by Cathryn Fox
“Smells good. What is it?”
“Nothing fancy,” she answered. “Just something I had in the freezer.”
He walked over to her and when he noticed the dining room table beautifully set for two his heart thumped.
“Are you eating dinner with me?”
“Of course.”
“Do you always eat with your guests?”
She turned and instead of answering she just smiled at him. When he looked over her shoulder and saw a pot filled with stew, the rich, hearty kind he could never find in Miami, his stomach grumbled.
“That looks good.”
She shrugged. “It’s just stew,” she said, except it wasn’t just stew to him. It represented everything she was. The warmth and comfort of home and hearth.
Christ, did she realize she was seducing her way into his heart with her home-cooked meals?
He cleared his throat but his voice still came out sounding gritty, like he’d swallowed a handful of dirt. “I’ll get the bowls.”
Once the bowls were filled they made their way into the dining room and Jon dug into his food with enthusiasm.
He glanced up to see Lila smiling at him.
“What?” he asked, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Can I get you more?”
When he noticed that her bowl was still full and his was almost gone he gave a sheepish grin. “It’s just so good.”
Lila laughed. “I take it you don’t cook at all.”
He shook his head and held up his hands. “Nope. These hands were made for surgery, not cooking.”
“Then you need to find someone to cook for you,” she said matter-of-factly as she reached for his bowl. When she stood, he noticed she was eating with her apron on, the same way his mother used to. His body tightened against the flood of emotions. Everything about Lila screamed of family and fun.
“You don’t have to serve me, Lila.”
She grinned. “It’s no trouble at all.”
“Of course not,” Jon said as she left the room. “But if you keep this up, I might never leave.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized what he’d said, and how happy she made his childhood home.
Lila came back with another bowl of stew and when she sat, he redirected the conversation, keeping it on her. Twenty minutes later they rose from the table and he tried not to think about how much he wanted to eat with her on a regular basis. How much he wanted her. How much he didn’t deserve either.
Fighting off the wave of emotion, he gathered the two bowls and carried them into the kitchen. After helping Lila straighten up, he feigned exhaustion. “I guess I should call it a night. I’m covering for Dani at the clinic tomorrow and have to get up early.” Without looking at Lila, he made his way out of the kitchen.
“Will you be having breakfast here before you go to work?”
“I’ll be leaving early so I’ll just grab something at the coffee shop.” His feet slapped the wood floors as he hurried up the stairs to his room, needing time to pull himself together.
Turning his attention to building a fire, he tossed some kindling onto the grate and tried not to think about Lila and how she was crawling past his defenses without even trying. There was no denying the attraction between them, one they both clearly wanted to act on. But no way, no how, was he going to act on his feelings. Lila deserved someone who could give her what she really wanted.
After lighting the fire he jumped in the shower and turned the water to cold, striving to get his erection under control. He stayed in there for a good long time, until his room was blistering hot.
Jon stepped from the shower stall, wrapped a towel around his waist and padded to his window. He was just about to draw the curtains when a movement down below caught his attention. He narrowed his eyes, looking closer, and when he spotted Lila facedown in a snow pile, dressed in nothing but a cotton robe and slippers, his pulse leapt in his throat.
“Jesus,” he cursed and quickly tugged on his jeans, pulling his T-shirt over his head as he rushed down the staircase. At the door he tugged on his boots and hurried outside.
When he found Lila struggling to her feet, a load of wood still in her arms, he hauled her up and looked her over. He brushed snow from her face. “Lila, are you okay?”
“I slipped,” she sputtered through a mouthful of snow.
“Give me that.” Jon grabbed the pile of wood from her arms. “What are you doing out here in your robe? You’re going to catch your death of cold.”
He hurried her inside and after he locked the door behind her, he shook his head. “Jesus, Lila. You could have asked me to do that.”
Her teeth chattered as she said, “Running the B&B is my responsibility.”
“Well at least let me help while I’m here,” he mumbled as a part of him realized how much he wanted to help her, and not just until Christmas Eve.
Fuck.
He dropped the wet wood at the door and guided her into the living room. He threw a few pieces of dry kindling onto the dying fire, but when he turned to see her shivering he knew she needed heat now.
“Come on,” he said, catching her hand. As he passed her liquor cabinet, he tucked a bottle of brandy under his arm and grabbed two glasses.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“To my room.”
“Your room?” Despite the cold, heat moved over her eyes. The way her robe inched open enough to expose her lush cleavage hadn’t gone unnoticed by him.
“Yeah, it’s the only room with a good fire going, and I need to get you warmed up.” Using his shoulder, he pushed open his bedroom door and guided Lila to the foot of the bed, a few feet from the fireplace.
He took off her slippers and gathered her ice-cold feet in his hands. “You probably shouldn’t be in the snow in your bunny slippers.”
She forced a quick laugh. “I was in a hurry.”
After warming her feet, he poured a generous amount of brandy into her glass and pressed it into her hand. “Drink this.” As she took it from him, skin touched skin, eliciting a shiver from deep within. Jon poured a glass for himself, took a huge swig then put the bottle and glass aside. He ran his hand up her calf to create friction.
“Does anything hurt?”
“Only my pride,” she answered, crinkling her nose.
Jon shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. “No need to be embarrassed in front of me.” When his hand reached her thigh, he said, “We need to get you out of this robe. You’re still freezing.”
A strange, garbled noise sounded in Lila’s throat. He glanced up to see her, and that’s when he noticed two things. Her eyes were flaring hot and his hand had traveled far too high on her thigh. He was about to pull it away, but Lila closed her hand over his, holding it in place. As her touch turned him inside out, lust bombarded him and his cock began tightening.
She wet her full, plump lips and her voice dropped an octave. “I agree about the robe, but don’t agree that I’m still freezing.”
“No?” he choked out.
She drained the rest of her brandy before setting her glass beside his. “No,” she said. “In fact, I’m feeling a little…hot.”
Her robe slipped open another inch and he made the mistake of sliding a look over her bare skin. His imagination kicked into high gear, and his body reacted, unable to ignore her blatant femininity.
As he ached to lose himself in her, a growl of sexual frustration climbed from his throat and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stifle it.
Working to marshal his lust, he said, “It’s the fire. It’s blazing hot in here.”
“Nope. Don’t think that’s it.”
With one hand still trapped under hers, Jon grabbed his tumbler with the other and took another swig. She began moving his hand, running it along her thigh, creating heat and friction on her leg as well as in his pants. As sexual tension built inside him, he noted the way her honey-flecked eyes glimmered with sensuality, the way
her body vibrated with want, the rich scent of her skin flooding the room and making her so damn impossible to resist.
“Jon.”
“Yeah.”
“I was thinking.”
“About what?”
“About the holidays.”
He exhaled slowly and went back on his heels, wondering where she was going with this.
“What about them, Lila?” he asked his voice sounding deeper, more intimate, even to himself.
“Well, I was thinking that holidays are about overindulging.”
Jon finished the brandy in his glass and set his tumbler aside. “Yeah.”
She nestled against him. “And well, since you’re here alone, and I’m here alone, maybe we could…you know…indulge.”
“Indulge?”
“Yeah, in each other.”
His jaw clenched and as her proposition rattled around inside his brain like a runaway pinball, she rushed out, “You know, just for the holidays.”
Even though he’d sworn he was going to stay away from her, because he was here for Errol and Errol alone, everything in the sexy way she looked at him had him rethinking his priorities.
“Lila—” he began, knowing he couldn’t give her what she really wanted.
“It’s just a simple holiday fling, Jon. Nothing more,” she assured him.
As she grabbed the belt on her robe and started loosening it, Jon began warming to the idea of tossing her onto his sheets and having his way with her. Just for the holidays. Honestly, it was a perfectly sensible proposition, one he’d be a fool to pass up. But he didn’t want to sleep with her until she knew the truth about him. Knew he was a selfish bastard who chose to stay in Miami and work instead of coming home for the holidays, only to end up losing his parents because of it, the two people in the world who loved him the most. If she chose to look at him with blame instead of desire, chose to walk out of his room, then so be it.
“Lila, we need to talk.”
She removed her belt, widening the opening of her robe. “No, Jon. We need to get out of our clothes.”
The sight of her gorgeous, naked body, save for the silk panties, nearly rendered him senseless. He swallowed. Hard. “I need to tell you something.”
Her warm seductive chuckle curled around him. “Oh, so now the man of few words wants to talk. Well guess what? I’m not in the mood for talking.”
“I thought you were always in the mood for talking,” he managed to get out and struggled to remember what it was he needed to tell her.
She rolled her shoulder and let her robe fall down one arm, shutting down his ability to think with any sort of clarity.
“Not always,” she assured him. “Sometimes I’m in the mood for moaning,” she said, teasing him in a playful manner that drew him deeper and deeper into her seduction.
“Lila—” He tried again, and struggled to remember what it was he needed to tell her as equal amounts of lust for this woman and fear for what she made him feel raced through him.
“Jon,” she said, sliding her fingers through her damp hair. “Whatever it is, it can wait until breakfast tomorrow.”
When he heard the raw ache of lust in her voice and saw the sexy pink flush on her cheeks, all he could think about was laying her out on his bed, spreading her legs and nibbling on her like she was his personal holiday feast.
“Tonight, however—”
Jon pressed his fingers to her lips to hush her. “Lila.”
“Yeah,” she asked.
“It’s time to stop talking.”
“It is?”
“Yeah.” He positioned his lips over hers, creating an instant intimacy, and murmured into her mouth, “Because it’s time for indulging.”
Chapter Six
The second Jon’s lips came down on hers, Lila knew Santa had indeed answered her holiday wish. He deepened the kiss, but there was nothing hurried in his touch. His palms slid inside her half-draped robe, and her body came alive as his fingers roamed leisurely over her skin. With excruciating slowness, he trailed his palms over her curves, taking his time to acquaint himself with her body.
Reaching out, Lila explored his chest in return, eager to get him naked, to feel his body pressing down on hers. When she gripped the hem of his shirt and gave it a little tug, Jon groaned out loud, inched back and peeled it from his body.
As she took in his gorgeous chest and rock hard abs, Lila leaned back on the bed, shrugging her other shoulder out of the robe in a silent invitation. Jon stared down at her nakedness, like he was savoring the moment, savoring the sight of her. He took his sweet time to peruse her contours, his glance lingering over her breasts then sliding downward to take in her panties. She bent one knee, and when Jon’s nostrils flared, the intensity in his gaze frightened her as much as it excited her.
He kicked off his boots. “You are so damn sexy,” he murmured, then made quick work of the rest of his clothes, abandoning them on the bedroom floor.
When Lila got a glimpse of his impressive cock, big, hard and ready to play, her body flushed hotly.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” she murmured seductively.
Aching to feel his mouth on hers, his hands on her body and his cock inside her, she shimmied backward until she reached the pillow. As her nipples tightened with arousal, she crooked her finger, urging him close.
Jon climbed onto the foot of the bed, then caged her legs between his. He crawled upward until his mouth found hers again. She parted her lips for him, welcoming him to her body, and that’s when his tongue slipped inside to tangle with hers. He slid deft fingers through her hair and spent a long time kissing her, tasting every inch of her mouth before his lips danced over her skin. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, and she whimpered, taking pleasure in the warm and wicked sensations he aroused in her.
Sexual heat flooded her and she moaned without censor as he ran his tongue over her sensitive flesh and widened her legs with his knee. He settled his weight on top of her and she wrapped her arms around his back to hold him tight.
With her trapped beneath him, he slowly kissed a path down her body, his mouth claiming one hard nipple. He licked and sucked until she felt small spasms in her core. God, no man had ever made her come from nipple stimulations before, but she was close, so damn close to losing it with him.
She let loose a long moan, and he lifted his head until their eyes met. His smile was slow, sexy, as he cupped her breasts and brushed his thumbs over her nipples.
She arched into him and trailed her hands over his hard muscles. “I love how you touch me,” she murmured, her body becoming pliable in his arms. The man didn’t just have hands made for surgery, he had hands made for the bedroom. He was so skilled, so familiar with the erogenous areas of the female body.
“That’s good, because I think it’s pretty clear just how much I’m enjoying it too,” he murmured in response.
As heat radiated from his palms, emotions and sensations streaked through her and she felt herself grow slicker, her body preparing itself for his impressive girth. But Jon was busy familiarizing himself with her body and didn’t seem to be in any hurry to slip between her legs and join them as one.
Inching away from her aching breasts, he licked downward, stopping to tease her bellybutton before he reached the band on her lace panties.
“Very sexy,” he murmured. Then he licked her through the material and the wet heat of his tongue had her hips coming off the bed. He splayed his big hand over her belly and pushed her back down, and there was something so primal and sexy in his take-charge attitude that it had her pussy clenching, eager to be filled.
Feeling edgy and needy, she writhed beneath his expert touch. “Jon, please,” she begged, her body beckoning so much more from him, needing him in a way she’d never needed another, a way that actually scared her.
“Please what?” he asked, his soft whispering covering her like a blanket of warmth. “What is it you want, Lila?”
“I want to feel
you inside me,” she murmured.
“Soon,” he answered. “But right now there are many, many things I need to do to you first.” He hooked his thumbs under the lacy band of her panties and ever so slowly slid them down her legs, purposely swiping his thumb over her swollen clit.
She gasped, and as the heat in his eyes licked over her body, she moistened all over. Tension grew between her thighs, and Jon tossed her panties aside, gripped her legs and spread them wide.
“So pretty,” he murmured and wet his bottom lip. He lightly petted her sex, touching her with such soft, gentle hands as he brushed his thumb up and down her pussy, widening her engorged lips.
He leaned into her and she exhaled a shallow breath. Shivers of warm need rushed through her bloodstream as he pressed a soft kiss over her sex, his erotic but gentle touch flashing through her blood.
He licked her with the soft blade of his tongue, and the satiny warmth of his mouth had her crying out his name. “Jon. Oh, yes. So good.”
Her body grew hot. Too hot. Her skin was on fire everywhere he touched. A low growl came from his throat and drowned out her low whimper. Lila propped herself up on her elbows to see him, and as she watched him lick her, it occurred to her that it was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen.
He lifted his head and she saw the raw ache of lust on his face when he said, “You are the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted.” Lila reached out and ran her palm over his face and she didn’t miss the way he leaned into her touch. Or the way he looked at her with such need and desire.
Turning his focus back to her pleasure, he pushed one finger inside her and cursed under his breath. “You’re so wet. So hot for me, baby.”
His warm scent curled around her and her heart missed a beat as she looked at him. Everything in the way he tended to her needs, indulging her with sheer pleasure, touched her on a deeper level and warned that she just might be getting in deep.