Christmas Bride

by Noelle Adams

  About a half hour later, she got up to go to the bathroom and make herself more coffee. When a popular girl-power song from several years ago came on the radio, she stayed on her feet and started to sing with it. It was a fun, uplifting song, and she got into the spirit of it, dancing around while trying to preserve the coffee in the mug she was still holding.

  It was silly, but she enjoyed it. It felt free, singing out the familiar words, tossing her loose hair, and pumping her fist at appropriate times as she danced.

  The song was nearing the end when she whirled around in a particularly dramatic spin and saw that the connecting door to Carter’s room was open.

  He was leaning against the doorframe, wearing nothing but his pajama pants. He was big enough to fill the doorway, and he was grinning as he watched her wild, messy performance.

  After an initial wave of self-consciousness, she decided she didn’t care. So she kept singing and dancing until the song ended, enjoying the fond amusement in his eyes.

  When the music faded out, he laughed and clapped for her.

  She rolled her eyes. “You didn’t think about knocking?”

  “I did knock. You must not have heard me.” His body was still shaking with soft hilarity.

  “Oh. Was I too loud? I tried not to turn it up too much.”

  “It wasn’t too loud. The sound systems in these two rooms are connected.”

  She took her last gulp of coffee and put her cup down. “Oh.” Maybe it was the buzz from the singing or maybe that tantalizing sight of Carter’s naked chest. She wasn’t putting the pieces together well.

  He explained, “The music came through in my room too.”

  “Oh! Shit, I’m sorry.” She made a face and thought back, hoping her music choices weren’t too embarrassing. “Did I wake you up?”

  “I was already awake when you turned it on. And I wouldn’t have missed that performance just now for anything.”

  She made another face—this one not far off from sticking her tongue out at him. “I was just having fun.”

  “I know you were.”

  “I was in college when that song came out. My friends and I used to sing and dance to it like crazy in our dorm.” She smiled at the memory. It was a good one. She’d felt connected. Uninhibited. It had been a long time since she’d felt that way.

  “Yeah. I remember when it came out.”

  “You were way out of college then.”

  “Yes.”

  “You would have already been working hard at your family company. You wouldn’t have been singing and dancing to that song with your friends.”

  “Uh no.” His eyes were still so warm—fond—that it made her want to shiver. “I wasn’t doing much of that then.”

  “I bet you don’t even know the words.”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “Is that what you think?”

  “Yes. It’s a girl song.” It was so much fun to tease him. He reacted every time, like he hadn’t been teased enough in his life, like he wasn’t used to it. “Not a song for men who wear suits to work.”

  He gave a huff of laughter. “That’s probably true.”

  “It’s fine. Not everyone is brave enough for that song. But I might have to mention that I sang the boy song with you a few weeks ago, but you won’t sing the girl song with me.”

  He came all the way into her room for the first time, leaving the connecting door open. “Why would you assume I won’t sing it?”

  “Because of course you won’t. I mean, you’re...”

  “Uptight?” His dark eyebrows arched in an ironic question.

  “That’s Lincoln’s word for you. I’d say you’re—”

  “Buttoned-up.”

  She giggled. “Yeah.”

  “And I don’t know the words to a girl song and wouldn’t sing them even if I did?”

  Something was happening. To his face. To his posture. Like he was getting ready. Growing excited without knowing why, she said, “Well, yeah. I mean...”

  Her words trailed off as Carter went over to where she’d left the remote and flipped back to the song they’d been talking about.

  She gasped as she heard the first notes of the intro. He’d turned the volume up from where she’d had it. “You’re really going to sing it?”

  “You practically dared me to. You think I’m not up to a challenge?” He was smoking hot in his low-slung pajama pants. They clung to the thick muscles in his legs and didn’t quite cover the hint of dark hair that trailed down to his groin. He obviously worked out regularly, if the strong definition of the muscles on his chest, abs, and arms were any indication.

  Ruth had to drag her eyes up to his face again. “You really know the words?”

  “I know the words.”

  “You have to sing for real. No faking it or holding back.”

  “No holding back.” He cleared his throat and stepped closer to her. “But you have to sing with me.”

  “Of course I will.” She barely got her answer spoken before the words of the song began.

  Carter knew the song as well as she did. He got every word. Every beat. By the time the first verse was over, she’d let go again and was singing and dancing with a victorious joy that filled her like a drug.

  Not to be outdone, Carter started dancing too. Because of his musical theater background, he was able to improvise much better steps than she could and hand motions to match the words. She tried to copy him as best she could as they both belted out the song at the top of their voices.

  Carter didn’t hold back. He wasn’t self-conscious or secretly mocking or preserving any sense of dignity. He was grinning as he sang, exactly as she was. And they ended the song facing each other, both of them doing little hops in time to the music and leaning forward so they could sing right at each other.

  Ruth was gasping helplessly when they finished, breathless from both the singing and the dancing. Carter was panting too. Both of them had one arm upraised in the final victorious pose of their dance. Still smiling, they stood like that in the middle of the room, gazing at each other. Trapped in the afterglow of their uninhibited performance.

  His face was slightly damp from perspiration. A thick wave of hair had fallen over onto his forehead when he normally kept it so neat. He needed to shave. The dark stubble ran all the way down to his neck, taunting her with the need to feel the texture of it.

  He was a nice guy. With a deeply kind heart. He worked hard. He cared for people. He always took life seriously. But he’d just shamelessly sung and danced a girl-power song with her, in his pajamas without any sort of embarrassment or irony.

  He wasn’t anything she’d believed he could be.

  “So,” he rasped, obviously trying to catch his breath as he lowered his arm. “There. I did it. So what do you have to say to that?”

  He was warm all the way down to his core. It filled him to the brim. It seeped around the edges of his character. It shone in his deep brown eyes. All of him. So incredibly warm.

  She needed that warmth. She wanted it so much. She couldn’t possibly not claim it when he was standing within arm’s length of her.

  Sexy. Half-naked. Hot and breathless. All man with his broad shoulders and rippling biceps and scattering of dark chest hair.

  She launched herself at him. There wasn’t any other way to describe it. She threw herself against him and grabbed his face to pull it down into a kiss.

  He was still for just a moment, clearly taken by surprise. But then she felt his body changing. Coming alive. He took her head in both hands and held it as he returned the kiss, taking control of it almost immediately.

  Her mind felt like it might explode with too much pleasure and excitement and energy and force. She whimpered as she opened her mouth to his demanding tongue, running her hands up and down his arms so she could feel the firm contours of his muscles.

  After a minute—maybe more since it was hard to tell time in that thick blur of need and satisfaction—he broke the kiss and lowered his
head to run quick, delicious kisses along her throat. “Ruth?”

  She tried to answer but could only get out one syllable that sounded like, “Eh.”

  “Is this what I think it is?”

  He was asking her a question, even as he teased her with little kisses all over her skin. It was very distracting. She tried to focus enough to answer. “What?”

  “Because I’m getting excited here. Into it. And I don’t want to get too into it if you just want this to be a kiss.”

  Her eyes had fallen closed. She might have melted to the floor had he not been holding her up. But his hoarse words penetrated enough for her to understand them. She pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “I need a lot more than a kiss,” she admitted, wondering briefly if she was about to embarrass herself again by throwing herself at a guy who didn’t really want her.

  Carter’s eyes blazed. Blazed. Something a lot hotter than warmth was radiating out of him now. He let out a soft groan. “Thank God. Me too.”

  He kissed her again, and this time it was clear neither one of them were planning to stop.

  Six

  CARTER HAD STARTED walking them back toward the bed as they kissed when Ruth remembered something. She pushed at his shoulders, causing him to release her immediately.

  With a tight twist of his face, he asked, “Change your mind?”

  “No. No way. Just... condom. Before we get too far. Do you have one?”

  Relief washed over his expression. “Oh. Yeah. Good thinking. Hold on a second.”

  She stood near her rumpled bed and waited as he went into his bedroom and returned in less than a minute, holding a few condom packets that he set on the nightstand.

  Even knowing she should be smarter about protecting male egos, she couldn’t help but giggle. “Feeling kind of ambitious, aren’t you? You really think you’re going to need all three?”

  Carter gave her a wolfish smile. “You never know.”

  Unsuccessfully restraining her rippling laughter, she took a step toward him. “I suppose you might be clumsy in bed. You might tear a couple of them and need the third.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Or maybe I have legendary stamina and powers of endurance.”

  The laughter burst out of her. “I’m sure that’s it.”

  He obviously wasn’t offended by her teasing. His eyes glinted with amusement. But he closed the last of the distance between them and said in a low, rough tone that made her shiver. “You really doubt me?”

  “Well, what do you expect? In my experience, the buttoned-up nice guys are sometimes not as adventurous in the—” Her words were cut off abruptly when Carter grabbed her without warning and swung her up onto the bed in a quick, skillful move that made her squeal.

  In just a few seconds, she was sprawled out with her head almost on the pillow. Carter climbed on top of her, holding himself up above her with straightened arms.

  She let her fingers trail up and down the length of one strong bare arm. “Okay. That was a good move. I’ll give you that much.”

  He leaned closer. “You’re going to give me more than that.”

  She wasn’t sure how he did it, but that gravelly texture in his voice was as sexy as a physical touch. “Talk, talk, talk. So far, all you’ve done is talk and put me on this bed. You’re going to have to do a lot more than that if you really want to imp—”

  Her teasing words were cut off again. This time by Carter kissing her hard.

  It was a really good kiss. Slow and demanding and hungry. Her body melted beneath his as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave herself over to the rush of intense feelings.

  He wasn’t a boring kisser. That much was clear. His kept varying his techniques, sometimes stroking the inside of her mouth with his tongue, sometimes nipping at her bottom lip, sometimes leaving her mouth entirely for quick, tantalizing detours to her throat or ear. It didn’t take long before her body throbbed with building arousal. Her cheeks burned. Her ears buzzed. Her hips couldn’t stay still. She kept running her fingernails down the tight bare skin of his back and clutching at fistfuls of his hair as she tried to contain the sensations.

  When he finally broke the kiss, raising his head so he could smile down at her smugly, she curled her lip. “Not bad,” she managed to say primly.

  “Not bad? If that’s all it was, then why are you so turned on right now?”

  “Who said I was—”

  “This says it.” He ducked his head down to tweak one of her nipples, which were so tight they were poking out shamelessly through the thin fabric of her tank top.

  She whimpered and arched up helplessly at the little move.

  “I believe I’ve proved my point,” he drawled, his smile softening as he stroked some of her messy hair back from her face.

  “You haven’t proved anything. You just surprised me. That’s why I reacted.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She was enjoying the banter as much as his kisses. It was a strange experience.

  “All right. Well, this time you won’t be surprised. I’m going to do it again. Right... now.” As good as his word, he ducked his head again and gave her other nipple a little flick with his lips.

  Despite her best efforts to control any reaction, she gasped in pleasure and arched up again.

  “Don’t say it,” she gritted out when she saw his grin.

  “I’m not saying a word.” He grabbed the bottom of her tank top and pulled it off over her head. She had a curvy figure for being as short and small boned as she was, and her breasts jiggled from the motion.

  Carter made a throaty sound of appreciation as he stared down at them. He was just as turned on as she was. She knew this because when he shifted above her, she could feel the hard shape of his erection, barely contained in his loose pants.

  “Well, what do you think?” she demanded. A woman with any tact or discernment would probably not have asked that particular question.

  His eyes moved up to her face. “Isn’t it obvious?” He rubbed his groin against her belly in a slow, feral move, making both of them groan.

  “I know you’re turned on, but that could be for any number of reasons. Maybe it’s not because I’m—”

  “It is because you’re gorgeous,” he murmured, his eyes raking up and down her half-naked body. “And hot and sexy and perfect.” He adjusted his position so he could take one of her nipples in his mouth and give it a hard suck. Then he murmured against her skin, “And these are the best I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  She should have been too skeptical and experienced to believe that. But it sounded like he meant it. And she wanted him to mean it. So she let the pleasure from the compliment waft over her as he kissed and fondled her breasts.

  He was good at that too. It didn’t take long until she was wriggling and mewing out helpless sounds that she tried to hold back by biting her lower lip. The pulsing of her arousal was making her crazy. She tried to rub herself against his hip to get some relief, but she couldn’t get in a good position.

  He took his time with the sweet torture until Ruth was genuinely afraid she might come from nothing more than his work on her breasts.

  “So,” he said when he finally lifted his head. He was flushed and rumpled and smiling and smoldering with a primitive pride that she really shouldn’t enjoy so much. “What were you saying about how I’m too nice to be good in bed?”

  “That’s not what I said! I just meant—” She made a ridiculous sobbing sound when he gave one of her sensitized breasts another quick nip.

  “I know what you meant,” he murmured, kissing his way down to her belly. “I know a challenge when I hear one. You don’t seem to understand that I’m up to any challenge you might give me.”

  “I do... understand...” She lost track of the conversation. Lost track of her ability to speak. He was mouthing her soft, mostly flat belly, edging downward to where she was hot and wet and pulsing with need.

  The flare of fear that sparked u
p didn’t make sense to her but was strong enough to compel her to action. She pulled his head back up—away from her groin—and kissed him hard and deep, pushing him over onto his back as she did.

  He responded to the kiss, but after a minute he broke out of it, his eyes searching her face as he stared up at her poised above him now. “You okay, Ruth?” He reached up to tuck some of her hair behind her ear and then moved his hand to cup her cheek.

  She didn’t want him to know that she’d gotten nervous about the idea of his going down on her. She wasn’t even sure why she had—just that she didn’t have a lot of experience with that activity so it made her uncomfortable. So she covered her confusion but saying in a lilting voice, “Yes. Just seemed like it was my turn to be up to a challenge.”

  The questioning concern on his expression faded into a smile. “What challenge?”

  “What do you think? I can get you all turned on too, you know.”

  “I do know. You get me turned on just by existing. You don’t have to do anything to make it happen.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. You think I haven’t been turned by you in the past two months? You think I don’t picture you in the dark when I’m in bed and get so hot from the thought of you I have to take care of myself?”

  “Really?” Her voice this time squeaked in pleased surprise.

  He laughed. “Yes. Really. Why are you surprised? I thought you knew I was into you that way.”

  “Why would I have known it?”

  “Because I haven’t exactly done a good job hiding it.” He was frowning thoughtfully now, as if searching his mind for answers. “I thought that was why you kissed me earlier. Because you knew I wanted it. You mean you didn’t know?”

  “No! I didn’t know. I just wanted to kiss you, so I did.” It felt like the world was being reshaped underneath her feet. She leaned down and murmured into his ear. “I’ve been into you that way too. Did you know that?” For good measure, she darted her tongue out to flicker briefly in the shell of his ear.