[Holiday Encounters 01.0 - 03.0] Boxed Set

by Amy Lamont

I squirmed in his arms, but he didn’t loosen his hold. God this was mortifying, but I didn’t tear my eyes from his when I answered him.

  “I knew where to find you because I always know where to find you. I knew where you were stationed in Afghanistan and when you were stateside. I knew when you moved back to New Jersey after you got out of the Army. And I knew you were here because I don’t even have to pump Logan for information anymore. He usually fills me in before I even ask.”

  Holy shit. I couldn’t believe I just blurted all that out. I let my head fall forward until I could bury my overheated face in his shoulder. “This is mortifying.”

  His shoulders shook beneath my hands, and when he spoke, the laughter tinged his voice. “Babe, look at me.”

  “No.” I wiggled deeper into his arms. “I’m staying here until I die. And if I keep spilling my guts to you, that should happen in about two point two seconds when I drop dead of embarrassment.”

  His shoulders shook harder and now he couldn’t hold back the laughter. “Katie, look at me. Please.”

  That did the trick. I snatched my head off his shoulder so I could gawk up at him. “Did you just say please?”

  He chuckled and nodded. “But don’t expect me to admit to it in front of witnesses.”

  Huh, Hunter Lawson had a sense of humor. That was sort of a new idea to me. I’d heard him crack jokes with Logan over the years, but I’d never seen him like this with a grin on his lips and amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

  As I watched, though, the humor slid away. His smile slipped from his face and his eyes turned a deep dark chocolate. The intensity of his look pinned me to my spot. “The first time I noticed you as more than Logan’s little sister, I think you were about fourteen. Too young for me, but still. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Logan and I were in his car about to leave for school. You came running out of the house to catch him to give him a book he forgot. You were wearing black shorts and a little pink tank top and your legs looked like they went on for days. If your brother knew the thoughts going through my head, he would have pulled over and beat the piss out of me.”

  “But-but, you never…I mean—” I shook my head, at a complete loss.

  He tightened his hold, giving me a quick squeeze. “After that, I never looked at you without thinking about how long your legs were, how sweet you were to everyone, and the thousand reasons I needed to stay away from you.”

  “Why did you have to stay away from me?” I whispered.

  “To start with, you were my best friend’s little sister and I was too old for you. I didn’t let myself think too much beyond that. And it wasn’t long after that, you started giving me the silent treatment.”

  “Around the time I was fifteen?”

  He nodded.

  Once again I dropped my head forward to hide my face in his chest.

  “Hey.” He curved his hands over my shoulders and tried to pull me back, but stopped when I resisted. “What happened when you were fifteen?”

  I stood there, hiding, for a long minute. Before I moved back, I inhaled deeply, pulling him, his scent and warmth, into me. But I figured I’d revealed plenty. What’s one more embarrassing, mortifying, humiliating detail?

  “When I was fifteen, I started to have dreams about you.”

  His head tilted to the side. “You dreamed of me?”

  “Yes.” God. Was he going to make me go into detail and spell it out for him? “Dreams.”

  He stared at me, his expression blank and I could see when my words started to sink in. He blinked, once and then again. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “You mean you started having X-rated dreams about me?”

  Of course he’d have to spit it out there like that. I rolled my eyes.

  “Give me a break. I was only fifteen. They were more like PG-13. Maybe R-rated. But they were bad enough.” And I wasn’t about to tell him that the dreams hadn’t stopped then. Or about the fact that the ones I’d had more recently were much naughtier than the ones I had back then. “After I had one, I couldn’t be in the same room with you. I figured you’d be able to tell or something. I couldn’t even talk to you anymore.”

  I brought my hands down and pushed against his chest, attempting to put a little space between us. I needed breathing room. Maybe I needed to quit this honesty stuff and go back to being the goody two-shoes who kept her mouth shut.

  But he wouldn’t let me go.

  “Hunter, what’s going on here?”

  “I don’t know.” His face changed from tender and amused to something else entirely. “Maybe I’m wondering what would have happened if you admitted all this a long time ago.”

  His eyes got darker, more intense, and his jaw tightened. He held me even closer to his body, and I was suddenly very aware of every hard, well-defined inch of him.

  My body responded by shooting ripples of desire over my skin and through my belly. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and fought to keep my breathing steady.

  His eyes dipped down and fixed on my mouth. “Maybe we should find out now.”

  Before I could think, he lowered his head and took my mouth with his. And it was better than any dream I’d ever had. His lips slid against mine, demanding I open to him. I could do no more than comply, parting my lips to give him entrance.

  He wasted no time in slanting his mouth over mine and dipping his tongue inside, tasting and coaxing at once. I held onto him for dear life, lost in the sensation of his mouth taking complete ownership of mine. When he lifted his head, I gulped for air. I lifted my fingers to touch my tingling lips.

  “What was that?” I asked on a breathless whisper.

  Chapter 6

  A small, arrogant smile touched his lips. “That was a kiss.”

  He wasn’t wrong. That was a kiss. The kiss to end all kisses. It was the kiss I’d been waiting on for over half my life. And it did not disappoint. All it did was leave me aching for more. Much, much more.

  “Again,” I whispered and pushed up on my toes, lifting my mouth to his.

  “As you wish, princess.” He dipped his head to meet me halfway.

  But I stopped and rocked back on my heels, staring up at him. “Did you just quote the Princess Bride to me?”

  His only response was a wicked grin.

  He did. He just quoted my favorite movie to me, the one I watched about a thousand and two times as a teenager.

  So many emotions churned inside me, I couldn’t name them all. And I couldn’t hold back a moment longer. I threw my arms around his neck and all but jumped into his arms, planting my mouth firmly on his and demanding entrance by running my tongue along the seam of his lips.

  He opened to me, and I plunged my tongue inside, eager to touch and taste every inch of him. But before I had my fill, he took over.

  His hand moved to the back of my head, fingers tunneling into my hair. He pulled gently, tilting my head back even more as his mouth took mine with a ferocity that snatched the breath from my lungs.

  I clutched the t-shirt covering his muscular back, digging my fingers in. I didn’t know how much longer my legs would hold me.

  Hunter released my head and smoothed both hands down over my back and then lower. His hands ran over the cheeks of my ass, caressing and rubbing through my pants until I moaned into his mouth.

  The sound seemed to ignite something inside him. His kiss grew fiercer and his hands moved to cup my ass, pushing until I took the hint and hopped up to wrap my legs around his waist.

  He took a step backward, one arm sliding under my ass to steady me, the other moving to brace my back. His hand moved under my heavy hair, his thumb caressing the back of my neck making me shiver. Through this, his mouth never left mine.

  But now he tore it away. “I want to take you to bed, Katelyn.”

  “Okay,” I said, and moved to close the tiny distance between our mouths.

  But he shifted just enough to keep me from reigniting the kiss. He gave me a little shake. The movement caused an intens
e friction between my needy center and his hard length. My eyes drifted closed, my head dropped back and I whimpered.

  “Fuck,” he gritted out.

  His mouth hit my exposed throat. He left a trail of hot kisses, nips, and licks in a line up to my jaw. I tilted my head forward, eager to have his tongue plunder my mouth again.

  But he pulled back. I let loose a frustrated groan and clutched his shoulders. “Hunter, please.”

  “Shh, baby.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Look at me.”

  I wanted to scream, but I made an effort to meet his eyes.

  His dark eyes blazed back at me. His jaw was rigid. His expression held so much desire that something deep inside me throbbed in response. I wiggled even closer, craving more of the delicious friction and wishing there weren’t so many layers of clothing between us.

  Hunter grunted and his arms became steel around me, holding me firmly in place. “Stop.”

  “You don’t want me?”

  The thought was enough to cause a prickle of tears behind my eyes. I might die right here and now if he denied what was going on between us.

  His grip on my neck tightened, to the point just before pain. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a long, long time. But I need to know you’re ready for this. Do you really want to keep going, Katelyn? Do you want me?”

  I stared at him, stunned. His words and his expression undid me. He wanted me. He wanted me in the same wild way I wanted him. I could see it. But he stopped to make sure I was okay. That this is what I wanted.

  I slid my hands around to caress his jaw, reveling in the rough stubble against my palms. I called up courage from somewhere deep inside so I could hold his gaze as I gave him the assurance he needed.

  “Hunter,” I said in a voice so clogged with need, I almost didn’t recognize it as my own, “I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember. I want to keep going more than I want my next breath.”

  He stared at me for several long beats, his eyes drilling into mine. My heart clenched, gripped by a fear that he was about to back away from me.

  But I needn’t have worried.

  “Good.” That was the only word he spoke before his lips hit mine again and he walked us through the living room.

  My hands clutched his shoulders and delighted in having his mouth back on mine. I didn’t care where he was taking us, as long as I got to have his mouth, his hands and every other part of him on me.

  In seconds, I found myself being lowered onto my back, a soft mattress beneath me. Our lips broke apart and I grabbed for his shoulders, trying to keep every part of him connected to me.

  He chuckled and followed me down. “Sorry, babe, looks like Daryl already stripped the bed.”

  I blinked up at him, trying to make sense of what he was telling me. I turned my head to the side, and in the dim light streaming in from the living room, I made out the shapes of bedroom furniture. Hunter had carried me into the bedroom. Another glance told me the bed underneath us was stripped bare. No sheets or blankets were left behind. Just bare mattress.

  I turned my head and looked up on him. “I don’t care. I don’t need roses and candlelight. I just need you.”

  The second the words left my lips, he was on me.

  He kissed me, hard, pushing me down into the mattress with his weight. His tongue plunged right into my mouth, holding nothing back, demanding everything.

  My eyes drifted closed as I tilted my head, offering him even more of my mouth. My hands clutched at his waist, crumpling his shirt in my fists, as his tongue swept in and out of my mouth. The motion sent heat racing through my body, forming an aching ball of need in my belly and even lower.

  I fisted my hands harder in his shirt, and for a moment I was transported back to my dreams. We always came so close to the edge before I’d open my eyes and find myself back in my childhood bedroom clutching the curtains.

  My eyes flew open and I fought to free myself from his mouth as panic rushed through me. It was quickly replaced by relief when I saw Hunter’s face, hovering just inches above mine.

  He stretched his forearms on the mattress next to my shoulders, his hands reaching to cup my head. “What is it? Do you want to stop?”

  A lump formed in my throat at the tenderness in his gaze and his touch. I shook my head back and forth, and slid my hands from his sides up to cup his face again.

  “I dreamed about you.”

  He grinned. “You told me about that, babe.”

  I shook my head again. “No, not back then. Last night. And the night before that. And the night before that. Every night since New Year’s Eve.”

  “Okay.” He uttered the single word slowly, a furrow forming between his eyebrows. I reached up and smoothed a finger over it.

  I shifted my gaze from his and could feel my face getting hot. “I guess you could say they were a bit hotter than the PG-13 ones I had when I was fifteen.”

  The wicked grin that curved his lips made me roll my eyes, but I continued explaining my dream. “But just when things would really get good between us in my dreams, I’d be back in my old bedroom, holding onto the curtains.”

  He leaned down and pressed small kisses along my jaw and up to my ear. “Just how good did things get in these dreams, babe?”

  My breathing got heavier as his lips skimmed over my neck. “Things got good. But we never got to the best part.”

  I hummed low in my throat as his tongue traced a path along the neck of my black sweater. My hands skimmed through his hair and then slid down to his shoulders restlessly as he teased the skin just inches from my breast.

  “We need to do something about that.” His nose lightly nuzzled across my collarbone before he reached the spot where my shoulder and neck met. He stopped there and kissed and licked before nipping me.

  A sharp cry escaped me as I arched up against him. I was too lost in the feel of him to come up with a coherent response to his words.

  “Katelyn, were we in a bed like this in your dream?” He pressed a kiss at the corner of my mouth and he let go of my head so he could turn his hands and brace himself over me.

  “Hmm.” That was the best response I could manage as I lifted my head so I could kiss him. My teeth tugged on his bottom lip before I slid my mouth down to taste more of him, sliding my lips over his strong jaw.

  He shifted into a push up position over me, moving until we no longer touched anywhere.

  “Hunter,” I said, my voice close to a whine, “come back here.”

  But he dodged my attempts to capture his mouth again. “I want to hear more about these dreams.”

  I dropped my head back to the bed and pouted. “Do we have to keep talking?”

  He chuckled. “I just want to make sure I don’t disappoint you, princess. I want to live up to your dreams.”

  I smiled up at him, and he narrowed his eyes.

  “Take off your shirt,” I demanded.

  “What?”

  “Take. Off. Your shirt.” I slid my hands down, looking for the hem of his t-shirt. “In my dream, you take your shirt off.”

  In a swift movement he sat up, his knees in the mattress beside my hips, straddling me. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the collar of his shirt, tugging it over his head. Before I could catch my breath, his chest was bared to my gaze.

  I reached up and traced my fingers over his abs. The muscles there rippled in response to my light touch. I skated my hand up to his hard pectoral muscles, and measured the broad expanse of his shoulders.

  He caught my wandering hand and held it, palm flat, against his chest. When he spoke, his voice came out on a low rasp. “Are we in bed like this in your dream?”

  I glanced around me, so absorbed in my exploration of his gorgeous body, the body I’d dreamed about for years, I had all but forgotten where we were. “No, we never made it to the bed in my dream.”

  He arched a brow and before I knew what was happening, he pulled me up until we were standing next to the bed.
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  Our positions brought my dream flooding back to me. “We were just like this. In your bedroom, standing next to your bed.”

  He bent his knees slightly as he moved into me, so our faces were level. His dark eyes burned into me. “Did I touch you?”

  I wanted his hands on me more than I wanted pretty much anything. But, my head fogged with desire, I blurted out the truth without a thought. “No, you took my hand and brought it to my chest.” I looked up at him from underneath my lashes. “You made me strip for you.”

  “I’m beginning to like dream me. He’s full of good ideas.” He did exactly as I said, bringing my hand to the top button of my sweater. “Will you unbutton this for me?”

  I nodded, powerless to do anything but exactly what he asked. I released the tiny top button, and then moved lower to undo the next one. His eyes were riveted to my hand as I opened each button one at a time. I shivered under his stare. I could feel his gaze like a touch, each newly revealed strip of skin warming and tingling.

  When I reached the last button, his eyes rose to meet mine.

  “What happens next?” he asked.

  I kept my eyes glued to his and trailed my hand down between my breasts. With a quick flick of my fingers, my black, lacy bra was opened and sliding off my breasts.

  Hunter closed the distance between us, moving until he stood just an inch in front of me. If I breathed heavily, my nipples would brush his chest. Before I could tell him what happened next in my dreams, he brushed my hands aside and took the initiative.

  “I think I can take it from here,” he breathed against my ear as he hooked my sweater and bra straps with his thumbs and slid them off my shoulders.

  He slid the clothes down my arms, but unlike in my dreams, he didn’t pull them completely off. He skimmed them down to my forearms and wrists and then twisted so my hands were effectively tied behind my back, his hands around me, holding them there. The pressure caused my back to arch and my bare nipples brushed the light grazing of hair over his chest. A current zinged through me at the contact and a small sound escaped the back of my throat.

  Hunter twisted my top and bra a little tighter so he could hold onto them and my wrists in one hand. He kept my hands there while his other hand skimmed over my ribs and up to cup one of my breasts.