A Kiss for Christmas Read online

  Not my usual response. Hmmm.

  I lower my head and lick again, slow rhythmic strokes that should get her writhing. I tease, dipping my tongue inside her; lapping softly around her clit.

  Sophie is silent. Still nothing.

  I sit up again. “Feel free to give me some direction, sweetheart,” I encourage her. I slide my finger deep inside, and feel her body tense around me. Damn, that feels good. But still, she doesn’t respond.

  “Sophie?” I pulse inside her, hitting high against her walls. Her eyes fly open.

  “I’m trying!” she squeaks.

  I pause. “Trying to do what?”

  “Not to distract you.” Her cheeks are flushed bright red, and her hair is mussed up around her face. She looks sexy as hell, which makes me feel even worse that I’m striking out in such an epic way. “You know what,” she says quickly, wriggling away from me, “I’m fine, if you want to just, you know…” she trails off.

  I stare at her, baffled. “You’ve lost me, sweetheart.”

  Lily looks mortified. She gestures vaguely. “You know, go ahead and…”

  It takes me a moment, but I finally realize what she means. “You think I’m just going to go ahead and fuck you right now?” I exclaim, not sure whether to be surprised or offended.

  Offended wins.

  “What kind of man do you think I am, sweetheart?” I demand. “Because let me tell you, I’m not in the business of seducing a woman who looks like she’d rather get a root canal surgery than have me touch her again.”

  Sophie’s expression shatters. With a sudden sob, she yanks her dress down and races to the bathroom. The door slams shut behind her.

  Regret crashes through me.

  Way to go, Austin. Real smooth.

  Sophie

  I slam the door behind me and slide to the floor. Humiliation crashes through me, tears stinging in my eyes.

  Stupid. Stupid!

  I can’t believe I just wrecked this.

  A knock comes, hesitant. “Sophie? Soph, what’s wrong?”

  Austin sounds totally confused, and I don’t blame him. One minute, I’m molten in his arms, moaning with pleasure for all the amazing things he’s doing to me, and the next…

  My insecurities came flooding back. I shut down.

  “I’m sorry,” I find my voice, biting back tears. “It’s OK, you can go.”

  There’s a pause. “This is my room, baby.”

  Shit.

  “Then, I’ll leave.” I try to pull myself together, but then I realize I’m just wearing my bra. Somewhere along the way, Austin expertly removed my dress and underwear—and I was too dizzy with lust to even notice.

  I grab the fluffy bathrobe from the back of the door and belt it securely around myself. I take a look in the mirror and wince. I look just how I feel on the inside.

  A mess.

  I sink back to the floor, hopelessness overwhelming me. I can’t believe I’m doing this. The perfect night, the perfect, sexy man, and I’m freaking the hell out.

  Matt was right. It was all your fault.

  “Sweetheart?” The door handle slowly turns. Austin steps into the bathroom, still shirtless in his jeans. He looks good enough to eat, all tanned muscle and delicious abs, but that just makes me feel worse.

  What kind of idiot screws this up?

  He sees me curled up on the floor. I blush, but he just folds his long limbs down beside me with a chuckle. “I’ve got to be honest with you, baby. Fleeing for your life isn’t the reaction I usually get down there.”

  I bury my face in my hands, cringing. “I’m so embarrassed!”

  “Hey…” I feel his hand on my shoulders, rubbing in slow, soothing strokes. “Don’t be. I just want to know what’s going on with you. What you said, about not distracting me…”

  “I know I was being too messy,” I mutter, guilty. “You know, with the moaning and writhing and all that.”

  I keep my gaze fixed down on the tiled bathroom floor. This is, without a doubt, the most humiliating moment of my life.

  “Messy?” Austin sounds amused. “Baby, look at me.”

  I keep staring down. He gently takes my chin and lifts my head, until I’m gazing into those gorgeous blue eyes.

  I brace myself for laughter, I’ve made enough of a fool of myself as it is, but instead, there’s just tenderness.

  “What you were doing back there wasn’t weird,” he states simply. “It was fucking hot.”

  I blink.

  “But… You didn’t mind?” I frown. “That I was getting all messy and gross. You know…” I blush. It had started out so well, but as Austin slid down my body, all I could think about was Matt’s face every time he deigned to go down on me. Like it was the biggest ordeal.

  “Sugar, I could eat you out for days.”

  Austin’s words make me flush, hot, but they fill me with a flicker of hope. “So, you didn’t mind?”

  “What is this?” he cuts me off, frowning. “Who’s been filling your head with this bullshit?”

  I look away.

  “Is it this asshole ex of yours?” Austin demands. “What the fuck did he say to you?”

  “He didn’t have to say anything,” I sigh. “I could tell. I wasn’t sexy enough for him, he couldn’t…”

  “Couldn’t what?” Austin watches me.

  I gulp. “You know, perform.” My humiliation gets worse. What kind of girlfriend can’t keep her man satisfied? And not even satisfied, but excited, full stop.

  “We had problems, in bed,” I finally admit. “Most of the time, he couldn’t get hard. And even when he did…he wouldn’t last. He got so stressed about it, he didn’t need the distractions. You know, me getting loud and messy or anything.”

  I look down, suddenly remembering how lonely I would feel, lying there in bed next to him. He wouldn’t talk about it, didn’t want the stress. I wanted us to work through it, to break through whatever barriers he had up, but he refused to even try.

  “Fucking idiot.”

  I flinch. Austin’s eyes widen in horror. “Not you, sweetheart, him! He was the one with the problem, and he made you feel like it was all your fault!”

  “But it was,” I argue, shameful. “He said it had never happened before. I was the first woman who couldn’t get him excited.”

  “Bullshit,” Austin scowls. He gets up suddenly, and grabs my hands, swinging me to my feet.

  I catch my breath, surprised.

  “Now you listen to me, sweetheart,” Austin growls, looking furious. “Because you need to hear this. You are, without a doubt, the hands-down sexiest, most gorgeous, desirable woman I’ve ever had the pleasure to lay my hands on.”

  He’s just trying to be nice. I open my mouth to protest, but he pushes me back against the sink and presses his index finger to my lips, hushing me.

  “I’m not done yet,” he insists fiercely. “You’re sexy as hell, Sophie, and I want to rip that guy’s throat out for ever making you feel like you aren’t good enough. Because he’s a fucking liar. He wanted to blame you for his problems, and worse still, he made you feel like your desires were wrong. But they’re not, they’re perfect. You’re perfect.”

  My heart trembles. His eyes are blazing with passion, and I can see, he means every word. “You think I’m sexy?” I whisper hopefully.

  He gives me a devilish grin.

  “I know you are.”

  He suddenly grips my hips, yanking me tight against him. All of him.

  My stomach twists.

  Wow.

  “Feel that,” he murmurs, his voice turning raspy. “That’s for you, darlin’, every last inch.” He grinds his hardness into my hips, and I can feel him, the stiff, gorgeous length.

  I wet my lips, lightheaded. “I just…I don’t want to disappoint you,” I whisper, blushing to meet his gaze.

  The raw intensity softens. Austin gently cups my cheek with his hand. “Never,” he swears. “Not in a million years.”

  He kisses me,
a kiss filled with heat and possibility. There’s nothing reluctant about it. No hiding his desire.

  He wants me. Me.

  The thought fills me with a new confidence. I reach up, looping my hands around his neck and burying my fingers in his gorgeous hair. I pull him down, kissing him hungrily, loving the feel of his body against me.

  Austin groans against my mouth, and then he’s picking me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and effortlessly striding back out to the bedroom. My pulse kicks, but this time, it’s with desire, not nerves.

  He sets me down on the bed. My robe falls open, and his eyes rake hungrily over my bare skin. I shiver, loving the way he looks at me. After so long with Matt, I wondered if anyone would find me sexy like this: raw and wild. But Austin looks like he wants to devour me whole.

  And he does.

  I gasp as he reaches for me, claiming my lips in a searing kiss. But even as I’m falling into the rush of his mouth on mine, his hands are roving over my body, teasing me, exploring every inch. I shudder as his fingers dip between my thighs again, stroking softly at my clit, sending pleasure ricocheting through my body.

  I moan against him, and Austin breaks the kiss. He gazes hotly into my eyes, stroking again, deeper. “That’s it, baby,” he murmurs, dipping kisses down my neck and along the tender skin of my collarbone. “Moan for me. Tell me what you want.”

  “There,” I gasp, as his wicked fingers find my slick core. “I want you there.”

  Austin slides one finger inside me.

  God, I arch up against his hand. My blood is thick with desire, glittering with tension. He rocks his hand against me, sending his finger deeper as his palm presses against my clit. “Louder,” he orders me, and I moan again. I can hear my voice echoing in the empty hotel room, needy and wanton. I should be embarrassed, but instead, the sound turns me on even more. My body shimmers with pleasure. I’m letting go, of bad memories, of my last reserves of self-control. All that matters is the man right here with me, his hands on my body and his voice urging in my ear.

  “Wait,” I gasp, feeling my body tighten, already climbing to the edge. “I want to touch you, too.”

  “Whatever the lady wants.” I can hear the chuckle in Austin’s voice as he shifts onto his side. Now, I have full reign to slide my hands over his naked chest, savoring the rigid planes of muscle, and the curve of his biceps. I lean in, and give his shoulder an exploratory kiss. His skin is warm, and I kiss again, flicking my tongue against the hollow of his neck. Austin lets out a groan.

  I smile, sliding my hands lower as I kiss down his chest. Matt was always uncomfortable with me touching him. After the first few failures in the bedroom, he got so intense about the whole thing. I wanted to turn him on, make him feel good, but the more stressed he got, the more it felt like I was pawing at him, trying to get a reaction.

  But Austin is happy to let me explore his body, a glorious inch at a time. I kiss across his chest, teasing at one nipple with my tongue. I feel his body flinch, so I suck lightly, then graze my teeth.

  I feel him grow harder against my thigh. His fist tightens in my hair, so I turn my attention to his other nipple, nipping at it lightly. Power spirals through me, the thrilling taste of discovery. Suddenly, Austin grabs my waist and rolls us, pressing me into the soft covers with a growl.

  I catch my breath, my heart racing in my chest as he slides down my body, his breath hot on my breasts as he licks my nipples into tender peaks. His tongue trails lower, over my stomach, moving with determined power until he buries his face between my thighs.

  This time, there’s no holding back. I cry out in pleasure as his tongue swoops, hot against me, gripping at the covers and lifting my hips off the bed to meet his greedy mouth.

  “Yes,” I gasp, dizzy with pleasure. He laps against me, swirling and suckling at my clit, as I whimper for more. I’m coming apart under his expert tongue, desire clawing deep inside as I soar higher, higher—

  He slides two fingers inside me and curls up. I come with a cry, a ripple of sweet pleasure convulsing through me in waves.

  I collapse back, reeling. Austin lifts his head with a smirk. “That was just the opening act, sweetheart,” he drawls.

  I laugh, giddy. “I’d make some crack about your ego right now, but I feel too damn good to try.”

  “I could tell.” He crawls back up beside me and reaches to brush a damp strand of hair from my face. “I like it when you’re loud,” he murmurs, leaning in close with a lustful look blazing in his eyes.

  I shiver. My climax was only a brief release; the need in me is still coiled tight, wanting him. Now. “I can work with that,” I whisper, already reaching for him. I only skimmed his body before; now I reach for the zipper on his jeans, impatient for more. I peel open his fly, then Austin takes over, swiftly stripping off his pants and underwear.

  Wow.

  Now I’m the one devouring him with my gaze, but I can’t help it. This man is chiseled from marble, a perfect physical form. He pauses to grab a foil square from the nightstand, then joins me again on the bed: pressing his body to my side, chest to chest, skin on skin.

  My pulse kicks. This is it. With Matt, we would always just rush ahead, trying to get into the main event while he was still in the mood, but Austin is the opposite of rushed. He strokes my body, dropping kisses on my bare skin and breasts, taking his time.

  But I don’t want to wait. The ache in me is demanding, wanting every inch of him filling me up. I lift his face and kiss his mouth hungrily, pouring my excitement and desire into every moment. There’s an urgency I’ve never felt before glittering in my veins; not anxious, or insecure, just a pure, primal need.

  It’s liberating, to want someone like this. To lose myself in Austin’s touch, his mouth, the slide of his body against mine.

  I reach between us, closing my hand around his hot, solid length. He groans against my neck as I slowly stroke harder, exploring every steely inch. The anticipation is incredible, I’m already wet and aching imagining him sliding into me.

  “Now,” I whisper, shocked at my own insistence. “God, I need you inside me now.”

  Austin pulls away long enough to slide on the condom, and then he’s back against me, bracing his body above mine. I gaze up at him, trying to imprint the sight of his face in my memory. The intensity in his stare, the way he’s looking at me like I’m all he wants in the world.

  When he thrusts into me, I lose my mind.

  Sweet friction stretching me open, a delicious fullness, deep inside. I arch up, needing him closer. More. Harder. Now.

  Austin withdraws, then plunges back again, deeper than ever. I cry out, thrusting back to meet him. Our bodies find each other, a gasping rhythm, skin on skin. I’m already hurtling to the edge, too soon, but I want to savor every moment. I cling to him tightly, and as if sensing my need Austin rolls us, bringing me down against his lap so I’m straddling him, legs wrapped around his waist.

  He thrusts up inside me, and God, he hits just right, a new angle, sliding and deep. I use his shoulders to lever myself, meeting every stroke as I lose myself in his ravenous gaze.

  Who is this man?

  The thought echoes through me with every pulse. I can’t believe a stranger has unleashed this wanton side to me, but he’s not a stranger, not really. One night together, and already I feel like I know him like nobody else. His humor, his kindness.

  His incredible body.

  Austin plunges into me, grinding his hips up against me so the pressure is exquisite, inside and out. I’m cresting now, so close to the edge, totally lost to the moment, and I can see it in his eyes, he’s feeling it too. We’re united in this: gasping for air, crashing into each other with wild abandon. And then his lips come down to cover mine; his kiss consumes me as his body claims my own. He’s everywhere. There’s no space left for thought, for consciousness, I’m just pure sensation, every atom in my body radiating pleasure, coming apart at the seams.

  He presses my wrists into the mattre
ss and surges inside me one last time. I shatter with a scream, spiraling into ecstasy as the release rips through me, over me, all around. And as I fall into the sweet oblivion, I realize, I don’t want to let him go.

  Austin

  Christmas Day

  I wake up to find a gorgeous woman naked in my bed. That’s nothing new. What’s a first for me is that I’m pretty damn happy to find her here.

  Sophie is sleeping soundly, curled up beside me. The morning light glows on her pale skin, her brunette curls tangled on the pillow. Even in her sleep she has a curious little smile on her face, like that intriguing brain of hers is working out a new problem to solve.

  I reach over and gently brush a strand out of her face, soft as silk. She makes a breathy noise, her eyelashes flutter, and then she rolls over, nestling her beautiful body in close to me, warm and soft under the covers.

  I hold her against me for a moment, feeling an unfamiliar sensation burning in my chest. Possessiveness, raw and fierce. When she finally admitted what was going on in her head last night, I wanted to hop a red-eye flight and go beat her ex senseless. What kind of pathetic excuse for a man could make her feel that way? As if she wasn’t sexy, not desirable enough to keep him interested. I can’t believe it.

  Sophie is fucking spectacular—and not just in bed. Everything about her is different and new to me: she’s thoughtful and flirty, innocent and self-assured. A tangle of contradictions, bound up in one sexy package. I want to know everything about her, unravel those secrets until I know her by heart.

  My phone buzzes on the nightstand, snapping me out of my thoughts. I reach for it, careful not to wake her. I’ve got a bunch of texts waiting, from my family and friends all wishing me a merry Christmas. I quickly text back, and then slide out of bed.

  Outside the hotel windows, New York City is silent and blanketed in white. It must have snowed all night—even if it was hot enough in here to burn the whole of Manhattan to the ground.

  I grin at the memory. I may not be surrounded by festive cheer, but this is definitely a holiday I’ll never forget. And it’s only just getting started: if I have my way, we’ll still be naked in bed by the time New Years rolls around, too.