by Alexis Daria
Nik gave in to the urge to touch her, smoothing his hand up and down her arm in a soothing gesture. “I shouldn’t have pressed.”
“No, it’s okay that you did.” She gave him a small smile and moved closer. “Besides, I said ‘usually.’ This holiday season is turning out to be pretty fun.”
When she laced her fingers through his and tilted her chin up, Nik took the hint. Bending his head, he pressed his lips to hers in a soft, sweet kiss. The scent of cherries blended into all the holiday smells around them, like it was the only thing that had been missing and now the experience was complete.
The moment stretched, wrapping him in a comforting easiness he’d never felt before.
So, this was what it was like to feel settled.
He could have taken the kiss deeper, but with the smell of cookies, the tinkling piano rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and Jess’s emotional admission, it felt right to keep the touch of their mouths soft and languid, an almost innocent exploring of lips.
Nik lifted his head, and for a second, they just smiled at each other. Then Jess gave his hand a squeeze. “Come on,” she said. “This tree isn’t going to trim itself.”
They worked well together, untangling the lights someone—probably Dimitri—had been too impatient to store properly the year before. Jess looped enormous sparkly baubles over her ears so they hung like earrings, then hammed it up, winking and blowing kisses at Nik through his phone’s camera. Laughing, she wrapped him in silver garland, then made him pose with her for selfies.
“These are too good,” she said, skimming through the pics on her phone. “We should post one.”
He peeked over her shoulder as she scrolled, then stopped her. “That one.”
It was a close up shot of the two of them caught mid-laughter, mouths wide open, eyes crinkling as they looked at each other. The half-trimmed tree was blurry, but still visible behind them.
Jess hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
She added a bunch of emojis in the caption, including the Christmas tree and chocolate chip cookie, then clicked “post.”
People were going to read into it. The talk show hosts who’d peppered them with “Are you dating?” questions might even latch onto it as proof that they were.
But it didn’t matter what any of them thought. Jess was the only person whose opinion meant anything to Nik right now.
They’d just finished transferring the garland from his body to the tree when Gina stuck her head into the living room. “The first batches are cool enough to decorate,” she called, then disappeared.
“Ready to join the others?” he asked, not wanting to push Jess into being more social than she wanted to be.
“Yes.” She sniffed the air. “Smells good.”
Nik cleared his throat. “You have, uh, a little something…” He gestured at his ears. When Jess touched her own ear, she burst out laughing. She still wore the Christmas baubles.
“Let’s put those back where they belong,” she said, removing the loops from her ear and hanging them on the tree instead. Then she slipped her hand into his as they walked to the kitchen.
Nik got that easy, settled feeling again. Why had he spent so long running from this? It was the best feeling in the world.
Inside the kitchen, the counter was covered with racks of sugar and gingerbread cookies in various shapes—people, yes, but also stars, unicorns, and…moose.
While Dimitri and Natasha worked on prepping the next batch to bake, Jess and Nik sat at the counter with Gina and Stone to decorate.
“I didn’t realize unicorns had to do with Yuletide cheer,” Jess said, picking up one of the cookies.
“Unicorns are very festive.” Nik chose a sugar cookie person. “Didn’t you know they’re second cousins to reindeer?”
She snickered. “I must have missed that day in biology class.”
It very soon became clear why they were dancers instead of artists. Dimitri, disgusted with their attempts at making gingerbread people—and animals—threw aside his apron and took over. Nik remembered all the times they’d sat at the kitchen table decorating cookies and Christmas ornaments with their parents. Even when they were kids, Dimitri had always shown artistic ability.
Gina and Natasha commandeered the oven. There was a lot of giggling over the cookie trays, and the next batch that came out of the oven looked distinctly like…
Dimitri stared at the cookies, horrified. “Are those dicks?”
Stone, who’d been putting the star on the Christmas tree because he was tallest one present by far, happened to walk back into the kitchen at that exact moment. He took one glance at the cookies and shot Gina an exasperated look. “Was this your idea?”
Her response was to dissolve into giggles.
Jess elbowed Nik in his side. “What do those represent?” she asked from the corner of her mouth. “The ghost of Christmas penis?”
Nik doubled over, and Dimitri and Stone hastily took over the rest of the baking. Jess joined the other women in decorating the Christmas Cocks, as the cookies had been dubbed, and since Nik knew it would amuse her, he ate one. Jess’s delighted peal of laughter was well worth his brother’s eye roll.
“Look, Macho,” Natasha called out to Dimitri, holding up one of her cookies. “We used the little sugar pearl things as jizz.”
“Mine has red and green pubes,” Gina added. “’Tis the season, after all.”
With a sigh, Dimitri cranked up the volume on the Christmas music. Stone mumbled something about the tree and left the room.
Later, after they’d gorged themselves on cookies and the tree was trimmed to the nines, Nik pulled Jess aside.
“What’s next?” she asked, sounding more excited than she had when she’d arrived.
“Mitya’s opening a bottle of wine and pulling out Cards Against Humanity.”
“Oh, shit.” She rubbed her hands together. “It’s about to go down.”
“We could play, if you want. Or…” His gaze shifted to the sliding glass doors that led outside. “It’s cooled down a lot, but we do have a hot tub.” He tried to keep his tone light and not suggestive. Whatever they did, it would be her choice.
Jess chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then nodded once. “Sure. I’ll go put on my swimsuit.”
Whoa. He’d half-expected her to tease him or turn him down. But no, she was grabbing her tote bag and disappearing into the hall bathroom.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, but he hoped it meant she was coming around to the idea of the two of them as a couple.
In his room, Nik changed into swim shorts and threw on a hoodie, leaving it unzipped. For the first and only time in his life, he wished he owned trunks that had a moose on them. Or more than one moose. He wasn’t picky. As long as it made Jess smile.
Outside, he grabbed some towels from the shed and tossed them on the bench beside the hot tub, then cranked up the Jacuzzi jets. The water started bubbling, the oddly cozy smell of pool chemicals reaching his nostrils. He stripped off the hoodie and added it to the pile of towels. After the blast of cool night air, sliding into the water was pure bliss. He waited, just long enough to fret over whether Jess was punking him or not. When she appeared, he nearly choked. Her white bathing suit glowed in the soft yellow lights tucked in the foliage around the tub, and she was all strong, lean curves and shy smiles. With her hair braided around her head, she looked like a nymph stepping from the wilderness, or a goddess. She shivered and quickly slipped into the hot tub, sitting across from him.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, stretching her toned arms over the tiled edge. “This is nice.”
“Yeah…” He couldn’t help how dopey he sounded. Sitting in a hot tub with a beautiful woman whose company he enjoyed the hell out of was way more than nice.
They sat in silence, watching each other from across the water as the Jacuzzi jets hummed and the water bubbled.
Honesty had worked pretty well for him so far, so Nik spok
e what was on the tip of his tongue.
“Jess?” His voice came out rough with desire. “I really want to kiss you again.”
She sent him a small smile, her dimple winking at him. “I know.”
She did? “How?”
“Because I want to kiss you, too.”
Neither of them moved.
“I think we should wait until the next date,” he said.
“Why?”
He swallowed, worried this would scare her off. It was a big move, and very soon, but he wanted to spend time with her far away from everything else, and he wanted to do it in the most picturesque and wintry locale he could manage within the confines of Southern California.
“I booked us a cabin at Big Bear,” he said. Big Bear Lake, in the San Bernadino Mountains, was a year-round vacation spot, complete with hiking trails and ski resorts. The perfect place to experience the winter holidays, with the convenience of being just a few hours’ drive from LA.
Jess’s eyes went wide. “This late in the season? How did you manage? What did it cost?”
“Don’t worry about that.” He waved away those details. He’d spent half the morning on the phone to make it happen, and had agreed to stop by the birthday party of his agent’s sister’s seventh grader, a huge Seize the Night fan, but it had been worth it. Still, he wasn’t sure what Jess’s reaction meant. “Will you go with me?”
Her gaze focused on something in the distance over his shoulder as she thought about it.
“This is a big step,” she said.
“Technically, our first kiss was almost a year ago. One could argue we’re behind.”
She gave him a bemused expression, and he held up his hands.
“Look,” he said. “It’s just one night, and the cabin has two bedrooms. I don’t expect anything if you come with me. But they have snow there, real snow, and this whole endeavor just wouldn’t be complete without a trip to a ski resort town decked out for the holidays.”
She tilted her head and looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time. “You really do have a spirit of adventure, don’t you?”
“There are many different kinds of adventures, Jeshka.” Did she get what he meant? That he wanted her to be his next—and hopefully longest lasting—big adventure? He’d traveled the world, and he’d never felt as content as he did sitting in a hot tub with her, relaxing after a day with his friends and family. What else was there besides this? What else mattered?
Did he love his job? Of course he did. Getting paid good money to do something he excelled at was a blessing every day. But, if he were being honest, it was starting to get old. He was…tired.
Being with Jess revived him, rejuvenated him. With her by his side, he felt like he could tackle whatever the world threw at him.
What would he do if, at the end of all this, she told him to leave? Probably go on tour again, because there’d be no reason for him to stay here.
Except this time, he’d be leaving his heart here with her. Or maybe he’d already done that a year ago and hadn’t even realized it.
He held back, hoping she understood him, not wanting to lay all his chips on the table just yet.
“You know what?” she said. “Fuck it.”
She launched herself across the water at him, landing in his lap with her knees hugging his hips and her arms locking around his shoulders. Her mouth crushed down on his, the most delicious, wonderful, invigorating kind of ambush.
And the best kind of adventure.
The juxtaposition of cool night air above and hot, bubbling water below heightened the sensory overload of Nik’s lips and tongue moving over hers. Jess lost herself in his kiss, moaning when he nipped at her bottom lip and sucked lightly.
Under the water, his strong hands clamped on her ass, barely covered by the thin spandex of her swimsuit. He ran those clever fingers up her ribs to palm her breasts and his warm hands stroked her through the fabric, but it wasn’t enough. She needed more contact. Breaking the kiss, she yanked at the ties holding the top of her suit up, then paused.
“What about the others?” she murmured. “What if they—?”
“They won’t. Trust me.”
Together, they pulled the fabric down to her waist. With nothing between them, Nik framed her breasts with his hands, rubbing his thumbs gently over her small brown nipples, which pebbled into hard peaks from his touch and the cool air. A tiny whimper squeezed from her throat as her body clenched with need.
His eyes were heavy-lidded and the tip of his tongue swiped back and forth across his lower lip. Anticipation hummed through her like a live wire. She wanted his mouth on her now.
“You’re perfect,” he whispered, awe in his voice.
All she could do to reply was thrust her chest toward his face in invitation.
With a low moan, Nik closed his mouth over one nipple and circled it with the tip of his tongue. She gasped and sank her fingers into his hair, holding him close as sensation streaked through her.
By the time Nik switched to her other breast, Jess was writhing on his lap, bucking her hips against him. Being with him like this, in the hot tub with his hands and mouth all over her, urged on by the feel of her core pressed up against his cock with only two thin layers of fabric separating them, was boiling her from the inside.
And she loved every second of it.
Her eyelids drifted closed and she let her head fall back, absorbing the pleasure he gave her. Waves of desire coursed through her in time with the rhythm of his tongue. Her body felt weightless, like she could float away at any moment.
But she wouldn’t. He’d keep her anchored. In his arms, she was safe.
Nik raised his head. “Jess.” Her name was like a whisper on the wind.
She opened her eyes and gazed down at him. “Hmm?” It was more a whine than a word, and he grinned.
“Can I touch you?”
A soft sigh escaped her parted lips, and once again, she brought her mouth to his. “I thought you’d never ask.”
She kissed him, long and slow and soft, as he trailed his hand over her hip and down the crease of her thigh until he could position his thumb between her parted legs. In soft, slow motions, he stroked her through the fabric of her swimsuit.
Fireworks exploded beneath her skin at his touch.
He kept the rhythm steady and languid, even when she tried to urge him on with kisses and moans.
“Easy, Jeshka,” he murmured against her lips. The nickname made her shiver. “No need to rush. We have all the time in the world.” Then he took her mouth in a slow, drugging kiss.
With his other hand, he touched her breast and gently rubbed her nipple using the same unhurried timing. But his easy pace lit a fire in her. Her movements became more erratic. Her whimpers rose in volume and tempo. She didn’t care who heard—not the neighbors, not their friends, not even his brother. The only things that mattered in this very moment were Nik’s hands and Nik’s mouth and that he did not under any circumstances stop what he was doing.
Finally, god, finally—he kicked up the pace, while still maintaining the same gentle pressure.
That was all she needed. With her lips pressed to his, she broke apart in his arms. As shock waves of pleasure soared through her body, he took her mouth in a searing kiss that swallowed her cries and fused the two of them even closer together than they’d been. Her hips rocked against his hand and her body shook with echoing surges of bliss.
When at last it was done, she rested her head on his broad shoulder.
For a long while, they stayed like that. Nik rubbed her back, his hands warming her cooling skin.
What. The Hell. Had just happened?
She’d been utterly consumed, just by his touch. And thanks to the heated water—and a brilliant orgasm—she couldn’t even tell where she ended and he began. The edges of her body, of her being, felt fuzzy, like she was merging with him.
Her thoughts were thick as molasses, but that one made her attempt to sit up. Whe
n she stirred, she brushed against his hard-on.
“What about you?” she murmured, dropping her hand between them to stroke his cock through the swim trunks. He was heavy and hard, filling her hand in the most intriguing way.
“I’ll survive.” He kissed her sweetly. “Tonight was all about you.”
She raised her head and looked him in the eye for a long moment. They’d crossed some bases tonight, but ever the gentleman, Nik was leaving it up to her to decide exactly how far they went. She licked her lips nervously, then asked a half question. “At the cabin?”
His cock jumped against her thigh like it understood what she meant. But Nik just nodded. “At the cabin.”
Her eyelids drooped, but there was one more thing she needed to know. “Why did you ask me about this next one in advance? I already agreed to three dates.”
He slid down a little to rest the back of his head against the lip of the tub. “I didn’t want you to feel like I was tricking you into something you might not be comfortable with. I wanted to give you the opportunity to say yes or no.”
The man’s sweetness knew no bounds. What the hell was she supposed to say to that?
In a quiet voice, she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, milochka.”
Another cute nickname. She wondered what it meant.
He swallowed hard, like he was unsure of himself. “So…you’ll go with me?”
How could she say no?
“I will.”
Chapter Six
December 22nd
The ride up to Big Bear was the most fun Jess had ever had being stuck in traffic. Nik sang her songs from the tours he’d done, and while he claimed he’d never be good enough for a leading role, she thought he sounded amazing. She wished she could see him perform on stage. He was so talented, it probably wouldn’t be long before he had his next job lined up.
The thought made her sad, so she shoved it aside. Today was all about having fun, not thinking about his eventual departure.
Every so often, she’d look over at him driving, at ease behind the wheel of his brother’s expensive SUV, and just admired his face.