Winter Kisses (A 3:AM Kisses Novella Book 2) (10 page)

“So you’ll be there tonight?” Roxy dips her knees when she says it as if she’s pleading.

“Of course, I’m going to be there tonight—right after the show. It’s the final performance before Christmas, and I’ll even ditch the after-party just to make the effort. I really want things to go smoothly with your brother and me. I think this is a great start. And, I want your mom to like me.” I blink back unexpected tears. “To be honest, up until today that wasn’t all that important to me, but I really feel like you and Ryder are my family, and I’d like for your mother and me to feel the same one day, too.”

“You will.” She collapses her arms around me. “See you guys tonight!” She skips off to the parking lot, content in her delusions. Maybe I’m the one lost in my delusions? And negative ones at that. I
should
try harder, and if Rue is willing to meet me halfway, I’d better make the effort, too. But I can’t shake this feeling she was just putting on an act because Roxy was there.

“What do you think?” I ask Baya as we cross the street.

“I don’t know.” She shakes out her long, dark tresses. “I think she said all the right words—smiled when it was required of her. She even threw in a joke at the expense of Whitney Briggs’s rival.” She shrugs as we walk into the polished building.

A two-story waterfall sits in the center of the foyer, and it takes my breath away for a moment. I forgot how beautiful this place is—how beautiful a lot of things are.

Baya scoots in close. “I say show up tonight and hope for the best.” We step into the elevator and it entombs us with its quiet hush. “But just between you, me, and these four walls, I’d watch my back, Laney. Isn’t she Aubree’s blood relation? I doubt the apple falls far from the tree.”

“Funny, she used that exact same analogy about me and my mother last year.” I leave out the detail of my mother marrying for money when I was younger. About how her husband went into a coma and she was out spending his hard-earned cash when they finally pulled the plug. Word got around the hospital that she turned down the staff’s offer to be there during those final moments when he left this planet. She opted to try on shoes and told the hospital to call her when he was done—like he was a fucking turkey. I still get pretty steamed over the fact my mother was a bona fide gold digger but having my dad walk out on her put her in a tailspin. Anyway—Baya and I step out into the advertising department, and I drop her off at Bryson’s cubicle while I make my way over to Ryder’s office.

The entire area has a black and white motif with mirrors strategically placed to make the space look even more expansive. My heart hammers in my chest as I take it all in. A cold sweat breaks out over me all at once. It’s ridiculous for me to feel this way. I used to work right here in this building, on this floor. These are my old stomping grounds.

I glance over at the black lacquered desk I used to call my own. I was Ryder’s personal secretary once upon a time. But after things ended badly I never came back. Lucky for me, Bryson let me work at the Black Bear, and the rest is waitressing history. I wonder if I’d want my old job back if Ryder made the offer? I remember each and every one of those stolen moments we shared in his office. God knows I’ve played them on a loop while snuggling up with my, “mini Ryder” after the split.

I give a gentle knock to his office door.

Hopefully we’ll create a brand new memory this afternoon, and lucky for me because the real deal doesn’t require a single AA battery.

“Come in.” The baritone of his voice vibrates through the wood.

I step inside and close the door behind me, quiet as a whisper.

A breath gets caught in my throat at the sight of him as he rises from his desk. He’s gorgeous as all hell in his sharp navy suit, his gold tie with crimson threads that pick up the light. His thick ebony hair is slicked back like the feathers of a raven. Those royal blue eyes light up the otherwise monochromatic room. He gives the slightest impression of a smile as his eyes glaze over with lust. His lids hood low while his chest rises and falls at an animated pace.

“What brings you to this side of town?” he asks as his dimples hedge in and out like shadows.

“You.” I speed my way over, and he meets me at the edge of his desk. “Always you.” I land my lips over his, and Ryder takes the initiative, spearing me lovingly with his tongue. He tastes fresh and minty as if he just rinsed with mouthwash, and it invites me to linger right there for another few minutes.

“Just me?” He peppers my face with kisses.

“I had a meeting with some friends.”

“Sounds nice.” He pulls back with a careful smile. “Do I know any of these friends?”

“Baya, Roxy”—I sigh—“your mother.”

His dimples flex. “How did it go?”

I take in his warm cologne, and my panties melt to nothing. I still can’t believe I’m standing here, in his office, with his heated hands secured over my hips. It all feels like a dream—the best dream.

“It went”—I clasp my fingers around his tie and pull him in—“really, really well.” I land another boiling kiss over him.
God
I love Ryder’s lips. It’s like falling into a cloud, then his mouth opens, and you find that an entire supernova waits for you. I bump my tongue over his teeth before pulling away. “She invited us over to a dinner party she’s having tonight, and I said I’d love to come after the show.” I bounce my shoulders. “What do you think?”

He lets out a breath as if he’s been holding it for weeks. “I think that’s great. Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

“I’m fine. I was able to share how I felt, and she apologized. And now we can kick-start our relationship with both our families intact. It’s going to be great, Ryder.”

“Good.” He melts those lips over my mouth before tracking up to my ear. “Because I never want to see you get hurt again.” He pulls back, and a pinch of grief sweeps over his features. “There’s one more thing we need to discuss, but I don’t think we need to go there right now.” He tugs on the lip of my jeans. “Lose the clothes. Keep the hat.” He flicks the ball dangling near my ear, and the bell goes off.  “I’m about to make your wish come true.”

“What wish is that?” I haven’t a clue, but whatever the hell it is, it’s safe to say I’m on board.

“You said you wanted to come after the show.” He runs his tongue over the rim of my ear, and my skin lights up in a trail of prickles. “I’m going to make sure you come before and after. Consider it an early Christmas gift from my tongue to your—”

“Whoa, cowboy.” I cut him off with a laugh caught in my throat.

Ryder zips across the room and locks the door. He sweeps the curtains closed, turning the oversized office into a virtual tunnel of darkness, or, more to the point, tunnel of love.

I jump out of my jeans and boots and peel off my sweater, leaving my red lace bra and underwear. Ryder and his prying eyes were exactly what I had in mind when I dressed myself this morning.

He swoops in from behind and lands a searing kiss just shy of my temple. I can feel his hard-on pressing against my bottom, and I reach back and run my fingers over the length of it.

“Since we’re exchanging gifts a little early…” I purr, spinning in his arms. “I have something that I think
you
might like.”

“I’m liking
you
.” His lips run up and down my neck, leaving his silky suit pressed against my bare skin. “You’re all the gift I need, Laney.” He slips his fingers in my panties, and they voluntarily fall to the floor. “I’m the luckiest bastard alive. The only thing I want is my body in you.”

I pull off his coat and work the buttons on his shirt.

“Well then”—I slip his belt off, nice and slow, never losing contact with his glowing eyes—“that fits right into my gift.”

Ryder hoists me up onto his desk, and I knock over a glass of water—about a dozen objects go flying in every direction, and the intercom beeps for our attention. He brings his hand down over it before clearing the papers off the surface with a sweep of his arm.

“Is this where you’re going to have me?” I land my legs on either side of him, trying not to wince as my skin adheres to the icy glass laid over his desk.

“This is just the beginning.” His chest rattles over mine with a dark laugh. “I’m going to have you everywhere.” He dots a kiss to my lips. “In every single way.”

I run my fingers down his chiseled abs and a breath gets caught in my throat. “Ryder Capwell, you have been working out like a prisoner this past year, and you can’t deny it because, believe you me, it shows.” I wanted to say that to him the other night. I wanted to say a lot of things the other night, but whiskey and my stubborn ego prevented me from doing so.

I rake his shirt open, and my hands meander further south. There’s a bulge in his boxers that borders on obscene, and it brings a smile to my face.

“I see my gift is waiting to be unwrapped.” I work on his button before plunging his pants and boxers down past his thighs, and his most enthusiastic body part springs out and says,
hi there!

He opens his desk an inch and pulls out a small gold packet.

“What’s this?” For a second my heart lurches because somewhere in the distal part of my mind I thought it might be a ring. I can’t even imagine relaying this story to our friends and relatives.
So how did he propose
, they’d ask, and I’d reply,
with a boner and a smile! Why, every part of his body was anxious to have me!
I relax when I see it’s just a condom. “Is there rain in the forecast?” I’m not sure how we started calling them raincoats, but I like that we did. I like that we have an entire intimate world that only we’re a part of.

“Oh, honey, it’s going to pour.” Ryder pulls me in by the back of the neck. He comes at me with hungry, anxious kisses. I wrap my legs around his waist as he lays his full weight over me for a moment. He props up on his elbows and traces out my lips with his tongue. His hand glides down to my thigh before he slips a finger deep inside me, and I moan with approval.

“
Ryder
.” I reach down and guide him to that special place that’s been burning to have him ever since that night so long ago. It’s been a whole year of no action, well, not by a real live human at least. I’m pretty sure sex toys don’t count. In fact, if you want to get technical, I’m pretty sure I’ve renewed my virgin standing. “Hey, you know what I just thought of?”

“Mmm?” He tears open the foil packet with his teeth.

“I’m sort of a virgin again. So you know what that means right?”

His dimples flex in amusement. “That I’m an even luckier bastard than I suspected?”

“And that I’m going to bleed out all over your desk,” I tease. When Ryder and I first had sex I was, what I like to call,
extra virgin
. My dorm sheets looked like a massacre just took place, and Ryder was more than a little panicked when we were through. I may or may not have led him to believe he punctured my uterus, and, even though it’s impossible to do so, I really had him going.

He pushes a dull laugh into my ear. “No blood please—now, blood curdling
screams
that’s another story.”

“You do like me vocal, don’t you?” I bring the tip of him into me, and he sucks in a quick breath through his teeth as if he touched a flame.

“You okay?”

“You feel
so
fucking fantastic.” He lets out a groan as if he were in pain. “Trust me, I’d love to bury myself in you without anything on—that’s pretty big on my bucket list—lots of naked-penis sex.”

My chest bubbles with a laugh. I brush my finger over his brow. Ryder has the most amazing eyebrows, thick and dark like the wings of a majestic bird in flight.

“God, you’re hot.” I bite down over a smile. “But you know that, don’t you?”

He leans up and pulls the raincoat out of its tiny foil home, and I pluck it from him and pitch it over my shoulder.

“What did you do that for?” He looks vexingly perplexed, and it only makes me want him more.

I pull him in by the shirt until he’s tucked in close.

“I want you in me, sans the raincoat,” I whisper. “Right now it’s all about your big naked penis. It’s my gift to you.”

He laughs into my mouth before swiping his tongue over mine.

“I think we should put off the family for another few years. But, lucky for you, I’m pretty well stocked.” He reaches into his drawer and produces another one.

“Are you manufacturing them in your desk?” I tease as I snatch it from him and pitch it over my shoulder like I did the last one.

“Laney.” He stretches up over me and searches the floor for the glorified water balloons. “We need those.”

“No we don’t.” I take a breath. “Last year”—a lump the size of a Christmas ornament lodges in my throat—“I went on the pill. I trust you, Ryder. You’re the only man I ever want to be with, and I haven’t even thought about another person this last year except for you.”

“Laney.” He brushes the hair from my face sweetly. “I haven’t thought of, or looked at, another person for the past twelve months.”

“Are you trying to one-up me?”

His chest vibrates with a dull laugh. “No, but I want to make the point I’m all yours, and I’m clean.”

“No acid rain?” Despite the crude and disturbing imagery it’s really a lovely thought.

“Nope.” He lands a careful kiss over my lips. “You can bottle it and drink it if you wanted.”

“Okay, that was gross.” I swat him over the arm. The only thing I want to bottle is his love for me. “How did we go from I’m ho, ho, ho happy to see you, to bloody desk tops and bottled sperm?”

“I think that’s what makes us,
us
.” His dimples flex, no smile. Ryder always knows the right answer.

“You know what else makes us,
us
?” I gently press him in by the small of his back. “You, deep inside me.”

Ryder

I should really get a couch in here.

Laney writhes beneath me ready and willing to help me take the plunge of a lifetime, and all the while I feel bad for having her beautiful body sprawled out over my desk. It’s got be cold—hell, it’s covered with a sheet of glass so I know it is, and her back must be killing her, but Laney has never been one to complain.