12 Days (Hope Harbor)

by Karla Doyle

  “I was literally just thinking about how much fun I didn’t have. Were you reading my mind again?”

  “Again? I can safely say I’ve never been able to do that.” The lips he’d been jonesing to taste again thinned to a straight line as she looked away. “Which is good, all things considered.”

  He couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. He hadn’t been a manwhore, but he hadn’t been a monk, either. Those days were behind him, though. And, since he had better plans for tonight than a deep dive into his relationship-less relationship history, he was going to do what any self-preserving man would do—ignore the comment and change the subject.

  The sight of her well-fed cash drawer when she popped it open presented the perfect opportunity. “Whoa, lots of cash today. Are you going to lock it up in the safe?”

  “I’d prefer to deposit it,” she said, meeting his eyes again. “If you can spare a few minutes to follow me to the bank?”

  “There’s no sparing. All my minutes are for you tonight.”

  She shot him a raised eyebrow, rather than a swoony-eyed gaze. “Should I feel special, or are you just desperate for an excuse to stay away from your parents?”

  “You’re definitely special.”

  “Uh-huh. And?”

  He pushed away from the counter and faced her, hands tented together in front of him. “And I’ll beg if I must, just don’t make me go back to that house while they’re still awake.”

  “I knew it,” she said, pointing and laughing.

  “You always know what’s going on with me.” He dropped his hands from their prayer position. “Not in a mind-reading kind of way, although I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on silent communication.”

  “True. And it does come in handy sometimes. Like last night.”

  “Yeah, we were really in sync.” He moved closer, barely resisting the urge to touch her. “Especially when we kissed.”

  “That was…” The flush on her cheeks deepened with each second the sentence went unfinished.

  “Don’t leave me hanging. My fragile ego can’t take the suspense.”

  The tension melted away with her exaggerated eye roll. “I’m sure your ego isn’t teetering on the edge, waiting for my description of a kiss to determine its fate.”

  “It totally is.”

  “Oh, please,” she said, the pink rising on her cheeks again. “You already know you’re a good kisser.”

  “Good?” He’d been teasing about the state of his ego, but a rating of good made things serious. “That’s all you’ve got?”

  “Okay, no. It was also unexpected.”

  “This from the woman who hung mistletoe, then chased me under it.”

  An affronted gasp left her lips. “Are you implying that I set that kiss up?”

  “You are great at planning.” He laughed, catching her hands as she made a move to playfully shove him. “You’re also great at kissing,” he said, drawing her arms upward, onto his shoulders. “Notice that I used the word ‘great,’ not ‘good.’” He slid his arms around her waist and tugged her body against him. “Even ‘great’ is an understatement. That kiss was incredible. I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it ended.”

  “You haven’t?” Her voice was soft and tempting, like the rest of her.

  “Not for a single second,” he said, holding her gaze. “What about you, did you think about it?”

  She nodded, pulling her juicy bottom lip between her teeth.

  “Am I going to need mistletoe to do it again?”

  She shook her head, tipping her head and smiling up at him with gently parted lips.

  “I’ll see if I can level up from ‘good’ with this one.” He sealed his mouth to hers, absorbing her soft giggle, groaning as she opened for him, giving him full access.

  She tasted so damn sweet. Warm and irresistible. He could kiss her all night and never get enough.

  He slid his palms south, squeezing her wicked, sexy curves with enough firmness to make her gasp against his mouth. “Too much?”

  “No, I’m just—” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

  “I mind,” he said, pulling back enough to look into her eyes. “This is big, Ads. I want to get it right. And my head is so full of wanting you, I might miss an unspoken message. You have to tell me if something’s not okay.”

  Everything about her softened. Especially her eyes. Goddamn, she had the prettiest eyes.

  “I’ll tell you if I don’t like something.” A smile curved her juicy lips. “But don’t hold your breath for that to happen.”

  “Does that mean you’re upgrading me from ‘good?’”

  Her head tipped back as she laughed, offering the perfect opportunity to kiss her neck.

  He took the opening with pleasure, inhaling as he kissed his way along, from her ear to her collarbone. He stopped there, tracing the delicate line with the tip of his tongue, filling his nose with the addictive scent of her skin. All the times he’d hugged her over the years, sat beside her on the couch, or in the truck—how had he not noticed how fucking amazing she smelled? Oblivious dumbass. He was lucky she hadn’t chosen another guy already.

  Though, she had. Cock-ring guy was out there somewhere, probably waiting for her call. Or booty call.

  Neither of which he was going to let happen.

  “Sorry, I have to check that,” she said, wiggling out of his arms at the sound of a phone notification.

  “Yeah, of course.” He’d never had to focus on playing it cool. Not in general, and certainly not with a woman. Watching her move off to a private distance and smile while looking at whatever message she’d just received… Consciously acting casual was exactly what he was doing.

  He had homefield advantage, though. Whoever the guy on the other end of that message was, he wasn’t here. He wasn’t the man Addie had just kissed. He wouldn’t be the guy taking her home tonight—even if it was just in the literal sense.

  A couple minutes of tapping and a handful of whooshes later, she set the phone facedown on the counter. “Okay, that’s taken care of.” She resumed her end-of-day bookkeeping, shooting him a smile over her shoulder. “I should be ready for my bank-deposit run in a couple of minutes.”

  “No rush.” Except to kiss her again. Total rush there, in more ways than one.

  She checked one of her printouts, counted a stack of cash from the drawer, tucked it into an old takeout cup and snapped the lid on. Another of her routines. Even when he was there to escort and protect her, she still carried her bank deposit in a coffee cup. A trick she’d learned from the flower shop’s previous owner.

  Crime was fairly low in Hope Harbor, but he was glad she took precautions just the same.

  “I’ll grab my stuff from the back, then we can go.”

  “Sounds good.” When she didn’t move, he took the hint and stepped out of her path.

  “Thanks.” She’d never hesitated to brush by him in the past. Now that they’d kissed and her body had been plastered to his, suddenly she was tentative about some possible incidental contact? It didn’t make sense—except for the timing. She’d cut their kiss short to answer her phone.

  Cock-ring guy. Absent and nameless, yet getting between them.

  Time to step up his game. By the time he took Addie home tonight, cock-ring guy would be as good as nameless to her, too.

  December 16

  ADELINE

  After insisting on driving her to the bank, then accompanying her into the ATM vestibule, Kelly had pressed up against her back, tucked her hair to one side and made her forget her PIN by kissing her neck. He hadn’t teased her about the brain fart, but, because he was one of only two people she’d entrusted with the number, he’d come to her rescue by whispering it in her ear. Then continued distracting her by brushing his lips over the shell of said ear.

  Thank goodness the machine automatically counted and deposited the money. Her ability to think straight had been gone long before the receipt popped out.

&nbs
p; Out in the cab of his truck, he’d kissed her again. On the lips. With his hands threaded through her hair. Then he’d placed one on her knee.

  She’d parted her legs—just a little—hoping he’d slide his strong, warm hand higher.

  He hadn’t.

  She’d spent the ensuing, hour-long drive to the mall alternating between squeezing her thighs together so the seam of her jeans would press against her clit, and squirming to take the pressure away because she was one bump in the road away from having an orgasm.

  Something was happening between them. Something sexy and wonderful, better than her years of dreaming and wishing. She just didn’t know what’d prompted Kelly’s newfound interest. She did know it was taking everything she had to simply go with it. To enjoy the ride and not question him. But she wanted to. More than a kid wants to catch Santa on Christmas Eve, she wanted to.

  “Where’s our meetup spot, in case we get separated while we’re shopping?” she asked, as they entered the bustling mall. They always had a predetermined place to reconnect, because they rarely wanted to go to the same stores. What man and woman did?

  “Don’t need a meetup spot tonight. I’m going wherever you’re going.” He relieved her of her mittens, stuffed them into his coat pocket, then held her hand. “Where to?”

  This would get interesting really fast. “I need stockings.”

  “Stockings.” He nodded. “Okay, but what’s wrong with the ones we already have?”

  She tilted her head, squinting up at him. Then it hit her. “Oh…you thought I meant Christmas stockings.”

  “You didn’t?” he asked, at which she shook her head. “Then what?”

  She couldn’t help smiling. It was kind of cute that a man who’d logged as much physical intimacy time as Kelly could be oblivious about the word stockings.

  “Come on.” She tugged him by their connected hands. “Let’s go educate you about lingerie.”

  “Lingerie?” His eyebrows rose as they started walking. “Is that what I’ve been missing out on all the years I wandered off to look at running shoes and gadgets?”

  “Sometimes, yes.”

  “Damn.” He grinned down at her. “If I’d known sooner, I never would’ve left your side.”

  “That would’ve made trying on bras awkward.”

  “Not for me,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. If he’d said that a few days ago, it would have been a joke. It definitely held a different vibe now.

  On the subject of vibes, she’d forgotten to recharge hers after last night’s buzz-fest. Damn it.

  He slowed, lagging behind as she led him through the entrance of a store exploding with lace and satin. “Is it okay for me to go in here?”

  “Yes.” Her answer didn’t appear to reassure him, based on his subsequent tentative step. “Oh, my God. Is this your first time in a lingerie store?”

  “Maybe.”

  “How is that even possible, with all the women you’ve—” She couldn’t bring herself to say fucked. Or any other synonymous verbs. She cleared her throat. “With all the women you’ve dated.”

  “Putting underwear on a woman is generally the opposite of a man’s goal.”

  “With inspirational words like that, you should get a side hustle going and write a player’s handbook. I’m sure it’d be a bestseller.” She stopped in front of the nearest table, reclaiming the hand he’d held under the guise of poking through the stack of panties.

  She should’ve known he’d see through it, she’d never been able to hide her feelings from Kelly. Well, aside from her feelings of true love and raw lust. She’d successfully hidden those for sixteen years. But who was counting.

  “Hey,” he said, planting his body between her and the endless array of panties. “It was a joke. A bad one, timing-wise, but I’m used to being the guy who makes poor-taste jokes around you. It’s going to take some practice for me to curb that, but I will.”

  “I don’t want you to change. I love that smartass guy, he always makes me laugh.”

  His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth. “You’re not laughing now.”

  “My mind is kind of spinning in all directions because of everything that’s happened in the past twenty-four hours, that’s all. But that’s my problem, not yours.”

  “It didn’t feel like a problem when we were kissing.”

  “No, it didn’t. It wasn’t. But we can’t keep kissing indefinitely. And when we stop kissing, my brain kicks back into functional mode. You know what that means.”

  “Yeah.” The smile returned to his face. “That you’re as smart as you are sexy.”

  She rolled her eyes and stepped around him, surveying the multitude of brightly colored panties, yet seeing none of them. Since they’d gone to dinner two nights ago, he’d called her gorgeous and sexy. He’d held her hand, kissed her, groped her—in the best way.

  Her brain wasn’t in overdrive because she was smart. She was hyper-analyzing every word and action out of shock and fear. And there was nothing sexy about that.

  “I’ve always liked the way we can joke and goof around together, but I also like that I can be honest with you, about anything that’s on my mind.” He’d closed the distance between them again. This time, from behind. A position that allowed his deep, steady voice to slide into her ear like a caress. “And the truth is, I haven’t been in a lingerie store because I was never invested in a woman enough to go out and buy stuff like this for her.”

  “That makes sense.”

  Kelly didn’t do serious relationships, nor did he lead women to think he might. They knew what they were getting—and not getting—with him. As did she.

  She needed to keep Kelly’s past at the forefront of her mind. Whatever had spurred this new brand of interest from him, it was temporary. He’d called her smart. If she were truly intelligent, she’d shut him down the next time he kissed her. As she’d told him, though, her brain disengaged when their lips connected. Basically, she was screwed. But it was so worth it.

  “Hi.” A perky voice belonging to a dolled-up salesperson pulled Addie from her silent musings. “All the panties are grouped by style on top of the table, and sorted by size in the corresponding drawers below. So, if you’re looking for your size in a full brief, for example, you’d find them down there.” She pointed one perfectly manicured nail at a low-level drawer, labeled, XL-XXL.

  Angry heat rushed to Addie’s cheeks. “And where’s the drawer of size large, cheeky panties? Because that’s what I’d be looking for if I were shopping for me.”

  Kelly coughed to cover a laugh, then banded his arms around her waist and pulled her snug against his body. “Actually, I think that’s what you’d be looking for if you were shopping for me.”

  Call her petty, but she enjoyed the heck out of the fast-blinking embarrassment on the twenty-something’s face.

  “They’re in there.” The salesgirl pointed at a different drawer. One that was several rows over, vertically, and two higher, horizontally. “Let me know if you need anything else.” Then she was gone, lost among the sea of lace and satin.

  “Thanks,” Addie said, tilting her head to look up at Kelly, after they had the space to themselves again.

  “For what?”

  “Making it look like you’re really into me, even though my backside isn’t a size small.”

  His brows drew together as he held her gaze. “I am really into you. And I don’t give a shit what the label on your clothing says. Every part of you is size ‘perfect’ to me.”

  Her smart side was about to get a break. She turned in the circle of his embrace, slid her hands up the back of his neck and pulled him down for another hit of his addictive kissing.

  Some guys would balk at a public display of affection. He didn’t. Man of action that he was, he took control and showed her—and anyone who cared to watch—exactly how much he liked her backside. He palmed her ass, squeezing it firmly enough to make her squeak. A sound he absorbed with the next sweep of his tongue.

/>   By the time they came up for air, she’d forgotten everything aside from how amazing he made her feel. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. Maybe this thing they were doing would last through Christmas. Maybe only for tonight. Right now, she didn’t care.

  “You are really great at that. Note that I used the word ‘great.’”

  “So are you,” he said, chuckling. He allowed her to detangle from their clinch, but his hand remained on the small of her back. “You want to grab some of those cheeky panties first?” He glanced back, as she moved away from the table.

  “No, I just need to get stockings today.”

  “Yeah, but I need you to get cheeky panties.”

  She laughed, startle-jumping when he smacked her on the butt. “You know what I think? I think you just enjoy saying ‘cheeky panties.’”

  “True, I kind of do. But I enjoy picturing them on you more.”

  God help her, the way he was looking at her, the absolutely sexy smile on his face…she was tempted to go back and fill a basket.

  “Can I ask you something?” The words slipped out before she had a chance to think them through.

  “My favorite color is red.”

  She shook her head at him, but the smile she couldn’t tame gave her away. She was having the best time ever.

  “Okay, I’ll behave,” he said, as they stopped in front of the hosiery section. “What did you want to ask me?”

  The flirting, the kissing, the touching—what brought it on? Why did things change, literally overnight? What did it mean for their friendship, long-term? How would things be when this amazing blip ended?

  She reached for two packages of stay-up stockings and held them up in front of him. “Seam, or no seam?”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “The seam is the black line that goes up the back of the leg.” She tapped the photo of the half-naked, bare-assed woman on one of the packages. “They’re to go with my dress for Jenna’s wedding, next week.”

  “With seam.” His eyes twinkled as he nodded. “Definitely.”

  “Thanks.” She returned the rejects to their hook and faced him with a coverup smile. “All set.”