Holiday Sparks

by Shannon Stacey

  When she began riding him, lifting herself just high enough so he almost slid free before swallowing him in her warmth again, he reached up and cupped her breasts. He circled her nipples with his thumbs, wishing he could kiss her, but not wanting to stop her from what she was doing.

  Her pace quickened and, when she threw back her head, he did grab her hips. He pushed her up, then pulled her down hard as he thrust his hips up to meet hers. She cried his name and, as her muscles tightened around him, he gave up any pretense of self-control and let himself go.

  When she collapsed, panting, on top of him, Scott pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. He couldn’t get enough of her. Unfortunately, thinking that led to thoughts of the near future, when he wouldn’t have her any more.

  That wasn’t something he wanted to think about, so he forced himself to focus on the here and now. Chloe, naked in his arms. Her breath tickling his neck. Her heart beating next to his.

  “That was fun,” she whispered.

  “If you think that was fun, gimme five minutes.” He smiled and rolled her onto her back. “I owe you some foreplay.”

  * * *

  Chloe stepped back from the Christmas tree to examine her handiwork. “What do you think, Kojak?”

  The dog barked once, then sat at her feet and stared at the tree as though expecting it to light up. His tail thumped the floor in a steady rhythm.

  She laughed and scratched behind his ear. “I can’t plug it in yet. Not until he’s done for the day.”

  “I’m done,” Scott said from behind them and she and the dog both jumped a foot. “I was working on the dining room, so you could have plugged it in.”

  “Even if it wouldn’t have zapped you, we’d wait. You lugged most of the stuff out of the attic and trudged through the woods to find me a tree. The least we could do is let you be here for first lighting.”

  She hadn’t even given a thought to the decorations until her mother mentioned them during their last phone call. In order to ease her mother’s mind about being gone practically the entire month of December, she’d promised to deck the halls in her absence. The orgasms must have distracted her.

  But now the wreaths were on the door and the electric candles were on the windowsills. Every room downstairs had a theme, and it had taken her the better part of the day to set out the Christmas trains and angels and Santas and nutcrackers.

  “I’m here now, so plug it in.”

  She turned the overhead light off first, so when she plugged in the string of lights, the room was filled with the warm glow of primary colors. Scott had chosen a gorgeous tree and the decorations the family had collected over the decades filled it out perfectly.

  When Kojak started nuzzling at one of the gifts under the tree—again—she shooed him away. “Not yet.”

  “Those aren’t cookies, are they? Because he can get pretty mean if people don’t share their cookies.”

  “No cookies. It’s a B-O-N-E and I think he can smell it.”

  “Good thing you spelled it out, just in case he can’t.” He laughed when she swatted at his arm. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  A few minutes later he set a big, brightly-wrapped box under the Christmas tree. “That’s for you. From…us.”

  He’d bought her a Christmas present. Considering she knew just how much he hated shopping, it gave her a serious case of the warm and fuzzies. Luckily, one of the two gifts under the tree was for him.

  “Open it,” he said, handing the box to her.

  “Right now?”

  “Sure. It’s Christmas Eve Eve.”

  “There’s no such thing as Christmas Eve Eve.”

  “Sure there is. And, because the incredibly hot woman who lives here keeps dragging me away from work to have her way with me, I need to bust my ass for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll probably have to do a couple of hours in the morning, too, to finish up. But I’ll be gone before your parents get home.”

  She didn’t want to think about him being gone. “I haven’t heard any complaints about me having my way with you.”

  “That’s because you’re not around when I’m doing my timesheets, trying to remember when I was working and when I was being ravaged so I don’t have to put Master Electrician and Male Gigolo on my IRS forms this year.”

  “Ravaged?” She laughed when he nodded. “Very funny.”

  “Open it!”

  “Okay. Give Kojak his first.” When the dog finally took off for the kitchen, triumphantly waving his beef-flavored chew bone in the air, she handed Scott the other gift. “This one’s for you.”

  He grinned like a boy and tore the ribbons and paper off with the same kind of enthusiasm. Inside the box was a set of magnetic signs bearing the Quinn Electric logo. “Wow. These are awesome.”

  “I noticed the ones on your truck are fading and you seem to be missing one. And, no offense, but whoever designed them missed the point of being able to read them from a distance. You can barely read the phone number, even if somebody was behind you at a red light. And…” She stopped, blushing. “Sorry, it’s a design thing.”

  “They’re perfect,” he said. He kissed her, a quick brushing of his lips against hers, and then he tapped her box. “Open yours now.”

  He’d given her the thickest, softest flannel pajamas she’d ever seen, in a rich cornflower blue. And, stitched over the left breast pocket, was a little embroidered dandelion.

  “You’re always cold,” he said. “When I saw those, I thought of you, and the blue reminded me of your eyes. A friend of Freddy’s stitched the dandelion on for me.”

  It was a perfect gift, she mused, running her thumb over the little yellow and green stitches. Thoughtful and personal, from a guy who obviously knew her better than she’d though. And maybe better than he’d intended to. “I love them. Thank you.”

  “Merry Christmas Eve Eve.” He cupped her face and kissed her very thoroughly for a couple of minutes. “What do you say I help you try those pajamas on?”

  “I don’t know. I’d hate to screw up your taxes.”

  He laughed and pulled her onto his lap. “Let’s call this a Christmas bonus. Off the books.”

  Chapter Seven

  “I guess that’s it.”

  Chloe’s stomach tightened as Scott’s words sank in. The rewiring was done, which was good. But that was it for their holiday fling too. He’d go have Christmas with his family and she’d have Christmas with hers before heading back to Boston. Time to go their separate ways.

  She’d known it was coming. He’d said he’d finish up the last of the wiring today—hopefully before her parents got home—and she’d felt the goodbye in their lovemaking last night.

  But, like all good things, a fling had to end, so she kept her voice deliberately light. “I don’t know if my parents will be thrilled or not, but I’ll sleep better knowing their house won’t burn down if Dad tries to make toast while Mom’s watching TV.”

  Since he’d known how many hours it would take to finish up and given her the amount, she’d already written the final check. She handed it to him and watched him fold it and slip it into his back pocket.

  “So…” He hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “I guess I’ll carry my tool bucket out to the truck and then get out of your way before John and Anna come home.”

  She wanted to call him back, but she didn’t know what to say. She could ask him to hold her one more time—maybe make a joke about one for the road—but that would only make it harder. And her parents were on their way home.

  The tears threatened when Kojak, who knew Scott picking up his tools was usually followed by a trip home to his kibble bowl, ran to her for his goodbye belly rub.

  “You’re a good dog, Kojak,” she told him and he didn’t seem to mind that her voice cracked a little. He even licked away the stray tear she didn’t blink back in time.

  “Are you okay?”

  She forced herself to let go of Kojak and smile. “I’m really going to miss this g
uy. Guess you won’t let me keep him, though.”

  “Sorry, we’re a package deal.”

  It hung there in the air for a few long, awkward seconds…seconds of is he serious and yes, I want the whole package but…and then the moment was gone.

  “Next time you’re up to see your parents, give me a call. Maybe we can have dinner or something.”

  She nodded, focusing all her willpower on not crying. “Make sure you look me up if you’re ever in Boston.”

  “I will. So…” He shrugged and snapped his fingers for Kojak. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

  She could only nod again because her throat was so tight she wasn’t sure she could speak. He started toward the door, then turned back. Maybe he was going to kiss her goodbye after all, she thought. And she desperately wanted that, but was afraid if he touched her right now, she wouldn’t let him go.

  “Goodbye, Chloe.”

  She managed to wait until she couldn’t hear his truck anymore. Then she walked slowly up her bedroom stairs, like a woman climbing the gallows, and threw herself onto her bed for a good cry.

  Or what should have been a good cry. Fifteen minutes later her cellphone rang and her stomach twisted into a knot when she saw the name on the screen. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Chloe?”

  “Yes, it’s me. As far as I know I’m the only person who calls you mom.”

  “Are you sick? You sound terrible.”

  No, her heart was broken. “I was watching Steel Magnolias.”

  “I don’t know why you watch that movie. It always makes you cry. I’m afraid I have some bad news, honey. We made it into Logan airport, but everything’s shut down because of the storm. We’ve tried everything, but we can’t get home unless we rent a car and drive.”

  “No, you can’t drive.” The last thing she wanted was her parents being the lead story on the eleven o’clock news. “I think they’re closing the highway, anyway.”

  She could hear her mom sniffling on the other end of the line and hoped she didn’t go for a full sob. Chloe was on the ragged edge as it was.

  “You have your key to my condo, right?” she asked before they both started crying.

  “Yes. We’ll just stay there until we can get home. If the flights into Portland are a nightmare, we might rent a car.”

  “Wait until they’ve got the roads cleaned up, Mom. I’ll miss you, but I’d rather have Christmas a couple days late than get a phone call from the State Police.”

  They talked for a few more minutes and then she talked to her dad, but eventually she had to let them go so they could go out into the storm and settle in at the condo.

  The lonely hours stretched out in front of her. No parents. No Scott. No Kojak to keep her feet warm. Just her and cheery holiday movies on the television she wasn’t sure she had the heart to watch.

  It definitely wasn’t going to be one of the better Christmases of her life.

  * * *

  Scott missed Chloe.

  Even sitting at the dining room table with his parents, his sister and her husband and little Bethany, he felt alone. Sure, it was his family, but when they all went home, he’d go alone. And he’d wake up alone the next day. Except for Kojak, of course.

  He could always spend the night at his parents’ and spend Christmas morning with them, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted to wake up beside his wife and listen for the pitter-patter of little feet sneaking down the stairs to see what Santa left under the tree.

  After three weeks, it seemed crazy to think Chloe might be the woman he wanted to wake up to, but hers was the face he saw when he let himself imagine it.

  And it had hurt like hell to walk out of her house and not look back. He’d wanted to kiss her, just one last time, but he knew if he’d gotten that close to her, he wouldn’t have been able to walk away. He would have made a fool out of himself, confessing to all sorts of feelings she hadn’t signed up for. And, once again, rather than risk her rejection, he’d kept on walking.

  “Too bad about the Burkes, huh?” his mother said.

  Scott’s head snapped around so fast his neck cracked and Kojak leapt to his feet next to his chair. “What about the Burkes? What happened?”

  “I heard the storm shut everything down, so they’re snowed in at Logan. Even the buses aren’t running. It’s ironic, really. After all this time, Chloe finally came home for Christmas and they’ll be stuck at her condo in Boston without her.”

  At least they were okay, but Chloe would be alone for Christmas and that wasn’t right. So maybe their fling was over. They were still friends and a friend wouldn’t let another friend be alone on Christmas Day.

  An hour later, after Scott and Lanie had washed and dried the dishes just because they were the “kids”, the family gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts. Most of them were for Bethany, of course, but each of the adults had a couple too.

  Watching Lanie and his mom, as well as the two guys, open gifts Chloe had helped him pick out made his stomach hurt. He’d been such a grump that day. He hated shopping, but she’d patiently dragged him to store after store until everybody was crossed off his list.

  “Uncle Scott, open these, please!”

  Bethany dumped her pile of gifts in his lap. After watching Lanie struggle with those gray twisty wires used by the dozen to hold toys in packaging, he’d started bringing his small wire snips to Christmas Eve dinner. Now it was officially his job.

  Once his niece’s gifts had been liberated and the wrapping paper cleared away, his father snuck out to the garage for his after-dinner cigar and, because dressing dolls wasn’t one of his finer skills, Scott escaped with him. He didn’t smoke, but he popped open a beer and took a seat on the riding mower.

  “Good dinner,” his dad said, rubbing his hand over his stomach.

  “Yup.”

  “What’s going on with you, son? Your mother says you’re too quiet so something must be bothering you because you usually never shut up.”

  Might as well spill the beans. Since he obviously wasn’t as decent an actor as he’d thought, they’d keep after him, trying to find out what was wrong. And, since it was after the fact, it’s not like they’d go getting their hopes up.

  “I wasn’t totally honest with you and Ma about Chloe Burke,” he confessed.

  “We figured that out about two weeks ago.”

  “Oh.” So much for keeping secrets. “The thing is, it was just supposed to be a fling, you know? A little fun between consenting adults and then we’d go our separate ways.”

  “But you fell for her.”

  “Hard.”

  “Did you tell her that?”

  “No.”

  “I’m pretty sure if Chloe Burke was one of those psychic people, your mother would have heard about it by now.”

  “She lives in Boston and she likes it there. And I…I don’t want to move to Boston, Dad. Maybe I’d make more money, but I work for myself here and, because I set a fair price for people, work’s steady. And this is home. I’d go nuts in a city like that.”

  “Doesn’t she work on that internet stuff? Maybe you should ask her if she’d consider moving back. You don’t know if you don’t ask.”

  “It’s only been three weeks.”

  “Sometimes you just know, son.”

  The words echoed through his mind hours later when he was stretched out on his back, alone in the middle of his king-sized bed, with his hands tucked under his head.

  What was the worst that could happen if he knocked on her door, wished her a Merry Christmas and asked her to stick around? Maybe she’d tell him she was just in it for the sex and thanks, but no thanks. And if he didn’t knock on her door? Would the time they’d spent together become nothing more than a fond memory of a hot winter romance?

  Or would he spend the rest of his life hating himself for letting her walk away without at least putting up a fight?

  * * *

  Seven o’clock was way too early to get out of
bed on what was undoubtedly going to be a crappy day, but Chloe was up anyway, slamming the carafe into the coffeemaker and jabbing the on button. She leaned against the counter, hugging her warm flannel pajamas to herself, and watched it drip.

  It was Scott’s fault. Showing up every day at eight had trained her to be awake by seven, ready to shower and brush her teeth and meet him with a smile. He wasn’t coming today—he wasn’t coming back at all—but she couldn’t force herself back to sleep. Her mother never called before ten because Chloe sometimes kept late hours, so she had at least three hours to kill. Alone.

  And she was alone because of a measly hundred miles. Because his life was in Maine and hers was in Boston and somehow that had become an insurmountable obstacle.

  She knew in her gut they had more than a holiday fling going on. While she couldn’t say how much, she knew he cared for her. Maybe even enough to pack up and move to Boston. But he’d be unhappy there and she knew it. And so would Kojak.

  That left her moving back to Maine, assuming Scott was as interested as she thought he might be. It wouldn’t really affect her work, as long as she could get high-speed internet. And she wouldn’t have to sell the condo, at least not right away. Her parents could use it. She and Scott could spend some weekends there.

  So maybe she couldn’t get crab rangoon delivered to her front door at three in the morning, but the Monday night beef stew special was good.

  Before she could change her mind or talk herself out of taking the chance, she flipped open her phone and dialed Scott’s number. It rang, but along with the standard ring she heard over the line she could make out the cheesy Christmas melody Bethany had programmed on his end.

  Weird. She followed the sound to the front door and saw Scott on the other side of the glass, staring at the display on his phone. Then he looked up and saw her.

  He’d come back. That had to mean something, though she tried hard not to let hope run away with her emotions. Her pulse quickened as his gaze held hers through the window, his eyes serious despite the smile he gave her.

  She closed her phone and dropped it on the side table, then pulled open the door. “Merry Christmas.”