“Okay, yes. Something like that.” He almost spoke over her as he answered.
“You mean exactly like that.”
Travis tilted his head back and grumbled in words too low and rough to make sense. When he faced her again he wore a crooked smile, as if he’d been found out and was resigned to it. “With the campground work, and with Austin and Mitch away, Spence’s been working triple time. He handles the nursery business in the evenings after the days of construction.”
That sounded like such a careful sentence, one that downplayed the mess Spence unraveled each day. “How many hours are we talking about?”
“Probably four or five. Maybe more.”
She did a quick calculation and couldn’t come up with much extra time away from work or even for showering. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Look, Lila, it’s who he is. He’s a smart guy who works his ass off. He helps people and never talks about it, but he doesn’t let his job suffer, even if it means going days with almost no sleep.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Well, this time the sacrifice is for you.”
So much giving and she’d been clueless. Actually, if she were honest, she’d practiced a form of not wanting to know. It didn’t take a math genius or super detective to add up the clues here. “He never said a word.”
Travis shook his head. “Not his style but he wouldn’t do it if he didn’t want to.”
“Who would want to work like that?”
Travis closed one eye and with only one left managed to stare her down. “I think it’s more that you matter, so he makes it work.”
The words left an echoing thud in her ears. They wound around her, warmed her. The shield she held in front of her body to block any potential blows lowered a bit. “He’s not easy to understand.”
“Despite the big brain, he’s not nearly as complex as he thinks he is. People rarely are, but you’re good for him.”
She blocked the sentiment. If she let her mind wander down that path...well, a woman needed some self-preservation. “Not for his sleep patterns.”
Travis wiped a hand over his mouth. Spent another second clearing his throat. “I’m thinking sleep is the last thing on his mind as far as you’re concerned.”
And with that she realized she was talking to the wrong man. “Good night, Travis.”
“Good night, ma’am.”
“Lila.”
He smiled. “Lila it is.” He pushed off the railing and treated her to a wink before he lumbered down the stairs, whistling as he went.
Five minutes later she still stood on the porch. When the light didn’t blink out in the farmhouse on the hill, she made a decision. The life-altering kind. She was done with their mutual game of hard-to-get. It was time for her to take control.
* * *
The black lines on the report in front of Spence blurred together into one long smudge. He closed his eyes, hoping they’d focus again when he reopened them. He’d reached the point of them being dry and scratchy as if pebbles swam around in there. Much more of this shit and he’d sign his name to anything.
Not that he had another choice. Seeing Lila every day, reveling in the pure joy she took from completing each task, kept him coming back. That and the pretty face, hot ass and memories of her naked. The same memories that kept him perpetually hard. He hadn’t been this on edge and ready for action since he was a teen and nailed anything that let him.
He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. The office was unusually quiet, having closed hours before. The Christmas tree in the corner by the entrance glowed with a mix of white and red lights as the soft notes of a carol he didn’t quite recognize played on the radio.
The room usually buzzed with activity—phones ringing, printers humming, people in and out and a steady run of chatter about what was happening in town. More than once he’d heard reference to his name and The Last One, and he tried to pretend the tag didn’t apply to Lila. The town’s matchmaking had bloomed out of control and he wasn’t even in the nursery all day to feed it.
When he wasn’t at the campground, he worked up here. He wanted to be one step removed from the greenhouse floor and the constant gossip that raced around over there, but it wasn’t as if he had an abundance of privacy at the farmhouse either. Elaine and Karen sat in desks across from each other. The kids from the high school who did the filing and the guys who made the delivery runs came in and out, asking all sorts of questions.
His area stretched across the far wall, separated from the rest by two chairs and right in the traffic area between the ladies’ desks in front of him and the bathroom and printer room behind him. More than once he’d toyed with the idea of building a closed-in office where he could hide, but he’d never liked the whole boss-as-separate-entity thing. His dad hadn’t done it and Spence was content to follow Dad’s lead on this.
When a floorboard creaked, his eyes popped open. The old house came with a hundred years of groans but this sounded like an intrusion of the human kind.
Lila stood there with a death grip on the front of her jacket and her hair in a ponytail. Man, just thinking about her now had the power to conjure her up. She played a powerful role in his dreams and those dreams now bled over to his waking hours.
He blinked a few times, but the fantasy, this one pretty G-rated, didn’t budge. “Lila?”
She didn’t move from the double-wide doorway between the office suite and the central hall of the farmhouse. She scanned the room, smiling when her gaze fell on the wall of Christmas cards Elaine created with a slab of corkboard and a box of tacks.
“Why are you still up?” Lila asked.
Not the question he expected. “What?”
“It’s late.” Her voice wobbled as she glanced over her shoulder toward the center staircase to the second floor. “Are we alone?”
The question bounced around his head. She couldn’t possibly think he had another woman in here. She was way too smart for that kind of crap.
He let the front legs of his chair hit against the floor. The snap of metal against wood added an extra beat to the loud ticks of the wall clock. “It’s just me.”
“It’s after one.”
Which sucked because the pile on his desk next to his right hand hadn’t been touched yet. The idea of working another hour or two made that last cup of coffee solidify into a big tumbling ball in his hollow stomach. “I lost track of time.”
“Is that the truth?” She slipped into the room. Just inside. One careful step that put her back against the far wall and her body next to the blinking tree.
“Yes. What are you doing here?” He’d fantasized more than once about having her up here, but not on this floor. Upstairs, bent over his couch or draped naked across his sheets.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He could barely remember it. There was nothing overtly sexy about her sweatpants, but they kept grabbing his attention. This look, comfortable and warm, face scrubbed clean of make-up and all pink and shiny, tugged at him more than any fancy dress could do. This was real, genuine. The look fit her.
He knew without getting closer she’d smell like almonds. She always did. “I had some paperwork.”
“Every night since I got to town?” She took another few steps, walking down the pathway that broke through the center of the room and stopped right in front of his desk.
“It stacks up.”
She dropped her hands from her jacket, balancing them against the opposite side of his desk instead. “Why are you really here?”
The zipper only went as far as the tops of her breasts and all he could see was miles of creamy skin. The discovery had his brain sputtering and blood whooshing through his body in an all-out race to his erection.
He tried to focus on the conversation. Wondered if he could spell his name if someone made him right that second. “I live upstairs.”
“I mean in the office.” She bent over and that jacket dipped. �
��Why are you really here at this hour?”
He tried to drag his gaze back to her face but the shadowed valley between her breasts and the soft curves of flesh he saw there had him in a power lock and wouldn’t let go. “I’m not getting your question.”
“We’re going to play a game.” She walked around his desk until she stood less than a foot from the side of his chair.
“Sounds dangerous.” Hell, the chances of him swallowing his tongue increased by the second.
“I’ll ask a question and you’ll answer.”
“So, I was right. Dangerous.”
“Are you working late at the nursery because you have to spend all your time during the day working with me?”
He forced his brain to keep working. Even when she ran her fingers down his arm, he kept spitting words out, hoping they weren’t random nonsense. “It’s not like that.”
“Spence.”
He looked up at her, because he couldn’t look anywhere else right then. “Yeah?”
“You’re supposed to be a very smart man. If that’s true, you’ll answer me.”
“Book smart. Not all that people smart.” And he felt pretty stupid right now. Couldn’t call up a brain cell no matter how hard he tried.
“I want the truth about your late hours.” She slipped her hand under his elbow.
Then he was on his feet, right beside her, facing her, and he had no memory of standing. “I got a little behind. It’s Christmas, so that’s to be expected. No big deal.”
“Let’s try again.” She spread her hands over his chest.
In three seconds he was going to put her on that desk and live out one of his favorite fantasies about her. His hands covered hers. “What does this matter?”
“Spence?”
“Yes, okay. Yes. That’s what I’m doing, all the stuff I would have done during the day if I had time.”
“That’s what I thought.”
One second they looked at each other and the next she was all over him. She crushed his mouth under hers as her hands went to his hair, his shoulder, his back. Energy whipped around them, alive and wild. She moaned into his mouth as her tongue swept inside. She was everywhere, holding him, filling his arms, answering every need before he knew he had it.
As the thunderstorm crashed over them, he took over. Spinning, he backed her against the wall. Fingers tugged at the zipper, relieved when the ripping sound tore through the room. He pushed the material aside and saw the lacy bra and the way her breasts pushed over the top.
“Damn, Lila.” With a gentleness he didn’t feel, he brushed his fingertips over her skin, swept his thumbs across her nipples.
She shrugged out of the jacket, letting it fall to the floor behind her. “For you.”
“If I had known you weren’t wearing anything but a bra under that jacket...”
“Here’s another secret.” Her lips hovered over his ear before her tongue licked around the rim. “I’m not wearing anything under my pants either.”
Damn. He cupped her breasts, weighed them in his hands, remembering how they filled his mouth. How sensitive she was. Slipping a hand behind her back, he unclipped her bra, nearly ripping the clasp off in his haste to see her bare and ready.
The bra fell down her arms then off. He hadn’t forgotten an inch of her. High round breasts. Real, just like the rest of her, and the perfect size. He bent to take one in his mouth and almost shouted in relief when her hands found their way into his hair to hold him there. He sucked and kissed, licking his way around and over her.
“Spence, yes.”
He’d missed that voice, soft and one second from panting. “I don’t give a damn about the timing, or why you picked tonight, so long as you’re here.” His mouth found hers again in a blinding kiss that sucked the air right out of him.
When she lifted her head a few seconds later, her lips were puffy and swollen and her eyes hazy. “Will you do one more thing for me?”
He’d give her the deed to the place if she wanted it.
He cupped the side of her face, waiting for the minute when he could kiss her again. “Anything.”
“Show me your bedroom.”
Chapter Nine
Lila had no idea how they got up the stairs without falling down. He guided them with a slapping death grip on the railing, half pushing her, half lifting her, as they hit each new step. Between kisses, she stripped him out of his shirt and skimmed her hands over his bare shoulders. She kicked off her shoes, grateful she’d never bothered to tie them when she headed up here.
By the time they hit the second-floor landing, heat flared between them and the sparks produced by their touching had them fumbling with stray clothing and mumbling naughty promises of things to come. She speared her hands through his hair and dragged him as close as possible, without even a slip of air separating them, for another down-to-her-soul kiss.
Without moving his head, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. Not wanting to be separated for even a second, she hooked her legs around his lean hips and let him sweep the last of her inhibitions away. They walked through an open area and around what she thought might be a couch. With each step, his erection rubbed against her.
She could feel the wild thudding of his heart under her hand and wondered how they’d gone this long without finding a bed again. When he turned to the left, a puff of warm air blew against her hair as she heard the steady hum of a heater above her head.
His hand smacked against the door and the darkness of a new room enveloped her, this one cooler with a palpable thrum of promise. A quick slam of his elbow against the switch and the room glowed in white light. She lifted her head, thinking to take a measure of the man by his most private area, but he had other ideas.
Her back hit the mattress and Spence fell on top of her a second later. He balanced his upper body on his elbows and stared down at her. The sharp intensity in his eyes dazzled her. To have all that energy, all that focus, pulsing into her stole her breath. He wanted her. She’d seen it for days but now it roared like a hungry beast.
“This first time’s going to be fast.” He trailed a line of kisses down her throat to her breasts. “Hot and fast.”
“Yes.”
“The second will be sexy, all about licking and tasting every inch of you.”
The sweet promises went to her head. Every part of her readied for him. She wanted him inside her, over her, everywhere.
“Now, Spence.” She threw her arms over her head because with him she wanted to give up control, let him take over and bring her to a shuddering climax as he had so many times before. “I can’t take much more.”
“I’ve been thinking about it for too many days, dreaming about what you would look like in my bed.” His mouth continued down to her stomach. When the press of his lips had her sucking in a long breath, he kissed her there again.
Zinging life into her cells, he kissed and touched every inch he exposed. His hands landed on the elastic band of her sweats. She lifted her hips to help him and with one long slip, he peeled them off, dragging his fingers over her bare skin as he went.
“Damn, you weren’t kidding.” His voice was low, almost reverent.
Naked. She’d only worn the jacket and pants as a nod to the weather. She’d wanted to walk into his office and give him a show. To let him know that she remembered every minute of their days together and wanted it all again. With him she wasn’t shy or self-conscious. With his mouth and his hands and that heated gaze, he made her believe she was beautiful. Not even a moment of doubt seeped in. His attraction made her powerful.
His fingers traced the inside of her thighs then gently pushed them apart. In the next second, he kneeled between her spread legs with his gaze focused on the very center of her. His thumb slid along her seam then a finger dipped inside.
“Are you ready for me, baby?”
She lifted her head off the mattress, thinking to beg him to push into her, but he was already moving. He looked over
her as he reached into the nightstand and grabbed a condom. She took the opportunity to kiss his flat stomach, to cup her hand over the bulge in his jeans. He’d opened his belt and the top button. Now she slipped the others ones open as well.
He slid back over her. “I can’t take your hands on me. Next time.”
He kissed her as he lifted his hips and shoved his pants down. She’d barely caught her breath when he started pressing inside her. Her muscles tightened and pleasure exploded over her at the stinging friction of his body against and into hers. He kept plunging until every inch pulsed inside her. The coiling in her gut ratcheted up and her hips strained with the need for him to move.
With one last soft kiss, his mouth covered hers and his hand went to her jaw. “Now.”
Then he started the familiar rhythm. In and out, faster with each push. Her thighs clenched his hips and his fingers slid through hers. Their breathing filled the room in time with the light creak of the bed against the hardwood floor.
Her last coherent thought was that the lovemaking was even better when she knew his real name. Then she couldn’t think at all.
* * *
Hours later, after three rounds of lovemaking and not nearly enough minutes of drifting sleep, she curled against his side. Her mouth slid over his nipple, stopping to press a light kiss there. Even as exhaustion pulled at him, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Woman, you are insatiable.”
“With you, yes.”
He tightened his arm around her and reached for the covers with the other. Heat rolled off of him, but he worried she’d get a chill. Tucking the sheet around her, he covered up the parts he’d so enjoyed all evening.
“Why did you really come to that hotel months ago?” She mumbled the question against his skin with eyes closed.
He flinched before he could stop it, but she must have felt it because she lifted up, her eyes finding him in the room, saved from complete darkness by the glow of the porch light below the window and the rising dawn.
“Is this topic forbidden?” she asked as she nibbled on her bottom lip.
Romancing the Holiday Page 9