A Dash of Christmas

by Samantha Chase

  What the hell?

  Jumping to his feet, he went after her. “What are you doing?”

  She was halfway up the stairs when she glanced over her shoulder at him and kept going. “I’m going to take a shower and go to bed.”

  It wasn’t hard to catch up to her. At the top of the stairs, Carter reached out and grasped her arm and spun her toward him. “What is going on with you?” he demanded. “We were having dinner and conversation, and then you just storm off?”

  “I was done,” she said. She said it through clenched teeth and was glaring at him, so he knew to be prepared for a fight.

  “Oh yeah? Well, I’m not,” he said, his voice a low growl. He hauled her in close and then did exactly what he’d sworn he wasn’t going to do.

  He took the damn bait.

  “When I opened my first restaurant, it was all I wanted. All I needed,” he added for clarity. “I hadn’t planned beyond that because it consumed me day and night. But once everything settled and I was open for a while and it became successful, everyone was asking about when I was going to open the next one. So I did. And it was more successful than the first.

  “After the second one I was exhausted and a little burned out, but I had someone constantly breathing down my neck—telling me how it could all go away at any moment if I didn’t keep up, keep changing,” he added with a snarl, “so I opened a third one. That one was a no-brainer, because we simply copied the first two. But this new one? This one here in Montauk? It’s damn near killing me, because I want to break the mold. I want to do something new and different and I’m scared as hell to do it! I don’t want it to fail. I can’t fail!”

  And then he released her and found he was breathless and disgusted with himself. He didn’t look at her as he turned and walked down the stairs. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he muttered, all but sprinting away from her.

  He stomped across the living room, threw the sliding glass doors open, and walked outside. It didn’t matter that he was still only in a pair of boxers or that the air was chill; he needed to cool off anyway.

  What was so damn wrong with him not wanting to fight? How did that make him the bad guy here? After spending the better part of the day in bed exploring one another and sharing some of the most incredible sex of his life, why would Emery get pissed off because he wanted to keep the peace for a little longer? If anyone got to be annoyed in this scenario, it should be him, considering she wasn’t willing simply to enjoy the truce they had called!

  Pacing beside the pool, Carter shivered. It was much cooler out than he’d anticipated, but he’d be damned before he’d go back inside this soon. To distract himself from the temperature, he put his focus back on why he was so angry.

  Emery.

  And her damn tendency to pick fights with him at the most inopportune times.

  Like after a day of making love.

  Ugh…I did not just think of it like that, did I?

  It was pointless to argue with himself there. He did think of it like that because that’s exactly what had happened.

  Emery wasn’t a casual hookup and she wasn’t a one-night stand. Well…he hoped she wasn’t going to be a one-night stand.

  Muttering a curse, he turned and walked back into the house, hating how she had him so tied up in knots that he had to chase after her in his own house in order to give himself a little peace.

  She wanted him to fight with her? Disagree with her?

  “Your wish is my command,” he said, storming back into the house. Taking the stairs two at a time, Carter threw open her bedroom door without knocking and found the room empty. He looked around in utter confusion for a moment before the sound of the shower running registered with him.

  A slow smile spread across his face at the thought of walking in and finding Emery in the shower—warm and soapy and no doubt still spitting mad.

  Good, he thought. Because he was too.

  Pushing open the bathroom door, he heard Emery’s gasp. She turned to look at him and her expression instantly became hostile. Slamming the door closed, he walked close to the glass. They stood like that for several moments, staring at each other. The room was steamy, and as much as he had to say, nothing came to mind as she stood naked and glorious before him.

  After what seemed like an eternity, she reached out and pushed open the glass door and then took a step back.

  She did what he was too scared to do.

  Silently, he slid his briefs off and stepped under the hot spray as he backed her up against the tiled wall. Without a word, he leaned in and kissed her—softy, tenderly, lovingly. He kissed her until she wrapped her arms around him and she melted against him. When he finally lifted his head, he scanned her face. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

  “Me too.” Her hand caressed his cheek. “I shouldn’t have pushed. I don’t know why I did.”

  Chuckling softly, he mimicked her movements, caressing her cheek. “Because you’re a pain in the ass and it’s one of the things I have always appreciated about you.”

  The look on her face told him she wasn’t amused. “In my defense,” she said, “you’re usually a pompous jerk.”

  His laugh was a little heartier this time. Placing a kiss on the tip of her nose, he replied, “And none of that is going to change because we spent the day in bed together.” After kissing her again, he rested his forehead against hers. “And I don’t want that to change. Arguing with you is some of my favorite memories of my life growing up. But it’s not all there is to us—obviously.”

  She blushed and it was sexy as hell. When she tried to look away, he gently nudged her. “But sometimes it’s okay not to want to fight. Believe it or not, I was really enjoying our conversation while we ate. I loved hearing about your Christmas tree.”

  Her expression turned a little sad. “I’m sorry I ruined that. Believe it or not, I was enjoying it too.”

  “Then why…?”

  Shrugging, she said, “I don’t know. It just sort of came out. I wasn’t thinking and…I’m sorry.”

  He kissed her then with a little more heat than he had a minute ago. It didn’t take long for things to escalate.

  Pulling back, Carter reached for her shower gel and poured some into his hands while explaining in great detail all the ways he was going to touch her and please her, but how she would have to wait until he had her back in his bed before he would love her again.

  And again and again and again. All night long.

  * * *

  The house was dark and quiet, and Emery knew that opening the bag of chips could quite possibly end up sounding like firecrackers, but she couldn’t help it. She was hungry and feeling a little stressed and needed a snack.

  Well…that and the fact that she and Carter had Olympics-quality sex for the last several hours had helped her work up an appetite.

  Tiptoeing out of the kitchen and up to her room, the first thing she did was grab her robe and put it on. The second was to curl up in the oversized chair in the corner and slowly open the bag.

  “I’m ridiculous,” she murmured as she was carefully reaching into the bag to keep the noise down. That first bite of crunchy saltiness went a long way toward helping her relax.

  What have I done?

  Yeah, now that it was dark and quiet and Carter was asleep, her mind was going into overdrive. As much as she wanted to stay in his luxurious and monstrous bed, she feared he’d be able to hear each and every one of her thoughts because they were so loud in her head. It was safer to get up and leave the room. Now, upstairs and curled up in the corner, Emery felt like she could finally wrap her brain around all that had transpired today.

  She’d started doing that earlier in the shower before Carter had shown up and joined her.

  And that was the moment that had changed everything. Not that it hadn’t already been changed by their earlier mul
tiple romps, but it was a perfect time for them to simply say “Oops—that was fun, but…”

  But they hadn’t.

  Instead, Emery had seen the look on his face when she turned toward him and read every emotion there. It was becoming a blessing and a curse how she could do that with him. She read every bit of anger, frustration, and need he had, and instead of going the safe route—the path that they always took of fighting it out—she had chosen to wait. To listen. And ultimately, to comfort.

  Their honest admissions to one another felt natural and terrifying at the same time. In that moment, she couldn’t examine it, but now that she was alone with her thoughts, she could say without a doubt that it was the defining moment for them.

  With a sigh, she ate another chip.

  With nothing but time on her hands for well over a month now, Emery had come to several conclusions about her life. First and foremost, she was done letting her parents dictate how she was supposed to live and who she was supposed to be with. That part of her life was over. Next was her job. She’d been on a leave of absence since moving into Eliza Montgomery’s condo in Manhattan, and not once had anyone reached out to her to see if she was all right or because they might have some questions for her about her accounts. And that raised several questions in her mind: After working with those people for two years, did she really mean so little to them that no one was concerned about her well-being? On top of that, she was clearly easy to replace, since whoever was covering for her was doing such a bang-up job that they didn’t need to reach out.

  Another chip.

  Maybe it was time for a change. Maybe it was time to take a deeper look at herself and try to figure out what she wanted to do and not what everyone was expecting her to do.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” she said and turned her attention to the window. Outside, the moonlight was reflecting off the ocean, and even with the windows closed, she could hear the sound of the waves crashing.

  It went a long way in helping her relax.

  This house, this setting, was the best kind of therapy.

  The amazingly sexy man asleep downstairs was merely a perk.

  Sure, if that’s what you need to tell yourself.

  Yeah, that was something else that required some serious thinking. Her and Carter. This…whatever it was they’d started.

  Another chip.

  No man had the right to be so damn sexy, she thought. And as much as she wanted to hold it against him—like the old Emery would do—she couldn’t. There was so much more to him than just an adversary. He was a man who loved his family and wanted to make his mother happy. He was a man who was passionate about his career. He was a man who was still fighting some demons.

  Something she ached to help him with.

  Not that he’d let her. She saw that earlier and figured out pretty fast that this drive he had to succeed wasn’t something he was fully in control of. And the weird thing was she didn’t take it personally that he wouldn’t share it with her. She had a feeling he didn’t share it with anyone.

  And that’s why he was so quick to snap at her over it.

  Letting out a long breath, she tried to think of what she could do to help him. Unfortunately, she was fighting to keep her eyes open, and after one last chip, she was more than ready to crawl into bed. Carefully rolling the top of the bag down, she placed it on the side table and stood to stretch. Looking out the window one more time, she yawned. It really was peaceful here and there were far too many things she needed to work through that weren’t going to be answered tonight.

  When she turned around and stared at the bed, she paused. Was she supposed to sleep up here or go back down to Carter? He’d been sound asleep when she left, so he really had no idea she had ever gotten up. It wouldn’t be hard to slide back in bed with him.

  Shaking her head, Emery decided the bed five feet away was just fine. She’d deal with his disapproval tomorrow. Right now, the thought of sliding between the sheets and resting her head on a soft pillow was too strong to fight.

  Within minutes, her robe was on the floor, her head was on the pillow, and she was fast asleep.

  The next time she opened her eyes, the room was bright with sunlight and there was a very warm, very hard male wrapped around her. She stiffened slightly and then relaxed.

  “Care to tell me why I’m up here rather than downstairs?” he said sleepily in her ear. Her back was pressed firmly against his chest and their legs were tangled together.

  “I would imagine it’s because you walked up here,” she said around a yawn.

  He chuckled softly behind her. “Okay, let me rephrase that—care to tell me why I had to come up here to find you in the wee hours of the morning?”

  She felt bad about that now. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal. She figured he’d think she’d just wanted to sleep alone and wait to talk to her about it when they met up for breakfast.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted after a moment. “I got up to have a snack and I didn’t want to wake you, so I came up here.”

  “You have a secret stash of food up here?” he teased.

  Playfully, she elbowed him in the stomach. “No. I grabbed a bag of chips, realized it was going to sound like I was setting off fireworks or something when I tried to open the bag, and opted to come up here to be quiet.” Saying it out loud had her feeling more than a little foolish, but luckily Carter didn’t say anything. “By the time I had a few, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and this bed was much closer than going down the stairs.”

  Then she held her breath and wondered what he was going to say next. The fact that he was here in her bed told her that yesterday and last night wasn’t a fluke. That he wasn’t relieved to find her gone.

  “Did you consider coming back to bed with me?” he asked quietly, and because she knew him so well, Emery could hear the vulnerability in his voice.

  Rolling over, she faced him and stared in wonder at his handsome face. Even first thing in the morning, with bed-head and quite a bit of scruff on his chin, he was absolutely magnificent to look at.

  She didn’t even want to think about her own appearance.

  Looking Carter right in the eyes, she said, “Yes. And if I wasn’t so tired and afraid of falling down the stairs and breaking my neck in the dark, I would have been right back there under the blankets with you.”

  Her words seemed to please him, because a slow smile crossed his face before he maneuvered them so she was lying beneath him. “I missed you when I woke up.”

  Her heart kicked hard in her chest at his admission. No one had ever said anything like that to her.

  Ever.

  “I’m sorry you had to come looking for me.” She paused, reaching up to caress his jaw and then down to his strong shoulder.

  His smile only seemed to grow. “You weren’t too hard to find.”

  He shifted and Emery’s legs immediately wrapped around him. She loved the feel of him, the weight and warmth of his body on top of hers. “Now that you’ve found me, what are you going to do?” She couldn’t believe the words had come out of her mouth—and sounded remotely flirty, because that wasn’t something she normally did.

  Yet she had.

  And it felt really good.

  “Everything, Em,” he said, sipping at her lips. “I had big plans for us this morning, and leaving my bed wasn’t part of them.”

  Now she felt really bad about not going back downstairs last night. Her guilt didn’t last long, however, because Carter was the king of distraction. His hands seemed to be touching her everywhere along with his lips. They went from lazy movements and kisses to urgent in the blink of an eye.

  Which was totally becoming their thing.

  And that felt really good too.

  There were so many things they needed to do today—there were a ton of dishes to prepare t
o get them back on track with the cookbook—and they couldn’t afford to spend another day in bed together.

  But as Carter quickly whipped their blanket off and hauled her from the bed to over his shoulder, cooking became the furthest thing from her mind.

  “Carter!” she shrieked even as she laughed. “What in the world are you doing?”

  “All of my plans involved having you in my bed,” he said, heedless of them both being completely naked as he carried her down the stairs and across the living room. “My bed, Emery. That’s where I want us to be. And not just right now. But tonight, it’s where I want you to be and where I want you to stay. All night.”

  Tossing her on his bed, he grinned down at her. “And if that means I have to keep a basket of snacks next to the bed to keep you here for the entire night, then that’s what I’m going to do. Okay?”

  Only Carter would come up with something that was so ridiculous and yet so incredibly sweet. Reaching out, she grasped his hand and tugged him down beside her, laughing as he bounced on the mattress. Lightning-quick, she moved to straddle him.

  “Promise to get the potato chips with the ridges and some chocolate, and we have a deal.”

  Chapter 6

  “C’mon. Just taste it.”

  “No.”

  “You’re going to love it, I promise.”

  “That’s what you said about the other gross things you made me taste.”

  “It was escargot and it was fabulous,” Carter chided. “And you said you’d had it before.”

  “I lied.”

  Honestly, it was like dealing with a petulant child.

  A week had passed since they had decorated the house for Christmas and begun this new phase of their relationship. The house was still decorated, and he had cooked enough meals to feed everyone during the dinner hours at one of his restaurants.

  And Emery wasn’t impressed with most of it.

  Sadly, it stung.

  Maybe it was just ego, but no one had ever not enjoyed his cooking. Whether he was concocting something new or following a recipe he’d found someplace, people raved about it. Sure, there was the occasional critique about something needing a little more or a little less of a specific spice or ingredient, but that went with the territory. But the way Emery reacted to most of his meals? It had him seriously second-guessing his career.