Last Chance Christmas (7 page)

Her gray eyes narrowed while she stirred in sugar. “I’m not sure you can put peacemaking on a timetable. But I’m listening.”

“We still need to settle some debates from last night,” he reminded her.

“I refuse to ruin crepes with discussions of chemistry.” She turned her attention to the food, stacking apples on her crepe.

“That one was at the top of my list, too.” He ate with relish. Food tasted better than it had in weeks, and he knew it had to do with the company.

Or maybe he was just experiencing a new brand of hunger.

“We were friends out of common interests.” She drizzled honey on the apples and carefully rolled the crepe up. “You were a staple in my house, and you were born with a better wrist shot than I’ve ever seen on a defenseman. Of course you were going to turn my head. That’s not chemistry. That’s timing.”

She took a bite of her crepe and closed her eyes, abandoning herself to the mix of flavors while he tried to decide if she was winding him up on purpose.

“Are you baiting me?” He asked quietly, everything in him going still as his gaze caught on her closed eyelids.

Her full lips as she chewed.

Opening her eyes, she gave him an assessing look. “Think of us like a good line in hockey. We were there for each other, anticipating passes and hitting the gaps. On paper, we made a decent enough pairing. But in the execution…” She shook her head and licked a speck of honey off her thumb. “We just didn’t produce.”

His heart slugged hard while his brain thought through her words. Her actions. He didn’t want to read her wrong.

But she’d just licked honey off her thumb. And he wanted a taste of her more than he wanted his next breath.

“No. Chemistry.” She underscored the words with a delicate shrug of her shoulders. A move that sent the too-big hockey sweater drifting perilously close to the edge of her shoulder.

Damn straight she was baiting him.

“It’s on.” He gave her about two seconds’ warning before he reached for the edge of her chair and dragged her chair as close to him as it would go.

She gave a yelp as she reached for him, holding herself steady by gripping his forearm. But when she righted herself, he saw the wicked gleam in her eyes.

Cupping her face between his palms, he angled her where he wanted her. Then, slanting his mouth over hers, he took the kiss he’d been wanting every second since he’d first seen her again last night.

*

One second she’d
been teasing him.

The next, she was melting under his kiss, her fingers holding onto his shirt like her life depended on him not letting go. All night, she’d dreamed about this. With every sleepless minute that ticked past on the clock, she’d been regretting not being bold enough to claim the kiss she wanted every bit as much as he did.

And consequences be damned, she wanted this. He would go back to Chicago soon and she’d return to New York, and they might never run into each other again. She was going to make peace with her past by carrying forward a red-hot memory of the sexy hockey player who’d always been able to turn her inside out with a look.

His fingers combed through her hair, sliding the band free that held it in place. He palmed her bare neck, one hand sliding just under the collar of her sweater, making all her skin tingle in response.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” He spoke the words against her throat as he trailed kisses down the column of her neck and into the hollow at the base of it.

“This is the opposite of hurting.” She ran her hands all over those big, sculpted shoulders of his, marveling at the gorgeous perfection of every muscle group. “Triggering endorphins reduces pain.”

She could feel his smile against her skin before he spoke. “I love it when you talk chemistry.”

Tilting her head back, she gave him full access. He breathed against the shell of her ear, finding a spot behind it that made her squirm.

She wound her arms around him, needing him closer. Wanting to feel the press of his body against hers.

“I’m going to pick you up.” He shifted her seat so she was directly in front of him. “If anything hurts, you tell me.”

Leaning forward, she edged her way onto his lap. Straddling him. With a groan and a soft curse, he hauled her hips to his, pressing the heat of her against the hard length of him. It felt so good she wriggled in her seat, needing more. Wanting all of him.

“Put your arms down,” he ordered, his voice rough and his breathing uneven. “It will be less pull on your ribs.”

Sliding her hands down his chest, she felt the gallop of his heartbeat beneath her palms. His soft cotton tee was long sleeved, but so thin she could appreciate every intriguing ridge under the fabric.

His hands slid under her thighs then, and he lifted her against his chest, her legs wrapping around his narrow hips. He smelled like aftershave and cinnamon, a sexy combination of he-man and the bakery. She wanted to lick every bit of him. She started with his jaw, tasting him there as he strode toward the bedroom.

This was really happening. Her and J.C. A fantasy come true. She closed her eyes tighter, afraid the moment would get away from her if she thought about it too much. She wanted to feel. To lose herself in this. In him.

So much of her life had fallen apart recently. She needed something good. Something decadent and delicious and just for her.

He laid her on the goose down feather topper that covered the mattress. His bed was like lying in a cloud it was so soft and fluffy. But on top of her, where he held himself above her to keep from hurting her, there was rock hard strength. Immovable male muscle. His hips pinned her thigh on the leg that wasn’t injured. His chest brushed her breasts lightly, making her back arch for a firmer touch.

“I’m going to take this off you.” He skimmed a touch under her sweater along her abdomen, just above the line of sweats. “Is that okay?”

“If I had my way we’d both already be naked.” She wanted to help him with the undressing, but she had the feeling she was trembling and she wasn’t sure she wanted him to see that. Her whole body vibrated with a fever of anticipation.

Her words spurred him to action, his own shirt coming off in a flash to land on the floor. He was more careful with hers, mindful of her ribs. But she was so busy ogling the raw male beauty of his body she didn’t mind slowing down.

“I know you do this for the sport,” she whispered, running an appreciative hand along his upper arm. “And not for female viewing pleasure. But the women of the hockey viewing world are grateful.”

“I’m not caring about anyone else’s opinion right now.” He tossed her sweater to the floor and drew down the strap of her simple black satin bra. “But I’ll take any advantage in turning you on.”

He flicked open the front closure of the bra and kissed a path around her left nipple. When his mouth closed around the tip, pleasure spiked through her so hard she gasped. The hot swipe of his tongue a delicious contrast to the tight pull of his mouth. She rocked against him, demanding more. Now.

He turned his attention to her other breast, blowing on her skin softly until she couldn’t wait anymore. She stroked her palm up the front of his pants, finding what she wanted against the fly. Freeing him, she dragged her fingers along the heated length until his eyes landed on her.

“I’ll take any advantage turning you on, too,” she confided, arching against him as much as her ribs would allow.

“You don’t even have to try,” he muttered, sliding down her body so he kissed her bare hip just below the rib belt that protected her injury.

The feel of his mouth there sent shivers everywhere as her temperature spiked. His breath tickled her skin, making her wiggle deeper into the feather down mattress. Seeing his broad shoulders angled between her thighs flooded her with heat. Her breath stuck in her throat as he hauled her sweats down and off. He kept her panties on a little longer, but only to tease her it seemed, since he used the lace to rub back and forth over the place where she needed him most.

She threaded her fingers through his hair, his name a whisper on her lips as the pleasure built in a hot, sensual ache.

When the panties were gone and his mouth replaced the lace, she thought she’d die from how good it felt. Her release jolted her, sending wave after wave of fulfillment cascading through her. He held her tighter, coaxing her higher until she collapsed beneath him, boneless and deliciously sated.

She hadn’t even caught her breath when he slid free from her thighs, his powerful arms bracketing her on the bed. His hips making room between her legs.

“I’m not on the pill,” she remembered belatedly, pressing a hand to her chest. “I didn’t think—”

“I took care of it.” He took her wrist and guided her hand to where a condom already covered him.

She must have been dazed from that orgasm longer than she realized. She only had a moment to stroke him there before he moved her hand, placing it back on the bed while he covered her.

Incapable of being still, she threaded her fingers through his hair. She watched as his eyes closed, the cords of his neck standing out as he entered her slowly. He gripped her hip on her uninjured side, running his hand down her leg, wrapping it around his waist until he was seated deep inside her. For a long moment, he stayed there, letting her adjust. Or maybe just allowing himself to breathe in the moment. If he felt half as good as she did right now, this had to rock him.

But then, he started to move and she could only think about how that felt on her end.

Delicious. Incredible. Life-altering.

She tried not to think about that last part and focus on the other two. Their bodies synched to one another like they communicated on a whole other plane.

She moved with him, meeting his thrusts and finding the rhythm that drove him wild. Twice he seemed close and he slowed down. But the third time his heart raced under her palm, she didn’t let him stop. When he tried, she was already close to her own release. So she arched her hips, taking him deeper. Pushing him over the edge and letting herself go with him in a heady rush.

His groan drowned out the soft whimper she made, a cry of utter capitulation to the bliss of the moment.

“Hold on to me,” he urged, his words soft in her ear even though his breathing was a harsh rasp against her skin.

Not questioning, she did as he asked and he rolled her gently on top of him, so careful with the side where she was injured she marveled that he could know how to move her better than she knew how to position her own incapacitated body.

Laying her head on his chest, she took deep, steadying breaths, more relaxed than she’d been the whole night before. And yet, she needed to keep the moment light. Needed to remind herself this was only temporary so her heart didn’t go and do anything stupid like getting attached to a guy who had a life five states away from her.

A life in a brutal sport that could give him health problems for the rest of his days. A life he’d chosen over her.

“You won the chemistry argument,” she said finally, smoothing a touch over the slow rise and fall of pecs. “I concede.”

“I would savor the victory if I wasn’t so busy savoring the way you feel against me right now.” He twined a handful of her hair around his fingers and then let it unwind.

Playing.

“I decided last night I was cutting off my nose to spite my face when I said we didn’t have chemistry.” She hoped she delivered the words with the right touch of easy worldliness.

He stilled. Then, letting go of her hair, he reached to tip her chin up so her eyes met his.

“Did you just admit you were wrong?”

“Absolutely not. I said you were too hot a ticket to pass up.”

He frowned down at her, as if he had expected their time together to rattle her more than that. But she wasn’t a teenager in the throes of a monster crush anymore. And she wouldn’t let the best sex of her life deceive her into thinking J.C. cared about her as anything more than an old flame from his past.

“That’s funny, because I don’t feel like I won an argument. I feel like you just tried to one-up me again.” He sounded disappointed.

But damn it, what had he expected?

“How about we stop arguing and just enjoy the incredible benefits we’ve discovered by being stuck in town together this week?” She wouldn’t mind spending a while longer in Cloud Spin if it meant they got to repeat that experience. She hadn’t realized she’d missed this place until she sat in the Peak’s with him last night, surrounded by ski sweaters, furry boots, and friendly faces from the past. But J.C. was the biggest draw.

Her heart beat faster as she waited for his answer.

Too hopeful for a woman who’d already decided this shouldn’t mean anything.

“I don’t feel stuck with you.” He stroked her hair again, some of the tension easing from those muscles of his. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Good. How about we go tackle that ice rink and see if we can use this unlikely partnership to bring a little winter joy to local hockey lovers?” She’d thought a lot about that couple they’d met last night and it bothered her that her father hadn’t opened the ice already.