The Texas Christmas Gift (14 page)

He tossed several packets of each in the basket. “For the tree topper?”

It was a hard decision. “An angel,” she said finally.

Derek handed her the prettiest one. “What about lights?”

Eve picked out strands of miniature colored bulbs. He put a tree stand in the cart, then moved to the next aisle. “Got to have some ornaments.”

Eve bypassed everything that was breakable and went for the kid-friendly ornaments. “In case any children come over,” she said with a self-conscious flush, one very special little toddler in mind.

“Safety first,” Derek agreed soberly.

Eve studied their finds. “I think we’ve got everything.”

She brought out her wallet at the checkout line. He stopped her with a shake of his head. “This is on me.”

“I—”

“Consider it my thank-you to you for helping make my holidays wishes come true.”

Again, they locked glances, and again something passed between them. Something tender and sweet, and undeniably uplifting.

* * *

A
S IT TURNED
out, getting the Christmas tree into her condo was easy. Getting the trunk centered in the stand? Not so much.

First it listed to the right, then to the left. Finally, Derek got down on all fours and, lying on his side beneath the branches, adjusted it in the metal pan. While Eve held the tree in place, he tightened the bolts around the base of the trunk.

When they were both finally satisfied the tree was straight, Eve went to get water to keep it fresh. Still sprawled on the floor in a way that engendered way too many secret sexual fantasies for Eve, Derek poured in the liquid, then rose up on one elbow to hand the pitcher back.

Her pulse racing, but determined to appear unaffected, Eve set the pitcher aside and offered him a hand up. He locked palms with her, and a second later towered above her once again, all big brawny male. And Eve realized all over again this was no simple friendship. This was no simple anything.

“You okay?” he asked, peering down at her curiously.

Yes and no, Eve thought.

Somewhere in all the activity, she’d gotten her second wind. And then there was her ongoing, escalating reaction to him.

Pretending it was the holiday activity that had her so distracted, she murmured, “Are you any good at stringing lights?”

“As it happens—” he winked at her “—I’m an ace.”

He certainly seemed to know what he was doing. Curious, Eve asked, “What were your traditions like at home, when you were growing up?”

He plugged in one light strand to make sure it worked. “The usual, I guess. Stockings above the fireplace, a tree, lights inside and out, a wreath on the door.”

“And socially?”

He smiled reminiscently. “It seemed like we were always busy. There were lots of extended family gatherings and community functions to attend.”

It sounded...nice. Like a Hallmark movie of the way things should be. “And on the holiday itself?” she asked.

The fabric of his jeans snugly cupped his muscular thigh when he knelt to drape lights on the lower branches. “We usually had a catered dinner brought in.” He threaded the strand through the fragrant evergreen and stretched it out. Their fingertips brushing, she caught it from the other side and pulled it through.

“What did you and your mom do?” he continued, equally curious.

Eve went to get another strand to plug into the first. “We went to a restaurant for dinner on Christmas Eve, opened presents on Christmas morning and usually baked cookies and watched holiday movies together later on Christmas Day.” It had been really nice, and yet she’d always had the sense the holidays made her mother a little sad, so she’d been sad, too.

Derek looked at her thoughtfully. “What’s your favorite movie?”

With a slightly embarrassed shrug, Eve admitted, “It’s a cartoon, actually.
A Charlie Brown Christmas.
”

Derek paused. “I like that one, too. Although I never really understood Charlie Brown’s melancholy until a couple years ago.”

“After the whole Carleen and Craig thing...?” Eve guessed.

Derek nodded, grim. “Up until then, in a lot of ways, I’d led a charmed life.”

Eve smiled up at him. “And would like to do so again.”

He hunkered down to finish the lights, his sweater riding up slightly as he moved. “It’d be nice to provide Tiffany with a mommy and a daddy at both of her homes.”

Dangerous territory, that. Eve tore her glance away from his flat, muscled abs. No need recalling how nice he looked naked.

Her mouth dry, she went to open up the ornaments, deliberately cutting off her view of him. “What was
your
favorite Christmas movie?”

“A Christmas Story.”

Her emotions under control, Eve pivoted back to the tree and started hanging ornaments and placing velvet bows. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one.”

“It’s set back in the late 1940s, so a lot’s different than life today, but the chaos in it between siblings, and parents and children, is reminiscent of my childhood.” His lip curved with amusement. “My mom used to say that her life would have been so much quieter if she’d had five girls instead of five boys.”

Eve chuckled. “I wouldn’t bet on that. Girls can get pretty rowdy, too. Just in different ways.”

They both smiled. Then she tossed him a cookbook. He caught it one-handed. “What’s this for?”

Eve stood back to admire the twinkling lights and ornaments, and finally handed him the angel to set atop the highest branch. “You helped me with the tree. I’ll bake you some cookies before I send you on your way.”

He adjusted the angel, and then plugged in its cord. The angel lit up, too, adding an even more magical quality to the scene. Finished, he dusted off his hands and turned back to her, his gaze intent. “You’re kicking me out?”

He didn’t look as if he wanted to go any more than she wanted him to. “Eventually.” She nodded at the cookbook, which he’d set aside. “What kind would you like?”

He picked it up again, an inscrutable look on his rugged face. “I can have anything I want?”

More dangerous territory—if he wanted the same thing she wanted, that was. Eve smiled and approached him lazily. “If I’ve got the ingredients, sure.”

He flipped through the pages. “Spritz cookies.”

“Chocolate or vanilla?”

“Both.”

“Taskmaster,” she complained.

“Hey.” He angled his thumb at her chest. “You asked.”

She had.

While she worked, he perused her shelves and eventually found a Chris Botti Christmas CD a client had given her. Derek slid it into the stereo and turned it on. The soothing trumpet music added a sultry aura to the apartment. Looking a bit restless and distracted himself, he returned to the kitchen and took a stool on the other side of the breakfast bar. Elbows on the counter, he watched her stuff dough into the cookie press and fit a star mold over the tip. “Is that hard to use?”

So he needed something to do with his hands, too.

With a shake of her head, Eve held it out. “Want to try?”

He rose with the same economy of motion he did everything else and strode around the counter. “I won’t screw it up?”

Eve mugged comically. “If you do, we’ll just reload the press with more dough and do it again.”

“Well, hey, when you put it like that...”

She motioned him closer, then stepped behind him and fitted the cookie press in his big hands. “You position the end right over the baking sheet and press the trigger. That’s good.” She moved a bit nearer. “Keep pressing until a quarter inch or so of dough is on the sheet, then let go of the trigger and lift the press. And voilà!”

To his amazement and her delight, they ended up with a cookie shaped like a star.

“Hey, what do you know, it worked!”

Eve stepped away from him and lounged against the counter, watching. “Just keep going.”

Derek pressed several more cookies in a neat row. “I am good at this.”

She wrinkled her nose. “And modest, too.”

He finished filling up the empty spaces on the sheet. “Helps to have a good teacher.”

Eve smiled. There was no denying it—she and Derek were a good team. Wondering if there was a way for them to be friends in the future, despite the fact they’d given in to passion once already, she said, “Let’s get these in the oven.”

“Okay.” Derek washed and dried his hands while she shut the stove door and set the timer.

He turned back to her. “Now what?”

“We do another sheet, of the chocolate ones this time.”

For the next half hour, they worked side by side. Eventually, they had two more trays in and out of the oven. Delighted by their success, Eve took a warm cookie and popped it into Derek’s mouth. She waited for his reaction. “Well?”

He savored the taste with the same intensity he made love. “Delicious.”

She relaxed in relief. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Almost,” Derek added, wrapping his arms around her and tugging her close, “as delicious as you.”

Eve caught her breath. “Derek...” she warned.

Eyes shuttering, he lowered his head. His lips hovered just above hers. “One kiss, Eve, before I go. That’s all I’m asking.”

Chapter Ten

But one kiss, Eve found, was impossible to give, never mind receive. The moment her lips fused with Derek’s all common sense vanished. She arched against him, until there was only the press of hard flesh and the fierce erotic pleasure of his mouth over hers, and a kiss that seemed to go on and on and on. A kiss that was everything she had ever dreamed of...

It was the perfect Christmas gift.

But to her disappointment, it came abruptly to an end. Tensing, Derek lifted his head. He stroked his thumb across her lower lip, his eyes dark with desire. Their gazes locked, both of them breathing hard. “If you want me to leave,” he warned softly, “now’s the time.”

She loved the brusque humor in his low tone, as much as she loved the way he looked at that moment. A little rough around the edges, and a lot aroused. “There’s only one problem with that,” she whispered back, lifting her hands in helpless surrender. “I don’t.”

One corner of his mouth crooked up. He reached for her again, dragging her against him. “Exactly what I was hoping you’d say...”

The next thing Eve knew, he had backed her against the wall. Which was good, because she was feeling a little wobbly, and the solid surface behind her helped keep her upright. Not that the hard cradle of his muscular physique wasn’t doing the same. He was trapping her nicely with his big, gorgeous body and stubborn Texas resolve. He tasted innately male, like chocolate and sugar, and an essence that was unique to him. Loving every inch of him, of this, Eve pressed against him a little more. He was just as aroused, his skin burning with fiery intensity through his sweater and jeans, as he continued to kiss her, long and wet and deep.

Eventually, he lifted his head. “Here or the bed?”

Another easy decision. “Here.”

He grinned and reached for her again, his blue eyes gleaming with desire and something else as well. He pushed her hair out of the way and then his lips were on the nape of her neck. “Can do.”

He made her feel hot, so hot.

She held on to his shoulders with both hands as he nuzzled the sensitive place beneath her ear. His hands were moving lower, undoing the fastening of her jeans, then the zipper. The feel of his fingertips brushing against her skin made her quiver. Knees weakening all the more, she managed to gasp, “Or the bed.”

He stopped what he was doing long enough to take in the sight of her. “You keep talking about Christmas presents. I think you’re mine.” He eased a hand past the elastic of her panties, going lower, lightly brushing back and forth. This time her knees nearly buckled, and he hadn’t even found her yet.

She gasped again, still looking into his eyes. “Then that makes you mine.”

His smile slow and hot, he slid a muscled thigh between her legs. “Just so you know...we’re not rushing through this time.”

His soft chuckle brought forth another quiver. “I’m getting that.” She leaned forward and nipped his shoulder. “It doesn’t mean I’ll let you have all the fun.”

Throbbing all over, she eased a hand between them. Determined to give as well as receive, she worked free the buckle of his belt. He watched her with pure male satisfaction, and then he was busy, too, kissing her again, while moving his hands beneath the hem of her T-shirt, up across her ribs, to cup her breasts through the thin lace of her bra. The feel of his palms on her taut nipples sent another rush of desire through her.

“Now...inside me.”

Still keeping her pinned against the wall, he lifted her so she was straddling his waist, and had no choice but to put her arms around him and hold on tight. “In time...”

His hands found her breasts; his lips found her mouth. There was nothing to do but let him have his way, and claim her he did. Without even undressing her all the way, he found a way to touch her like no one else ever had, a way that made her feel safe and wanted, pleasured and desired. Although she had promised herself she would wait for him, there was no delaying. Eve could no more control her response than she could her feelings. The next thing she knew, she was being carried down the hall to her bed. Ever so gently, he set her down. Undressed her, let her undress him.

His eyes alight with mischief and something else—something deeper than pure pleasure or want or need—he joined her.

Eve reached for him and he sprawled over her. “Are we hurrying?”

Grinning lazily, he pushed her knees apart and slid between them, settling between her spread thighs. “What do you think?”

Her hips rose to pull his body even tighter to hers. She wreathed her arms about his neck. “I think you intend to take your time.”

His eyes darkening, he lowered his mouth once again. She shivered as the hardness of his chest teased the sensitive skin of her breasts into taut awareness. “Derek...” She was already so wet and so ready.

He lifted his head to look into her eyes. “Some things are worth waiting for, especially this time of year.”

And wait they did, as he took her mouth again in a long, hot, tempestuous kiss. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched up against him, enjoying the pressure of his sex nestled against hers, the intensity of his kiss, the warm cage of his arms. He kissed her until she throbbed in response, and then he kissed her some more until she clung to him and whimpered low in her throat. And only then, when they were both filled with a longing that went way beyond the physical, did he grasp her hips and slide into her, filling her completely, taking her and making her his, until she was awash in a pleasure unlike any she had ever known.