“Is it hard not being close to your family?” She reached into his bag and stole one of his potato chips.
“When I was younger, yes, but I hardly think about it now.” He took a chug of his water before sharing something with her that had always been in his heart. “You know, I always envied how tight you and your family were. Holidays and birthdays were always celebrated with such gusto. One day I plan to have that with my own family.”
She stopped eating for a moment and looked off in the distance. “They’re a pretty nice bunch.”
“You wish you would have gone to Florida, instead of coming here?”
Glancing back at him, she shook her head. “No.” She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I’m happy where I am.”
He lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. He wanted to share more with her about how he felt having her back in his life, but he respected her wish not to get too serious.
“Besides, I will fly in on Christmas Day and get all the love.”
“True.” He took another bite of his sandwich.
His phone started to vibrate. He took it out of his pants pocket and then checked it. Recognizing the number even though it was marked unknown, he chose to ignore it and shut his phone off.
“You can answer it if you need to. I don’t mind.”
He hadn’t missed some unspoken question clouding her eyes.
Shaking his head, he put it away. “No need.”
They resumed eating for a few moments.
“So, tell me about the girl who broke your heart. How long did you go out?” She was asking him the question, but he noticed she kept her focus on the last few bites of fruit in her bowl.
“I never said I was heartbroken.”
“Never said you weren’t.” She pushed her bowl to the side and glanced at him.
He waved his hand in the air. “Nothing really to talk about. We were together for about six months, then Ashley decided I wasn’t the guy for her. Case closed.”
Carson knew there was a little bite to his voice; it wasn’t due to any residual feeling for Ashley, but the embarrassment still got to him. Being the brunt of jokes over the last year was annoying, and when the holidays drew closer this year, people had started up again.
“Sorry I brought it up.” She broke her sandwich in half and took small bites at the meat hanging over the sides.
Shit, now he’d ruined the mood. Standing up, he leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek then sat again. “Look, can we go back a few moments and start over? I’m here with you right now and that is the most important thing to me.”
She pretended to ponder his question, tilting her head to the side and staring at him, then she grinned. “I’d like that.”
“Good.” For the remainder of their meal they brought each other up to date on old mutual friends they’d grown up with.
“Man, I am stuffed and beat. I could use a nap.” Ryanne leaned back in her seat and rubbed her stomach.
“Is that an invitation, sugar-lips?” Resting his forearms on the table he allowed his gaze to travel along her body, currently encased in a sweatshirt with the resort’s name and logo on it. Another item she’d purchased in the shop.
“Oh, no, it is not. And don’t you sugar-lips and try to sweet-talk me, either. I have not been getting my eight hours of sleep at night as it is, mister.”
He held his hands up at his side. “I take full responsibility for that. But I can’t help it if you are so damn irresistible.”
“You’re going to have to get over it for the next two hours.” She stood and grabbed her trash. “However, you are welcome to join me in getting a little shut-eye, if you like.”
“Not if we are just going to sleep.”
She laughed and moved to the trashcan beside the exit. “We are.”
After tossing his things into the receptacle, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, not caring who may see them. Lifting his lips, he said, “You sleep. I have a few things I need to do. I will come get you in a little while.”
“Deal.” She kissed him again and then moved to the bank of elevators, one arriving just then.
“See you soon.”
* * *
“One second.” Ryanne pulled one of her new sweaters over her head, this one wool. She didn’t particularly care for the itchy feeling of the material, but she knew it would keep her warm. Carson had called her thirty minutes ago, waking her up and telling her to dress for outside. She hoped they were going to walk through the village. She wanted to see the lights and decorations. Strolling through the area holding hands with him would be the first time she didn’t feel like a fifth wheel during the holiday.
Grabbing the comb off the bathroom counter, she jogged lightly to the door as she dragged the comb through her hair.
“Hi, beautiful.” Carson stood there looking sexy as sin. His muscular frame was encased nicely in jeans, a gray-and-black flannel shirt that brought his eyes out, and his thick ski coat that was hanging open.
“Hi, yourself.” Stepping to him, she kissed him, letting him know in that passionate display how much she had missed not having him by her side while she slept. It amazed her that she’d only been sleeping beside him for two nights and already he was a significant presence.
Breathless, she moved back. “Come in. I’ll be ready in a minute. I just need to put my boots on.”
He entered and she sat on the small sofa and stepped into her heavy boots.
“So, where are we headed? You never did say.”
“You will have to wait and see.” He stood beside the couch with a lopsided grin on his face.
Rising, she grabbed her coat. He helped her put it on, then she pulled her cap out of the pocket and slipped it on. “Then let’s go, mister secret man.”
“Lead the way.” He waved his arm before her, letting her go out the door first.
* * *
“It’s beautiful, Carson.” Ryanne climbed off the back of the snowmobile and walked to the edge of the trail where the trees broke.
As he shut off the machine, he sat for a moment just admiring the purple and golden light of the setting sun reflecting off her. She was beautiful. Not just on the outside, but in everything she did—laughing, smiling, being silly, discussing her family or her job, especially in the throes of passion.
“How did you know about this place?” She looked back at him over her shoulder.
The snow crunched under his feet as he moved toward her. When he stood behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and wished they both weren’t wearing bulky jackets so he could feel her warmth.
“I asked the clerk about the trails and which ones were the best to travel. He led me to this path and told me that if we made it just in time, we could see the sun set over the mountains.”
She rubbed her gloved hands along the backs of his. “Thank you. It is amazing.”
Burying his nose against the side of her neck, he inhaled her scent. “You’re amazing.”
The urge to tell her how he felt about her weighed on him, but he held his tongue. When they left the resort and got back to Charlotte, he would have ample time to talk.
He was happy to be away from the noise and crowds around the main part of the resort and village. Out there in the open it was just Ryanne and him in the world, content in each other’s arms.
Even touching the small patch of her skin was driving him crazy. Hours ago he had wanted to follow her up to her room and just hold her while she slept. However, he knew it was a strong possibility he would not have been able to be that honorable.
“Tell me something, Carson.” She spoke softly.
“What’s that, sugar-lips?” He began to place small kisses along the side of her neck, up behind her ear, and felt her shiver. “Are you cold?”
“No.”
He dragged his lips back down to the curve of her neck, pushing her collar aside for better access. “Then what is it?”
“Why is it that whene
ver you touch me I get so turned on I feel like ripping my clothes off and getting you inside me? Can a person go insane from desire?”
Oh, shit. He froze. He didn’t move an inch as he took in her words and his cock stretched and hardened behind the zipper of his jeans.
“Carson?” Her voice was edged with concern.
Lowering his hands to the front tops of her thighs, he pressed her back against him, allowing her to feel what her nearness did to him.
She shivered again, adding a moan with it as she rolled her head back onto his shoulder.
“If you’re insane, I’m there with you.” Turning her around, he pulled her against him and kissed her, deep and hard. He gave her his passion and consumed what she gave him in return.
As the kiss went on, he cupped her ass in both hands, gripping her cheeks tight, and he ground his stiff cock to the apex of her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his hips and rotated her hips against him.
He groaned, feeling the heat of her sex searing him between two pairs of jeans. The small corner of his brain that was still functioning on the small amount of blood that was left there tried to convince him that the middle of a mountain in the early hours of night was not the time to consider all the ways he wanted to be inside Ryanne. He fought hard to listen, to hold on to that tiny nugget of sanity as his tongue fucked her mouth, thrusting between her lips forcefully as she tried to capture and suck it.
Breaking her mouth away, she looked around, her features strained with passion. “Damn it, snow is everywhere!”
He would have laughed at her revelation, since they were in the Colorado Mountains in December, but there wasn’t anything remotely funny when he felt just as sexually overwrought as she was.
“Wait, I have an idea.” Dragging her back to the mobile, he bit the tip of one of his gloves and yanked it off his hand, then the other. “Undo your pants.”
“What?”
He snatched her gloves off her hands and chucked them in the direction of his. “Now, baby, we only have so much time.”
Apprehension was evident in the lines on her forehead, but he was happy to see that didn’t stop her from releasing the fastenings of her pants. He released his button and zipper too, allowing the sides to hang open, giving his cock room.
Once she was done, he stepped toward her and grabbed two fistfuls of denim and dragged her pants down her legs to the tops of her calves, taking her panties with them.
“I think you just became mayor of crazy town.”
“Yup.” Lifting her by the waist, he took two steps forward until he had her back pressed against the wide trunk of a tree. She gripped his shoulders. He leaned his chest against her, keeping her in place. Shoving his pants past his hips just enough to free his throbbing cock, he lowered one hand to grab the back of her knee, then the other.
Once he had her legs hooked over his arms, with her pants bunched between their chests, he said, “Thank goodness you’re on the pill, because I think that a condom would freeze on my dick out here.”
She laughed.
He winked at her, then thrust his hips forward and warmed his member in her wet heat.
She gasped. “Oh my God, you’re cold!”
“That’s okay. Your tight pussy is like liquid fire. It will thaw in a second.”
Putting her hands behind his neck, she kissed him.
Breaking the kiss for a moment, he said, “This is going to be a rough, quick ride. Can you take it?”
“Oh, ye-s-s…” She screamed as he slammed into her until the base of his cock was kissed by the mouth of her sex.
* * *
She had ice melting down the crack of her ass. Ryanne couldn’t believe that she was letting Carson bang her up against a snow-covered tree and loving every second of it. She squeezed her sex around his shaft, not wanting to miss one ounce of pleasure he gave her. Their breaths mingled like wispy clouds around their faces.
“Harder!” She could feel her orgasm coiling in her stomach, making her sex feel achy all over as it throbbed in time with his thrusts.
“God, you feel so good. I’m not going to last much longer. Come with me, baby,” he growled against her neck, where he was suckling her skin fiercely.
“Fuck me! Don’t stop!” she pleaded, needing to climax so bad she shook with it.
Leaning his body back just a little, he pistoned his hard dick into her. The deep impact hit just the right angle and stroked the sensitive flesh inside her walls behind her clit, pushing her over the cliff of ecstasy.
One breath later, Carson joined her in paradise as his hot seed bathed her inner walls.
They remained in that position for a moment, gulping in cold night air as they waited for their bodies and minds to return to some semblance of sanity.
“Shit, I think I have frostbite on my ass.” He chuckled as he pulled out and let her feet return to the ground.
“Well, at least your ass wasn’t being fucked into a frozen tree.” She pulled up her pants.
He jerked his up, hissing at the sting on his wind-chapped backside. “When we get back to the room, I’ll put you in a hot bath, then lick it dry until it’s all better.”
“Animal.” She reached up on her tiptoes and kissed his nose.
“What can I say, you bring out the beast in me.” He went to the snowmobile, grabbed her gloves and helped her put them on her hands, then slipped into his.
“I try.” She smiled at him. She was telling the truth; she liked him wild and out of control. Maybe not in freezing temperatures next time, but she’d deal with anything to be in his arms.
Straddling the seat, he turned on the ignition. “Come on, so I can take you walking in the village to see the Christmas lights.”
Climbing on behind him, she encircled his waist with her arms and asked, “Can we get hot cocoa, too?”
“Whatever you desire, sugar-lips, I got you.” Flicking on the lights, he drove them back up the path toward the resort and village.
Chapter Nine
Christmas Eve
“Shit, man, are you sprung or what? I haven’t seen your ass in days,” Phillip said when he entered their double suite and saw Carson sitting on the sofa putting on his boots.
Carson couldn’t hide the broad smile that pulled at his mouth as he thought of the reason for his absence from his best friend: Ryanne. In almost a week, she had completed his life, walking in with her sassy nature and capturing his heart once again. Closing time as if the eight years apart never existed.
“Yeah, I’ve been a little busy.” He laced up one heavy boot.
“I’ll say. I’m surprised you even came up for air.” Phillip sat on the arm of one of the single chairs.
His friend was right. Carson and Ryanne had stayed to themselves today, not venturing out to do any group activities. They’d both agreed to some alone time of board games and sex, with an occasional meal thrown in. If it wasn’t for the fact he needed to shower and don warmer clothing for their outing tonight, he’d never have left. “What can I say? My woman loves lights, so we’re going on the sleigh ride and to see the tree lighting in the village.”
He finished the second boot.
“Your woman?” Folding his arms over his chest, Phillip assessed him. “It’s like that, huh? Is it that serious?”
Leaning back in the chair for a moment, Carson met his best friend’s gaze so the other man would read how he felt about Ryanne. “It is. I’ve always cared for her, a lot, and thought about being with her. The only difference is now I’m acting on it, not just sitting back and hoping that I’m going to have a future with her. I’m going to do everything I can to live it with her.”
“Damn. That’s some deep shit. I remember you liked her back when we were going up, but I just thought it was because she was fine as hell. Shit, all the McCall girls were erection-worthy, but I guess it was something more.” There was an emotion that looked like regret on Phillip’s face.
Carson wondered if seeing him with Ryanne had caused his
best friend to hope for something more than the empty sexual conquests Phillip had always gorged himself on. Deciding to leave that conversation for another day, not wanting to miss getting him and Ryanne a place on the sleigh, Carson didn’t call Phillip on it.
“Well, I need to get downstairs. They said it was first come, first served.” He pushed up from the seat and grabbed his coat.
Phillip stood as well. “I’ll be down in a sec. A group of us were planning to take the ride and hang out in the village. I need to layer up.”
“No caroling?” Carson joked as he pulled on his coat and checked his pockets to make sure his gloves were inside.
Chuckling, Phillip shook his head. “Fuck no. I plan to leave that for the sappy lovers.”
Patting his friend on the back, Carson said, “I’ll take that title.” Turning, Carson headed for the door.
“Oh, Car, I forgot. Ashley has been calling the shit out of me wanting to speak with you. Asking when you would be home. Saying it was urgent.”
Tunneling his fingers through his hair, Carson stopped and faced Phillip. “Didn’t know that. She’s called me a few times since we’ve been here. I deleted her name from my contacts so it shows up unknown, thank goodness, because Ryanne saw it a few times. I blocked the number. That must have been when she started bugging you.”
“What does she want? It’s been over a year now, and didn’t she marry that old coot?”
“Yes, she did. Shortly after she returned from Paris. She had the nerve to invite me to the wedding.” Carson shook his head. “She’s been leaving messages, but I haven’t bothered to listen to them. Whatever she wants, I don’t want to hear it. She walked away. It’s over.”
“I hear that. Besides, you got a good thing with Ryanne. Don’t let that go.”
“I’m not.”
Carson left the room and rode the elevator down to the first floor. Crossing the lobby, he headed for the activities desk.
“Good evening, sir, may I assist you?” a young, blond white guy asked when Carson walked up.
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