Promises to Keep

by Vanessa Devereaux

  Hearing car tires head over the snow and ice outside, Hayley pulled back the drapes in her room in the owner’s suite and saw Cole getting out of the truck with a bunch of flowers in his hand.

  She slipped into her pumps and headed downstairs to greet him. He took her breath away. His winter coat was now open, revealing black pants, a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, and of course, what she loved most, his cowboy boots and hat.

  He smiled and held out the flowers to her.

  They were a beautiful collection of roses and daisies. It made her long for spring so she could see the garden blooming again.

  “I’ll just go put these in a vase. Thank you.”

  He followed her through to the kitchen. She’d missed having him around for the last few days. Shame the broken furnace hadn’t lasted just a tad longer.

  “So you ready for the afternoon tea next Saturday?” he asked her. “I’ve finally talked Jon into playing doorman, and Nina a server. And all three of my sisters will be by as customers.”

  “I can’t wait to meet them. And I can’t wait to see you as Santa,” she said, filling a vase with water.

  “Which reminds me, don’t let me leave the fire department tonight without the costume.”

  Hayley grabbed her coat from the peg by reception and Cole held it while she slipped her arms into the sleeves.

  “Have a nice evening,” said Mrs. Davis, looking up from her magazine.

  “We will, and remember I’m just a call away if you have a problem,” said Hayley.

  Mrs. Davis motioned with her hand for them to hurry along. “Nothing out there that I can’t handle.”

  ****

  In a way this was good because it was all new. He’d never attended one of these events with Amanda, so he had no memory of it. Of course, if it wasn’t for Amanda and the accident he wouldn’t know these guys in the first place.

  “You have to try one of these. They’re delicious,” said Hayley, handing him what looked like a slice of cucumber with cream cheese piled on the top.

  He opened his mouth and let her put it on his tongue. She was right. As it melted, he tasted the salmon that was obviously mixed with the cheese.

  “Good to see you, Cole,” said Stewart, one of the fellow volunteer firemen.

  “You too,” he said, shaking his hand.

  “Have you met my wife, Jenny?”

  “No, I don’t think I have,” said Cole, extending his hand to a short, grey haired lady. “And I’d like to introduce both of you to Hayley. She runs the Rustic Inn.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Jenny, shaking Hayley’s hand. “Rustic Inn, is that the B and B on the edge of town?”

  “The one and only,” said Hayley.

  “My great-grandfather used to own a farm that was adjacent to the land the inn was built on.”

  “Really,” said Hayley.

  “Yes, if you ever want to know the history of that whole area, I have books you can borrow.”

  “I’d love to, and if you’re interested, I’m putting on a Christmas themed afternoon tea next week, complete with Santa, who will be played by a very handsome man.”

  Hayley pointed to Cole.

  “Well, then, I can’t miss that,” said Jenny. “Will I be able to sit on your lap and tell you what I want for the holidays?”

  Hayley laughed, and Cole knew he was blushing. He hoped not all the old ladies would want to do that.

  “I’m not that sort of Santa,” said Cole.

  “Come on leave the poor guy alone,” said Stewart. “Nice meeting you, Hayley.”

  They walked away and Hayley took a sip of her wine. “This is great too,” she said lifting her glass. “Sure you don’t want just one glass?”

  He shook his head. He’d told her he didn’t drink alcohol. She was probably wondering if he had a drinking problem. He probably should sit her down and tell her the whole story, especially if the relationship was going to continue.

  ****

  Hayley was having the time of her life at the party. She and Cole had won a stuffed bear in the raffle, and everyone was nice and friendly. She’d met six ladies who’d promised to attend next week’s tea. And here she was slow dancing to Christmas songs with Cole. They pushed their bodies closer together as they moved around, trying to avoid bumping into the other couples.

  He had a monster erection and it almost made her want to drag him back to the inn right that minute so they could make love again. She’d never been a big fan of holiday tunes before, but tonight she’d grown to love them. Now when she heard each one played on the radio it would make her think of Cole and this moment in his arms.

  She jumped when she heard the alarms sounding in the main station, and then there was a frenzy as most of the men took off.

  “Accident on Highway 25. A car’s on fire.” She heard a man shout above the music.

  Cole suddenly shook in her arms and dug his fingers into her forearms. It was like he was chilled to the bone. She expected his teeth to start chattering any second.

  “You okay?” she asked him.

  He’d also lost the color from his face.

  “Cole, is everything all right?”

  “What, yes, sure, sure it is.”

  He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Do you mind if we head back to your place now?”

  ****

  It was stupid of him. To go the long way home. Hayley must have thought it weird that they were taking the back roads and not the freeway which was the shortest route to Rustic Inn. A billow of smoke drifted up from the direction of Highway 25, even though it was dark.

  “Geez, that looks bad. I hope everyone’s okay,” said Hayley.

  He couldn’t respond because his vocal cords were dry and numb. He tried to swallow and just couldn’t.

  His hands began to tremble. He should have pulled the truck over but he didn’t. The wheel slipped and it suddenly veered over on the shoulder.

  “Cole, are you all right?” asked Hayley.

  He put the car into park. He should have told her he was perfectly all right but that would be lying, and he always wanted to be honest with Hayley.

  Instead he burst into tears, suddenly sobbing as he set his head down on the steering wheel. This was the time of the year when he was at his lowest. He’d been bottling up, and unfortunately the sorrow had broken forth. He’d ruined Hayley’s evening.

  She’d reached across and turned off the ignition. She rubbed his back but didn’t pry.

  “When you’re ready to talk about it I’m here for you,” she finally said.

  She was quite a woman, patient and kind, and he was so lucky to have found her. He had to pull himself together.

  He lifted his head, knowing that the tears were rolling down his face and that he probably looked stupid and less than a man should.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “Ruining your evening. Acting like this.”

  “Cole, we all have moments when we want to just sit and cry…and yes, men are entitled to do that, too.”

  She’d put her finger on his lips to prevent him from saying anything else, as if she knew he was about to apologize for his behavior yet again.

  “Has it got something to do with the accident and fire on the freeway?” she asked.

  He bit his bottom lip.

  “If you’re not comfortable telling me, that’s okay.”

  He got hold of her hand and held it to his chest.

  With her other hand, she wiped away a tear from his cheek.

  “My wife died in a car accident on Highway 25 about this time of the year.”

  “I’m so sorry. That must be horrible for you.”

  “She was coming back from doing some Christmas shopping in Cheyenne.”

  He hadn’t spoken about it for years, and here he was reliving that fateful night close to the third anniversary of losing her.

  He took a deep breath. “A drunk driver was going the wrong wa
y and hit her head on.”

  Hayley reached over and hugged him.

  “It’s the reason I don’t drink. Not that I was ever a big drinker, but I can’t even think about it now.”

  She rubbed his back.

  “She didn’t die straight away. She was pinned in the car…”

  It was what they’d told him.

  “The fire department was called to try and cut her out, but she’d died while they were helping her.”

  “Oh, Cole, I’m so sorry. I had no idea it was so horrible.” Hayley was crying now, too.

  He wouldn’t tell her that a fireman had kindly held Amanda’s hand so she wouldn’t be scared and alone when she passed. Or that with tears in his eyes, he’d told Cole that Amanda had told him to make sure Cole knew she loved him and always would. No one, not even his sisters or Amanda’s parents knew that. For three years it had been his secret.

  “It’s why you volunteer at the fire station?” asked Hayley.

  He nodded.

  “You want me to drive?” she asked.

  He didn’t want to admit defeat, but right now his hands were shaking too much to be of any use at the wheel.

  “Sure.”

  ****

  Hayley made the best hot chocolate in the world. And no, he hadn’t tried every one in the universe, but he was guessing hers would be up there. He watched as the mini marshmallows melted across the top of the liquid.

  “You feeling better now?” she asked.

  “Much.”

  “That was the first time I’d driven a truck, so I’m sorry about grating your gears and leap frogging for the first couple of yards.”

  He was mid-sip and laughed, sending marshmallow foam flying.

  She laughed too. “You’re probably thinking women shouldn’t be driving men’s toys.”

  He lifted his hand. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”

  “You were too.” She ran her foot under his pant leg and it sent shivers of a very good kind up and down his spine.

  He’d felt garters and stockings when they’d danced together earlier that night. And now he could see their outline clearly through the black dress as it stretched over her thighs.

  She was sexy. The hot chocolate had relaxed him and put him in a good place. He lifted her leg and put it on top of his knee, getting a flash of her garter tops and panties in the process.

  Running his hand up and down her calf, he looked over at her. He’d ruined her evening so she deserved a reward.

  “How about I have a dress rehearsal wearing the Santa suit? You can sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cole was the sexiest Santa she’d ever seen.

  “Do you think we’ll need to put a pillow under the jacket to give you a nice round belly?” she asked, patting his stomach.

  “If I eat any more of your cookies and pancakes I won’t need to.”

  “Can I see what it’s like to kiss Santa? Does his beard tickle?”

  Cole grabbed her hand, sat on the bed, and pulled her onto his lap.

  They kissed and she’d been right, Santa’s beard tickled, and yeah, itched a little too.

  “Santa likes garters and stockings, so he’s likely to grant you lots of wishes.”

  Cole inched his hand up under her dress, running his fingers over the lace at the top of her legs. “I bet you were cold tonight in these?”

  “I was, but I’m sure you can warm me up.”

  He lifted the elastic that ran from the top of the stockings to the bottom of her panties.

  “I’m guessing, and without peeking, that these are Santa’s favorite color, red.”

  “I’m not telling,” said Hayley. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  He kissed her again, nibbling on her bottom lip just a tad while he lifted the edge of her panty so he could ease his finger underneath it. She loved his calloused hands. They added a roughness that made her skin tingle and her pussy anticipate being touched.

  She kissed him as he edged his finger closer to her folds and clit. She bit him, not hard, but just a little as he played with her, swirling the very tip of his index finger along the edges of her folds, and catching her pussy in the process.

  He moved higher, finding her clit. It was already pulsing from anticipating what he was about to do. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them while lifting her head, giving him an opportunity to kiss her neck and run his tongue along its center.

  Shit, the combo of having her clit massaged, and her neck sucked was almost too much.

  Almost.

  He pressed harder on the now very swollen nub. Hayley could feel the blood pooling in it where he’d brought its nerve endings to life.

  “More, more.” She barely was able to get the words out.

  He circled it, flicked it, and that’s all it took for her to climax, and when she did, she shook in Santa’s arms. Cole pressed his mouth against her hair. She heard him drawing in his breath.

  He deserved a little treat, too.

  She pushed the slit in his Santa pants apart and eased her hand underneath, quickly finding the opening in his boxers.

  His cock was hard, hot, pulsating. She stroked it.

  “I think you can get arrested for doing that to Santa,” he whispered close to her ear.

  “Yeah, I bet he doesn’t complain when Mrs. Claus gives him a hand job.”

  She ran her hand up and down his shaft, around the edge of its tip, feeling it grow harder as a bead of pre-cum escape from it.

  “Geez, you know how to turn Santa on,” he said.

  “I’ve only just begun.”

  She pushed one of her legs over him so she was now straddling him. He seemed to sense what she was about to do so he reached over to the bed and then handed her the condom that was sitting there.

  She tore open the package, reached into his outfit, and sheathed him.

  He massaged her breasts, making them ache and the nipples to have a heartbeat all their own. Hayley inched up her dress, pushed her panties to one side and then as Cole held his cock up to her, she impaled herself down upon it.

  “Do you think this sort of thing goes on at the North Pole?” he whispered.

  “How do you think they keep warm?”

  She bounced up and down on his lap with him holding her hips and pressing his face into her cleavage.

  A woman couldn’t ask for a better position to have sex. Cole’s cock hit every part of her pussy, and yes, the G-spot was getting a massage like never before.

  “Oh, Santa, I think I’m about to come,” she said, putting her hands on either side of his face.

  They both laughed as she bounced harder and Cole lifted his hips off the bed to help her.

  It was like an erotic bomb exploding inside her. Christmas tree lights popping on, and New Year’s Eve fireworks bursting to life.

  “Shit, Santa, you know how to make love to a girl.”

  They laughed again and he pulled her backwards so she was resting on top of him with his cock still buried deep inside her.

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at Santa in quite the same way,” she said.

  “Oh, yeah, just wait till you see what the jolly old man does next.”

  ****

  Hayley was gorgeous.

  He stroked the length of her thigh as she lay in front of him on her right side, her hair spilling over the pillow like a Christmas angel. Cole leaned over and kissed her, not knowing how much longer he could last. When she’d climaxed while rocking up and down on his lap, he’d felt her orgasm take charge of her body. Her pussy clenching his cock like it might never let it go. She hadn’t faked it one little bit.

  Blowing across her earlobe, he brought his hand around to her mound and pushed his finger downward, finding her folds wet and hot, and her pussy entrance slithering wet.

  Yeah, he couldn’t hold off a second longer. He pressed his dick against her butt cheeks, the pressure par
ting them and then he slide it slightly downwards greeting Hayley’s pussy entrance. He gave a tiny thrust, sending it slipping inside. He held her, wrapping both his arms around her body and burying his nose into her hair. She smelled like a spring day, fresh and just like that season, she was his chance of a new beginning.

  He slapped his body against hers, groaning as the movement sent his cock deeper inside her channel.

  She stroked the back of his hands.

  Cole kissed the side of her neck, feeling warmth spread through his groin and a familiar stirring that told him he was about to find release very, very soon.

  Hoping that he hadn’t hurt her, he bit playfully into her neck at the same time he enjoyed his own orgasm. He was out of breath, and laid his mouth against her skin, feeling her pussy once again grip him. She’d climaxed, too.

  “Santa, that was wonderful,” she said.

  “I aim to oblige.”

  He wanted to stay and hold her, but the clock on her bedside table told him it was going on midnight, and although Eileen was staying at his place to look after the kids, he knew he couldn’t stay in Hayley’s bed. He just wasn’t ready for that, especially tonight.

  “I have to be going.”

  “Yes, sure, of course.”

  She pulled away and he knew deep down she was hurt. He could tell by the clipped words, and now she’d gotten off the bed and was wrapping her bathrobe around herself.

  Cole stood and put on his clothes, and then sat and pulled on his socks and boots. He’d leave the Santa outfit in her care. If he had any say they’d use it a lot, and he’d buy the fire department a new one.

  Glancing over at Hayley, he saw her swipe the back of her hand across her cheek. She was crying, and he knew he was the reason. He didn’t want her to ever be unhappy, especially over something he’d done, or in this case, hadn’t done.

  “You didn’t tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas this year,” he said.

  She turned to look at him. Yes, those were tears in her eyes, and it broke his heart.

  “I guess I’d like to have you sleep all night with me, and find you right beside me when I wake up one morning.”