Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

by Stacey Kennedy

  When he stopped and cut the ignition, she got off and glanced out at the frozen pond, unable to believe her eyes. She moved closer, squinting at the lights she could see on the other side. The rows of cabins, with lights on inside.

  “Is this…?” She could barely get the words out.

  Darryl stepped closer. “Our spot.”

  She pulled her scarf aside then glanced into the warmth of his eyes. His face mask was down, and she could see his breath was quick, like her own. Unable to find words to explain the emotion squeezing at her heart, she glanced around and spotted the big large boulder. Not much had changed in the area in the ten years she’d been there except the snow that covered the ground. “You kissed me right here.” She turned around and sat on the rock, exactly like she had that one warm night.

  Darryl smiled, identical to that night she had never been able to forget. As he strode toward her, reality flickered, the past returning like no time had passed by at all.

  God, Darryl was hot. Lean, and his hair was so messy and wild, with eyes that melted her bones. While she loved her summers in River Rock with her cousins, it providing a nice break from all the yelling and fighting at home between her parents, she never expected to find Darryl. He’d been the best surprise of getting the job as a camp counselor she never wanted but her aunt forced her to get.

  Darryl brought heat and intensity with him as he approached her with purposeful steps, and that curve of his mouth told her he was coming in for a kiss. She wanted his kiss.

  “You’re going to get me fired,” he said. “We both could get fired for this.”

  “It’s fun to live on the wild side.” She smiled, all for show. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. This was so happening. She slowly pressed herself against the boulder behind her. “And I know you want me as much as I want you.” Five days they’d had together, flirting, laughing, and teasing each other. The best five days of her life.

  He licked his lips, watching her mouth. “You’re right. I do want you.”

  She nibbled her bottom lip then crossed her legs, squeezing her thighs against the building warmth and wetness. “Then what are you waiting for? Kiss me.”

  Heat flared in his eyes, and she burned all over when he closed the distance and pressed his lips against hers. His mouth was soft and yet held strength too. He wrapped his one arm around her, then his mouth opened ever so slightly until his tongue brushed against hers. He held her tight, showing her the way with his gentle mouth, and she didn’t want him to ever stop.

  But then he did.

  And when he broke away, she felt breathless and lightheaded. “Not bad for our first kiss,” she joked.

  He wasn’t smiling. He stared at her with an intensity she’d never known. “Believe me, Penelope, stick with me, and I’ll make our first everything incredible.” Desire simmered between them before his mouth met hers again. He kissed her harder this time, more demanding. His tongue thrust into her mouth. His fingers tightened around her ponytail, and when he deepened the kiss, a needy sound escaped her mouth that she’d never heard before.

  One she wanted to make again. And louder. She wiggled against all his hardness, never wanting him to stop.

  But then he did. And when he drew away, his gaze burned hot and possessive. “Damn, girl, you make me want to kiss you every day for the rest of my life.”

  When Darryl’s fingers gripped her chin, she returned to the now, and she stared into the eyes of a man not a boy. “This is where I kissed you, just like this. Do you remember?”

  Something inside of her shifted, a pang in her heart flickered, when he brought his lips close to hers. “I remember everything,” she whispered.

  Then his lips met hers, and the kiss was different, more emotion packed than when they were younger. She fell into the kiss, feeling like they’d somehow dropped into a time warp. They were the same people, but different. She was different, and she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about who she was now, if maybe somehow she’d lost her way these past few years.

  Once she believed in love, and she knew that all those years ago when her mom dragged her from camp to announce their divorce, she stopped believing and became a person who ran from anything serious.

  But now, in this moment, she felt good about his kiss.

  So damn good.

  She didn’t want him to stop kissing her, but he did. He leaned away and smiled softly. “Just as I remember it.”

  She mirrored his smile to hide the emotions flaring in her chest.

  He let out a long breath, creating a cloud of white between them when he stepped back to settle on the rock next to her, and glanced out to the lake. “It’s amazing how much things have changed in the ten years since we were here before.”

  She brought up one knee, resting her chin on top. “So much has changed, hasn’t it?” Maybe that’s what bothered her most. She wasn’t sure she liked how she’d changed. Really, what had she done in those ten years? Nothing. “Any regrets?” she asked.

  “No,” he answered without hesitation. “Things happened because they needed to.” His gaze fell to hers. “And we’re back here again, aren’t we?”

  “We are,” she managed through her thick throat.

  A long moment passed as she stared out at the cabins that had been the last place she’d ever felt at home until now. Everything had changed after she left camp. She changed. She could barely remember that innocent girl back then who didn’t know anything about pain. The one who believed in love.

  “How about you?” he asked. “Any regrets?”

  She drew in a long deep breath, finding the answer an easy one to give. “I regret that I’m not the same girl that sat on this rock ten years ago.”

  He went unnaturally still. “What girl is that?”

  “The girl that thought love was easy.” She hesitated then opened her heart. “The girl that believed a parent could love you above all else. The girl that believed that fate would always lead you to the right place, as long as you were a good person. The girl that believed in the damn fairytale.”

  She thought Darryl might give her the same answer that everyone did—love was easy. Or some other platitude she didn’t believe, but he didn’t. He said, “Love is fucked up, and can fuck you up, but sometimes it’s all about finagling your way through it until you find something that makes you happy…whatever that may be.”

  When her throat tightened with emotion, she looked away, and he added, “You don’t deserve the way your parents hurt you, Penelope.”

  She forced a smile. “What’s the saying? Something can only hurt you if you let it.”

  “That’s a hard lesson when it’s coming from your parents.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “And I should know since I have a bastard of a father that walked out on us and never came back.”

  Silence fell between them.

  She drew in another long breath, staring out at the cabins. She supposed there was some truth behind what he said. She only got one shot at this crazy thing called life. Maybe it was time to stop running and find that thing that made her happy. “Ever wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t been ripped away that day?” she asked him.

  He wrapped his arm around her. “I wondered that every day the whole rest of the summer. And then, although I’m ashamed to admit it, sometimes even when I was with Nat.”

  Somehow, she didn’t need to hear more than that. Because life did happen. Everything changed that night he kissed her. The life she had was forever different in so many ways. What she believed of love and loyalty was tossed away. And she was left to glue her own self together. But she never forgot the kiss or the guy who wanted to be her first everything.

  Darryl.

  She dropped her head on his shoulder. “You did it, you know.”

  “What did I do?”

  “You totally are better than a Christmas movie.”

  His laughter echoed across the lake, and she smiled with him, feeling like it was perhaps the most honest smile she�
�d had in ten years.

  Chapter Six

  The ride back to the cabin had been bitterly cold with the brisk wind hitting Darryl’s face. Penelope hung on tight, thankfully blocked by his torso. She’d been quiet for a while at the lake, and he’d wondered what weighed so heavily on her mind. Probably her terrible fucking parents. They didn’t deserve her. He barely knew her and still could figure that out. When they finally made it back to the cabin, she’d remained closed off, and even after he built a fire, she sat on the couch, staring at the flames, silently in her own mind.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. After he got the fire roaring, he turned to her and asked gently, “Why so quiet?”

  She drew in a long deep breath before looking away from the fire toward him. Her expression showed very little. “Just thinking.”

  “About?” he pressed.

  “About how different life was when we had those five days together,” she eventually said. “We were so young, so free, all of our dreams ahead of us.”

  “You are still young,” he reminded her, “and if I may say, very much free.”

  Her eyes warmed with her laugh, and she shook her head. “It’s different.”

  “How so?”

  “Maybe I’m more jaded now,” she offered, obviously not fearful of stating the truth. “Definitely more aware that my life isn’t what I thought it’d be.”

  At that, he cocked his head, very curious over that statement. “Your life isn’t what you want it to be?”

  “No, I mean…” She inhaled sharply then sent her gaze onto the fire, neatly avoiding him. “My life is fine. I love traveling, seeing the world, and all that stuff.” The orange hues from the fire cast a soft glow on her face, showing off the gentle lines of her cheekbones. “Tonight, it’s just…I don’t know…I got little pieces of the girl I was back then. Before that night, I lived in this bubble, you know, where life was perfect and happy, and I thought anything was possible. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that girl.”

  His heart reached for her. Fuck, did it ever. Because he remembered that girl too. “You’re as vivacious as you were back then, still strong and sexy and bold.”

  She smiled softly. “But…?”

  He paused. “Honestly?”

  “Why not?”

  “There is one subtle difference I see in you,” he said softly, unsure if speaking the truth would bite him in the ass later. “The girl I met at camp wouldn’t have run. Not from anything.” She quickly glanced away, and he knew he’d hit a nerve, but he also knew it was probably true. “Your strength back then had been mind-boggling to me. I remember thinking that you weren’t a leader. You also weren’t a follower. You were just…Penelope, this force to be reckoned with that had me kissing her when I could lose my job. And I never broke the rules, that’s not who I was back then, nor who I am now.” He spotted her rapid blinking and welling eyes, and added, “And I liked that Penelope. A lot.”

  “You were twenty-years-old. We only spent five days together,” she said with a roll of her eyes to obviously hide her tears.

  He moved to her and knelt in front of the couch. She held his gaze when he cupped her chin. “I still like that Penelope. As much as I like this one.”

  “You don’t even know me anymore,” she whispered.

  With that line, he suddenly realized that he understood her completely. She wasn’t running from shit—she simply couldn’t believe in the things she had before. Life had done its damage, like it had on so many people, but on her, that damage seemed…wrong. “I know what you show me, and that’s certainly enough for me to like what I see.”

  She smiled softly then, but the warmth never reached her eyes. “If only everyone saw what you see.”

  He didn’t have words for her, no matter how bad he wanted them. Some people were assholes. Her parents fell into that category, so did his father, a man he hadn’t seen since he’d walked out on them. If Darryl knew anything, he knew he hated that selfish pricks made this woman feel anything but loved. Desperately wanting to fill that void, he leaned in and waited for her lips to part in invitation before he sealed his mouth against hers. She moaned, moving closer, her arms wrapping around his neck. He gathered her then and laid her out on the rug in front of the crackling fire. “Do you know what I do know about you?”

  “What’s that?” she asked, her soft eyes on his. Eyes that if he looked deep enough had changed from the time he’d known her as a teenager. But eyes that still spoke to him like they had all those years ago. He liked the soul in them. Christ, that soul was so damn bright, she shined. He sealed his mouth across hers to prove a point, kissing her, hard and demanding, unable to stop the way his body yearned to be near hers. When he leaned away, he stated, “I know how when I kiss you like this, your cheeks get pink and your eyes appear to turn darker.” He dropped his mouth to her neck and slid his tongue up its length, and she wiggled under him causing him to smile. “And I know how much you like that spot right there.”

  “Darryl.” She gasped, reaching for his shirt. He helped her remove it over his head, then he kissed her neck again, inhaling the sugary aroma that drove him to near madness. Overwhelmed by the need to make her feel something good, he pushed up her shirt, placing butterfly kisses along her sides and her stomach until he pulled her shirt off then quickly unhooked her bra, freeing her completely. He paid attention to her cues, loving how she arched her back every time he sucked on a nipple, urged on by the soft moans she gave. He continued to kiss his way down her body until he flicked open her jeans. She lifted her hips as he pulled them and her panties down over her legs until he had her bared, completely for him. He slid his hand up her thigh as he opened the button of his jeans, then he paused only momentarily while he shed the rest of his clothing, exposing his hard cock.

  He stroked himself, feeling the urgency running through him. “And I know what you want most of all right now, don’t I?”

  “You,” she rasped, her hair a beautiful blanket beneath her head.

  The flames flickered golden light across her taut nipples and round breasts. He stroked his hand across her nipple then squeezed her breast before running his hand down the center of her chest.

  “Yeah, and goddamn it, Penelope, do I want you too.” He kissed her, hard, demanding, asking for so much because he knew she’d give it to him. His fingers glided across the warmth of her thigh to her buttock where he squeezed her cheek, grinding his hard length against her sex.

  But tonight, he wanted all of her. For himself. To feel her. To taste her. He wanted to memorize every inch of her, so he didn’t forget her when she was gone. He wanted to give her something that apparently no one had given her in the last ten years. Attention. He wanted to make her the center of his world.

  Overwhelmed by her, he began kissing her neck, loving how she squirmed with every touch. He kissed down her stomach, slowly looking up at her, finding her chest rising and falling with her quick breaths, her chin pointed up to the ceiling. When he settled between her thighs, he lifted her legs onto his shoulders. He drew in her musky scent before he slid the flat of his tongue across the smooth wet flesh. “I won’t forget the way you taste,” he told her, watching her as she arched her back.

  He played right there, with gentle strokes, and sometimes firmer touches, learning her likes and dislikes. Until he had every part of her read, then he sucked on her clit and she lifted her hips in invitation. He slid a finger inside her and then another, and then in rhythm with his tongue, he worked her pleasure, reading every move, following the flow of her body, until she showed him how to get her there.

  And damn did he get her there.

  She came against his mouth with a beautiful shudder and a perfect moan.

  While she lay there, a boneless, sexy woman, he sheathed himself with a condom from his wallet. As she began to open her eyes, he moved his body atop hers, poised at her entrance. He kissed her, bringing heat back into her lithe body. The addictive heat he’d discovered between them, a heat he’
d unknowingly been chasing since the night his lips met hers. She wiggled, bringing him deeper inside her, and his mouth froze on hers. He lifted himself up on his forearms, staring into the depths of her eyes.

  That’s where he wanted to look. Right there. In the eyes of the woman, who as a girl made herself unforgettable. And made him act different than he’d acted before. The woman who had him thinking about her for years after she’d left.

  He thrust hard to claim her. Her hands came to his flexed biceps. Her moans drifting around him, her pretty face, her mouth forming a perfect O, her widening eyes, it all brought him more pleasure than he thought he could endure.

  Every minute seemed hotter. Every thrust harder. Faster.

  Soon the intensity became too much. He strained to hold onto his control with each hard, fast thrust, getting them both there, but when her climax hit, her inner walls strangling his shaft, her loud screams filling his ears, his pleasure hit with no warning. He thrust again, emptying himself with a low groan that left him dropping his weight onto her.

  When he finally had the strength to move off her, he withdrew his softening cock, rolling onto his back, and tucked her against his chest. The crackling fire and his own racing heart were all he heard when she finally wiggled against him, getting closer and more comfortable.

  His mind slowly cleared, and with it came a thought he hadn’t really remembered until right now. “I wished for you to come back, you know.”

  She lifted her head, her hair unruly, her lips puffy. “You did?”

  He nodded, fixing her hair with a soft laugh. “After you left, we went to this wishing well with the camp. I tossed a penny in, and you were what I wished for.” He paused, knowing he was throwing a lot out there with this statement. “And you came back.”