Slow Burn

by Janice Maynard

  “I get it. But why artificial?”

  “For one, Emma has allergies. Besides, a live tree can’t go up this early. They dry out. Surely, you’ve done this before.”

  “As a kid,” he said, feeling defensive and trying not to show it.

  Nikki stared at him, her beautiful eyes wide. “Are you telling me you haven’t put up a Christmas tree in fifteen years?”

  “Why does that shock you, Nikki? I live alone. I’m always on the road. It’s a lot of hassle for one person.”

  “But what about the holidays? What about Christmas Day? How did you celebrate?”

  Her inquisition brought back memories that weren’t always exactly pleasant. “Well, for starters, sometimes I’m in a country that doesn’t observe the Christmas holiday.”

  “Okay. I get that. But other years?”

  “Occasionally a friend will invite me over. Or if I’m traveling, I’ll find a church and go to a service. It’s not a bad thing to skip the commercialism and the sappy sentiment. I haven’t missed much.”

  Her eyes darkened with some emotion he couldn’t name. “Oh, but you have, Jake. You just don’t realize it.”

  “Where’s this damn tree?” he growled. “Let’s get it over with.”

  Nikki pointed him toward the closet, though she seemed troubled. Jake carried the long, rectangular box into the living room and opened it. Fortunately, the tree was one of those prelit deals. All he had to do was lock together the three sections and make sure the stand was attached tightly.

  At Nikki’s direction, he positioned it in front of the window. Though he wouldn’t dare say so out loud, the poor fake evergreen was not the snappiest tree in the forest. Honestly, it looked a bit dilapidated. Even sad...

  “I know it’s not great,” Nikki said, studying the tree with her nose wrinkled. “I got it on clearance the year I was pregnant with Emma. But the decorations cover up its imperfections. Emma,” she called. “We’re ready to put ornaments on the tree.”

  Emma came running, holding her doll from Jake. “Can I do the first one?”

  “Sure, baby.”

  Jake had planned to sit back and watch while the womenfolk did their thing. He was sadly mistaken about his role. First Emma, and then Nikki, chided him.

  Soon, he was selecting ornaments from a jumbled plastic container and placing them on the tree. When the ornament box was finally empty—hallelujah—the adults added shiny silver tinsel, starting at the top and winding it around the tree. Nikki got down on her stomach and spread out a red velvet tree skirt, twitching and pulling until it was straight enough to meet her exacting standards.

  Jake would have offered to help, but he was afraid he would be tempted to do more than twitch if he was down on the floor with Nikki. She looked like a holiday treat in her fluffy turquoise sweater. It was the color of the Aegean Sea. Maybe he could convince her to take a trip with him to Greece. Sunshine. Warmth. Blue skies.

  He cleared his throat and tried to think about icebergs and cold showers. “Are we done?” he asked.

  Nikki stood, stretched her back and nodded. A piece of her hair had tangled with one of the lower branches. Jake smoothed the strand and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “The tree looks great, Nik.”

  It was true. Somehow, the collage of ornaments had transformed a shabby artificial tree into something beautiful.

  Emma stared at it, her doll in her arms. “Turn the lights off, Mommy.”

  In the dark, the tree was even better. Jake pressed a surreptitious kiss beneath Nikki’s ear and nipped her earlobe with his teeth. “I keep picturing you naked,” he confessed, his words too quiet for the child to hear. He slid a hand under the back of Nikki’s sweater and caressed the length of her spine.

  Nikki shivered, but didn’t move away. Instead, she leaned into him, letting him support her weight. Her hair tickled his nose.

  Finally, she turned in his loose embrace, touched his lips with her fingers and spoke as he had, in a low voice. “It’s snowing really hard now. You shouldn’t drive back to Falling Brook. Why don’t you spend the night?”

  A rush of heat settled in his groin. His mouth dried. “On the sofa?”

  He saw the multicolored lights from the Christmas tree reflected in her laughing eyes. “In my bed.”

  “What about Emma?” His voice sounded funny, perhaps because he was struggling to breathe.

  Nikki gave his chin a quick kiss, then eyed her daughter. “We’ll set an alarm,” she muttered. “You can move to the sofa at five. It will be fine.”

  Nikki bathed her daughter, washed her hair and dressed her in warm pajamas. The temperature was dropping and would soon leave a crust of ice on the new-fallen snow. As Nikki tucked Emma into bed, her daughter cuddled the new doll sleepily. “Why isn’t Mr. Man reading me a story tonight?”

  “It’s late, baby. Decorating the tree took all our time.”

  Emma yawned and snuggled deeper in her covers. “I like the tree. It’s bootiful.”

  Nikki grinned. “Yes, it is. But remember, it’s still a long time until Christmas. We put up the tree a little early this year. You and I will enjoy it every day and every night, and I’ll let you know when it’s time to look for Santa.”

  “I can wait, Mommy. I’m good at waiting.”

  “Can I ask you a question, love?” She smoothed her daughter’s still-damp hair. “Why do you call Jake ‘Mr. Man’?”

  Emma yawned again, her eyelids drooping. “He’s a boy and we’re girls. I like Mr. Man.”

  Nikki managed not to laugh. “Fair enough.”

  When she turned off the light and tiptoed out, she was pretty sure her daughter was already asleep. Nikki found Jake in the kitchen wiping the last of the countertops. The dishwasher was humming, and the kitchen was spotless.

  “Jake,” she said, feeling guilty. “You’re our guest. I would have done all this.”

  His grin curled her toes. “First of all,” he said, “I needed to earn my keep. And second of all...” He crossed the room and scooped her up on her toes for a fast, breath-stealing kiss. “I wanted you to be free for whatever comes next.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Lady’s choice.”

  She nuzzled her cheek against his broad, hard chest, listening to the steady ka-thump of his heart. “What if we start by drinking cheap wine in the dark and enjoying the Christmas tree?”

  “Cheap wine?”

  “You tell me.” She threw open the cabinet where she kept a single bottle of red and then opened the fridge and pulled out two bottles of chardonnay. “Your pick.”

  He winced. “I could have brought some.”

  “I suppose a man who visits fancy vineyards in France and Italy is above five-dollar vino?”

  Jake’s expression was droll. “If you paid five dollars for these, you were robbed.”

  His disgust made her giggle, though she was breathless with wanting him. “How about coffee? I have some beans in the freezer. And a grinder. Though it’s probably dusty,” she admitted.

  He cupped her face in his big hands and kissed her eyelids one at a time, his expression searing and intense. “How about a glass of water, and then we go make out on your couch?”

  “I’m fine without the water,” she gasped. They were pressed together so closely she could feel the hard length of him against her abdomen. “And we could go straight to the bedroom.”

  Jake was suddenly the one with patience. “Tree first, woman. We worked hard on that masterpiece.”

  He took her by the hand and drew her down the hall to the living room. Nikki had opened the drapes before she put Emma to bed. Now, streetlights illuminated the heavily falling snow. The tree cast a warm glow over the room.

  “You couldn’t have driven home, anyway,” Nikki muttered. “Look at it out there. Did you bring an overnight bag? You sh
ould grab your stuff from the car before it gets any worse.”

  Jake sat down and pulled her onto his lap. “You agreed to make out with me. Don’t change the subject. And yes. I packed a few things. Just in case.”

  Nikki shivered. How many times over the years had the two of them fooled around like this? When she was in high school and Jake was in college, she had lived for the weekends when he came home to Falling Brook. He’d told his mother he needed to wash clothes. He’d told Nikki he needed her.

  Now, Jake’s hands were everywhere...caressing, arousing. When he stroked the center seam of her leggings, the one that lined up with her aching sex, she arched into him and whimpered. “Yes, Jake. Yes.”

  They kissed ravenously, straining to get closer and closer still. His lips bruised hers. His hands tangled in her hair. “I want you, Nik. I haven’t been able to think about anything else but making love to you since I brought you home Saturday night. Please tell me I’m not the only one with this obsession.”

  “You’re not,” she panted, her tongue soothing the small hickey she had left on his neck. “Where are the condoms? Don’t say they’re in the car.”

  He shoved her aside and jumped to his feet, reaching for his billfold. “Two,” he croaked. “Right here.”

  “Good.” She stood also, then stripped her sweater over her head. The house was warm, but her nipples furled tightly when Jake reached for her, his gaze hot.

  “Let me help you with that bra,” he said. Seconds later, the bra was in the air and Jake was sitting on the sofa again with her on his lap so he could play with her breasts. He plumped them between his hands and buried his face between them, inhaling her scent. “You still wear the same perfume,” he said softly.

  “Yes.”

  “I caught a whiff in a department store one time and got a hard-on. I love the way it smells on your warm skin. I could eat you up, Nik.” Then he caught one nipple between his teeth and tugged. That simple contact sparked fireworks all over her body.

  When she cried out, he glanced up at her, his cheeks flushed. “Too much?”

  She smoothed his hair with a shaky hand. “No, Jake. Never too much.”

  He rewarded that confession by giving the neglected nipple equal time. In moments, Nikki’s knees were weak and the thrum of arousal low in her belly was impossible to ignore. “Take off my pants,” she begged, standing up clumsily.

  The stretchy fabric cooperated easily when Jake slid his hands inside and dragged her pants down her legs. He took her ballet flats, too, leaving her in nothing but a pair of lacy black undies.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he breathed, his expression reverent.

  “You have too many clothes on.”

  She started unbuttoning his shirt, but his patience ran out. “I’ll do it.”

  Suddenly, she realized the drapes were still open. “Oh, my gosh.” The living room was dark, but still. Scuttling backward into the shadows, she hissed at Jake. “My bedroom. Now.”

  They tiptoed down the hallway, past Emma’s closed door, and made it unscathed into the master bedroom. Master was a misnomer. The bedroom was scarcely larger than Emma’s, but it did have a bathroom, so the lady of the house didn’t have to use the one in the hall.

  Jake exhaled. “Does this door lock?”

  The room was dark. “Yes. Hang on.” She found the bedside table and turned on the lamp. When she saw Jake’s face, her heart stopped. He looked like a pirate intent on capturing a prize.

  Rapidly, he removed the rest of his clothes. He made her feel young again, and reckless.

  She turned back the quilt and the sheet and climbed onto the bed.

  Jake joined her quickly. “This feels good,” he said as they rolled together, their limbs tangling.

  “The mattress isn’t great,” she mumbled, wrapping her hand around the most interesting part of him.

  He shuddered. “I don’t give a damn about the mattress. I’d take you outside in the snow if that was the only way to have you. You excite me, Nik. I guess that’s obvious. I’d like to see you sunbathing nude on a private terrace in Greece. Just the two of us. Drinking ouzo and eating cheese. How does that sound?”

  Since he was touching every erogenous zone on her body and a few that were surprisingly mundane most of the time, she was in a cooperative mood. “Sounds wonderful. Would you buy me a gold anklet and let me ride a donkey down to the sea?”

  He choked out a laugh. “I’d buy you a whole damn town. And every man who walked by our dinner table at night would see you in candlelight and be jealous that they weren’t me.” He moved away long enough to don protection, then came back to her.

  Reclining on his hip, he entered her with two fingers, feeling the slick warmth of her body. Gently, he stroked the spot that centered her pleasure. “I want to take you hard and fast, but I also want it slow and easy.”

  Nikki skated her palm over his sculpted, warm shoulder, loving the feel of him, the intimacy. “Why choose?” she asked quietly. “We can have it all.”

  He rose over her and thrust hard, making both of them gasp. She wrapped her legs around his waist. The movement forced him deeper. He thrust again, and she climaxed, the world going hazy as she concentrated on wringing every bit of pleasure from her release. It had come too fast. She wanted more. But already Jake was finding his own nirvana, taking her body and making it his own.

  At last, breathing hard, he rolled away, linking her hand with his. “That was amazing, Nik.” The words were slurred. His breathing deepened as he fell asleep.

  She reached for the lamp and turned it off. Then with one hand, she set an alarm on her phone. In the dark, tears stung her eyes. Christmas was the season of miracles, but something told her Jake Lowell wouldn’t stick around long enough for Santa to show up.

  Nikki squeezed his hand, holding on as if she could keep him forever. “I love you, Jake,” she whispered.

  Eleven

  When Jake opened his eyes, he was disoriented by the dark. This wasn’t his hotel room. And then he was fully awake.

  Shifting carefully to the side of the bed, he stood and stumbled to the bathroom. When he returned, his eyes had adjusted fractionally to the black of night. Nikki must have installed room-darkening shades on her windows.

  A glance at his watch told him it was only two. In the silence, he could hear the almost imperceptible sound of Nikki’s breathing. He climbed back under the covers and turned into her warmth. The curves and valleys of her body had him hard again.

  But he was cold inside, and there was a block of ice where his heart should have been. Nikki had thought he was asleep when she said those four incredible words. I love you, Jake.

  Had she really meant it? How could she? After everything that had happened...

  As he tried to steady his panicked breathing, a memory popped into his head. He’d been twelve, maybe thirteen, camping with a friend and his family at Yellowstone. A park ranger gave a talk about the west’s low humidity and had warned that if the remnants of a campfire were not separated and scattered well enough, an ember, a slow burn, might remain for hours, days. And then spring back to life when the wind conditions were right.

  Now here Jake was. Did he still love Nikki? Or did he even care enough to try? And with a kid in the mix, what was the fallout if he wanted to be the man Nikki deserved, but failed?

  His erection mocked his indecision. Take her, the devil on his shoulder urged. Protect her, said his better self.

  In the end, he knew the answer. Moving her gently in the bed, he shook her awake. “I need you, Nik. Again? Please?”

  She nodded sleepily, murmuring her pleasure when he kissed her long and deep, teased her lips, thrust his tongue inside to stroke her tongue. The fire burned hot again.

  Reaching for the nightstand on his side of the bed, he found the remaining condom and managed to rip it open. When he was r
eady, he faced her on his side. Carefully, he lifted her leg over his hip, pulled her close and joined their bodies.

  It was perhaps the most intimate thing they had done. Their breath mingled. They met as equals. Neither in charge. Both of them taking pleasure and giving it in return.

  Nikki curled her arm around his neck and kissed him. “I’m glad you stayed tonight,” she whispered.

  Her kiss took him higher. He felt invincible. “Me, too, Nik,” he groaned. Fire swept down his spine, flashed in his pelvis. His fingers dug into the soft curve of her ass. He wanted to say something, to tell her how he felt, but the storm swept him under. He came so hard he might have lost his wits for a moment.

  He rolled to his back at the end. Her cheek was smashed against his chest. Stroking her glorious hair, he tried to steady his breathing. His brain spun out of control, and he tasted fear. How could he hurt the woman who had been his whole world?

  “Jake?” she said, petting his chest like he was a big jungle cat.

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m wide-awake now. Tell me about the wedding. I know you said it’s at two o’clock, but is it going to be a huge affair? Where are they getting married?”

  He tried to focus. “You remember the Bismarck Hotel downtown?”

  “Yes.”

  “They’ve remodeled the top floor into a large entertainment space. Josh and Sophie had the choice of including only family and close friends or planning for a crowd of a thousand or more. You know how it is in Falling Brook. Once you start inviting people, it’s hard to draw the line. Plus, with all the Black Crescent mess in the news again this year, my brother and his fiancée thought it would be in poor taste to spread a bunch of money around. Last I heard, the guest list hits around fifty. Small and intimate.”

  “What about a rehearsal dinner?”

  “Nope. Not even that.”

  “Good for them.”

  The conversation was a pleasant diversion, but Jake had arrived at the moment of truth. Things were getting far too cozy. He released her and scooted up against the headboard, forcing himself not to touch her.