by Selena Blake
“A good cause?” she asked, surveying the block of Main Street that was straight from her white Christmas dreams. A fantasy come to life and Teo was responsible.
She shivered, and not because of the chill in the air.
“Is this why you didn’t call me last night?” Things were starting to come together in her mind.
Teo shrugged. “Calling you would have messed up the plan.”
The plan. She smiled. So while she’d been fretting, he’d been planning her surprise.
“You've always wanted a white Christmas and I wanted to make your wish come true.”
Jill closed her eyes, sure she'd wake up when she opened them again. But when she did, she was still standing there, nose cold, hand in hand with Teo.
At the far end of the street, a little girl in a pink coat tugged her father down the sidewalk. Even from here, Jill could see the girl's exuberance.
“How'd you make this happen?”
“Boomer's got connections.” Teo shrugged as if it was no big deal to close off a section of Main Street, on a holiday no less, and engineer a white Christmas. It was a huge deal. It couldn't have been easy.
“It's amazing,” she murmured, taking in the snow tipped crepe myrtles and frosted wreaths. Even the windows of her shop were snowcapped.
“Merry Christmas, Jillian.” Teo pulled her close and brushed his lips across hers.
“I can't believe you're here,” she murmured when he let her up for air.
“Where else would I be?”
“But it was a fling and I broke things off with you.”
He frowned down at her and for a brief moment she had an idea of what he might look like when in full intimidation mode.
“No. You stopped answering my texts and started avoiding me.”
“It seemed like the best thing to do.”
“To protect yourself?” he prodded gently. “What about giving me a chance?”
“You wanted a chance?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why?”
“I thought it was obvious.” His hands massaged her lower back. “I'm crazy about you.”
“Crazy, huh?” she said with a smile. She felt like tap dancing. He was too good to be true. And yet, there he was, right in front of her, kissing distance.
“Crazy, addicted, in love.”
Faux snowflakes continued to fall around them, cocooning them in a little bubble of Christmas bliss. It was hard to believe any of it was real, the man, the scene around her.
“Wow.”
“That's it?” he asked, the corner of his mouth turning up. She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed the sexy little crease.
“My Christmas wish came true. That's never happened before.”
He frowned, misunderstanding her because he didn’t have all the information he needed.
“Somewhere in the last few weeks I stopped wanting snow for Christmas and started wishing for you instead.”
He closed his eyes, his thick black lashes brushing his cheeks. Then he blew out a sigh, sending a cloud of cold air swirling around them. “Thank God.”
He pulled her against him and hugged her tight. She slid her hands beneath his leather jacket and clung to his hard body. Tears prickled her eyes. He was so wonderful and this…this was the most amazing gesture. Her nose tingled as she tried to control the waterworks.
“This can't be real,” she murmured, more to herself.
“Why not?”
“It's just so fast.”
“I've thought the same thing a dozen times.”
She tipped her head back so she could look at him. “It doesn't scare you?”
He raised a brow that said he wasn't scared of anything. She heard the sounds of kids playing in the snow. It sounded as if someone was having a snowball fight further down the block.
“I'll admit I was a little worried, but I'm over it. As Reya says, when you know, you know. And according to her, we Canales fall in love quickly.”
Jill couldn't stop the flush his words brought. In love. He'd said it twice. She could hardly believe her ears.
“We’re not in any rush. Maybe we fell in love fast, but from here on out we can move at our own pace.” His confidence seeped into her. “Now, what do you say we make snow angels before we go inside?”
Was he for real? Somehow of all the things he could have said and done, that wouldn't have made her list.
“Sounds wonderful.”
They’d make it work. They had to. Trust a SEAL to have a plan.
They flopped down in front of her shop, waved their arms up and down, swiped their legs back and forth and laughed the whole time. Then he bounded up, pulled her into his arms and she smiled down at their handy work.
“One more present for you.”
He jerked the back of her coat and tossed a snowball down her shirt.
Jill squealed and spun away. Laughing, he dodged left.
“You!”
“Snow was your wish, honey. I'm just giving you the full effect.”
She stooped down and gathered a ball of snow, lobbing it at him. Then it was on. They hid behind light posts, the mailbox, even the paper box, throwing snowballs until her fingers were frozen and her lungs burned.
“Truce,” he called from behind a tree.
“How can I trust you?” she called back.
“Because I love you and I'm calling a truce.”
Those words melted her and any resistance she might have had to him. He might be too good to be true, but he was here and he’d made two of her wishes come true. Her heart swelled with love, knowing that he was worth the risk.
“I don't know SEAL. You're far better at warfare than I am.”
He stepped from behind the tree, arms outstretched. Teo was a tricky one so she watched his hands until he was an arms' length away.
“Are you sure you’re not trying to trick me, to slip past my defenses, so you can clobber me with snow?”
“No tricks. I am however trying to slip past your defenses.” His dark eyes glittered in the sunlight. “But only so I can clobber you with love, Jillian Moore. How’s that?”
“That’ll do.”
“Good. Now can I take you inside? I’ve been missing you.”
Evidently word had gotten out about the snow. Dozens of people crowded into the snowy block.
“Boomer really outdid himself.”
“You can think of the perfect thank you gift later.” Teo wrapped an arm around her waist and propelled her around the corner, into the alley, and up the stairs.
Inside the loft with the door blocking out the world and the cold, Jill sank into Teo's arms. A chill clung to him so she pushed his jacket from his shoulders and dropped her arms to the side as he did the same to her.
They communicated without words, stripping each other bare. When they were at last naked, he carried her to bed. He followed her down, drew the covers over them both and curled into her embrace.
He wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve her, but he would work hard to keep her happy, to continue deserving her. Reya was right. When you find something special, you keep it. From mementos to friendships, the good ones were rare and worth nurturing.
Jill ran a hand down his chest, traced his abdominal muscles and then wrapped an icy hand around his cock. He hissed out a breath.
“Damn, woman. You feel like ice.”
She made that husky little laughing sound that got him hard as a damn rock. “You'll just have to warm me up.”
“Gladly.”
With an arm around her waist, he scooped her up until she was splayed on top of him. Touching her everywhere he could reach, he used the friction to warm her skin.
“Mmmm. I think I'll keep you,” she murmured, drawing lazy designs on his shoulder.
“Good, because I wasn't going to give you any choice.”
“You weren't?”
“Nope. There are times to retreat. Any warrior knows that. But there are times to press forward.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“How did I get so lucky?” she asked.
“You smiled at me.”
“That was it?” She sounded incredulous.
He nodded.
“Then you asked if you could get me something to drink and even though I was trying my best to ignore my attraction to you, you kept coming back all night long, waiting on me, making me feel special. And then I got to know you and you kept flashing that smile at me. And I fell in love with your laugh to the point that I craved it. You're bewitching. It's no wonder I've drunk more coffee in the last three months than I have in my entire life combined.”
“You’re probably the reason I’m in the black,” she said with a laugh.
He trapped her hand beneath his. “That’s all you, honey. Your brains, your staffing, your marketing, the way you set up your shop, how you greet everyone who walks through your door. Your success is all thanks to you. No one else.”
“Thank you for that,” she murmured and pressed a kiss to his lips.
Before he could deepen their kiss, she pushed away and slithered down his body. He held his breath and she tossed the covers up so that she was completely hidden.
Her fingertips skimmed his thighs, over his knees, down his shins and back up his calves. His breath swooshed out and he sucked in another.
“Jillian,” he groaned as she took him in hand.
Her skin was warm again, soft and her hands were so strong as she stroked him. She cupped his balls and thumbed the soft underside of his cock, teasing the sensitive spot that would send him zero to sixty.
Just when he started to sweat, she took him into her mouth.
“Holy—”
Her tongue took over, swirling around the head before she sucked him deep, all the while, massaging his balls. Teo threw an arm over his eyes and focused on his breathing. He couldn’t shoot off, not yet. Not today. Today was special.
Her other hand joined the fray, continuing where her mouth left off with every up and down stroke. She was way too good at that.
“Okay, uncle,” he cried.
Her head popped out from beneath the comforter.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Vixen,” he said.
“Which reindeer are you?” she purred. “Dasher? Prancer? Cupid?”
It was rare to see her hair so deliciously messy and ready for his fingers.
“Hold that thought,” he murmured, scooting out from under her. He jogged back to his clothes, retrieved a condom and then dove back into bed.
With the fluffy white comforter over his head, he stared down into her laughing eyes.
“Definitely Prancer,” she declared, spreading her legs to make a spot for him.
He rolled on the condom and slid his hands up her thighs.
“I’m ready,” she told him. “Surprisingly, I’ve been ready since you put a snowball down my shirt.”
Teo couldn’t help but laugh. “Kinky.”
He slid a palm over her pussy, up her mound, across her breasts and back down. She sucked a breath between her teeth as he dipped his middle finger between her nether lips.
“So smooth and wet and warm.”
“Mmm huh.”
He fingered her, stretched her with one, then two, and finally three fingers all while brushing her clit with his thumb. She lifted her hips, trying to create a rhythm, but he wasn’t about to let her come yet. He wanted to be face to face, wrapped in her arms when they came together.
“Teo—” she ground out.
“Yes, Vixen?”
“Now. Need you now.”
“Are you sure?” He teased her clit again.
“Stop toying with me!”
He chuckled at the dire expression on her lovely face. So intense, her jaws ground together in need, her chest rising and falling erratically as she hung in limbo.
“You’re the one who’s been toying with me, sweetheart. Driving me crazy for weeks, making me want you and miss you and need you. But you’re right.” He pulled his hands away and settled between her thighs.
“Enough talking,” he whispered against her lips.
“Mmm huh,” she agreed, wrapping her legs around his hips. The position opened her to him, guiding him in like a funnel.
He drove home with a single exquisite thrust that almost made him lose it. She felt too good, so snug. Being in her arms, having her legs locked around him, moving in perfect harmony with her was like nothing else in the world.
Transcendent. Perfection.
He didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want to leave her loft or the soft cradle of her body.
“Love you,” she panted.
“Ditto.”
He plunged in and out until they were both crying out, a symphony of breathy groans and sweet moans. And as her body tightened and her core milked him, he knew he’d finally found the home he’d only dreamt about.
Side by side, coming down from another incredible high, he looked out the window at the snow. He was a lucky son of a gun. He’d survived when so many hadn’t. He was relatively unscathed and now, when he’d least expected it, he’d found a woman who took his breath away.
With a contented sigh, he pulled her closer and kissed her forehead.
“Thank goodness Dylan and Reya picked your coffee shop for my welcome home party,” he murmured.
“Thank goodness, indeed.”
THE END
Boomer’s story is up next. Sign up for my newsletter to be notified when it’s available. Did you miss a book in the series? Check out the Girls’ Night and SEALs of Roseville series page.
More Books by Selena Blake
Series: Girls’ Night Trilogy
(Contemporary Romance Novels)
Ask For It
Go For It
Beg For It
Sub Series: SEALs of Roseville
At Her SEAL’s Command
About Selena Blake
An action movie buff with a penchant for all things supernatural and sexy, New York Times bestselling author Selena Blake combines her love for adventure, travel and romance into steamy paranormal romance. Selena’s books have been called “a steamy escape” and have appeared on bestseller lists, been nominated for awards, and won contests. When she’s not writing you can find her by the pool soaking up some sun, day dreaming about new characters, and watching the cabana boy (aka her muse), Derek. Fan mail keeps her going when the diet soda wears off so write to her at [email protected].
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