His green eyes met hers in one intense look. “I saw you with your ex.”
“That’s over.”
“You looked pretty cozy.”
She stared at his mouth. Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to lose herself in his kisses.
“Are you with him?” Jared asked.
“No.”
His large hand cradled her cheek. “Good. You deserve better.”
“Like you?”
“Like me.” He kissed her cheek, his fingers sliding into her hair, holding her in place.
Her eyelids fluttered down. “I don’t want to talk…” She swallowed, finding it difficult to think. She was supposed to focus on her patients. Jared was too distracting. “I need to focus on work right now.”
“Work’s over for today,” he said before slamming his mouth over hers.
His mouth took possession, his tongue sweeping inside. She caved and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him back like he was the last life vest in the despairing hellhole of her life.
The doors opened with a ding.
Jared grabbed his bag and took her hand, guiding her out the door and toward the hospital exit. Her knees felt like jelly. She was throbbing and desperately needed more.
“My place?” he asked when they stepped outside into the cold December air.
She hesitated as her brain struggled to kick in. She was going to regret this, right?
He cupped the back of her neck, leaned down and whispered in her ear, “I’ll teach you some manners.”
She ached, remembering how he made her beg please and then thank him for a monster orgasm. The throbbing intensified. She could really use the stress relief.
She met his eyes. “Yes, please.”
He chuckled and grabbed her hand, leading her toward his house.
~ ~ ~
Jared was torn between finding out more about Emily and her ex, which would probably piss him off, and shutting his damn mouth because it looked like he was going to get Emily in his bed again very soon. The heat between them was insane. But then before they’d even reached his house, he blurted out, “So tell me exactly why your ex-husband had his arm around you.”
“This again?”
“Yes.”
“He came over—”
“He came over!” He stopped dead in his tracks. He hadn’t realized the picture was taken at her apartment. “Did you invite him over?”
“No.”
“So he just showed up?”
“Yes.”
“And then what?”
“He gave me chocolate, and I cried. He was comforting me. And he apologized.”
His hands were in fists, and he forced himself to loosen up. “Em, be straight with me. Is this thing with you and your ex still going on?”
“Nope, no way, no how.”
He studied her for a moment, and she gazed back at him unflinchingly. He believed her, but still. Obviously she didn’t hate her ex if she let him comfort her. The fact that she’d pushed Jared away when he’d tried to do the same hurt more than he’d thought possible.
Jared swallowed hard. “There’s a bunch of news stories saying you’re on your way to a reconciliation.”
“Are you going to believe me or the press?” she snapped.
“You, but—” He stopped himself. “I don’t want you to see him anymore,” he bit out.
“That’s pretty high-handed of you. Just laying down the law after we slept together one time.”
“Five times.”
She threw her hands up. “Whatever!”
“You call me if he shows up again. I’ll make him listen.”
“Jared, no,” she said in a choked voice. She swiped at her eyes. “Now I’m getting upset again. I thought you were going to help me forget—”
He kissed her, immediately realizing his mistake, and she kissed him back passionately. Emily needed him to be the fun hookup guy. So that was exactly what he’d be. They’d talk later, once she was more relaxed, though he didn’t tell her that. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her whole body against him, so he knew he’d made her feel better. He broke the kiss, took her hand, and led her to his place.
No sooner had he shut the door behind her than she launched herself at him. He caught her, turned and pressed her against the door.
Their mouths fused together and things got crazy. Her hands were all over him as he ripped off her pants and panties. He was inside her within minutes, not even completely undressed as he pounded against her while she moaned and gasped and urged him on.
She went off fast, and he just let go, taking what he needed until he was spent. Only Emily made him lose control like that. He rested his forehead against hers, and she smiled.
“Thank you,” she said. “I needed the stress relief.”
He cupped her jaw with one hand. “Is that all I am to you?” He didn’t mean to get so serious so fast, but there it was. He couldn’t just be the fun time for her. No matter how much more convenient that would be. For both of them.
She closed her eyes and tipped her head back.
He pulled out and set her back on her feet, keeping his hands on her arms in case her knees buckled. “Answer me.”
She searched his face, and he stared back at her with all the deep feelings he had. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I just relaxed for the first time all week. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
She pulled away and headed for the sofa, where he’d tossed her scrub pants and panties. “So I guess I’ll be going.”
“Stay.”
She pulled on her panties. “Why?”
He struggled for the right words. Because I feel stuff. Like with Jen before she dumped me. No, she doesn’t want to hear about your ex.
“For the stress relief,” he blurted.
She smiled. “I feel fine now.” She reached for her pants, and he moved quickly to stop her. He tossed them to the side, gripped her by the hair and kissed her hard. She melted against him. He kept going, thrusting his leg between hers, intent on one thing only, sealing her to him. She was still revved from earlier and was soon moaning and rocking her hips rhythmically against his leg. He kept kissing her as she mewled in the back of her throat, and the moment he felt her tense on the edge of her peak, he pulled away.
She grabbed for him frantically, off balance, and he held her upright.
“So you’ll stay,” he said. They’d talk later. Much later.
She nodded, her cheeks flushed.
“Come on, I’ll feed you lunch before I screw your brains out. I’ll take you on the counter next time.”
“Y-yeah. That sounds good.”
He chuckled. “Thought you might like that.”
~ ~ ~
After two exhilarating Venus services with Jared, Emily had to go to the Christmas cooking class she’d signed up for at Ludbury House in Clover Park. She considered not going because Jared was such a nice distraction from all her worry over Chris. It was damn hard to feel good about anything when a child she cared about suffered. Chris had been through so much with chemo and painful bone-marrow treatments. But it really did help her cope better by focusing on something normal in her life, like cooking. To her surprise, Jared had also signed up for the class.
“Seriously?” she asked. “I didn’t think you liked to cook. I’ve only seen you make ham and cheese sandwiches.”
He wrapped his arms around her from behind, pushed her hair to the side, and kissed the side of her neck. “And what’s wrong with ham and cheese sandwiches?”
“Nothing. I just…” She trailed off as he lifted her hair and kissed the nape of her neck, causing a frisson of sensation down her spine. “You have to stop touching me, or I’ll never get to class.”
He chuckled and moved to her ear, running his tongue along the shell. “That sounds like an invitation.”
She turned in his arms. He gave her a small smile, his warm green eyes alight with mischief, dimples showing in his stubbled cheeks. “You�
��re not just trying to keep me from Josh, are you?” She knew he hadn’t liked the bartender flirting with her.
He scratched his head. “Who’s Josh?” He didn’t fool her for one minute.
“Yeah, okay. Let’s go. I need to stop home for some fresh clothes.”
After Jared parked the truck in her apartment complex’s parking lot, she turned to him. “Wait here, I’ll just be a minute.”
She walked briskly up the stairs and stopped short at her front door. There was a brown teddy bear sitting on the welcome mat with a red stitched heart. This couldn’t be from Jared, he’d been with her most of the day. She quickly looked around for signs of Michael, but she was alone. She scooped it up and noticed a folded note taped to the back. With shaking hands, she opened the small piece of paper that read in tiny all caps printed letters, FOR EMILY, A VERY SPECIAL WOMAN.
She swallowed hard and dashed into her apartment. It didn’t look like Michael’s writing. Of course, he could’ve had his assistant write it, or maybe it was delivered and the person at the shop wrote it. She stashed the bear on the top shelf of the hall closet in case she needed it for evidence. Calm down. Maybe it was from Jared. He could’ve ordered it earlier. Or from Josh. Or…Michael had gone off the deep end.
She quickly threw on a red sweater with a black skirt, black pantyhose, and flats, hoping the cheery outfit would help her get into the holiday class. She told herself not to panic. It could be anyone that sent her a teddy bear. It didn’t have to be anything bad. She tried to focus on the good: she was going to a festive cooking class. She suddenly felt woozy and sat down.
A short while later, she climbed back into the warm truck. Jared had switched the station to one playing Christmas carols, which gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling despite her worry over the teddy bear gift and Chris.
Jared glanced over at her. “Hey, you okay?” He was surprisingly in tune with her moods.
“Yeah.” She didn’t want to tell him about the teddy bear. It was probably nothing. And she really didn’t need him going all caveman and going after Michael. She had no proof.
She stared out the window as Jared pulled onto the main road out of the apartment complex, still a little shaken up, and found herself asking, “Do you think I’m special?” A very special woman. She watched his expression, kind of hoping he’d suddenly grin and know she was talking about the gift, that it was from him after all and she could stop freaking out, but he just looked confused and a little uncomfortable.
He cleared his throat. “Uh, what do you mean special? Special how?”
“Never mind.”
“Sure, you’re special. Am I special?”
It wasn’t him with the teddy bear message. He acted like he’d never thought about someone being special before. “Sure.”
“Feel better now?”
“Not really.” She blew out a breath. “I’m still worried about Chris.”
“He’s hanging on.”
“So far.”
The frustration and helplessness washed over her again, pulling her back to that dark, despairing place. Jared reached over and squeezed her hand.
A few minutes later, he broke into her whirl of worried and despairing thoughts. “Check out the lights.”
Main Street in Clover Park was lit up with white lights wrapped around the old-fashioned street lamps and trees lining both sides of the street.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
“They always do up Ludbury House too for the holidays,” he said.
A few minutes later, they arrived at Ludbury House. The white house was decorated with white lights, as were all the trees on the property, including a huge thirty-foot pine tree. The wrought-iron fence lining the front of the property held festive greenery with red velvet bows.
Jared took her hand as they walked inside, holding the heavy wooden door open for her. A large Christmas tree decorated with white lights and red bows filled the foyer. Brightly wrapped gifts with gold bows were piled under it. The grand staircase had greenery wrapped around the banister.
“Welcome back to Ludbury House!” Hailey greeted them joyfully. She wore a green velvet elf hat with fake elf ears sewn onto the sides of the hat and a matching green velvet dress. She handed elf hats to both of them.
Jared put his elf hat on. He looked ridiculously cute. It brought out the green in his eyes.
Hailey’s blue eyes lit up as she looked from Jared to Emily. “Are you two together?”
Emily didn’t know how to answer that.
Jared answered for her. “Yes.” He took the elf hat out of Emily’s clenched fist and settled it on her head. His eyes held hers in challenge of his claim. After the afternoon she’d spent gasping and panting with his hard body pressed against hers, it wasn’t so easy to deny it.
Hailey clapped, breaking the spell. “Wonderful!” She handed Emily her card. “In case you need it.”
She glanced down at a cream-colored business card embossed with silver bells that read Hailey Adams, and then under that, Love Junkie.
“I’m a wedding planner,” Hailey explained. “Go on back to the kitchen.”
Emily shoved the card in her purse, cheeks burning in mortification. She didn’t want Jared to read something into that since she was never getting married again. She quickly changed the subject. “I wonder what we’ll be learning to cook tonight.”
“I hope it’s dessert,” Jared said. He took her hand, entwining his fingers with hers, as he walked to the kitchen with her. “It feels like we’re together, right?”
She did not want to get into a discussion about that right now. She still wasn’t sure how she ended up hooking up with him a second time after regretting their little weekend fling. The only reasonable explanation was the extreme stress she was under, but she didn’t think he’d like to hear he was her stress reliever. He’d seemed angry when she’d blurted that out before.
“Ho-ho-ho,” Shane, their chef instructor, said, greeting them with a wave. He wore a Santa hat over his red hair. “You’re back.”
Emily waved to him and to his grandmother, Maggie, who wore an elf hat over her short white hair and a green velvet dress that matched Hailey’s. “I’m the elf-off-the-shelf!” Maggie proclaimed. “Or is it off my rocker?” She slapped her knee, pleased with her joke.
Emily giggled. Maggie actually did resemble a happy elf with her petite size and cheerful demeanor. She caught sight of Julia quietly tying an apron on in the corner. “Hi, Julia.”
“Hi,” Julia said in a soft voice.
“Hey, Julia,” Jared said. “Angel coming tonight?”
She nodded. “He’ll be here.”
The stainless steel prep table in the center of the room was covered with thin bars of chocolate, chocolate chips, sugar, flour, and tubes of icing. Looked like dessert to her. She looked to Jared, who grinned.
“We had two couples cancel on us, so it’ll be a small group tonight,” Shane said. “Some kind of flu going around. Grab an apron.”
Jared grabbed an apron for himself and one for her, and they put them on.
Just then Josh, the bartender from Garner’s, arrived wearing an elf hat. He looked strange in it; the cute hat paired with a flannel shirt over ripped jeans made him look like a badass biker with an elf fetish.
“I really hope we’ll be baking cookies in a tree,” Josh said with a grin.
“Keebler elves!” Maggie crowed.
Josh pointed at his nose like ding, ding, ding, right answer!
Julia giggled, which seemed to encourage Josh as he crossed to her. “Dangerous profession, isn’t it?” He smiled down at Julia. “Where’s your elf hat?”
She shook her head. “I took it off to put on the apron.”
Josh looked over to the aprons, spotted her hat and retrieved it for her. Then he settled it on her head and smoothed her hair off her cheeks and over her ears. Julia flushed bright pink. “Adorable,” Josh pronounced, which made the pink tinge with red.
“Nice hat,�
� a voice barked from the doorway. Emily turned to see Angel in his black leather jacket, striding in like he wanted to kick someone’s ass.
Jared whistled under his breath.
Julia quickly took off her hat.
Hailey followed on Angel’s heels. “Your boyfriend’s here, Julia!” she caroled.
Julia glanced at Josh and then to Angel. “We’re just friends.”
“Yes,” Angel bit out. “Best friends.”
“Oh.” Hailey looked at Josh, who was smiling and looking at Julia, who was blushing furiously again. Hailey pressed a card into Julia’s hand. “Call me. I can help you with that.”
Angel looked pleased. So did Josh.
“Thank you,” Julia said. She took one look at the card, made a tiny squeak, and then looked around the room at all the curious faces. “I’ll just go put this in my purse.” She dashed to the corner where she’d stashed her purse.
“All righty, then,” Maggie announced. “Tonight is for desserts.”
“Yes!” Jared said with a fist pump.
Maggie laughed. “We’ll start with my world-famous fudge, a simple recipe, while Shane gets things ready for a traditional Yule log. A lot more work, but ultimately worth it.”
“Quality cooking can’t be rushed,” Shane said.
“Nothing good can be rushed,” Maggie said with a wink. “Am I right, ladies?”
Julia blushed.
Emily spoke up. “Slow is good.”
Josh slid her a sultry look across the room, and then Jared’s arm settled around her shoulders. Nothing like the caveman routine to get a woman going. Not that Jared had to do all that much to get her going. He spent the rest of the class touching her as they worked together on their desserts—a hand squeeze, a quick brush down her back, pushing her hair back over her shoulder, touching her arm. She had a feeling he had more in store for her tonight, even though she knew spending the night with him would be a bad idea. She had to give them some space before she got too attached. She knew his rep, after all. And spending another weekend with him would give him the wrong message. It was a fun, onetime thing. Okay, five times.
Plus two more. Whatever.
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