by Rhian Cahill
***
Leah put the last plate in the dishwasher. “I can’t believe she fell asleep in her dinner.”
Haylee laughed. “You guys must have tired her out.”
Chris covered a yawn. “I think you got that backwards.”
“Thanks for watching her today,” Haylee said.
“You don’t need to thank me. I love having her.” Leah closed the door on the dishwasher and hit the start button.
“I’ll second that. She’s a pleasure to be with,” Chris added.
Leah washed and dried her hands. “She seems fully recovered from her fever.”
“Yeah.” Haylee sighed. “I don’t know what was wrong with her. There was no cough or runny nose, just the temperature.”
“As long as there’s no relapse it doesn’t matter.” Leah faced her sister. “You look tired too. Why don’t you go to bed and I’ll finish the clean up.”
“I’ll help,” Chris said.
Haylee’s gaze swung between them. “Hmm…I think I will go to bed early. Night.”
She was gone before Leah could say goodnight. “Well.”
Chris chuckled. “I think she was giving us privacy so I could do this.” He moved in, backing her up until her butt hit the counter.
“You keep doing that.”
“What?” He lowered his head, nuzzled the sensitive skin beneath her ear.
“C-crowding me.” Her breath came out in shallow pants. “Pressing me against things.”
“Mmm…” The warm brush of his lips along the shell of her ear made her shiver. “I like pressing into you.”
“Ah—” He sucked her lobe into his mouth. “Chris.”
He hummed a reply, the vibrations rippling down her neck and racing lower. Leah arched, pressed her body against his. “See. You like pressing into me too.”
God, she did. She wanted to do it naked. Her hands found their way to his head, her fingers tangling in the silky waves of his hair. “I do.”
“Come home with me,” he breathed into her ear.
“I…” Leah couldn’t say no. She should. She had work tomorrow.
“Stay the night. I’ll take you to work in the morning.”
It was so tempting. He was tempting. More than any man ever had been.
“We don’t have to have sex, but I want to sleep with you beside me.” Chris moved his mouth to hers. Spoke against her lips. “I want you to be the last thing I see tonight and the first thing I see tomorrow.”
She was nodding before she said a word. What woman could resist an invitation like that? “Yes.”
He melded his lips to hers more firmly and thrust his tongue into her mouth where she met him with her own. The slick slide, the warm caress of flesh on flesh made her breathless and she tore her mouth from his.
“We have to leave now.” If they didn’t, she’d find a reason not to go. “I’ll get my things.”
Slipping from his arms, Leah rushed to her room and threw her toiletries in a bag, grabbed a blouse and pants for work and was heading back to the kitchen in a few minutes. She debated leaving her sister a note then decided it was best to tell her face-to-face and knocked on her door softly. Not that she was likely to wake her niece who slept like the dead.
The door opened. “What’s up?” Haylee asked. Glancing down, she spotted Leah’s bag. “Oh.”
“I’m…um…” God. She felt like a teenager telling her mum she was going on a date. “Chris…”
Haylee giggled. “It’s okay, Leah. I get it. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Haylee hugged her.
“Ring if you need me.” She didn’t want her sister to think she was abandoning her.
Shaking her head, Haylee said, “Go. We’ll be fine. And so will you.”
Leah wasn’t sure what her sister was saying, but she knew it was important. “Haylee—”
“Go.” Haylee gave her a push. “You don’t need to hover all the time. We’re okay on our own.”
They were. Leah knew that, but it was hard to let go. She pulled Haylee back for a tight hug. “I love you. I’m proud of you.”
“I know. And ditto.”
Letting her sister go, Leah stepped back. “Things are changing.” She swallowed over the lump in her throat.
Haylee smiled. “They are. But they’re good changes. It’s time to stop playing it safe. For both of us.”
One side of Leah’s mouth tipped up. She brushed a strand of hair off Haylee’s face. “So smart. So brave.”
“I had a great teacher.”
Leah smiled. “I think maybe we’ve taught each other.”
“You should go,” Haylee murmured.
“Yes. I should.” Leah turned.
“Leah.”
She looked back over her shoulder. “Yeah.”
“Chris is one of the good guys.”
Haylee was right. Regardless of what happened between them, Chris would never deliberately set out to hurt her the way Will had hurt Haylee. She smiled. “I know.”
***
Chris showed Leah into his house and tried to look at it from her perspective. It was too large for a single man. Four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, three separate living spaces… Way too big for one man to live in alone.
“Your house is empty.” She glanced over at him with a smile. “Well, not exactly empty.”
He shrugged. “I don’t need much.” And a couch, two bar stools and a big screen TV definitely weren’t much. “I’ll get around to furnishing it some day.”
“Do you at least have a bed?”
The question had every muscle tightening. Chris nodded.
Leah tipped her head to the side. “Is it this way?”
“Ah…” He licked his lips, suddenly nervous. He’d asked her here and now he felt like a bumbling idiot alone with a sexy woman for the first time. “Yeah. The master bedroom is down that hallway.”
She smiled then headed in that direction.
He was left with nothing to do but follow. It was like there was an invisible string attaching him to Leah. Wherever she went, he trailed along behind.
God, she had him. Hook, line and sinker.
“Oh. Wow.” She’d stopped in the doorway to his room. “That’s one hell of a bed.”
Chris smiled. He’d made the frame out of timber he’d found on a friend’s property. The king size mattress looked bigger with the four thick posts that supported the head and foot boards. He knew it was an intimidating piece when you first saw it. “I built it.”
“What?” She looked back at him. “Really?”
He nodded.
She smiled before entering the room and heading straight for the bed. She dropped her bag beside it and launched herself onto the mattress, laughing when she bounced a few times. “You could get lost on this thing,” she said, stretching out her arms and legs.
He liked the way she looked there, on his bed. She just needed to get rid of some clothes…
Leah kicked her flip-flops to the floor and unbuttoned her pants.
Chris swallowed and took a step closer. “Leah.”
“Hmm…” She kept her eyes on his as she wiggled out of her pants and revealed the tiniest scrap of lace covering her centre.
He sucked in a breath. “Jesus.”
She smiled a siren’s smile and continued to remove her clothes. By the time she lay on his bed in only her lace bra and undies Chris didn’t think he was breathing at all. His heart had definitely stopped.
“Chris?”
“Yes,” he croaked.
She didn’t answer. Not with words. Instead she bent her finger and beckoned him closer.
“I should let you get changed…” he muttered.
“I didn’t bring pyjamas.” She rolled to her side and patted the bed next to her. “I didn’t think I’d need them.”
He wanted what she offered so badly he couldn’t speak. But he didn’t want to push her into this and he’d come on so strong since they’d met. He might know exactly what he wanted and wher
e he wanted this to go, but Leah didn’t. Or if she did, they had to take into account the fact they’d only known each other a day. “We don’t have to rush things. I can lend you a—”
“No.” She pushed up on one elbow, rested her head in her hand and stared at him.
Fidgeting on his feet — something he hadn’t done in years — Chris let her scrutinise him.
“Have you changed your mind?” she asked.
“No. God, no.”
“Then come over here.”
“I don’t want you to feel like I’ve pressured you—”
“I’ve never let anyone pressure me into anything in my life. I’m here because I want to be.”
Chris held Leah’s gaze. Searched for any sign she wasn’t sure… “I can wait.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You’re sure?” He took a step closer and toed off his shoes.
“Yes.” She smiled.
“Positive?” Another step and he stripped out of his shirt.
“Yes.” Leah laughed.
Her laughter choked off when he shucked his jeans, taking his briefs with them. He stood before her naked. His cock, hard and pointing straight out from his groin, showed its appreciation for her. “I want to go slow. But I don’t think I can.”
“We could go slow the next time.”
Chris chuckled. “Or the time after that.”
“Or then.” She reached behind her back and a second later her bra floated to the floor.
“Or the one after that one.” He pounced, landing on the bed in one leap. Chris caged her body beneath his. “I want to know every inch of you. What makes you squirm, what makes you breathless, and what makes you scream.”
“I get the feeling the answer to all of those things is you.”
Chris stared down at her, searched her eyes for any doubt, but all he saw was desire. And a need that mirrored his own. He smiled. “Let’s find out.”
Bending his head, he took her mouth as he slowly lowered his body to hers. Skin on skin, from chest to feet, the only barrier between them the flimsy lace of her undies. His throbbing length nestled into the warm crease between her legs.
They moaned in unison when he rocked his hips and ground his erection into her sensitive flesh. He licked into her mouth, his tongue mimicking what he wanted to do with his cock while he kept up the grinding pressure to her centre. She rose up against him, her fingers digging into his butt.
Heat and need swirled and rushed as pleasure became the only goal. Chris pulled his mouth from Leah’s and trailed his lips over her chin and down her throat. He kept going as far as he could without moving his cock from the warm cradle of her sex.
“I need to taste all of you,” he said against her skin. “Every inch.”
“Yes.” She writhed beneath him, her back arching and thrusting her breasts towards his mouth.
Chris didn’t deny her silent request. Moving lower, he pressed his way between her legs and proceeded to kiss every centimetre of her smooth skin. The sexy sounds slipping from her lips, the fingers tangled in his hair, and the way her body trembled beneath his mouth drove his own arousal into the danger zone in minutes.
He was torn between wanting to be inside her when she came and wanting to taste her come on his tongue. He’d either get to do both quickly, or one not so quickly. Either option would be fast. Leah moaned and squirmed, her body shaking with pleasure as she drew closer to release.
Surging to his knees, he gripped the sides of her undies and yanked them down her legs. They couldn’t go further than her thighs and, in frustration, he took a firm hold and tore them apart.
“Chris!”
“I’ll buy you a new pair.”
He tossed the scrap of lace aside and lunged for the bedside table. Pulling open the drawer, he grabbed a condom. Sheathing his erection hastily, he positioned himself on his belly between her legs and lowered his mouth to her sex.
She bucked against him, her hips jerking up to meet his avid mouth. He used his tongue, his lips, his fingers, to push her to the edge. She quivered, she shook. And then she jolted, her tight passage clamping down on his thrusting fingers as she went over.
Chris reared up, pushed her thighs wide and replaced his fingers with his aching erection. He plunged in, her convulsing heat sucking him deep. She cried out, the sound one of greedy satisfaction, as she undulated her hips and met him with equal desperation.
It didn’t take him long to hit the peak. A few hard thrusts and Chris was joining Leah in a mind-numbing climax. He grunted — groaned — and collapsed on top of her.
Breathing hard, he locked his elbows and held most of his weight off her. When his arms began to shake, he rolled to the side and successfully took her with him so she lay sprawled over the top of him. His spent cock slipped from the clasping heat of her body dragging a moan from both of them.
“If you tell me that’s Christmas magic, I just might become a believer,” Leah murmured into his neck.
Chris laughed. “It’s definitely magic, but I hope to God it doesn’t only happen at Christmas time.”
“There’s something else I hope doesn’t only happen around Christmas.”
“Hmm…what’s that?”
“Getting a kiss from Kringle.”
It took him a moment to realise what she meant, but when he did he gently jabbed a finger into her ribs. “Only if you’re a good girl.”
She lifted her head to look at him. “I’m always a good girl.”
“Really? ’Cause I’ve got some very naughty things I want to do with you.” He rolled her beneath him and proceeded to show her one of the many things on his naughty list.
***
Leah brought the coffee cup to her mouth and took a sip. She could get used to waking up to the smell of a fresh pot. Unfortunately, she only had instant at home, nothing as fancy as the machine sitting on Chris’s kitchen counter.
“Move in with me.”
She choked on her mouthful. “What?”
“Move in with me.”
“I heard you, I just didn’t believe you.”
“There’s plenty of room for Haylee and Meggie. The rest of the bedrooms are on the other side of the house from the master, so we’ll all have privacy and Meggie can have her own room instead of sharing with her mother.”
“Chris.”
“I know. I’m rushing you but… Jesus. I can see it. See us.”
“See us?”
“The future. Us together. Living here. With our own kids.”
“God. Chris.” Leah took a slow, deep breath as her heart pounded out of control in her chest.
“I know. I know. I’m getting ahead of myself, but Leah, I want it. I want it with you. So much.”
“I… Chris.” She brushed a hand over his cheek, cupped his jaw. “We just met.”
He laughed. “I know. Crazy right?”
She nodded. Smiled. “I believe I said that at dinner the first night.”
“You were right. It is crazy, but I was right too. This, you and me, it’s magic. You can’t deny that.”
“No, I can’t. But I’m not going to move in with you. After only two days.”
“How about three?” he grinned.
Leah laughed. “You’re insane. No.”
“When?”
“I’ve barely got my breath back from… Well, my head is spinning with everything that’s already happened. I need to find my feet, find my balance, work out what I want—”
“You want me.”
“I can’t exactly deny that, now can I?”
Chris shook his head and grinned.
“Regardless I’m not ready to move in with you.”
“Okay, two days is too soon. What about two weeks?”
“Chris!”
“Okay, okay, okay. I’ll back off on the moving in. For now.”
Leah sighed. “You need to give me time.”
“You can have the rest of your life as long as I’m in it.”
�
�I have no plans to walk away.”
“At least let me clear out a drawer. Leave a toothbrush here. A hairbrush. A box of tampons…”
Leah laughed as she figured he’d meant her to.
“Please.” He tried for a cute pleading face and only succeeded in making her laugh harder. “Pretty please.”
“We’ll see.” She took the last sip of her coffee, rinsed the cup and placed it in the dishwasher. “I have to get to work or I’ll be late.”
“What time do you finish? I’ll pick you up.” Chris ushered her through the connecting door to the garage barely giving her time to grab her handbag.
“The bell goes at three-fifteen, but I usually stay until five to get things marked, lesson plans done, that sort of thing. But you don’t have to get me, Haylee can.”
“That means she has to worry about Meggie’s nap time and dragging her out of the house. It’ll be much simpler if I do it.”
“Is this the part where you make yourself indispensable and I have to agree to move in with you because it seems as though I can’t live without you?” she asked as she slid into the passenger seat.
“Hmm… Never thought of that. It’s a good plan. I’ll get right on it.” He shut her door and walked around to the driver’s side, got behind the wheel. “One thing.”
“What?”
“Can I at least tell everyone you’re my girlfriend?”
She turned to face him. “Is that what you want? For me to be your girlfriend?”
“I want everything you’ll give me, but I’m pretty sure you won’t like it if I go around telling people you’re my future wife.” Chris started the car and hit the button to raise the roller door behind them. He reversed out of the garage like he hadn’t lobbed a conversation grenade between.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to your level of honesty. It’s almost like you say things for shock-value, but I know that’s not it. You just don’t seem to have a filter between your thoughts and your mouth.”
Chris braked, put the car into park and turned towards her. “I don’t like bullshit. I say what I mean and mean what I say.”
“I’m getting that.”
“Then you know it’s not BS when I tell you I want it all with you.”
“But I’m not ready for that.”
“I know.”
“Then why do you keep bringing it up?”