Back to December (Ward Sisters Book 1) (18 page)

Anja encouraged everyone to head to the dining room to eat. She took Emily's elbow again and explained that the kids had been fed earlier and were watching
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
while the adults ate. They would each get one gift afterward and then go to bed until it was time for Mass.

Emily didn't know what to expect for dinner, but she was pleasantly surprised to find salad and pizza and plenty of wine on the table. She knew she had a huge grin on her face. It was the same thing her family ate on Christmas Eve every year.

She sat at the huge dining room table between Rob and Raoul, whom she hadn't been able to talk to much. The conversation was lively, with stories being told of Christmases past. She heard about Raoul's first holiday with the Deacons, when he had to keep explaining his British idioms to Rick and Kelly's kids.

Kelly's first Christmas was during high school when, at the time, she was technically Rob's girlfriend. Rick, home from college, fell for her instantly and she dumped Rob the next day to date his brother.

Rob looked at Rick, obviously kidding but with a completely straight face, and said, “Don't even think about trying to steal Emily.” He turned to Emily and smiled.

She kissed his cheek. “Don't worry, Rick's too bossy for me.” There were hoots all around the table, with comments that she had nailed Rick to a tee. Under the table, Rob squeezed her hand. She was doing great so far.

Soon enough, Liv, who was Rick and Kelly's oldest, came into the dining room to tell them that
Rudolph
was over and Freddy wanted to know when he could have his present because he was 'ready to zonk'.

The adults followed Liv to the great room where Freddy was, in fact, already passed out on the sofa. Amy woke him easily with the promise of a present. He crawled onto her lap and rested his head on her shoulder.

Liv sat on the floor next to Emily, where she was leaning against Rob. The girl kept sneaking looks at her. Emily smiled. “We didn't get to meet, yet. I'm Emily.”

She seemed a little shy. “I'm Liv. It's for Olivia, but there are like, six in my class. I love your hair. It's like Katniss' braid.”

Emily smiled wider. “You like to read?” Liv nodded. “Me too. I sat at Barnes and Noble for six hours the night they released
Mockingjay
so I could get it as soon as it came out. I read for the next five hours until I finished it. I had to know what happened.”

Liv was thrilled to have someone to discuss what was clearly her favorite book series. By the time it was her turn to open a present, she hardly noticed when her grandfather handed it to her. It took Kelly nudging her for Liv to change her focus and open her gift.

When she pulled off the paper, she gasped. “Omigod! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you, Uncle Robbie! This is SO awesome!” She turned it so that Emily could see. It was a Mockingjay pin on crushed blue velvet in a custom frame with a matting that was signed by what looked like the entire cast of the first
Hunger Games
movie.

Emily looked at Rob with a face that said she was very, very impressed. He knew his niece well. And what better way to use the resources at your disposal than to give her a gift she could get nowhere else? She looked back at Liv.

“I'm jealous. That's an awesome gift. I bet your friends are going to freak when they see it.” Liv nodded and pointed out the names. Kelly let her talk to Emily a little longer, after the younger kids had all gone to sleep. And then her mother was ushering her to bed.

“Are you staying for Mass?” Liv asked. Emily nodded. “See you in a few hours.” She gave Emily and Rob both a big hug and bounced down the hall, her prize in hand.

Rob put his arm around her and squeezed. “I'd say you made a new friend for life.”

“She seems like a great kid.” Em nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. “You just made her year. Maybe even her decade.”

Kelly came back into the room then. “No doubt about it. She's thrilled. Do you know how hard it was to sneak that pin out of her jewelry box without her knowing? I had to keep letting her wear my jewelry so she wouldn't open it! Thank God you didn't need it before this week. Of course, now she's going to figure out that she doesn't have one to wear anymore.”

“Just wait until tomorrow,” Rob said. “She won't care that you gave me that one.”

“What did you do?” Kelly asked.

“I got her a new one. It's real gold. More like the one in the book.”

“You read the book?” Emily said, looking at him like she didn't believe him.

“Yes. I told you, when I read for roles that are based on books, I always read the source material too.”

“What would you have read for? No offense, but you're too old to play the male leads and too young to play Haymitch. There weren't really many older characters in the first book.”

“You know, I can't remember. I didn't end up actually reading for anything because the production schedule didn't work. Anyway, my agent told me about it, so I read the books and then I passed them on to Liv. Signed, of course.”

“Of course. By the author, I assume?”

“Well, she's got plenty of
my
signatures on her birthday cards.” He kissed her quickly.

Kelly cleared her throat. “Okay. Well, you two are all kinds of adorable, but I'm going to go lay down before I pass out from cute overload. I'll see you in a couple hours.”

Everyone else had disappeared too, so they were alone. They moved to the sofa and Emily curled into Rob's arms. “How are you doing?” he asked.

She smiled, though she didn't look at him. “Good. Your family is terrific. I haven't had this much fun on Christmas Eve in years.

“You don't miss your family?”

“I do. But I still got to have my pizza and wine. And now I don't have to worry about whether or not Josh is going to propose to me and what I might actually say if he did.”

“You didn't want to marry him.”

“No. I wasn't sure if it was marriage in general or just Josh, but I'm beginning to think it was probably Josh. I kept holding my breath each special occasion, hoping he wouldn't ask and knowing that my mom would make a big deal out of it either way. She'd act like I was heartbroken when I was really relieved. It shouldn't be something you dread. The worst part was that I worried he'd find some really public way to do it and I'd have to tell him no in front of other people.”

“Why did you stay with him?”

“I don't know. I asked myself that the whole flight out here. I came to the conclusion that I couldn't keep pretending I wanted to marry him someday. And if I didn't want that, then there was no reason for us to stay together. I should have ended it a long time ago. You can't marry someone just because your family loves them. They don't have to make a life with the person, you do. Anyway, enough about Josh. He's not here and I'm not with him anymore.”

Rob kissed her neck. He whispered, “I'm glad you're here and that you're with me and not him. Thanks for coming here tonight.”

Emily turned to him and kissed him sweetly, trying to keep it chaste because they were in his parents' house. But neither of them could stop themselves from deepening the kiss. And before she knew it, they were on the couch making out like they were teenagers. The sound of Rick clearing his throat was what stopped them.

“Don't let Mom catch you,” he teased.

They sat up and Rick laughed. “Rob, your house isn't that far away. Why don't you just go home for a couple hours, and then you don't have to worry about how naked you get.”

Rob looked at Emily, his expression asking if that sounded good to her. She knew hers said yes. Rob stood and pulled Em off the couch.

“Let's go tell Mom and Dad we'll meet everyone at the church. Thanks for the suggestion, Rick. For that, I'll forgive you for stealing Kelly.” He dodged Rick's fake punch and Rick kissed Emily's cheek as she walked by him.

Once they said their goodbyes, they donned jackets and headed back to Rob's house. The snow had accumulated some but the Subaru navigated it easily.

When they arrived at the house, Rob took out his phone and used an app to open the garage and turn on the lights. Emily marveled at the technology. She was happy just to have a keyless entry for her car once she upgraded to her new Honda Civic from her crappy old Dodge Neon after grad school. She remarked that it was ironic he had the latest techno gadgets for his house, but his car was a beat up, college kid's throwback with manual windows.

He teased that she would change her mind once she saw the car he drove in L.A. Here, he didn't need to look good on the road, just needed to get from A to B. In L.A., it was another story. He had to look the part of the rich, successful, young movie star by driving a Porsche.

“You don't seriously own a Porsche,” she exclaimed as they walked into the house.

“Yeah. It's a Spyder, exactly like the one James Dean used to drive.” He sat on the bench by the door and pulled off his boots.

She pushed his chest. “Lie. You really drive a Prius.”

He looked at her and laughed. “Okay, you got me. I have a hybrid. But it's not a Prius, it's a Lexus. Amy would probably kill me if I drove a Prius.” He shrugged out of his parka and hung it by the door.

“
Too
granola?” He shook his head. “Not sexy enough?”

“Bingo. Now that there are more options, I'm sure she'll want me to find a sexier alt fuel vehicle. I hate car shopping.”

He sat her on his lap and pulled off her boots for her. Then he peeled off her jacket and hung it next to his own. He patted her bottom to get her to stand and then he took her hand to lead her to the great room, where he had shown her the lake the other day. A Christmas tree now featured prominently in the room. They sat on the couch.

“Not into cars?” Em asked as she turned to face Rob and straddled his hips.

He adjusted her so that she fit onto his lap more comfortably and left his hands on her butt. “No, I like cars fine. It's the ass kissing I hate. You think car sales people are bad enough to everyone else, try being someone they want to impress. It's disgusting. It probably works for some people, but how much someone kisses my ass has no impact on whether or not I want to buy a car. If the car can't sell itself, why am I buying it?”

“Good point. Now, are we here to talk about cars, or are we here to do something else?” She kissed him quickly.

“Oh, definitely something else.” He used one hand to pull her into his erection and the other to bring her mouth closer to his own. “Can I take out your braid?” he asked before he kissed her. She nodded and he loosened her hair as he kissed her neck. When it was free, he pulled back to look at her. “Let's go upstairs.” She got off his lap and he took her hand as he led her up to the bedroom.

When they got to the room, he began pulling off their bulky clothes. Soon, they were both naked and he walked her backwards, toward the bed, as he kissed her and caressed her back. Her legs hit the bed and she turned to crawl across the mattress with a purposeful sway of her hips.

Rob mumbled, “Mmmm, nice.”

She flopped onto her back and said, “What?” feigning innocence.

He stared at her in the dim light. “You are
so
beautiful,” he breathed.

“Everyone looks good in low lighting.”

Rob lay between her thighs, his face hovered inches from Emily's. “It's not the lighting, it's you. You're amazing. Inside and out. Not every attractive woman is beautiful. I can't believe you're mine.” He glanced at her mouth, then looked into her eyes and smiled.

“Ditto,” she said. She cupped his face in her hands, pulled his mouth to her own and devoured his lips. “God, I love kissing you. I wanted to kiss you almost as soon as you started talking to me in that bar. I couldn't stop looking at your lips.”

“Oh, good, because I wanted to kiss you then, too. I love your lips. They're soft and full.” He kissed her again, taking his time to fully enjoy her mouth and she his. He lay back on the bed and pulled her on top of him. “I should thank Rick again. This is so much better than being on my parents' couch.”

Emily laughed. “You always do that. You always make me laugh.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No! It's not. It's a good thing. I just always thought that laughing during sex was a big faux pas. But it never feels like that with you. I love that you make me laugh.”

“Good. Because I love that you make me laugh, too. And I love that you make me smile. I've laughed and smiled more this week than I have in years.”

“Me too. Do you want to make my smile bigger?” she asked as she straddled him.

He grinned. “Same drawer as the hotel. I don't like to have to think about it too much.”

Emily went to the drawer and saw that there were two huge boxes of condoms in it. “Getting ambitious, are we?” she laughed.

“Just being a good Eagle Scout,” he said. “Come here. I want to try something.” Emily was a little nervous at that. Rob stood and she put the condom on him. It got sexier every time she did it, which made no sense. It had never been sexy when she did it for Josh.

Rob backed her to the wall. “Put your arms around my neck.” She did as he said and he kissed her hard as he pressed her to the wall. It took her breath away and made her instantly more wet than she had been.

He reached down, ran his fingers over her folds and when he felt the wetness, he groaned, “Good, it worked.” Then he lifted her off the floor and wrapped her legs around his waist as he breached her sex. Rob eased her down onto him slowly, his lips caressed the sweet spot below her ear and he pressed her into the wall. Em clung to his neck.

As he got to the end, he released her just a little, and gravity took over. She gasped. It made him press into her, and he slowly lifted her hips, up and down. “Tell me if I'm hurting you.”

“No. No, it feels good. It feels
so
good. Oh, Rob, how do you know just what to do to me?”

“I don't know, but I'm glad you like it.” He kissed her again, and after a few minutes, he asked, “Can you come with me?” His breathing was heavy. He was close.

“Yes. Yes. Take me there.” And he did. He took her there and she felt it wash over her as he pulsed inside. He kept her in place until they both came down from the bliss enough for her to stand. He held the condom to keep it from pulling off as she slid down his body. He kissed her and then sighed as he watched her walk back to the bed. “Can you set an alarm? I need to crash for a little bit.”

He agreed and when it was set, he slid under the covers and curled around her. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought she heard him mutter, “I love you.” Instead of being scary as hell, it made Emily smile as she slipped into oblivion.

Emily woke an hour or so later to the sound of Bad Company's
Feel Like Makin' Love
. By the way Rob's erection was pressed against her butt and his hand was on her breast, she thought he must be channeling the song. She loved waking up in his arms. He hadn't yet stirred, so she turned around to look at him.

The snow had stopped and in the dim light of the moon creeping through the curtains, she could see his face, so innocent in sleep. She was looking at his kissable lips when, eyes still closed, he quietly said, “You're staring at me.” He grinned.

“Yes, well, your lips are telling me to kiss them,” she replied in the same tone.

“I think you should listen.” And so she did. It was tender at first, but as it almost always was with them, they both deepened the kiss, tongues plunged and danced, the intensity increased the longer their mouths were joined. Rob caressed her side, brought his hand to her breast and teased her nipple for a moment. Then he ran his fingers down to the back of her leg, pulled her thigh across his hip and pressed his erection into her center.

Before they got carried away, she leaned back and said breathlessly, “Does the wanting ever stop?”

He was out of breath, too. “I don't know. I've never wanted anyone this much. Ever. And it's not just your body, though it
is
amazing. You have perfect breasts and a stellar ass and gorgeous legs. And when I'm inside you, what you do to me is magic.”

“When you're inside me is magic for me, too.”

“Glad we're on the same page there. But it's more than that. I want to kiss you and touch you and make love to you all the time, but I also want to hear you talk and laugh and sing. I want to hold you while I sleep and wake up to your face. It's everything. I want it all. I love you, Emily.”

Em was floored. She thought he felt that way, he had implied as much and she had thought she heard him say it a couple of times. And she knew she was falling for him, too. But she was scared. She couldn't trust it yet. No matter how much she wanted to trust it, she couldn't get there at the moment. Her reaction was abundantly clear on her face.

Rob said, “It's okay, Em. You don't have to say it back. I just wanted you to know.”

“It's just...I'm not ready to say it, Rob. But I can show you. Do we have time?” He nodded. “Then let me show you how I feel about you.”

She got a condom and put it on him, going slow so that she stroked him as she went. He sighed. Then Emily eased herself onto him and made love to him slowly. Her hips rose and fell, rotated and pressed him further inside as she balanced with her hands on his chest and moans escaped her lips. She loved watching his pleasure, knowing that it was her who was doing that to him.

Rob steadied her and then sat up so that she had to sit on his lap. Like he had earlier, he moved her in and out and kissed her passionately as he did so. Emily found that she could move herself if she held on and braced her feet just right, and soon she was meeting him thrust for thrust. It was slow and sensual and she loved that she could kiss him so easily in that position.

He picked up the pace and Em knew he must be close, which excited her. “Can you come with me?” he asked, his breathing saying that he was ready. She nodded and he said, “Watch me. Don't close your eyes.”

She did as he instructed and it was intoxicating, knowing the look on his face was a direct result of her. It made Emily's orgasm last longer, to be experiencing the pleasure on another level at the same time as the physical one. How had she ever lived with a bland sex life before?

Rob held Em to his chest for a moment, nuzzled her hair, breathed her scent. He cleared his throat. “We should get going so we're not late. Even though I'd like to just hold you in my arms all night long after this.”

She looked at him and nodded. Before she could get up, he held her in place. “Thank you. For showing me. It's the best Christmas gift I've gotten in longer than I can remember.”

“Someday I'll be able to say the words, Rob. For now, I hope you can feel it when I touch you and when I kiss you. I mean it.”

She kissed him sweetly and got up, knowing that if she kept kissing him, they'd tumble between the sheets again before long. He could do that to her, could make her forget everything but him with a look or a kiss or a touch. His laugh made her happy, his smile warmed her from head to toe. Talking to him was like talking to her best friend, albeit one who made her toes curl.

If this isn't love, then what is it?

But that didn't make voicing it any easier. She still felt a little fragile, it still felt too new.