I obviously didn’t think this through. I was naked, and he was clothed. I had a dry glass, and he had a full bottle. I wanted everything he had to offer. Out of the water, I rose, my muscles, although sore, were relaxed and flexible. On my knees, I sat in front of him and tried to even the playing field. His Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow. His face lit with wonder.
It was tough to drag his soggy polo shirt over his head, especially because he refused to let go of the wine, but I was committed. And by the heat in his eyes, he wasn’t going to fight.
I ran my hands over his heated chest. My fingers explored the hills and valleys of his muscles. Pressing my breasts against him, I reveled in the feel of his hair against my sensitive nipples. They rose, seeking him—his touch.
The rugged sound of desire rumbled through him. I leaned back to see his face, and his expression was carnal. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. It showed in his heavy lids and the lips he’d just licked with his delectable tongue.
Next to go were his saturated socks. When I rose to position myself to remove his pants, he took advantage of my proximity and pulled a hardened nipple into his mouth. It was my turn to groan. He set my body on fire.
I yanked and pulled at his pants but they weren’t budging. I would have cut them off if scissors had been handy, but sadly I was not equipped to cut my way to his treasure. Thankfully, he stood in front of me and dropped his khakis.
Wow, treasure was an understatement. I’d found the freaking hope diamond. Rock hard, and glistening in the glow of the candlelight.
“Are you sure?” He knelt in front of me, and I took pleasure in his desire for me. His arms snaked around my waist and over my backside, pulling me against his arousal. We moaned in unison. “What changed your mind? I thought there was no sleeping with the boss.”
“It’s Christmas, and I’ve been naughty. I imagine I deserve a bit of Cole.” I ran my hand between us and gripped his hardness. It flexed in my palm. Heavy and engorged, it was ready. He was ready.
“You want Cole for Christmas? I’ll give you a lot of Cole for Christmas.” He maneuvered my body so I was prone in the tub. We’d splashed most of the water out when he’d tumbled in. There were mere inches left. Just enough to make us slick. Enough to make it fun.
“So you used condoms, IUD, and the pill?” I wanted to get the important stuff out of the way so we could get to the good stuff.
“Yes. You?” He reached for the pocket of his pants. The leather wallet he pulled from it was ruined, but he didn’t seem to mind. He pulled out a foil packet and waved it in front of my face.
“Pill and condoms. He didn’t want to risk pregnancy. It’s up to you. I’m clean.” He seemed shocked I’d allow him to go bareback, but I’d been cautious my whole life. I wanted to feel him, really feel him. Only him.
He tossed the packet aside and lowered himself against me. Our tongues battled, our breath hitched. We made love with our mouths, and when I clawed at his back, he buried himself deep inside me, stretching me, filling me.
“I’ve wanted this since you left a gingerbread man on the table for me to decorate.” He began to move in a slow sensual slide. “Actually, I wanted you the minute you showed up at my house and began bossing me around, but I wasn’t free to want.” He was watching me, I was watching him, and nothing was more important than this very moment. “Now I am, and I find you irresistible.”
As he moved inside me, something profound happened. I fell in love. In a week, he’d become a part of me as necessary as my blood and bones. And that terrified me.
How could I fall so hard and fast? He touched his lips to mine, pulled away, and growled, “This is so much more than you or I could have imagined.”
He put words to my thoughts. Yes, this was more.
My body quivered from his motion, the pressure, the rhythm, but I flew over the edge at his words and he followed me. We lay spent, soaking wet in three inches of water mixed with cabernet. The bottle floated near my dripping wet curls. We would need another bottle of fun. This one had made the ultimate sacrifice.
He pressed his forehead to mine. “Wow.” One word that ended with a kiss. When he released my mouth he continued to worship my body with soft kisses planted on my lips, eyes, cheeks, and neck. “You’re an incredibly beautiful woman.”
In awe of the man, I couldn’t utter a word. He was everything. Everything and more.
When the water turned cold, he shifted. “I’ll start the shower.” He stepped from the tub, and I got the first look at his buns of steel. Globes of perfection waiting for my hands to explore the combination of soft skin and hard muscle. I rinsed the wine-infused water down the drain and stepped out to join him.
The shower sprayed from multiple jets. Steam rose and was trapped by the ceiling-high glass. We stood together in the fog, the thick atmosphere adding to the mystery of the moment. With gentleness, he cleansed my body and massaged my muscles. I was silly putty in his hands.
I explored every inch of his gloriousness under the ruse of washing him. I skimmed his broad shoulders and let my soapy hands find their way down his back. Slick fingers caressed and kneaded his firm ass. Kneeling, I rubbed his strong thighs and muscular calves. When I stood, I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressed my face against his prickly chest, and held on in fear I’d wake from this dream dressed in ski pants and ugly cotton underwear.
It seemed like words would ruin the moment and yet his were perfect. “Cici, I don’t know how you ended up in my life, but you’re working your way into my heart.”
I nearly puddled at his feet. It was the perfect thing to say at the perfect moment. I didn’t dare tell him I was falling as well. I’d learned not to verbalize my weakness. The last time I told a man I loved him, he told me that was sweet and then cheated on me. Love was a four-letter word that made people dash in the wrong direction. Speechless, I reached up and gently kissed him on his lips.
Grr . . . the rumble of my stomach echoed in the tile enclosure. We both looked down and knocked heads in the process. Laughter silenced my growling stomach.
He stepped out first and grabbed a towel from the cupboard. He didn’t see to himself. Instead, he wrapped me up like a mummy and dried me off.
“I looked at the take-out menu, and they have an eggplant dish with vegetarian sauce. They also have a vegetarian egg drop soup.” He had taken the time to investigate, and that meant so much. “What do you want me to order for you?”
My ex would have ordered what he wanted and told me to pick the meat out and eat the rest.
“It all sounds perfect. You order, and I’ll be down in a minute.” I had to reapply my makeup. What didn’t get removed while my face dragged along the snowpack was now running down my cheeks after our steamy shower. And yet he’d called me beautiful.
I wrapped the towel around my body and attempted to pull myself together. I’d just experienced the most amazing sex with the most amazing man. My face was flush, and my body tingled with the excitement of finally finding someone worthy of my heart.
Chapter 11
I skimmed through the cookbook to make sure I didn’t have to prepare anything tonight, and it was a good thing I did. The recipe called for lots of chopped herbs. That was something I could definitely get out of the way. The book said something about trimming off the excess fat and saving it. Yuk. Why feed these animals so much if you don’t want them to have fat? Ew. The thought turned my stomach.
I’d put on a comfortable pair of jeans and a sweater my mom had knitted. We had a Christmas tradition in my family. Members had to don the ugliest Christmas sweater known to man, and my mom’s claim to fame was creating them.
Even though I couldn’t be with them, I’d wear this monstrosity of a sweater in honor of my family. It was a snowman riding a reindeer. It’s head perfectly situated over one breast giving it the appearance of lopsided boobs. The best part was the wiggly eyes my mother glued to the reindeer. The black pupils moved with each step, drawing the eyes to my
chest.
When I made it downstairs, I headed straight for the kitchen. Herbs, lots of herbs, needed chopping. Grandma Izzy was sitting at the counter when I pulled the rosemary, sage, thyme, and parsley from the refrigerator.
“You’re glowing, Cici, in spite of that ugly sweater. That bath must have done you good.” She smiled at me with a knowing smile. My reflection showed in the kitchen window, and I swore I was the color of purple cabbage.
“A hot bath and a glass of wine can change a life.” It had certainly changed mine.
“Yes, so can a hot man and a king-sized bed.” She picked up her glass and sipped. She studied me like a gemologist studies a diamond.
“Where is your hot man and king-sized bed?” I asked, hoping to redirect the attention. I didn’t want to be having a birds and bees conversation at thirty with Elias’s widowed grandmother. I liked her. However, I’d just made love to Elias for the first time, and I wanted that moment to be mine for a while longer.
She put her wine glass down and asked, “What kind of birth control do you use? I’m hoping the ineffective kind because I’m not getting any younger and need great-grandchildren before I die.” She gave me an I’m cute look old people and children give when they know they’ve said something inappropriate.
“Sorry to bust your bubble, Ms. Izzy, but there will be no little Elias Coles running around anytime soon.” Of course, that came out of my mouth the minute he walked in with his hands full of Chinese take-out bags.
“What’s this about little Elias Coles?” He placed the bags on the counter, then leaned over and gave me a kiss. Not a deep one, but a genuine kiss on the lips with a tease of his tongue.
Was I supposed to say your grandma wants to poke a hole in the condom we didn’t use because she wants great grandbabies? I didn’t know what to say. As it turns out I didn’t have to say anything.
“Elias, I’m seventy-four years old, and not getting any younger. I like this girl. She’s perfect for you in every way.” Izzy glanced my way. Her eyes landed on my middle. “Besides, she has child-bearing hips. I’m sure she can give me a few babies before I die.”
I was speechless, as I’d never had anyone analyze my hips for birthing babies before. When I turned to Elias, he had turned a shade of crimson that matched the wine in his grannie’s glass. “I’ll have to give that some thought.” He slid behind me and grabbed my hips. His fingers tightened on my hipbones dragging me back against him. “She does have perfect hips, Grandma, you are right about that.” He buried his face in the crook of my neck and nibbled. “And she tastes as sweet as she is.”
“Should I leave?” Izzy asked. She topped off her wine and began to unpack the food.
“Yes, Grandma, we are going to do it right here on the kitchen floor.”
Izzy was obviously used to his smart mouth. “Pfft.” She waved her hand in a dismissive fashion and continued to unpack the food. “Don’t let me interrupt.”
“Both of you need to stop. You’re talking about me like a breeding mare. Elias, go help your grandmother. Izzy, you’d have more luck asking Santa for babies.” I began to chop the herbs while the family filed into the kitchen to eat.
Elias leaned into me and whispered, “I’d like to be between those child-rearing hips about now.” He kissed my cheek and walked off.
Funny how he had a way of voicing my thoughts.
Gretchen sidled up to me and pulled the rosemary from the stems. “Herbed prime rib? That sounds so good. What temperature do you cook yours at?”
I had no idea what to tell her. I hadn’t read that far in the book. “Ummm, you know, hot enough to kill it.” I tried to hide behind a giggle, but she didn’t appear to buy it.
“You don’t kill a prime rib, Cici, you merely scare it to medium rare.” She pulled the knife from my hands and led me to the dinner table where everyone was seated.
I sat between Elias and Maggie. We passed the dishes to the right and everyone helped themselves. Plenty of dishes were Cici friendly. Steamed vegetables. Vegetarian egg drop soup. Eggplant in black bean sauce. Bok choy and shiitake mushroom stir-fry. There were also many carnivore dishes like crispy duck, beef with broccoli, chicken with cashews, and pork fried rice. There was enough food to feed the Coles for days. That could be a bonus. Less cooking for me.
Maggie tapped her glass and stood. “I want to make a toast to Cici for making my son happy again.” She lowered her head and kissed me on the cheek. I felt terrible about our ruse. “And, Elias, please buy this girl some sweaters. That one is ghastly.” All eyes went to my sweater.
“I’ll have you know my mother knitted me this sweater.” I reached for my best hurt voice. Izzy had already called my sweater atrocious. I’d play this up and give them a bit of their own stuff back. They were sure good at dishing it out.
“Now, Maggie, that wasn’t nice,” Clint said. “Cici obviously likes her sweater.” He looked at my sweater and shook his head. “Who are we to judge? Don’t forget she’s cooking our dinner tomorrow; you don’t want to offend her.” It was awful, but I had them.
“My mother knitted until her fingers blistered to make this sweater for me. Feel it, as far as fifty-fifty blends go, it’s pretty soft.” I put my arm in the center of the table and offered a feel to anyone who dared. No one did. They looked at me with pity. It was time to come clean, otherwise, they might lose their appetites. “I challenge you to find one as lovely. And next year you can join the ugly sweater contest, but I’ll have you know the Craigs take their ugly sweater contest seriously.”
Laughter erupted at the table. Even quiet Uncle Fritz was chuckling.
“I thought we were going to have to have an intervention,” he said, right before he stuffed his mouth full of duck.
“I love that idea. I say we adopt Cici’s family tradition and look for the most distasteful sweater we can find, but Cici is banned from wearing that twice.” Elias talked like we would spend our next holiday together. It was part of the subterfuge for sure, but it did sound appealing. Despite being away from my family, I felt home. Part of a family. It felt like Christmas.
After dinner, I went back to herb chopping while Gretchen cleaned up. Elias had gone to the living room to turn on Christmas music and set up some kind of surprise for everyone.
“Time to come clean.” Gretchen leaned against the counter and crossed her arms.
“About what?” Holy shit. Did she know Elias and I weren’t really an item? How was I going to get out of this?
“I’ve been here for two days, and you haven’t eaten anything but vegetables, eggs, and cheese. I asked about cooking the prime rib and you said you were going to kill it. How do you plan to pull off cooking dinner when you don’t eat meat?”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Gretchen is far more observant than her brother. I’d shared multiple meals with him, and he hadn’t had a clue. “Oh, that. I didn’t want you guys to worry about getting sick from E. coli, Salmonella, or Campylobacter jejuni.”
“Campila what?”
I waved her off with a toss of my hand and said, “It’s a food-borne bacteria that can make you sick. Eating animals can be dangerous.”
“Yeah, especially if they’re still alive.” She began to laugh uncontrollably.
I waited for her to settle down. “Don’t say anything, okay? In truth, I wanted your mother to like me and to shout out I’m a vegetarian could freeze her meat-eating heart. She may fear her son will starve to death being with me.” I was so impressed with myself for coming up with that thought on the fly. And if the truth were told, I did want her to like me. Elias and I were developing something together. I wasn’t sure if it would turn out to be anything, but I was hopeful because my heart was fully engaged.
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“What secret is that?” Elias seemed to have some powerful magic that brought him into conversations at the most inopportune times.
“My famous herbed prime rib recipe.”
“Oh, now it’s famous?” He sl
id in behind me and pulled me against him. His hands wrapped around my waist and splayed across my stomach. It was such an intimate and knowing touch. The heat of his body felt so comforting. I needed his reassurance, knowing his sister was watching me the way a hawk watched a field mouse.
“Well, historical in any event.” Turning around in his arms, I wrapped mine around his waist and squeezed. Burying my face in his chest, I sucked in the spicy scent of him.
“Hey, Gretchen, can you finish up in here? I need a few minutes alone with Julia Child.” Again, Gretchen laughed. She was still laughing when Elias led me upstairs to his bedroom.
As soon as the door was closed he led me to the bed where he reached inside my pants and stroked my bottom. I moaned in response. His hands raced up my back and reached for my bra clasp. Oh, this man had dangerous, skillful hands, and I didn’t want him to stop. It was like he had a thousand fingers, and they were touching me everywhere at once. His tongue danced with mine as if we’d kissed each other a million times. My skin was on fire. My panties were drenched. “What are you doing?” I whispered between kisses, praying he’d continue.
“I’m spending quality time with you.” He pulled at my sweater, but I stopped his progress.
Panting, I said, “We can’t do this right now. Your family is downstairs waiting for us.” His hands stalled at the hem of my sweater. “Didn’t you say something about a surprise?” His growl made my insides twist. It was sexy and sensual. The kind of growl a man released when he wanted what he couldn’t have. Judging by the fierce hard-on pressed against me, he wanted me.
“I can’t stop thinking about how much I love baths now.” He wrapped one hand around my bottom and another around my head. His fingers laced through my curls. Our lips met in the center, his head rising, mine lowering, each of us seeking the other again. When his tongue probed for access, I sunk completely against him, giving up any control I had. It was minutes before I came up for air.
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