Romancing the Holiday (9 page)

“Damn, Lila.” With a gentleness he didn’t feel, he brushed his fingertips over her skin, swept his thumbs across her nipples.

She shrugged out of the jacket, letting it fall to the floor behind her. “For you.”

“If I had known you weren’t wearing anything but a bra under that jacket...”

“Here’s another secret.” Her lips hovered over his ear before her tongue licked around the rim. “I’m not wearing anything under my pants either.”

Damn
. He cupped her breasts, weighed them in his hands, remembering how they filled his mouth. How sensitive she was. Slipping a hand behind her back, he unclipped her bra, nearly ripping the clasp off in his haste to see her bare and ready.

The bra fell down her arms then off. He hadn’t forgotten an inch of her. High round breasts. Real, just like the rest of her, and the perfect size. He bent to take one in his mouth and almost shouted in relief when her hands found their way into his hair to hold him there. He sucked and kissed, licking his way around and over her.

“Spence, yes.”

He’d missed that voice, soft and one second from panting. “I don’t give a damn about the timing, or why you picked tonight, so long as you’re here.” His mouth found hers again in a blinding kiss that sucked the air right out of him.

When she lifted her head a few seconds later, her lips were puffy and swollen and her eyes hazy. “Will you do one more thing for me?”

He’d give her the deed to the place if she wanted it.

He cupped the side of her face, waiting for the minute when he could kiss her again. “Anything.”

“Show me your bedroom.”

Chapter Nine

Lila had no idea how they got up the stairs without falling down. He guided them with a slapping death grip on the railing, half pushing her, half lifting her, as they hit each new step. Between kisses, she stripped him out of his shirt and skimmed her hands over his bare shoulders. She kicked off her shoes, grateful she’d never bothered to tie them when she headed up here.

By the time they hit the second-floor landing, heat flared between them and the sparks produced by their touching had them fumbling with stray clothing and mumbling naughty promises of things to come. She speared her hands through his hair and dragged him as close as possible, without even a slip of air separating them, for another down-to-her-soul kiss.

Without moving his head, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off the ground. Not wanting to be separated for even a second, she hooked her legs around his lean hips and let him sweep the last of her inhibitions away. They walked through an open area and around what she thought might be a couch. With each step, his erection rubbed against her.

She could feel the wild thudding of his heart under her hand and wondered how they’d gone this long without finding a bed again. When he turned to the left, a puff of warm air blew against her hair as she heard the steady hum of a heater above her head.

His hand smacked against the door and the darkness of a new room enveloped her, this one cooler with a palpable thrum of promise. A quick slam of his elbow against the switch and the room glowed in white light. She lifted her head, thinking to take a measure of the man by his most private area, but he had other ideas.

Her back hit the mattress and Spence fell on top of her a second later. He balanced his upper body on his elbows and stared down at her. The sharp intensity in his eyes dazzled her. To have all that energy, all that focus, pulsing into her stole her breath. He wanted her. She’d seen it for days but now it roared like a hungry beast.

“This first time’s going to be fast.” He trailed a line of kisses down her throat to her breasts. “Hot and fast.”

“Yes.”

“The second will be sexy, all about licking and tasting every inch of you.”

The sweet promises went to her head. Every part of her readied for him. She wanted him inside her, over her, everywhere.

“Now, Spence.” She threw her arms over her head because with him she wanted to give up control, let him take over and bring her to a shuddering climax as he had so many times before. “I can’t take much more.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for too many days, dreaming about what you would look like in my bed.” His mouth continued down to her stomach. When the press of his lips had her sucking in a long breath, he kissed her there again.

Zinging life into her cells, he kissed and touched every inch he exposed. His hands landed on the elastic band of her sweats. She lifted her hips to help him and with one long slip, he peeled them off, dragging his fingers over her bare skin as he went.

“Damn, you weren’t kidding.” His voice was low, almost reverent.

Naked. She’d only worn the jacket and pants as a nod to the weather. She’d wanted to walk into his office and give him a show. To let him know that she remembered every minute of their days together and wanted it all again. With him she wasn’t shy or self-conscious. With his mouth and his hands and that heated gaze, he made her believe she was beautiful. Not even a moment of doubt seeped in. His attraction made her powerful.

His fingers traced the inside of her thighs then gently pushed them apart. In the next second, he kneeled between her spread legs with his gaze focused on the very center of her. His thumb slid along her seam then a finger dipped inside.

“Are you ready for me, baby?”

She lifted her head off the mattress, thinking to beg him to push into her, but he was already moving. He looked over her as he reached into the nightstand and grabbed a condom. She took the opportunity to kiss his flat stomach, to cup her hand over the bulge in his jeans. He’d opened his belt and the top button. Now she slipped the others ones open as well.

He slid back over her. “I can’t take your hands on me. Next time.”

He kissed her as he lifted his hips and shoved his pants down. She’d barely caught her breath when he started pressing inside her. Her muscles tightened and pleasure exploded over her at the stinging friction of his body against and into hers. He kept plunging until every inch pulsed inside her. The coiling in her gut ratcheted up and her hips strained with the need for him to move.

With one last soft kiss, his mouth covered hers and his hand went to her jaw. “Now.”

Then he started the familiar rhythm. In and out, faster with each push. Her thighs clenched his hips and his fingers slid through hers. Their breathing filled the room in time with the light creak of the bed against the hardwood floor.

Her last coherent thought was that the lovemaking was even better when she knew his real name. Then she couldn’t think at all.

* * *

Hours later, after three rounds of lovemaking and not nearly enough minutes of drifting sleep, she curled against his side. Her mouth slid over his nipple, stopping to press a light kiss there. Even as exhaustion pulled at him, he couldn’t help but smile.

“Woman, you are insatiable.”

“With you, yes.”

He tightened his arm around her and reached for the covers with the other. Heat rolled off of him, but he worried she’d get a chill. Tucking the sheet around her, he covered up the parts he’d so enjoyed all evening.

“Why did you really come to that hotel months ago?” She mumbled the question against his skin with eyes closed.

He flinched before he could stop it, but she must have felt it because she lifted up, her eyes finding him in the room, saved from complete darkness by the glow of the porch light below the window and the rising dawn.

“Is this topic forbidden?” she asked as she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“I think we’ve proven nothing is forbidden between us.”

“I’m serious.”

So was he. “It’s not attractive. Like, it goes along with a guy who would give a pretty brunette a false name to lure her to bed then walk away without any consequences.”

She leaned down, letting her hair fall over his chest, as she kissed him. Quick but hot. “Just so you know, the name didn’t get me into bed. It was that face and the dark sexiness.”

“Good to know.” Great, actually, Part of him always wondered why she took him up on the offer to move their conversation from the hotel bar to the room. It wasn’t as if he was smooth and at his best. That night the worst side of him had threatened to burst out.

He brushed his free hand over the arm lying across his chest. “I was furious, irrationally so.”

“About?”

“Austin and Mitch.” He closed his eyes on a regretful groan. “I really was a dick. They’d both found these women and were happy and I felt...I don’t even know how to describe it. Austin had some tough times and got through them, too much alcohol and too little Carrie, but everything felt so unsettled yet it wasn’t. See they were settled. I was the one. It was like nothing felt right, my life, my choices, even my own skin. I was angry and looking to lash out. Then you sat down and ordered a drink and I said Austin’s name because in that moment I didn’t want to be me.”

“You didn’t seem angry to me.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, enjoying the softness he saw there “How did I seem?”

“Lonely.”

He hated that word. Made him sound weak and pathetic and he hated that, too. “Damn, really?”

She moved so that more of her body covered his. The shift put her face right above his. “Is it possible what you were feeling was abandoned?”

“I’m not a little kid.” His hand ran down her back until it reached that fine ass. Much more of this and they’d be looking at another round.

“Now, that’s telling.”

He stilled, not sure what part of the conversation he’d just missed. Since she looked all serious and sure, he worried it was a biggie. “Meaning?”

“When Stephen moved on—”

Spence’s back teeth slammed together at the mention of that idiot’s name. She’d given him bits and pieces of their marriage story, and nothing Spence heard made him want to do anything but smash the guy. “He’s a shit.”

“What I’m about to say won’t make you like him any better.” She kissed Spence’s chin before continuing. “His gambling messed up our accounting practice. He had the problem and I rushed to fix it and then do you know what he did?”

“Unless the answer is ‘fell into a cement mixer’ I’m not going to like it.” He cupped her ass in both hands now, gently kneading her bare skin and kicking off a new punch of need in his gut.

“He needed to start over. That’s what he said. I’d given everything and sacrificed my reputation and my career to save our pathetic marriage and he needed a new life, free from me. I was about to say those same words to him, but he said them first and robbed me of the pleasure.”

“Now that’s a dick.”

“No arguments here. But I think what I was feeling mirrored what you were feeling, in a different way, but still similar.”

“Austin and Mitch didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, but they moved on and there had to be a part of you that hated that.”

Her comments knocked him speechless. His fingers stopped moving and his heart thundered its beat in his ears. “I’m not sure how I felt.”

“Well, you think about it while I go to the bathroom.” She sat up, giving him a front view of her breasts and just when he reached out to touch them, she was gone. With a blanket wrapped around her, she stood at the door to his bathroom. “And get your mind off my body. I need to find some clothes so you can buy me breakfast.”

He fell back against the mattress, his mind in a jumble. She threw out theories and broke down his defenses. In such a short time, she had him spinning in circles and rethinking vows he’d made long ago. The least he could do was take her to breakfast.

He smiled...then he sat up as the amusement faded away. Clothes. Her damn bra was downstairs.

Stumbling into his jeans and not bothering to zip them, he scrambled out of bed and down the hall. His bare feet thudded against the wooden steps as he raced down, determined to grab the clothing before anyone showed up for work. Out of the windows next to the door, he could see the sun coming up, which meant he only had minutes.

He slipped on the rug at the bottom of the steps but managed to keep his balance. With one hand on the doorframe, he spun into the main office, almost knocking into the Christmas tree...and stopped dead.

Travis leaned against Spence’s desk, still wearing his jacket and bundled up from the cold. With a lacy bra in his hands. “Good morning.”

Spence’s temples began to pound. “Damn it.”

“Have a good night?”

He wiped a hand over his face as he glanced around. “Are you the only one here?”

Travis’s eyebrow lifted. “You mean downstairs? Yes. But I’m thinking I’m not the only one in the building.”

With as much command as a half-naked guy could muster, Spence walked into the room and stopped a few feet away from Travis. “We worked last night. It got late. That’s it.”

Travis glanced at the bra in his hand. “You’re sticking with the work story?”

“There’s no story.” Spence weighed the chances of snatching the bra out of the younger man’s hand without making the scene even worse.

Travis held up the bra. “This looks like a story.”

The ticking of the clock echoed in Spence’s ears. When had the damn thing gotten so loud? “Give me that.”

“She get hot and take off her clothes?”

“I...this...” Sweet damn, he was sputtering. He was a grownass man and the idea of getting caught having sex made him nuts.

“You managed to knock him speechless.”

Spence closed his eyes at the sound of Lila’s voice behind him. The only positive he could find was she sounded amused instead of pissed.

Travis smiled and this time he looked past Spence, right over his shoulder, as he did it. “I’m thinking you might have done that.”

She stopped next to Spence. He could barely think over the clanging of the headache. “Why are you down here?”

She pointed at Travis’s hand. “To get my bra.”

“Spence was trying to explain how it spontaneously fell off, or something. I really couldn’t follow the whole explanation.”

“That’s sweet, chivalrous even, but Travis is a big boy. He knows we’ve slept together before and I’m pretty sure he knows we did now.”

Which brought Spence straight back to the point. “And if he breathes a word of this I will beat the—”

“Now.” As if he hadn’t spoken, Lila stepped forward and held her hand out to Travis. “Can I have that?”

For what could have been the first time in memory, Travis blushed. “Oh, sorry.”

She took the bra and balled it in her fist. “Gentlemen, I am going to go change and then I’ll need breakfast. Anyone who wants to join me at Schmidt’s is welcome.”

Travis raised his hand. “I’m in.”

Spence wanted to be alone with her, to apologize for not grabbing the evidence sooner. To ask her why she so clearly didn’t care that Travis walked in on them this morning. All of that would have to wait because she headed for the stairs. He heard her feet against the steps and then she was gone, moving around in his bedroom above them as the floorboards creaked beneath her.

Travis’s smile grew even bigger. “The secret is safe with me, though I have to say the entire town already assumes you’re together. Darla said the leading contender for the nickname is The Fall, referring to your bachelorhood status, of course.”

“Damn gossip.”

Travis pushed to his feet. “You thought it was funny when it was aimed at Austin and then Mitch.”

“It was back then. Look, this is a different situation. What I have with Lila isn’t serious.”

“Really?”

“No. I mean, yes.” Shit, he had no idea what he meant or why Travis was frowning. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you really not know?

“It’s too early for word games.” Spence glanced at the clock again. The countdown to accidentally flashing the women who worked in the office had begun. He had to get upstairs and find clothing or the town gossip would flame out of control.