Christmas in the Mountains (Mountains Series Book 4)

by Phoebe Alexander

  “I’d say she missed her mommy!” Kathy Lynde remarked as she gave her daughter a hug.

  “What happened to you guys?” Owen asked as he filled in the space between his grandmother and his Uncle Adam.

  “Oh, it’s a very long and harrowing story! Let’s just say we’re lucky to be back down in civilization!” she answered, glancing around at all the faces eagerly hanging on her words.

  “How much snow did you get?” Adam questioned.

  “More than a foot, maybe two,” Sarah answered. “We were only supposed to get six inches. Guess the meteorologist was a bit wrong!”

  “Was it a man?” Rachel asked. “Men have no idea how much six inches really is, though they usually tend to overestimate instead of underestimate.”

  “Gross!” Abigail interjected from the edge of the crowd, rolling her eyes. Owen just laughed, and Sarah wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.

  “Hey now,” Adam protested with a wink to his husband, Brandon.

  “In any case, we are pretty lucky. We had to dig James’s truck out; that was the main issue. That and the road was just slightly hard to find with all that snow covering it!” She handed Lynnea off to her mother so she could give her older children hugs. She realized Owen was just as tall as she was, if not taller. When the hell did that happen? she wondered. Surely not just in the past few days…

  Before anyone could ask more questions, James came hobbling down the hospital corridor on a pair of crutches. “Good news!” he shouted from ten feet way. “It’s just a sprain!”

  The entire waiting room became an audience witnessing the reunion of the McAllister/Lynde clan. Of course, James’s dad was the first to pat him on the back and say, “Glad you’re okay, son.” His mother reached up on her tippy-toes to give him a kiss on his scruffy cheeks. And when Lynnea spotted her father, she looked right at him and shouted, “Da Da!”

  “Oh my gosh, cutest thing ever!” an older lady with silver curls exclaimed, and her companion, a younger African American lady, nodded in agreement.

  James was still wearing his military coat and boots, which were recognized by a middle-aged couple near the front desk. “Thank you for your service, sir!” the man offered with a smile.

  James gave him a firm nod, then turned to his wife. “So, are we having Christmas Eve dinner or what? I’m starving!”

  James’s mother piped up, “We’ve got everything ready. Just need to warm it up!”

  As the massive group began to head for the multiple modes of transportation required to get them there, Sarah fell behind to walk next to James. Rachel joined them.

  “So what took you guys so long to get here?” Sarah asked. “I was beginning to get worried about you!”

  She tried to hide a facetious grin. “Jack made the mistake of letting Lynnea play with his keys earlier, and I guess she dropped them behind the couch. We didn’t know, though, so we tore apart the whole living room looking for them. We were so frantic, we ended up offering a cash reward to whoever found them!”

  Sarah giggled. It was never a dull moment with that many kids around. “So who found them?”

  “I did!” Rachel grinned. “Jack owes me.” She winked at her husband, who just rolled his eyes and smiled. “I don’t think a monetary reward will be necessary though…if you catch my drift!” She ran the tip of her tongue around her lips suggestively.

  “Everyone catches your drift, Rachel,” James retorted. “It’s kind of impossible not to.”

  “Hey, do I get anything for rescuing you?” Sarah questioned, glancing up at James with a devious glint in her eyes.

  “Oh, she definitely gets a reward for that. Right under the Christmas tree!” Rachel answered, obviously amused with herself.

  “We might be able to arrange something,” James answered and squeezed Sarah tightly to his body as they made their way out into the frigid Christmas eve night.

  Sarah tiptoed into the darkness of the living room, which was illuminated solely by the twinkling colored lights on their Christmas tree. She had wanted to use the tiny white lights they always strung around their artificial tree, but Owen had insisted on a real tree and colored lights that flashed because he was convinced Lynnea would enjoy it more.

  “I’m not sure encouraging her to be fascinated with the tree is a great idea,” Sarah had balked, envisioning her daughter’s pudgy little hands pulling off ornaments or ripping into the colorful wrapping paper and bows on presents in advance of Christmas morning.

  “Well, Mom, obviously we can only put the plastic ornaments at the bottom so she won’t get hurt,” Owen had retorted as if he were the resident child safety expert. Sarah laughed, but she thought it was beyond sweet that her son already wanted to be so protective of his baby sister.

  They’d put their tree up a few weeks ago, and at that time, Christmas still seemed so far away. Sarah had been so exhausted from having a newborn the year before, she’d been very low-key with her holiday decoration efforts. But this year in their new, spacious home, she went all out with the fresh tree and pine garlands festooning the mantel. Everyone had proudly hung their personalized velour and fur-trimmed stocking; each one was a different jewel-tone color emblazoned with an initial: J, S, A, O and L in blue, red, green, gold and purple, respectively. There was also a family of snowmen gracing the porch, and her mother’s porcelain Christmas village lighting up the shelves of the bookcases in the family room.

  Sarah had finished up all her shopping and baking early so she and James could go away on the 22nd. She fully admitted she was looking forward to their getaway as much as watching the children open presents on Christmas morning, especially Lynnea. She and James had not enjoyed much alone time since Lynnea was born, and then there’d been the big move out west along with all the stress that went with it. They sailed through it just fine, Lynnea’s birth bringing them closer together than ever before.

  But there is something about marriages where intimacy is prized but rare as diamonds, a sort of restlessness. A wistfulness. Sarah felt that longing for her husband deep in her core. She loved seeing him as a father, but missed those delicious opportunities to have him all to herself. She missed it so much, in fact, that as soon as they arrived at the cabin, she wasted no time ripping off James’s clothes and seducing him. Not that he wasn’t just as eager to have her as she was him.

  That first afternoon they made love right in front of the roaring fire. It reminded Sarah of the passion they’d had when they first met, those first tenuous visits when James was still a First Sergeant and Sarah a relatively unseasoned professor. It was good to know that even after all they’d been through, they could still conjure up that level of desire for each other.

  When they’d gotten home from the cabin, the very first thing James did was hand Sarah a tiny box with a red bow. She’d looked at him quizzically while their entire family looked on with grins plastered to their faces. They were obviously in on whatever the surprise was.

  “It’s not Christmas morning yet!” Sarah had protested.

  “Open it! Open it!” Owen exclaimed, and James nodded in agreement. She could have sworn she saw a tiny tear glistening in the corner of his eyes, but then he blinked, and it was gone.

  “Okay, okay,” she chuckled, tearing into the gold paper which was printed with swirling crimson and silver flourishes. She popped the lid off the box and peered inside. Resting on a white cotton cushion was a key.

  She glanced up at James with araised eyebrow, then lifted the key out of the box. “What on earth?”

  “It’s a new car, Mom!” Owen exclaimed as if he was about to burst.

  “What? You’ve got to be kidding me!” she shrieked, but James nodded as she threw her arms around him. He picked her up, spinning her around with her feet a foot off the floor.

  “We can pick it up the day after tomorrow,” James noted, setting her back down. “It’s a brand new SUV, so plenty of room for everyone!”

  “What?! Oh my gosh!” Sarah exclaimed, planti
ng her lips directly on her husband’s. She could hardly believe she would finally be retiring her trusty red Toyota after so many years of service. She suddenly realized why Owen was so excited. He probably assumes he’s getting the old car! she chuckled to herself.

  Glancing around at the shiny-faced circle made up of her entire family, including her in-laws, she couldn’t help but feel blessed beyond measure. She reflected back to Christmases of the past where she had felt blessed, yet as though a part of her was still missing. She hadn’t realized she needed to give her heart in order to get so much more in return.

  Look at me now, she thought, glancing over to her husband, who was stretched out on the recliner, his feet propped up with ice on his ankle and a book resting open against his chest. He’d nodded off sometime between kissing Lynnea goodnight and her finally succumbing to sleep after such a stimulating day. Looks like someone may have to wait to claim her rescue reward, she mused as her eyes wandered up and down his slumbering body.

  She leaned down to stroke a finger down the soft part of his cheek, at the edge of the thick growth of stubble that had sprouted during his leave from work. She loved the velvety feel of his skin under the pads of her finger, how it still felt so taut and youthful. James was just now on the upswing toward 40, after all, when Sarah had been there for almost two years already. He stirred, almost imperceptibly, at her touch, the very slightest moan escaping his still-closed lips.

  She loved the way his lips were outlined in the growth of his beard. They looked so plump and red, with just the slightest sheen of moisture. She couldn’t help but brush her own lips against them, painting them with a soft stroke that set off a chain reaction in her body. She felt her temperature rise, her arms prickle with goosebumps. He still did it for her after all this time.

  She didn’t want to wake him up, but she also didn’t want him to sleep in the recliner all night, only to wake up on Christmas morning with a sore back. After not sleeping with him the night before, she wanted so badly to lie next to him in their bed. Even if all he did when she helped maneuver him there was fall into another deep, trance-like sleep. At least she’d be able to curl her body up against his, letting his gentle breaths and steady heartbeat lull her into dreamland.

  She wasn’t expecting his eyes to flutter open so quickly, or a smile to lift the corners of his mouth once her lips left his. She began to pull away from him, but he grabbed her shirt and yanked her back down so she tumbled on top of him in the recliner. She fought to regain her balance, putting a knee on either side of his hips. He ran his fingers up the backs of her thighs but then frowned.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Clothes,” he said, tugging at the fabric.

  “What, you want me to take them off?”

  He gazed up at her with sleepy eyes as if to ask: what do you think?

  “Uh, what if someone comes down here?” she asked. It seemed like a pretty big gamble with their three kids plus Adam and Brandon asleep upstairs.

  “No one’s coming down here,” he answered. “Come on, baby, please?”

  She found it impossible to resist that pleading look radiating from his blue eyes when he wanted something he knew he shouldn’t ask for. She climbed off the chair so she could pull her cotton leggings down her thighs. She’d showered after their trip to the ER and had only bothered to put on the leggings and one of his oversized Army sweatshirts.

  She stood before her husband with her bare thighs sticking out of the baggy sweatshirt. “Tease,” he sighed as he reached to lower the footrest of the recliner, then he leaned forward, grabbing her to pull her toward him. “Oooh, you’re not wearing panties!” he noted happily, smoothing his palms across her bare ass cheeks.

  “Nor a bra,” she added, waggling her eyebrows.

  “Show me,” he dared her. She was never one to pass up a dare, and he knew it.

  She took a deep breath, then lifted the sweatshirt high above her head, discarding it on the floor as her full, natural breasts bounced back to her ribcage.

  “That was glorious!” he observed with a sly smile on his face and a lustful spark in his eye. “I think I need to see that bouncing motion again just to make sure.”

  She laughed. “You are too much, Lieutenant McAllister.”

  He unfastened his pants as he began to stand up, “Wanna see how much?”

  She held her breath as he worked his pajama bottoms down his thighs, his fully erect cock springing out toward her. “See what you do to me, Dr. McAllister?” he asked.

  Her lungs expelled all the air that was trapped inside them with a loud whooshing sound. All she could think about now was having her lips wrapped around his gorgeous, delectable cock. She dropped to her knees in front of him, eager to have a taste. As soon as her tongue made contact with his swollen crown, he moaned.

  “Wait,” he said, right before she engulfed his entire shaft down her throat.

  To say she was taken aback would be an understatement. How many men ask you to wait before devouring them whole? she wondered. She looked up at him with bewilderment in her dark eyes; his expression had turned from lustful to serious in a heartbeat.

  “I need to apologize to you, Sarah,” he said, reaching down to cup her face in his hands. Then he slowly lowered himself onto the carpet, taking care not to put any pressure on his sprained ankle.

  “Oh, honey, it’s – ”she began before he cut her off.

  “No, hear me out. Please?” he asked, piercing her dark eyes with his blue and taking her hands into his. “I had no right to get so angry at you this morning. I was angry with Charlie, and I didn’t appreciate the way he was so familiar with you so fast. And, to be honest, I was angry at myself for enjoying whatever the hell it was that Zora put me through the night before. The combination of the two just set me off; I don’t know why. But you didn’t do anything wrong. And Charlie turned out to be a pretty nice guy, so I’m sorry I was wrong about him too.”

  Sarah tried to hold back a sheepish grin. “Well – actually, you were right about Charlie, I’m afraid.”

  “Really?” His eyes darted between hers as he searched for the truth.

  “Yeah, he has a pretty big crush on me,” Sarah admitted. “But it’s okay. We talked it out.”

  James laughed. “Well, of course he has a pretty big crush on you. You’re pretty fucking amazing, darling.”

  She felt a smile well up from deep within her, along with a tiny tear of happiness that pricked at her eye. It had been a long day. She wasn’t sure twelve hours ago if they’d be celebrating a merry Christmas or not.

  “You know who else has a pretty big crush on you?” he asked, cupping her face again as he leaned in closer to her.

  “I feel pretty certain you’re about to tell me,” she began to giggle as his lips brushed against hers, stealing away her laugh before it could echo out into the room.

  Then there were no more words, because they were not needed. James gently lowered Sarah to the carpet so her head was just underneath the dazzling lightshow happening between the evergreen branches. When she breathed in, her senses filled with the pungent, clean odor of pine. Until James lowered himself on top of her, and then it mingled with his freshly-showered scent, a musky spicy one she knew and loved.

  While the colorful lights flashed in time to some silent Christmas carol, James made love to his wife, and she to him. Though neither of them considered themselves to be particularly religious, they did both believe in the spirit of the season. They believed in the eternal power of peace and love, the very same precious gifts they hoped to fill their home with – at Christmas and all through the year.

  THE END

  Did you enjoy James and Sarah’s story?

  Find out how they came to be in Mountains Wanted. See all the Mountains Trilogy books on my website at www.phoebe-alexander.com

  Author’s Note

  (and probably some acknowledgments too, cause that’s how I roll):

  Can I just tell you how amazing it was to wor
k with James and Sarah again? I just feel like I know them so well! Most of my readers know that the idea for James and Sarah’s saga came in the form of a silly conversation in a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint on July 7, 2012. I was challenged by my friend with benefits to capitalize on the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon by writing my own erotic romance novel. By the end of our dinner, we had outlined a vague plot. I don’t know if he realized at the time that the plot loosely reflected our own situation, but it did.

  For the longest time it was going to be just two books. I thought our relationship had an expiration date, and I just needed to get James and Sarah to their happily ever after so I could have some closure after my heart shattered into smithereens by this ridiculously smart and sexy cop I didn’t think I’d ever have to myself. But the very weekend I was typing “The End” in Mountains Climbed, he was breaking it off with his “Maggie” to be with me. I wrote Mountains Loved during our engagement and published it one week after our wedding.

  But James and Sarah kept talking to me. Of course they did, because they’re us. And, well, we made it. We’re still here and living our lives, which didn’t quite turn out like James and Sarah’s. We considered it, but we never went down the IVF road. And we haven’t ever gotten snowed in in the mountains, but if we did, it seems reasonable that things might go down kinda like they did in this novella.

  A lot of readers want to know what it’s like to be in the “lifestyle.” Though we don’t really participate any longer, I did spend a lot of time pretty firmly ensconced in it, enough to know that the way I’ve framed the situation is pretty accurate. It’s challenging to get four people to connect on the same level. It’s hard not to have some degree of weirdness or misguided feelings (haha I said “hard”). And it’s not uncommon to walk away thinking, “Huh, that was kinda fun…but those people are a little weird.”