Festive Seduction: The Holiday Engagement Series (2 page)

“Oh, right.” Her laugh rolled over him, blissfully happy and carefree. He loved that sound. She dropped her arms and shifted her shoulders. Her honey brown curls bounced and the garland he’d wound round her hair rustled as she stretched her unbound limbs.

He took the ornaments off her fingers one by one, placing them next to the little tree in the corner by the window. Fat flakes of snow drifted past, not exactly a winter storm to be fearful of, though he couldn’t fault Jade’s mother for being concerned. They’d been right by his side as much as he or Jade would allow them.

Jade held out the sprig of mistletoe. The poor thing was beyond salvaging, so he threw it into the fire. Within seconds the sharp scent of the greenery blossomed on the air.

Philip flattened his palm against her chest, just below her throat and she stilled. For a moment neither of them breathed. It was as if their heartbeats beat in time, and the world around them faded for a moment. His cock hardened as he stared into her gaze, picturing the way her face tensed and her jaw dropped each time he thrust into her for the first time. As one they exhaled and he stepped around behind her, careful to not catch his prosthesis on the rug as he had earlier.

Jade hadn’t been aware of it, but she didn’t care about that stuff like he did. It had taken him months to accept that his new body didn’t repulse her. That she didn’t hide disgust behind her smiles and encouraging words. In a way, the power exchange dynamic of their relationship had saved him from throwing away the best thing in his life. The unwritten rules of their relationship allowed Jade the right and expectation to sit him down and tell him what she needed from him as her Dominant and lover. There were still times when he wondered if he could be what she needed, if he was still physically able, but she assured him whenever his doubts got the better of him that she was happy.

“Grip the back of the chair,” he ordered.

Philip splayed his hand against her stomach, steadying her as she scooted toward the chair until her shins hit the cushions. The rope of Christmas lights had surprised him in its ability to remain tight around her body. He’d have to remember that for later. She bent forward, stretching to reach the back of the armchair.

It would strain her arms more, but Jade had worked on her upper body strength the last few weeks in preparation for some of the more advanced snowmobile courses they’d be doing after Christmas. She could do with a little pre-game exercise.

He had noted her lack of protest about the activity he’d picked out to fill the rest of their vacation. They’d talked for a while during the summer about skipping the winter season, but when it came down to it, he couldn’t. The call of the slopes was too great. He’d expected a gentle suggestion to do something else, but it never came. Her silent vote of confidence in his physical ability was the only thing that had gotten him to put the down payment on the adventure deal.

The lights wrapped around Jade flickered once, twice and began a hurried dance of multi-colored festivity. Reds, greens, blues and golds melded together, coasting over her skin. It made the geisha tattoo swooping up her back appear as if she were dancing to a song only she could hear.

“Power’s back on.” He dropped a kiss between her shoulder blades as the bathroom light flicked on. He was tempted for a moment to pull her panties down and fuck her bent over the chair. She’d like that, but he didn’t want a quick orgasm. Not tonight. He wanted to make her yearn for it.

Jade shivered and tossed her head back. “Thank goodness. Now Mom can’t insist Dad come to get us.”

“I could always call her.” Philip kissed a line down her spine, grinning as she groaned.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I might.” He traced the line of her panties, where thigh met the pelvis, and followed it back. He grasped the hem and pulled the panties up once more, exposing more of her curvatious bottom.

Jade rocked forward and lifted her bottom.

“You are a cruel, cruel man, Philip Weatherby.”

“Sometimes.”

But only when he knew she’d thank him for it. A woman like Jade deserved all the love and adoration a man could give. Even then, he was barely worthy of her, though he was trying each and every day.

He took a step back, bracing his weight on his prosthetic and swung the hairbrush. The flat side cracked against the curve of her ass. Jade rocked forward on the balls of her feet and howled.

“I wasn’t ready for that.” She gasped, silent laughter shaking her. Philip loved her playfulness, that even the hard aspects of BDSM, the exchange of power, was done with a smile and a laugh.

Philip stroked the place he’d struck. “Not my fault. I think we need some Christmas cheer. Sing Jingle Bells for me.”

“What?” She twisted to glance over her shoulder at him, eyes gone round, her mouth hanging open.

Jade was a unique woman, all spit-fire and girlish grace. She could be climbing the face of a mountain one moment, and painting her toes the second. He loved the contradictions of her personality, how she considered herself as a tomboy, but all he saw was the woman who’d stolen his heart.

“Sing Jingle Bells.” Philip slapped the brush across the other side of her bottom to even out the red splotch rising on her skin. He grasped the round globe, giving it a bit of a squeeze before letting it go.

“Oh, fuck me.” She grunted as he delivered a harder blow across both cheeks. “Kinky bells, kinky bells, kink all the—ow—way.”

“That’s not how it starts.” He popped her in time to the song, or at least as close to it as he could. She wiggled in place, hampered by her holiday hobbles.

“Crap, crap, crap. Oh! Dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh.” He could hear her nails scrape over the chair’s corduroy fabric as she struggled to find purchase.

Philip swatted the backs of either thigh. This might be one of his best ideas yet. He began to hum along to the tune, enjoying her embellishments. The little gasps and grunts as he painted her bottom red pushed him to go farther.

Jingle Bells was ruined for all time.

“O’er the fields we go, laughing all the way.” She paused the song, laughing out a moan as he slapped her sensitized bottom with his hand instead of the wood.

“Don’t break the rhythm,” he warned. The oil warmer on the nightstand must have begun to work again because the scent of apples and cinnamon intensified, wrapping them in yet more holiday cheer.

“Bells on bobtail ring, making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight!” Jade swiveled her hips, as if that would give her a respite.

Philip turned the brush over and slid the rough bristles over her blazing hot flesh. Jade gasped and arched her back. She was so responsive, so uninhibited. He’d been attracted to her from the moment they met when she mistook him for someone else. He’d been jealous of that stranger for a time, at least until he realized there wasn’t reason to be.

“Oh fuck. Okay. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.” She paused again to moan as he paid special attention to the area just below her bottom.

She’d said once before that she felt the vibrations of the impact deep inside her pussy before. Was that the case now? Could she feel him? Did she want him?

“Oh. Oh! What fun,” she groaned the word, “it is to ride—yes please—in a one-horse open sleigh.  Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.”

He inserted his index finger in the tiny space between her pelvis and thighs. Curling it up, against her body he massaged her slit. Her arousal coated his fingers. Damn, she was really wet. He pushed the digit forward until he ran across the hard nub of her clitoris.

Jade gasped and thrust her hips back, bending slightly more, giving him better access to her. The song was completely forgotten.

Philip stepped closer, covering her with his body, and cupped her breasts. He caught her nipples between his fingers and squeezed. He licked the fingers on his left hand so they slid more easily over the stiff peaks. She tossed her head back against his shoulder, her mouth hung open, face frozen in ecstasy. The garland hung askance, almost over her eyes.

Damn, but she was beautiful.

He knew how to play her body, what areas were the most sensitive. Toying with her breasts was the second easiest way of pushing her over the ledge, flying on the wings of arousal into a blissful state of mind. He applied a little more pressure to her breasts and her whole body seemed to vibrate, quivering on a knife’s edge of arousal.

Philip had never understood the idea of topspace before Jade. Subspace was an often bandied about topic, and he’d played with his fair share of women before Jade to know what subspace looked like on a woman. He could identify the signs and had heard enough about what a submissive might feel when they went there. But topspace, it was a whole other ballgame.

His world narrowed to the flare of Jade’s nostrils, the tendons on the side of her neck standing out as she strained to hold perfectly still and the slight back and forth motion of her hips, rubbing against him. In this moment, he was the orchestrator of her pleasure, conducting her body to highs and lows, drawing out the melody of her voice as she cried out. She was the center of his world. All that mattered. He was a god of pleasure, his sole intent to bring her to the highest highs and catch her when she tumbled low.

“Philip,” she moaned in that tone that said she needed—but didn’t know what she desired. That was his job, to meet her needs. To care for her.

“I know, sweetheart. I know. Stand up.” He helped her straighten and directed her to turn.

Before the accident they used to play for hours. They hadn’t reached those marathon sessions, but the goals of their scenes had changed. It was no longer about simple pleasure, teasing each other until that overwhelming climax took them both. Now it was different. They danced toward the moment when their souls seemed to twine together, their hearts beat as one. It was about the connection. About finding themselves in each other. It was about love.

Jade swayed, her gaze dilated and her cheeks rosy. It felt as if his very soul quaked. How could a woman so strong and resilient, love him?

Jade wanted. Everything. Anything.

Her world became a coalescing of the flickering holiday lights, the scents of apple pie, the sound of her heart pounding in her ears and the feel of Philip’s hard body against hers. She rubbed her hands up over his shoulders and down his chest, reveling in the feel of smooth skin, the small nubs of his nipples and the rough scars.

She wanted to kiss every one of those marks, each a badge that he’d fought to come back to her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close, inhaling the lingering scent of his cologne mixed with hot cocoa.

“Turn for me?” he asked.

Jade nodded. Words were beyond her. Philip kept her right hand in his and spun her in place, as if she were a ballerina. Delicate was never a word someone would use for her, but she enjoyed the sensation of sailing around, held safe by his hand. Windsailing, now that was more her speed.

The lights uncoiled from her ankles, skating across the wood floor around her. Another turn and her calves were somewhat freed. She widened her stance and twirled again and putting a sway in her hips. Her head tingled and the room spun. Her weight tipped to the side, she tensed and wind milled her arm as she yelped.

Philip caught her and half carried her to the rug in front of the fireplace. He eased her down on the plush woven fabric, one side of his mouth quirked up. Even in her blissed out state of mind, she recognized that he didn’t even think twice about kneeling now. The prosthetic was part of their lives now. As seamless as tying her shoes or pocketing her cell phone.

He smoothed her hair from her face.

Two years ago she’d met Philip by accident at her dungeon’s Christmas party. She’d mistaken him for someone else, and that was it. They’d lost the whole night to learning about the other in a secluded corner. She’d shamelessly crawled into his lap and made-out with him by the end of it, feeling a bit like a kinky Cinderella, desperate to win Prince Charming over by midnight. They’d been inseparable since, sharing a love for extreme sports, comedy clubs and adventurous sex.

She hadn’t been looking for someone to share her life with, but he’d found her anyway.

Philip unbound her legs, coiling the lose length by her hip, casting twinkles of color across her vision. He didn’t speak, but then they’d played with each other so long words became superfluous in moments like these when the body spoke more eloquently than the mouth could.

He grasped the waistband of her panties and drew the badly abused cotton briefs down her legs. The panties were discarded—somewhere. She didn’t care where. Philip was all that mattered. He was the axis of her world, her heartbeat, the greatest Christmas gift she’d ever received.

Philip brushed his fingers up her inner thigh and she spread her legs, eager for a more intimate touch. He planted his hands on either side of her thighs, twisting his lower body and easing down until her hips cradled him.

She held her breath as their gazes locked. Philip exuded nothing but confidence, though it came with a price. Relearning how to do everything, even the simple acts of lovemaking were hurtles they’d sailed over after many false starts.