The Magic Of Christmas (10 page)

Blindly, Cecilia ran her hands over Drake's chest, her palms teasing his nipples into tight points before she leaned up and licked at him the same way.  He tasted salty and sweet at the same time and her mind was filled with visions of taking his hard erection into her mouth and sucking.  Another time, though, because at the moment, all she wanted was him inside of her.

She ached for him.  She had since she was a teenager and now, with him this close, with his erection pressing hard into her hip, letting her know just what she was missing out on, she found that she couldn't wait any longer.  She wanted him inside of her now.  He could worship her later.

"More," she whispered as she arched up to bite his earlobe.  "I want more.  I'm tired of waiting."  She pawed desperately at the button on his pants.  "I need you, Drake.  Please.  I want to feel you inside of me.  You.  Only you.  Now.  I'm ready."

Drake felt the beast inside of him, the one he had been working so hard to contain, roar to life.  She needed him.  Lovely, perfect Cecilia Linden needed him.  The boy from the trailer park.  More than that, she 
wanted
 him.  She wanted him to make love to her, to bring her that most perfect of pleasure.  Who was he to deny her?  Practically leaping from the bed, he stripped off his pants so that he was as naked as she.

The fire in Cecilia's blood exploded when she saw Drake standing before her naked and aroused.  In a word, he was magnificent, his body taut and hard, all muscle and sinew.  And all just for her.  Including his pulsing erection.

Then, he was over her, looking into her eyes, seeking silent permission to take her, to give her the pleasure she was nearly begging for.  Later there would be time for gentle, but right now?  Right now, it was going to be hot and fast and she didn't care.  It was what she wanted, what she had craved for years.

She nodded in invitation, which was all he needed.  With a growl, he lowered himself over her, kissing every part of her that he could reach.  Her lips, her neck, her breasts, her nipples.  His kisses were hot and demanding and she could feel the heat of his body seeping into hers, warming up the parts of her that had been cold for so long.

Drake still held himself in check, not wanting to scare her.  All of this passion had been locked up inside of him for so long that he was a bit frightened of it himself.  Then, she was spreading her legs for him, welcoming him inside her body.  He could no longer hold back.

With one quick thrust, he was inside of her, claiming her as his.  For there would never be another man in her bed, at least if he had anything to say about it.  When she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him deeper inside, he nearly forgot himself and came inside of her.  Instead, he somehow managed to hold himself together and began to thrust, even though he knew he wouldn't last long.  Still, he needed to make this good for her, too.

Cecilia could feel Drake's hot, slick skin against hers, each thrust showing more restraint than the last.  "Harder," she urged, tightening her grip on him.  "I won't break.  I promise."  Then, to prove her point, she arched up and bit his shoulder lightly.  He needed to know that she wanted this as much as he did.

The bite somehow ignited something within Drake, giving him permission to unleash his passion.  And unleash it he did.

With each thrust, he drove into her harder, kissing every bit of skin he could reach, biting her earlobe, her neck and finally, the tips of her nipples, making her cry out and tighten around him.

She felt like heaven, her tight, hot wetness surrounding him, feeding his need until he wasn't certain where he ended and she began.  All he knew was that in this moment, they were one.  She was his and he was hers.

Each stroke brought Cecilia closer to the edge, driving her passion higher and higher and she clung to Drake like a lifeline.  He was all she needed, the only thing she could see.  For her, there had only ever been him.  Then, there was a tightening deep inside of her and she ceased to think, only to feel, each hot stroke of his body into hers bringing her closer to the edge of losing control completely.

"Come for me," Drake urged Cecilia, his breath hot against her neck, his breathing labored as he plunged in and out of her, desperate now to hang on to his last little bit of control.  "I need you, Celli.  God do I need you."

His words drove straight to her heart and finally, finally, Cecilia gave up her last, precious bit of control and rode Drake hard, his body merging with hers until they were well and truly one.

She felt him begin to shudder, his thrusts harder and faster, so deep that she thought she might split in two.  "Love you, Celli," she heard him whisper against her neck as his hips thrust hard into hers, his body slick with sweat, as his strong arms clutched her to him for all that he was worth.

In that moment, she shattered, her orgasm sweeping over her hard and fast, her body riding the waves of pleasure and her heart finally settling into her chest, his name on her lips.  Drake.  Not Logan.  The man he was now and not the boy he had been.  She had come home - finally - here in Drake's arms.  He loved her.  That was all she needed to know.

Drake tried to hold back, tried to make it last, but when Cecilia's body clenched around his and he felt her wetness, he let himself go, whispering words of love that were so powerful that he could no longer contain them.  Like this night, those words had been growing between them for years, and now that he had his Celli in his bed, he wasn't about to let her go.  At least not without claiming her as his.  He came with a roar, crying out Cecilia's name and pouring all that he had into her, marking her as his in the most primal way possible.

He hadn't meant to say that he loved her, but he hadn't been able to stop himself either.  Not when he was inside of her, the very place he had yearned to be for so long.  And in the dark of the night with the twinkle of Christmas lights outside shining down on both of them and dusting their skin with false starlight, Drake knew that he had finally found a place to rest.  The one place his heart had always known it belonged.  Here.  With his Cecilia.

Epilogue

"At some point we should get out of bed.  Don't you think?"  Drake slid his hands down the length of Cecilia's arms, still unable to believe how soft she felt beneath him.  Perfect.  As if she had been made for him.  At the moment, he believed she just might have been.

"And if I said that I didn't want to?" she teased back, loving the feel of his body against hers as she reclined against him.

"I would say that at some point, someone will miss us."  Though really, it had only been two days since that magical night when she had first come apart in his arms.  "Though I could be persuaded to stay.  With the proper motivation, of course."

With a smile, Cecilia turned in his arms and inched her way up his luscious chest to place a quick kiss on his lips.  "And I think I know just the motivation."  Then she settled herself over his hips again, delighted when she felt his erection rise to prod against her bottom.

They had shared their bodies so many times over the last several days that she had lost count.  At some point, that magical Friday night had slid into early Saturday morning and from there, into Sunday.  They ordered room service, which the hotel staff was only too happy to provide since the blizzard that had shut down central Pennsylvania had left the College Corner complex with a dearth of customers.  Drake and Cecilia, however, had more than made up for it, ordering items from the menu that could serve as food, as well as serve other, more creative purposes.  That last bottle of champagne he had ordered being a perfect example.  She was still sticky from the golden bubbles, but at the moment, she also didn't much care.

Finally, Drake pulled away from her, his breathing labored and his need for her obvious.  "I would stay here forever if I could," he informed her stroking a lock of hair back from her face.

His words, heavy with emotion, gave her pause.  "Then why don't you?"  She looked around the room, which now that the snow had finally stopped, was bathed in the gray light of early dawn, the world not yet awake on this Christmas Eve morning.  "Well not here, exactly, but..."

Drake brought a finger to her lips, silencing her.  "I know what you mean, Celli.  But would I be welcome?  More importantly, would you want me to?"

They had shared a night - or rather more than one night - together, but did that mean she wanted him in her life?  Drake didn't know.  For him, there was no place he would rather be than with Cecilia.  Forever.  Wherever she was, that was where he wanted to be.

She bit her lip, looking at him with those wide, dark eyes he had come to know so well over the last few days.  "For me, the question is whether or not you want to."  She glanced out the window again.  "This is a small town, Drake.  It's not those other sophisticated cities you've lived in since you left.  Would you be happy here?  Forever, I mean?"

A part of her didn't want to learn his answer, just in case it was something she didn't want to hear.  The other part of her, the silly, hopeful part, prayed that he wanted to stay.  With her.

Shifting so that Cecilia was now fully straddling him, he reached up and brushed her hair back from her face, thrilled that he had the right.  As always, she deserved the truth.  "Yes.  I would be happy here.  Forever.  As long as I had you by my side, I would be happy anywhere."

"But your magic!" she protested, though he noted that she didn't say anything about her being by his side.  "How could you give that up?"

"I won't have to."  Quickly he outlined Mr. Corbin's offer and his plans for making The Orpheum his permanent home when he wasn't touring the country.  "So you see, I 
could
 have it all.  There's just one piece missing."

Cecilia frowned at that.  "Which is?"

"You."  His eyes were dark again, mesmerizing, the way they had been the first day they had met.  "I need you, my Celli.  I need you by my side and in my bed.  And if I can only have part of you, if you're not ready, then I will learn to live with it and hope."

She shifted above him, her eyes bright with unshed tears.  "Drake?  Are you asking me to...?"  She wasn't able to finish her question, her words caught in her throat.

Nodding, he leaned up to kiss her, pulling her down to rest against his chest once more.  "Yes.  I'm asking you to marry me, Cecilia.  Not because of this," he gestured to the bed they shared, "But because you love me.  And I think you already know that I love you.  I have since we were kids."  A single tear slid down her cheek and he reached up to wipe it away.

"Yes," she replied, her voice barely a whisper.  "Yes, I will marry you.  And, yes, I love you.  I think I have for almost as long as you've loved me."  This was the dream Cecilia had never dared to hope might come true.  But it was.  She was in love with Drake Vale, the man who had once been Logan Valliente.  Somehow, it seemed fitting that his new name matched his new life.

"I'll love you forever, Cecilia.  I promise," Drake vowed, kissing her deeply one again.  "Because with you, I am home.  Finally."

Then, because he did have somewhat of a reputation as a playboy to live up to after all, he spent the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon showing Cecilia with his body exactly how deep his love and commitment to her ran.

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Other Titles by the author

The Ghosts, Inc. series

Novels

Ghosts Of Lovers Past

Heart of Shadows

Spellbound

Falling Beyond Darkness (coming soon)

Ghostly Shorts

All Night Long

Dream Lover

Root Beer Float For Two

Key Largo

A Man After Midnight

Music Of The Night

Diamond Girl

You Don’t Know Me

Where My Heart Will Take Me

Cold As Ice

Lovers In A Dangerous Time

Promises In The Dark (available only in the Ghostly Shorts Anthology, Vol. 2)

Man On Your Mind (coming soon)

American Heartbeat (coming soon)

Edge of Heaven (coming soon)

And We Danced (A Thieves Market exclusive)

The “Aphrodite’s Closet” series

Nobody’s Cinderella

Fairy Tale Theater

A Little Bit of Magic

Finding Prince Charming

Stardust and Moonbeams

Belle Of the Ball

The Enchanted Season

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Christmas in Philipsburg

The Magic of Christmas

A Midsummer Night's Delusion

Much Ado About Something - A Short Story