“What?” I teased.
“Say why you’re wearing this sex kitten outfit.”
Maybe this wasn’t a usual Christmas movie tradition, and probably Clark Griswold wouldn’t approve, but my God, it was the most incredible Christmas movie I had ever sat through.
I whimpered when his tongue left my heat and kissed my stomach.
“There’s something you want from me,” he palmed my breast and I rocked off the couch.
I nodded.
“Who was that guy tonight?”
I stared at him. “Who?”
“The one in the lobby. Old boyfriend?”
I twisted my lips together. “Jealous?”
He untied the laces at the top letting the sheer fabric fall to the side. My nipples pointed to the ceiling, hard and sharp enough to cut glass.
“You’re going to be my wife,” he growled. “He needs to know that.”
His mouth latched on my breast, sucking with incredible force. “Oh shit,” I hissed.
Cole slid his fingers inside me, stretching my pussy with possession. “And my baby is inside you. Does he know that?”
My head fell back as he took my body under. “No,” I whispered. “H-he was my high school teacher. I didn’t get into those details.”
He growled. “And he saw you tonight. Sexier than fuck, Kaitlyn. How could he not take one look at you, and want you?”
My eyes lifted to his. I bit my lip. “It was just Mr. Robinson.”
Cole shook his head. “He wanted you, but you’re mine.”
I gasped when his mouth seared into my lips. The kiss burned. There was a roughness and possessiveness in Cole’s lips.
“Fuck me,” I whispered. “Fuck me, Cole.”
“And if I asked you to wait?” He breathed against my air.
“I’ve waited for you forever, Cole Thomas. But please fuck me. I need you.”
I heard the sound of his zipper unfastening and reached to fill my palm with his broad cock. I groaned, taking it between my fingers. Cole shrugged the jeans off his legs.
I helped thread the shirt over his head. I studied the hard planes of his chest. His body was rippled and gorgeous, reflecting in the TV light glowing next to us.
His eyes met mine as he pushed his cock to my pussy. I cried his name softly as he sank his length fully inside me.
“Fuck you’re so tight and hot for me,” he groaned. “You always feel fucking amazing, baby.”
I lifted my hips toward him, taking him deeper. I inhaled sharply at the impact of his thickness.
Maybe it was because his baby was growing inside me. Or maybe because I knew I was going to be his wife. Oh maybe it was the Christmas magic that was everywhere, but every time we had sex now it was as if we were in a different realm. Our bodies talked in ways we couldn’t.
We moved together, pushing each other to new boundaries. Tested new limits. Explored new erotic pleasure.
He thrust in and out, grunting as he made sure his strokes were deep and powerful.
“Oh Cole.” I thrashed on the couch, grabbing cushions and blankets. Trying to steady myself before the roller coaster climax hit me.
His mouth covered mine as I kissed him desperately. I clung to him, knowing I’d come quickly at this angle. He flicked my clit with his free hand as his cock filled me.
I tried to muffle my screams into his shoulder, but he broke free.
“I want to hear you when I fuck you.” His eyes bore into mine.
My body shook with jolts. His eyes locked on mine as my body came undone beneath him.
I rubbed my breasts, sending new waves of pleasure coursing to my core. And then the orgasm crested in brilliant colors. Like the prisms of my diamond, bouncing and dancing in vibrant shades. It filled my veins. Tinted my blood. Coated my limbs until I was trembling in Cole’s arms.
“You’re so fucking sexy.” I saw the heated darkness in his eyes as I tried to catch my breath. There was something smoldering in his stare.
I’d never get used to the way my body reacted to his. Part of me wondered if I’d ever believe this was real. That after all those years of wanting him, he finally loved me as much as I had always loved him.
“On your knees, my dirty girl.”
I grinned shyly and moved forward to face the back of the couch.
Cole settled behind me, nudging his cock to my pussy. In one breath, he slammed into me.
“Ohh,” I moaned.
He grunted with another thrust, controlling my hips with a tight grip. I panted rapidly, knowing I wasn’t far from another orgasm. I wanted to come with him. I wanted to feel our bodies spiral together.
He sank into me, stretching my walls, spreading my ass with his fingers.
“Shit, Cole.”
“I know, baby.”
“Just a little,” I begged.
He licked his thumb and pressed it to the tight muscles at my rosebud. I hissed at the intensity. He probed further and I knew I was lost. With the slightest pressure at my backdoor and his throbbing cock inside me, I was brimming with explosives, like a firework waiting for the fuse to reach the fire powder. He pushed his thumb deep and I shattered around him.
My body rocked into him, wanting to feel the fullness. Needing him everywhere at once. His lips skimmed my back and he groaned fucking me into oblivion. His climax had peaked. He held his breath as he shot his release inside me.
I gripped his cock with my inner walls, clenching it with as much strength as I could, soaking every last drop from him until his head fell into my shoulder blades. His hot breath panted along my spine.
“Fuck, baby,” he whispered.
I fell into his arms, toppling back on the couch.
“Mmm.”
Our bodies were damp with sweat. The movie still played on the screen. I had stopped following it long ago.
“I want to tell them,” I whispered.
“Hmm?”
“About the baby. About us. The fall wedding. I don’t want to have to wait anymore. They need to know. And I can’t keep wearing baggy clothes.”
His hands moved to my breasts. “When does Ryan get here?”
“Tomorrow. We’ll do it tomorrow night at dinner.”
He nodded behind me. “Good. I think I’ll call Mr. Robinson,” he teased.
I swatted at him. “Paul isn’t on the top of the list.”
“Oh, he’s Paul now?”
I laughed. “Maybe.”
He folded his arms around me. “Darlin’, they’re going to be happy.”
I nodded. I wanted to believe that.
12
Cole
I sat in the passenger side. Grayson was buckled in his car seat in the back. Frank drove us to the airport. Ryan had made it on an earlier flight and wanted to surprise his mom. Frank asked me to ride with him to the airport to pick up his son.
I left Kaitlyn sleeping in the guesthouse, along with a note on the pillow next to her.
Gone with your dad.
Grayson tagged along.
Loved last night.
Xo,
Cole
She had plans to go to a yoga class with her mom this morning. We’d probably be back at the house before them. I didn’t want to roll out of bed when my alarm went off. She looked like an angel next to me.
It was hard not to let the guilt crush me. It hit me when I wasn’t thinking about it. Sometimes when she smiled. Or when she said my name. And instead of a rush of adrenaline, I felt soul-crushing regret. What the fuck was I doing?
Frank fiddled with the station. He stopped when he found a Christmas song he liked.
“I guess you and Ryan have patched things up.” He talked out of the side of his mouth.
“You mean about Kaitlyn?”
It was true the last time I saw him, Ryan had given me a pretty severed upper cut. But who wouldn’t? He didn’t want me fucking his little sister. I gave him a pass.
“Well, yes. He wasn’t the only one who was surprised.”
“Yeah. I think he’s used to it now.”
Frank nodded. He flipped the blinker to exit toward the airport. “She’s young, Cole. You have experience she doesn’t.”
Fuck. I didn’t want to get into this, and not with Grayson in the backseat.
“Yes, she is. But she’s also smart. And independent. Kaitlyn makes up her own mind.”
He considered my words. “I’ve known you a long time.”
“You have, sir.”
He took the ticket from the gate and looked for a space to park in the garage. He turned off the car and looked at me.
“It’s just. Moira would never say this, but you’ve been friends with Ryan for years. We’ve spent some nice Christmases together. No matter what happens, you’re always welcome to stay with us at the holidays. You and Grayson. No matter what.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t take this thing with Kaitlyn seriously.”
“She’s young. That’s all I’m saying.” He gripped my shoulder. “And I don’t want that to change how Moira and I feel about you. You and Ryan have a Corps bond that goes above anything else. We know that. You’re brothers.”
Now that the car wasn’t moving I had to get Grayson out of the car seat or he’d start to whine. I pulled on the door handle. This was fucking great. The man had no confidence in his daughter or me.
I opened the backseat to retrieve my son. “Ready to see some more planes?” I tried to sound happy, but I wanted to punch something, preferably my future father-in-law.
“Planes!” Grayson squealed, holding up a train.
I didn’t try to explain the difference. Right now I had to get through this and back to Kaitlyn.
I gritted my teeth and followed Frank to the baggage claim.
We spotted Ryan right away. His rucksack was stuffed and thrown over his shoulder. His dad pulled him into a bear hug, before I shook his hand.
“Welcome home.” I grinned.
“Shit. It’s good to be back.” He looked around. “I guess you kept the secret from Mom and Kaitlyn?”
Frank chuckled. “They still think you’re getting in for dinner. They’ll be excited.” He cast a look at me.
I didn’t do family drama. I didn’t do family.
Once my grandfather died, I thought I was the last living Thomas. There was something freeing about it. Something that let me focus on being a marine. I didn’t have to worry about leaving anyone back home. I could do my job like no one else could. It was what made me so fucking good in Kabatur.
And then I found out my ex was pregnant. Grayson changed everything. He gave me a reason to want to have family again. To want a life richer and fuller than what I had on my own. My son gave me a sense of purpose that was greater than serving my country. I had a child to raise.
Only a few months ago, an uncle I never knew I had, showed up on my doorstep and my family grew a little bit more. I had to learn to play nice—not exactly in my DNA. Now Kaitlyn was pregnant and we were getting married.
I hadn’t just been showered with family, it was a damn avalanche covering my life from every corner and I had nothing to go on. No experience. No practice at this shit. I was trying to get my bearings. I was doing the best I could for Christmas. But Frank had pissed me off.
I lifted Grayson up with one arm and picked up one of Ryan’s bags.
I reminded myself I was doing this for Kaitlyn.
13
Kaitlyn
I was exhausted. I could blame it on the holiday stress or the late night with Cole. I overslept and still had to make it to yoga with my mother.
I jumped in the shower and quickly dressed in a pair of yoga pants, sports bra, and tank top. I’d add plenty of layers to appease my mother. It didn’t hurt that the extra padding hid my new voluptuous curves. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and ran out the door.
“I was just about to come get you. You ready?” My mother’s long hair was styled like mine and she was wearing a sweatshirt that hung off her shoulder.
“Ready.” I smiled. I’d have to grab a cup of coffee after class.
“I guess the guys are out,” she added.
“I had a note from Cole.”
On the way to the studio my mother turned up the Christmas music and hummed along. Normally, her attempt to keep up with the lyrics would annoy me, but right now it only made me giggle.
“You’re in a good mood, aren’t you?” She turned onto a side road.
“I am. I’m glad Cole’s here.”
“He and Dad are going to work on Dad’s old motorcycle today.”
“The one that’s been in the shed forever?” I couldn’t imagine how my dad roped him into that project, or better yet why he wanted to get it running after all these years. As far as I knew that thing had never made it out of our driveway.
“That’s the one. The only thing I’m counting on is that he’s smart enough not to try it in the snow even they do get it running. I have a feeling Cole knows how to fix it.”
“Probably.” I smirked. “He does have an engineering degree and he’s naturally gifted at fixing things.” I thought about all the things he had taught himself to do. “Well, most things.”
“When he’s not fixing things and working at the motel, what do you do together?” My mother turned down the radio.
I thought about our routine at the beach cottage. I was learning as much as I could about condo management and sales, while Cole was working with construction engineers on strategies to maintain as much of the Dunes’s original structure as possible. By the time we got home each night we were exhausted.
“We like to cook together.” I chewed on my lip. “And we do this thing on the deck almost every night where we have a drink and watch the sunset. It’s become a daily ritual.”
“Ok.” She nodded her head, but I couldn’t tell what level of approval that meant.
“And sometimes we go over to Peabody’s and have dinner and drinks. Most of our friends hang out there.”
“That’s the bar across the street, right?” She turned the car into an open slot in front of the studio.
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure if the line of questioning meant anything. “And of course we take care of Grayson. Really, he comes first. He has a great preschool he loves.”
“You take him to school and pick him up? What about his mother? She really is just gone?”
I sighed. “You know she gave Cole full custody. She’s in London. She calls every week to talk to Grayson.”
“I guess that’s something.” She pressed her lips into a thin line.
“Mom, is there something else you’re trying to ask me?”
She reached in the backseat for her bag and mat. “No, honey. I just want to know what your life with Cole is like. That’s all. I didn’t know you were so involved in raising someone else’s child.” She unclipped her seatbelt and pushed open the car door.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. We’ll talk about it later. Come on, my class is waiting.”
I closed my eyes and my fists at the same time. I had to hold it in. Did she think I wasn’t up to the task? That I wasn’t capable of raising Grayson? If she didn’t think I could handle a two-year old why would she believe I could have my own baby?
“Kaitlyn.” She waited at the back of the car.
“Coming,” I closed the door behind me and walked into the studio.
14
Cole
I stood on the patio, ankle-deep in snow and watched Grayson play in the drifts. I’d already taken a hundred pictures of him and texted them to Sasha and Lisa back home. It was fucked up the last person I thought to send one to was Amber, but I did. She was his mother. Maybe one day she’d want a record of her son’s life, even if it was through my eyes.
I heard the door open. I turned around as Ryan walked toward me with a beer. I looked at the label.
“You drink winter ale?” I grimaced.
He laughed. “My mom bought it. Beer with holl
y leaves and it went in the cart. Shit tastes good though.”
We tapped bottles and each took a swig.
“Christmas liked it used to be,” he mused.
I looked at him from the corner of my eye. “Something like that.” I eyed the guesthouse. “Your sister and I are staying in the backyard.”
“I don’t want to fucking know.”
I nodded. “Better than in the room next to yours.” He punched me in the arm.
“Do you have any ideas what hell the guys in the unit gave me when they found out?”
The beer tasted good, but it was cold in the snow. My body wasn’t used to this kind of climate.
“Sorry about that. You knew they’d give you shit.”
“The game’s on later. I thought we could go downtown. I have a few buddies in town.”
I shook my head. “Kaitlyn and I have plans tonight.” I waited for him to punch my again.
“Plans? What kind of plans?”
“Actually, it’s with her friend Mary Ellen and the guy she’s dating.”
“You can’t blow them off?”
“Not this one. The guy happens to be that long-lost uncle of mine I told you about. He flew in to see Mary Ellen for Christmas and now the girls have a date planned. There are a lot of reasons I can’t just back out.”
Ryan looked tired. He looked like a man who had just rolled in from a deployment. His face was weathered and dark. He carried the worry lines of man who was fifty, not someone just barely hitting thirty.
“Tomorrow?”
“Christmas Eve is tomorrow, man. I haven’t done any shopping.”
“I doubt anyone expects you to fly in from the Middle East and go to the mall.” I watched as Grayson fell face first into a snowball. Instead of crying he started to laugh. I grinned.
“Probably not.” He tipped the beer toward his lips. “But it wouldn’t be Christmas around here if I didn’t surprise them with something.”
Small flurries started to drift around us.
“I got a call.”
Ryan turned to look at me. “What kind of call?”
Don’t Tell: The Series Page 35