucking in a ragged breath.

  Carter’s eyes had been closed and his breathing slow and even, but he lifted his head at her motion. “You okay?”

  She forced a casual smile. “Yeah. Just need to pee.”

  She didn’t. It hadn’t been very long since she’d gone earlier. What she needed was to escape for a minute.

  “Okay.” He watched her until she got out of bed, pulled down her gown, and limped into the bathroom.

  There, she sat on the toilet and tried to breathe slowly, talking herself down from the flare of fear.

  She’d made herself completely vulnerable with Carter just now. As vulnerable as she’d ever been in her life. And it wasn’t because of the sexual activity or the particular position she’d been in or how much control over her body he’d had. It wasn’t because of the accident or the concussion or her physical weakness.

  It was her heart.

  Her heart was completely vulnerable to him, and somehow what had happened between them just now had made that perfectly clear.

  She loved him.

  She’d tried not to. She’d been telling herself not to fall for him for two and a half months. She’d been telling herself that she wasn’t his type, that he’d never love her back. She’d been telling herself that they’d both been having a good time and that was all it could ever be.

  But she’d done it anyway.

  She’d stupidly fallen in love.

  Which meant she needed him now in every way.

  He might finally be recovered from his heartbreak over Summer. He might even have realized that what he’d felt for her wasn’t what he thought. Ruth hoped that was true, for his sake more than her own. But that didn’t mean he was available to her now any more than he’d ever been.

  Love disappointed you. At least that was what it had always done to Ruth. And her intense desire to tell Carter of her feelings for him would only lead to the worst disappointment of her life.

  It would put him on the spot. It would make him feel bad, guilty. It would destroy all the good things that were real about their relationship.

  If he felt the same way, he would say something.

  There had to be a limit to how much of herself she exposed to him, how vulnerable she allowed herself to be.

  With that resolved in her mind, she flushed the toilet, washed her hands and face, and brushed her teeth. Then she returned to the bedroom.

  Carter was still lying on his side, his head on the pillow and his eyes focused on her. She walked back to the bed and sat down on the edge, taking a couple of gulps of water from the bottle on the bedside table.

  “Come back to bed, Ruth,” Carter murmured when she put down the bottle and didn’t move.

  “I should get up.” She felt heavy. And suddenly so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open.

  “Why?”

  “It’s Monday morning. I’ve got work to do. I’m supposed to meet Mrs. Lopez about her master suite at ten.”

  “I’m sure Mrs. Lopez would be happy to reschedule. You were in a car accident yesterday. You have a concussion. She’s going to understand.”

  “I feel okay today.”

  “You don’t look okay. You look pale. Maybe we shouldn’t have done that earlier. It was too much for you.”

  She wasn’t looking at him—she couldn’t—but she could hear the worried frown in his tone. “I’m fine. I really am. I’m just tired.”

  “So then come back to bed.” He tugged gently on her arm.

  She tried to resist but couldn’t. With a soft sigh, she let him pull her back into a reclining position and pull the covers back over them both. He didn’t take her in his arms this time, but he was close, and he was watching her. “Maybe I’ll see if she can reschedule.”

  “Yes.” He reached over to stroke her messy hair back from her face. “You were in a car accident. It’s really okay to reschedule.”

  Ruth closed her eyes and took another deep breath, blowing it out slowly. “Shouldn’t you be getting up? Aren’t you usually in the office long before seven?”

  “Yes.”

  When he didn’t move, Ruth turned her head to see what he was doing. “Are you going to go in late?”

  “I’m not sure I’m going to go in at all.”

  “What? Really?”

  He gave a faint shrug. “I don’t have any important meetings today. Just tedious stuff at my desk. I’m exhausted. The only time off I’ve taken this year besides holidays was my pitiful drunken binge last winter. I can probably take a day.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “You can definitely take a day. You’ve got to be exhausted too.”

  “I am.” His brown eyes were very dark in the dim light of the room. Soft and searching and tired. “You okay?”

  “I’m okay. I’m going to text Mrs. Lopez. Then I might go back to sleep.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Ruth reached for her phone, sent the text, and t
hen curled up on her side. She faced away from Carter since she was feeling emotional again, which meant she couldn’t be sure what might come babbling out of her mouth.

  Her strategic position didn’t actually work. Carter had sent a text message from his phone too, and then he moved against her back, spooning her from behind.

  She let him. She wanted him to. And she was just barely able to keep the swell of emotion from spilling out into words until she went to sleep.

  THEY SLEPT LATE. IT was well after ten when Ruth finally got up and took a shower. She didn’t have many clothes over there, but a couple of weeks ago she’d left a pair of soft fleece pajamas, so she changed into those since she wasn’t planning to go anywhere anytime soon.

  Carter had gotten up when she had, and he’d obviously had similar ideas about appropriate clothes for the day. He came out of his room, wearing sweats and a long-sleeved T-shirt from their old high school.

  “You look very cozy,” he said with a smile as his eyes ran up and down her body.

  She gave him a half-hearted scowl. “So do you.”

  “I’m planning to lie around and do nothing all day.”

  “Me too.”

  “Good.” He pulled her into a soft hug. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”

  When they got downstairs, Mrs. Wilson was bustling around, getting ready to go to a yoga class and then have lunch with some of her friends. She didn’t appear to find it surprising that Ruth and Carter had canceled their days and were planning to stay in. She asked the housekeeper to fix them something good for breakfast and then told them there was a fire still going in the library, so they might as well go and enjoy it. They could have breakfast in there.

  Ruth saw no reason to argue with that suggestion. She went to the library and curled up on the sofa near the fireplace.

  It was warm and toasty and felt like the holidays, even more so when breakfast came. Eggs, sausage, bacon, and waffles with fruit. Plus coffee and hot chocolate.

  She and Carter ate on the couch. They ate a lot, and all of it was delicious. It was almost noon when Carter pushed the cart with the dirty dishes out into the hallway and shut the door.