A Perfect Holiday

by Riley Murphy

  When Riker scanned the group and spotted the angel with purple and white coiled hair, he smiled. “She looks like Lady GaGa.”

  Sidney squinted and tilted her head right then left before she nodded. “I can see that.”

  “Her wand’s a little messed up though.”

  “Actually it isn’t. Her wand is supposed to connect with her twin sister’s, but I haven’t gotten her yet.” She put her fork down and adjusted the napkin that was spread over her lap. “I came close two years ago, but I was out bid on eBay. Freaking last minute snipers.”

  He laughed. He couldn’t help it. She was really pissed about this.

  After spearing her next piece of chicken, she went all serious on him. “What about you? Do you have any favorite ornaments that are too special to go on the tree?”

  He finished his last bite, which was the very last morsel on his plate and held off sighing with pure pleasure to answer. “I don’t have any ornaments.”

  “No ornaments? That’s just sad.”

  “You think?” He wasn’t going to go into how he’d packed up all his shit in Denver two years ago and left it there. Those skeletons could stay buried in the heated and cooled storage unit he rented for now. “By the look of it,” he hiked a thumb over his shoulder toward her tree, “you have enough for both of us.”

  That thought bubble was over her head again and his heart ached a little as she perked right up and made the offer, “I’ll share…but you can’t have the candy one. Matthew was the first student to have a crush on me. So it’s special.”

  A wisp of bang had escaped her hair tie and Riker reached out to sweep it back behind her ear. He stared right into her eyes and whispered, “Matthew’s got great taste.”

  She didn’t say anything, but then she didn’t have to. He knew what she wanted. Her eyes darkened and her cheeks flushed with color and that was when he knew he’d be fucked, or they’d both be fucking, if he didn’t create some space. Now more than ever he didn’t want to screw things up with her by going too fast. This was the closest he’d ever been to normal and healthy as far as relationships went in a very long time.

  That was a sobering thought. “How about I do the dishes since you cooked?”

  He wanted to gather her in for a squeeze the moment he saw her struggling to hide her disappointment. And then he really wanted to hug the hell out of her when she shrugged, as if his pushing back was no biggie. “I could help.”

  “No, you cooked. It’s only fair.” He stood and gathered their plates.

  “But you don’t know where everything is or where it goes.”

  “I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  He heard her quietly snort as she grumbled something about how that was a miracle as he couldn’t seem to figure out how much she wanted to fu—

  “Sidney Capp.” He put the dishes beside the sink and folded his arms across his chest, leveling a mock disapproving glare her way. “Such language.”

  She laughed before she collapsed on couch and made herself comfortable. With her hands behind her head and one ankle stacked over the other so she was in a position to lie back and leisurely watch him, she said, “Funny thing about language. Take that word for instance. You constantly use it as an adjective while I’d rather be using it in terms of a verb.”

  Water filled the sink as he eyed her over the steam. “I’ll give you a verb.”

  Her deep grin was so cheeky he had all he could do not to dump the dishes to go and dive on her. This little role reversal was proving to be interesting. “I was thinking about backpedaling.”

  “Yeah, you do that a lot.”

  He dunked a plate into the suds as he made a silent note to self. She was going to pay for that one.

  Sidney was in a wonderful place. Right after Riker finished the dishes he joined her on the couch. And after a half hour of her trying to push him to go further, she gave up and just enjoyed the experience. She didn’t know how long they’d been tamely messing around, all she knew was that she was so hot and yet, so relaxed at the same time it was a miracle.

  Every nerve and fiber in her being was awake and ready. Teetering on the edge and yet there was no urgency. Just a deep and steady need that hovered. She didn’t fight it, or push it. She just stayed in the moment, which happened to be great until…

  “What are you doing?” She put her hand over his when he tried to tug up her T-shirt.

  “I’m lifting your top. I want to taste your skin.”

  Gah! She wanted him to taste her skin too, but one look as his smoldering well-after-five-o-clock shadow and gorgeous sex-rumpled hair and she knew why she couldn’t. At least not yet. “Wait. Let me get the lights.”

  Freaking halogen lighting. By it, she saw every pore in his skin, as he hadn’t turned the kitchen lights off, so she knew he’d be able to see her just as clearly. “Please.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She wanted to melt and forget all her imperfections. She never felt this exposed when she’d been with Ken. Although, she’d barely been awake so maybe that didn’t count. Staring up at the ceiling, she saw every pop of the popcorn there. Every dip and shadow in a bad place… and dread built. This was the downside to being with the best looking guy of your dreams. If you weren’t careful he’d see what a naked nightmare you were. After all, there was owning one’s faults and then owning one’s faults under hard white light. “I don’t—there’s too much—” she finally let go of the bottom of her shirt and growled, “—light.”

  The fact that he swooped down and took hold of her T-shirt between his teeth, pulling back and stretching it taut, as he eyed her should have made her smile. Or at least helped to ease the tension somewhat as he looked like the cutest puppy with a chew toy.

  And as he was acting like one she stared down. “Riker.”

  Silence. Stillness. More silence and then, snap, he let go. “Don’t be crazy.”

  She dropped her head back on the couch cushion and sighed, “I’m not. I’d just feel better if we had some mood lighting. Maybe turn off everything but the tree?”

  “You didn’t need mood lighting at my place earlier.”

  “It was a better angle.”

  “A better—? Hey, look at me.”

  She really didn’t want to. At the moment she wanted to slink away, right after she finished the swearing she was silently doing about getting to the gym more often. But seriously, this was one emergency she never counted on having to cover. Riker Mitchell. Her dreamy playboy. Hot and ready to feel her up on her own couch and her squishy ass was worried about it? Hell yeah.

  You better fix this.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve wrecked everything. I have, haven’t I?” Thank God he smiled.

  “No.”

  His hair was such a sexy mess she couldn’t help herself, she reached out and petted it down as she explained. “You know how having junk in the trunk is the in thing today? My junk is kind of scattered. Actually, it’s all over the vehicle. It looks good in certain T-shirts, baggy pants and an A-lined skirt occasionally, but Casper-white naked? I’d be taking a real big risk and I’d probably scare the hell out of you.”

  He didn’t even blink. “Stop it, you’re turning me on.”

  “Riker!” She hadn’t meant to, but she bunched her fist in his hair and tugged. That’s when she saw it. His eyes darkened and his hand at her hip curled like a cat’s does when it’s purring. “Riker?”

  “Seriously, you’re turning me on.”

  “But—”

  “Fuck the buts.”

  Now he used both hands instead of his teeth to lift her shirt. “I love your curves. I love all your softness.”

  He bent and ran his tongue along her exposed abdomen and the most she could do was suck in a breath. “I—”

  “You’re perfect.” He kissed and nipped her belly and hip, dragging his chin over her navel, but that’s where he stopped and pressed in until she tingled right down to her toes. “Once I got my hands on you. When I was spread
ing that sun cream earlier?” He laid the side of his cheek fully against her belly. His warm breath, skating like an echo over her skin, was heaven. Hell. Paradise. “I thought life didn’t get better than that moment, but now I want another one.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.”

  She didn’t look down. She was trying so hard to forget about the lights. Attempting to push past the images she had in her head of what she’d look like to him once exposed. None of which would be his favorite word, “perfect.” But then he played with the button on her jeans. Plucking on it in a teasing motion. Pulling without undoing it and yes, she wanted him to undo it. She really did. More than she wanted to hide from the light.

  “Riker?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Take your moment.”

  She knew she’d made the right choice, the second she was naked and stretched out on the couch. When he was devouring her with his gorgeous eyes and whispered, “You’re beautiful.”

  She expected so many things then. Him to come over her. Cuddle with her a tiny bit more before he made his move, but his move never came. Instead he stroked and talked to her. He denied her his touch until she panted and begged, and when she’d begged enough, he moved down and wedged his broad shoulders between her legs and whispered, “Now I’ll take my moment.”

  And when his hot mouth opened over her, his warm tongue slid against her, his hard muscled arms kept her spread and at his mercy, she gave up. She gave in. It was too much and not enough.

  “Oh, yeah, God…that’s…” She turned her face into the couch cushion and bit her lip. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the idea came to her that she must look a cliché with those words and her actions, but it was true what they say. It felt too good and she was owning it, so fuck them. “Yes! Ohhh…”

  She buried her hands in his hair and pulled him in tight. Screw the light and what she looked like in it. Right now she was taking her moment. She drew him in close and ground herself against his mouth. Pivoting and pushing. She’d never had a guy go down on her before and the sensation was awesome. Unique. The pressure. The silken, velvet pressure. “Riker…”

  God love him he didn’t answer. All he did was suck in a part of her that caused her eyes to roll back in her head, her toes to curl and her whole body to shake like she was leaning up against a sellout concert speaker.

  “Riker.” That was the last word she breathed before her inner muscle turned to jelly while the best parts of her melted. Flowed. And her desire slid right into his mouth.

  After a time her breathing returned to normal and when she stopped shaking, she heard his husky words.

  “Damn, darlin’, you’re absolutely perfect.”

  Chapter Seven

  Riker braced himself as he moved away from her as gently as he could. Unfortunately, she didn’t take any notice of his uncomfortable state. She tossed one way and turned another. All while he kept his could-shatter-at-any-moment appendage out of her fussing range. He was like a slow loris, inching his way up the couch, determined to lie next to her if she’d only stay still. Almost there.

  “You don’t mind if I wear your shirt, do you?”

  She bounced up and the ensuing wave-like movement hit him like a kick to the balls. “No,” he groaned and blew through a series of breaths he’d seen a Lamaze instructor use at the natal clinic he’d remodeled.

  Through squinted eyes he watched her fight with his shirt to get it on. Amazing. In his mind there were two kinds of woman a guy faced after satisfying her. One who stayed and one wanted to go. Damn, he hadn’t pegged her for a runner. No, he would have put bets on her being the Cling-wrap type.

  Closing his eyes he pressed his lips together and braced himself for the fall into the cushions. It was going to be a bitch when he landed on his side, but he wanted to look as natural as possible doing it and if he kept up with the slow movements she was sure to notice. One, two…

  Jesus. Fucking. Christ. With the whole cross landing in his lap.

  When he hit the couch in a stretch the impact moved through him like a fully struck tuning fork, snaking and vibrating right between his leg and shooting up the length of his cock until he had to grind his teeth together to keep from swearing out loud.

  He didn’t want her to feel obligated. Hell, he didn’t want this to get weird. He’d told her no screwing and he meant it, but this one-sided messing around was killing him. The breathing helped. The burning started to dissipate, but then the lust came rolling back to the forefront. Not good.

  He tried reciting all the U.S. presidents in order, but couldn’t remember the song. He needed to think of something else fast. His tax return. No, all he wanted to do was control his hard on, not turn into sunset Ken and start crying. He needed something. Anything. One thing.

  Tuna noodle casserole.

  He fucking hated the stuff with a passion. There’d been a time when he didn’t. When it was a perfectly good dish but then it got butchered by Caleb’s first long term girlfriend and now he had post traumatic culinary stress over it. God, he’d dreaded coming home from school on those Tuesday and Thursday nights. The aroma that filled their small apartment was…? Well, he didn’t want to think about it and fortunately he didn’t have to. Clearly, a reminder of that casserole was the kryptonite he needed to literally deflate.

  A deep breath hadn’t even fully escaped from his lungs when he dragged another one back in. He’d thought Sidney had straddled his legs with the intent of climbing over him to come and cuddle, but he’d been wrong. His eyes snapped open and his hands clamped over hers. “What are you doing?”

  The sight of her naked thighs spread over his knees while his shirt partially covered her, took his breath away. But her hands captured by his over his belt brought the air right back with a vengeance.

  “I’m undoing your belt.”

  “Why?”

  She’d turned out the kitchen lights so all that was left was the tree with that one blinking strand illuminating the darkness around them. It was nice. More intimate somehow and when she tilted her head so the bulk of her hair rained down her left shoulder, he was sure she was going to say, “To give you a blowjob” and when she did he’d be all over that idea.

  His grip started to ease but then she said, “I want you to jerk off so I can watch.”

  His hands involuntarily tightened. He couldn’t help it. He felt as if he was falling. In all his experience he’d never had a woman boldly make this kind of stated demand. His heart pounded as he held her gaze and whispered, “You like to watch?”

  She nodded. “I think so—I never—yeah, I like to watch.”

  In the quiet that followed he decided one thing. Quirky was being moved to the top of his list of desirable feminine attributes. “Okay.”

  “You want to—” she pointedly dropped her gaze to his lap and then shot it back up to look at him, “—let go then?”

  Truthfully, he wasn’t sure. This could be really good or really bad, as in embarrassing. There was just no way to tell with the kind of hard on he was sporting. Easing his grip, he forced himself to relax but the second he heard the slow sound of his zipper coming down, his stomach muscles clenched and his pulse picked up speed.

  It seemed to take her forever to spread open his fly. A lifetime for her to slip her soft hand into his boxers. Eons before she wrapped her warm fingers around him and squeezed.

  “Nice.”

  Nice didn’t begin to describe what came after his boxers were down and she was on all fours, bridged over his legs. His shirt gaped and he saw her breasts through the opening at the neck. Frustrated with the obscured view, he was just about to ask her to take it off when she let go of him and grabbed his hand to replace where hers had just been. “Do it.”

  And he did.

  It was almost surreal. No talking. Each of them in a moment that he had a feeling was new for both of them. He didn’t close his eyes as he kept his gaze trained on her while she kept hers on his lap. He started slow and steady.
Easy. Moving in a familiar rhythm that got his pulse rushing. Blood heating as his breath rasped in out.

  God, need coursed through him as his thighs tightened, his ball sac lifted and his stomach muscles clenched while he rode the lust that coiled from shoulders to knees before it rocketed back up to his cock that swelled and thickened. The weight felt good in his palm.

  And fuck it was great having Sidney watch. It added something sharp, something integral to the experience. Daring him to ride the edge just that much closer and hold off not giving into the ache to finish. As long as she didn’t touch he’d be okay. As long as she didn’t move he’d make it a little longer.

  “I love this,” she whispered and those husky words touched a piece of his soul. They stroked a part of him that had never been petted and somewhere in the back of his mind it occurred to him that Sidney did a lot of stripping. With her eyes and her words because right now? He had no choice but to believe her and when he did a shot of euphoria gripped him.

  “No.” He held her back with his free hand when she leaned forward to get her mouth on him. “You wanted to watch.”

  She didn’t ease back nor did he. He met her every attempt to plunge forward with firm resolve. The harder she pushed, the faster he pumped. It was frustrating, challenging, exhilarating and when he finally gave in with a growl, he added mind-blowing to the list.

  “Jesus.” He fell back with eyes now closed and played that last few minutes over and over in his head. Where she was desperate to get her mouth on him and he was determined to stick to the original plan. What a turn on.

  He felt something on his abdomen and looked down. She must have brought a towel to the couch earlier because she hadn’t moved but she did have a towel in hand. “That’s okay. I got this.”

  She seemed reluctant to let the cloth go. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” She sat back on her heels and frowned. “You’re kind of weird for a guy.”