by Leslie North
Because for all intents and purposes, that’s what Noelle and Mitch were to her right now.
Her family, during the coziest, most family-oriented holiday time of the year.
Jules’s own mother lived in upstate New York, and they didn’t always spend the holidays together anymore, not since her mother had taken a job at a nursing home that sometimes required holiday coverage. This year was one of her work years, which meant Jules was on her own for celebrating.
Beyond her mother? There was basically no one. Sure, she had plenty of friends, but those friends had their own families. Their own celebrations. Their own warm and cozy nooks to get back to.
So that meant Noelle and Mitch entering her life was incredibly well-timed. And her heart was thankful for it. She hated a less-than-spectacular Christmas as the endpoint of a year. And this year would be ending on a dazzling note with Mitch and Noelle at her side.
Once the baby was back down in her crib, Mitch led her by the hand through the penthouse. Jules followed him in a floating daze, unable to rip her gaze off the half-unbuttoned work shirt or the well-trimmed stubble on his jaw each time he glanced back with those smoldering eyes.
This man was a fantasy. Better than a fantasy, even. Because in the dreamily tinted stories that little girls fell for, it was only for a handsome man of no substance.
But Mitch was all substance. Solid and sturdy and successful. Not to mention sexier than sin. The type of guy to build her up and back her up against the elevator wall.
He kicked the door shut behind her with his foot, leaving the bedroom bathed in moody golden light from the city beyond the window. He didn’t use curtains, preferring to rise with the daylight, and the Manhattan glow filled the bedroom. Even at night, the city was bright enough to light their way as his mouth covered hers and they started a slow stumble back toward the bed.
Mitch’s warm hands cupped her face. She whimpered through the kiss, the mix of his heat and his tongue seeking hers and the solid steel of his body against her creating a vortex of desire she could only get lost in.
“Fuck,” Mitch mumbled through a kiss. When they reached the bed, she fell backward onto the soft comforter. He paused, fishing his phone out of his pocket.
“Baby monitor,” he whispered, swiping through screens. Once he opened the app that would alert them if Noelle woke up or not, he tossed it further up the bed, where it settled near the pillows.
“I’m glad you’re clear-headed enough to think of these things,” Jules joked, desperation swarming her. Her hand drifted between her legs, pussy pulsing with eagerness. She wanted him more than anything, but right now, she needed something. Her clit throbbed from wanting attention, and Mitch was just moving too damn slow.
He undressed in the dim lighting of the room, his hands moving with methodical precision as he unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, then moved on to his belt and his pants. The amber glint of Manhattan beyond illuminated the arcs of his biceps and the ridges of his abs as he undressed. Jules slipped her hand inside her panties as she watched him.
A smile curved at his lips. “Mmm.”
Her middle finger swiped over the stiff peak of her clit, causing a jolt through her body. “What?”
Mitch eased onto the bed, tugging at her pants until they crested her hips. He pulled them off and tossed them aside, bringing his lips to her belly.
“That’s my job,” he growled, dragging his teeth over the swell of her hip. Her skin turned to goosepimples under his hot breath. She wriggled in his grip, unable to form words as his head went between her legs. He tugged at the scrap of fabric between her legs, his lips brushing the sensitive nub there. She inhaled sharply, legs splaying open of their own accord.
He pushed aside her panties, his lips instantly encircling her clit. His tongue flicked back and forth over the tight nub while his hands made hot trails up and down her legs. Jules melted back against the bed. Unable to move or speak or even buck her hips.
How long had it been since she’d had a giving lover? Her mind spun with excitement and elation and raw passion as Mitch slurped and suckled at her. He pressed a finger into her, and then another, starting a slow but steady rhythm as he fingerfucked her. Her pussy tightened around him. Yes. Yes. This man knew what he was doing, and he did it well. She arched backwards, reaching for something. Anything. Her fingers found the top of his head and she fisted his hair. He pushed his fingers inside her deeper, adding a third.
“Ooohhh, Mitch,” she moaned, her thighs tensing in advance of her prickling orgasm. She’d never come so quickly or so often with someone. And she’d known this man less than two weeks. How was it even possible?
He grunted in response, not breaking his rhythm. His tongue swiped and slid against her slippery clit, and finally the pleasure tightened until it exploded, and she was coming, coming so hard. She cried out, locking her thighs around his head, her entire body jerking with the hot rush of her orgasm.
“Fuck,” she moaned as the pleasure receded. “Holy…what the…”
Mitch moved gently, pressing a kiss to her thigh before he bent down to get something. He stepped out of his briefs, cock standing tall and proud in the low lighting. He rolled a condom on, and a moment later he was back on top of her. He pressed a sloppy kiss to her lips, the juice of her own pussy still staining his lips, and they kissed so hard that their teeth collided.
Mitch nestled between her legs as they kissed, easing himself inside of her until he was buried to the hilt. The gentleness of it, the sweet slide of him filling her, was so welcome that it made Jules’s throat tight.
She hadn’t realized she was missing intimacy like this. Hell, she’d never had intimacy like this even when she was dating her exes. Mitch was something else. He was on a whole different level.
They started a slow and deep rhythm. One that was punctuated by their soft grunts and the slick sounds of their sex as he moved in and out of her. Mitch cradled her as he fucked her, something tender in the way he drilled into her. She pinched her eyes shut, feeling another orgasm quivering on the brink.
This man. This man was everything she’d always wanted. The secret hope she’d held in the back of her mind, even as exes fizzled and drifted away.
“Oh, Jules.”
Her name on his lips was an aphrodisiac Her throat went tight as he buried himself inside her again, emotion swirling inside her from head to toe. How could she not fall for this man? This nurturing foster father to Noelle; the thoughtful, successful businessman; the giving lover who had driven her to five orgasms in two days?
Her heart squeezed as his lips found hers again. It was the kiss that did it. The tender caress of his lips while he filled her, deeper than anyone had ever filled her before. Less than two weeks and she was head over heels.
Her orgasm burst through her again, and she cried out. Mitch flexed against her, his gaze intense as he watched her. He gave a gruff cry and stilled, his hips jerking as he came. They lay in sated silence for a few moments, their heavy breaths the only sound between them.
His forearms bulged as he braced himself against the mattress and then rolled off her. He immediately scooped her into his arms, bringing her body flush against his.
She giggled, sinking into the spoon. Now this was nice.
He buried his face in the back of her hair. “Mmmm.”
“Mm-hmm.” Words were still beyond her. With this level of satisfaction pulsing through her, it might be a while until she could string words together.
“Mrghhh.”
“Mmrrrm.”
Mitch kissed the top of her head. “That settles it then. Best sex ever.”
Her eyes drifted shut, that perma-grin back out to play on her lips.
15
A few days later, Jules’s memories of her epic orgasms were one of the few things keeping her going.
Party planning was down to the wire, and right now they were in the “corral all the moving parts and hope for the best” stage.
And a
s of yesterday, Noelle was officially sick with a cold, which meant she couldn’t join the hotel daycare. Jules was able to get a nanny up to the penthouse to help watch her while working, but every little cry or whimper from the girl jerked her focus from any task at hand.
Not only was she was getting poor sleep because of a sick baby and running behind with the planning, she was also nearly totally on her own since Mitch’s own schedule was jam-packed from eight a.m. to nine p.m. each day.
By six p.m. on Thursday, she was craving another slow, intimate night with him so badly she could cry. But Noelle was as fussy as ever and only wanted to be held, so the romantic sex-a-thon would have to wait.
“Oh, honey,” Jules tutted as she patted Noelle’s back after her latest bottle. Her little nose was stuffed up and she couldn’t breathe very well, which only frustrated her more. She sank back onto the couch, a sigh escaping her as her eyes fluttered shut.
Maybe, if Noelle calmed enough, they could both snag a nap.
That would be wondrous.
Almost too wondrous to imagine.
The front door opened, and Jules perked up. It had to be Mitch, which signaled sweet, sweet relief. She could hand over fussy Noelle, and either sleep or get work done. Probably sleep, if she was honest. Oh, how lovely that would be.
“Anybody home?” Mitch walked into the living room a moment later, a big smile on his face. It dimmed slightly as he approached them. “You okay?”
She groaned, dropping her head back on the couch. “So exhausted. It’s been a rough day.”
Mitch frowned, reaching out to run his fingers over Noelle’s head. “She still sick?”
“Not getting any better. And I need to sleep. At least for an hour. Are you ready to take her?”
Mitch’s frown deepened. “I can’t. I just stopped back to change for my next meeting. I’ve got an investor arriving in five minutes.”
Jules ground her teeth, unable to stop the annoyed sigh from bursting past her lips. “Seriously? You’ve been totally gone the past three days. I thought we were in this together.”
“We are,” Mitch insisted. “But this stuff is non-negotiable. My hands are tied. I can’t bail on this meeting to play with the baby.”
“To play with the—” she stopped herself before her acidic tone turned into even more acidic words. “Noelle is sick, and she needs to be cared for. Whatever. I’ll take care of it.”
Mitch headed for his bedroom, his voice growing more distant as he walked away. “Call the nanny. I’m sure she can help out for a few hours.”
“You think I haven’t tried that route?” Jules spat, feeling more frustrated than ever. She couldn’t get past what he’d said. Play with the baby. Like this was just a walk in the park, all fun and games. “There’s no nanny available tonight because they’re busy with all the other guests’ children.”
But of course he couldn’t hear her, because she was muttering angrily to herself in the living room. When he reappeared in the living room a few moments later, wearing a Henley shirt and casual slacks, the sight of him softened her frustration for a moment.
“This is a meeting?” she asked.
“Yeah. Casual, though. Per the investor’s request.”
She sighed. “Well, as I was saying, there’s no nanny available tonight. So make it quick. Because I might not make it until nine p.m.”
He came over and pressed a kiss to her forehead and then Noelle’s. “Promise.”
The front door clicked shut a moment later, and she was left in irritable silence once more, her own frustrations and to-do list and sense of aloneness boiling over, ready to drown her.
So this was mom life in the early months. Now she got it. She sighed, settling Noelle into a safe spot on the couch before getting up to pour herself a glass of wine. It was six thirty. This was allowed.
Noelle fell into a fitful nap, which allowed Jules to open her laptop and stare distractedly at her screen while thinking about the interaction with Mitch.
It had felt like they were working together so well as a team, but now? All this just reminded her that she’d been in some sort of blazing bright foster babymoon. Something tinted by the holidays and the great sex and a healthy, sleeping baby. Now she was pure sleep deprivation and deadlines with half the help and support she’d grown accustomed to.
If Mitch couldn’t be counted on to help during a few stressful days during their few weeks as a makeshift family unit, then what could she count on from him in a relationship overall?
And why was she even thinking that a relationship with him was a possibility?
The whole thing made her crazy. Yes, she’d fallen head over heels for him. Even now, when she wanted to throttle him for leaving her with a sick baby for the second day in a row, she still wanted him. But what did he feel about her? And was he even getting sidetracked by the same thought of what might happen after the holidays?
Because if Jules had her way? She’d be taking up permanent residence in this penthouse. She’d already imagined moving her things here, thinking how convenient it was that she hadn’t fully unpacked at her apartment, what an unwitting foresight that made life easier once she decided to make the move over here! And little Noelle would of course become theirs, and probably would take the Denton name. And if Jules was lucky, so would she. Since Mitch would most likely—probably definitely—ask her to marry him within a year.
All these thoughts felt ridiculous and dangerously hopeful, yet she couldn’t avoid them. Dammit, he made her excited again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a brash ringing. Something between an alarm clock and a tornado warning, ringing repeatedly from…somewhere. Jules leapt to her feet, trying to track down the source of the offending noise. Her first thought was the service elevator—maybe there was an issue with it and someone was stuck inside—but the noise was softer over that way. She wandered through the kitchen, following it until the sound rang the loudest.
The mahogany buffet in the dining room seemed to be the culprit. She frowned, tugging open the small drawers in the piece of furniture until she spied the offender.
Something suspiciously similar to a fitness tracker blared, and she picked up the thin black wristlet, turning it over in her hands. The accessory had startling volume for being so small, and no amount of pressing buttons made it shut up.
Her chest tightened as she struggled to turn it off, but the alarm continued ringing.
The failed attempts made a baby headache spring to life, and she swore under her breath. After enough frustrating attempts, she tossed the thing against the wall. As if this would help, or maybe spur it into shutting up on its own accord.
But no. Reeeeep. Reeeeeep. Reeeeep. The end-of-times step tracker continued its death wail.
Jules huffed with a sigh and headed for her phone. Now that she’d spent so much time hating the thing, it was all she could hear, even as she put distance between herself and the accessory. She tapped out a quick text to Mitch, but the waiting grew unbearable.
So she called him. It rang seven times and then clicked over to voicemail.
She called again. And it went to voicemail again.
“Dammit.” She pinched at the bridge of her nose, her blood pressure pitching upward. Sleep deprivation and sick baby was one thing. Add a shrieking device on top of everything, and she was damn near meltdown mode.
Noelle stirred on the couch, and then she let out a wail.
“Oh, hell no!” Jules stomped her foot and looked between baby and device, unsure which to attend to first. Maybe she could break the thing with the meat tenderizer she’d found in the kitchen the other day. If it didn’t stop ringing, she couldn’t be held accountable for her actions.
But Noelle needed comforting first. She scooped up the baby, trying to stop the crying. While she shushed Noelle and tried to get her calm, Jules drifted back toward her phone. She called Mitch again. No answer.
But she couldn’t stay in here. Not with this ringing.
So she headed for the hallway to check herself out in the mirror. She was presentable enough—at least for a quick trip to the bar where she knew Mitch was having his meeting.
She could steal him for a few minutes to resolve this problem, and all would be well.
She pasted a fake smile on her face as she slipped her flats on and went to the penthouse elevator, readying herself to enter the world below with a fussy baby in her arms.
Yeah.
Everything would be fine.
As long as Mitch stopped the damn ringing.
16
Mitch gnawed at the inside of his lip as he waited for Sara to return.
His meeting with the investor was casual at her request, but he hadn’t expected it to be this casual.
Sara had shown up to the hotel bar in a form-fitting red dress and sky-high heels. After a quick hug and plenty of giggles, she’d suggested they start the meeting with shots. Like they were in college again, she’d laughed.
And of course Mitch had gone along. Taking a shot didn’t sound like a horrible idea, especially after the day he’d had. With his dad breathing down his neck to get everything in order for the gala and secure the investments for the next level of Denton’s expansion, he had enough on his plate to warrant getting drunk early.
But he felt like an asshole for leaving Jules and Noelle upstairs, and no amount of alcohol could prevent his thoughts from returning to his girls upstairs.
“Okay. I’m back.” Sara sent him a toothy grin as she slid onto the bar stool at his side. Her floral perfume settled in a cloud around him, something he remembered from the last time they’d met like this. She was one of their primary investors, but more than that, she was an old family friend. The daughter of another wealthy family in the New York area, she and Mitch were on equal footing when it came to wealth and inheritances.
