[Holiday Encounters 01.0 - 03.0] Boxed Set

by Amy Lamont

He leaned down and kissed me hard and fast. “Good girl.”

  His praise wove its way through me, and the feeling it gave me made my toes curl. The movement made me realize my feet didn’t touch the carpeted floor. I was truly at his mercy.

  He grabbed the wheeled desk chair and steered around to the side where my legs hung over. I tried to shift my chin toward my chest so I could see what he was doing, but he'd tied me with not much room to spare. I could only see him a tiny bit from my peripheral vision. The position was uncomfortable for my neck so I eased my head back down and waited. And waited.

  Something about the sense of expectation made me hyper aware of being naked and laid out in front of him.

  “Jared?” The word left me on a breathless moan.

  As if that had been all he was waiting for, I suddenly felt him. His hands landed on my thighs and moved them apart, holding them down to prevent me from moving them. His mouth came down right over my wet center, his tongue delving inside to taste me. I arched up off the desk as much as his hands and the sash would allow.

  “Oh, God, Jared.” The words were torn from me on a strangled breath.

  His only response was to pull his tongue back and plunge it again and again into my waiting heat, and to slide one of his hands down so he could thumb my clit.

  I yanked at the sash mindlessly as I writhed under his tongue. I wanted to drop my hands to his head, to hold him to me so there was no chance of him stopping.

  He pulled back a little, his tongue leaving me. I could feel his hot breath on my thighs and other parts of me.

  “Please, Jared.”

  He leaned back down and sucked my clit between his lips. He replaced his tongue with his fingers, using them to plunge even deeper, thrusting into me again and again.

  I came apart, my head thrashing on the desk, my body arching out of control, my toes curling. An explosive, mind-numbing orgasm ripped through me and my eyes snapped shut. White lights went off behind my eyelids.

  And in the middle of it, as wave after wave of pleasure rolled over me, Jared stopped working on my center and in seconds released himself from his pants, sheathed himself with a condom and entered me in a single, deep thrust.

  “Oh, God.” His rough entry into my already quivering core brought me right back to the edge. And while Jared rode me, pushing into me again and again, I found my release again, unintelligible words, whimpers and moans falling from my lips.

  He leaned over my body until his mouth was beside my ear. “That's it, baby, take all of me.”

  I rocked my hips up to meet his relentless pounding and before the last aftershock rolled through me, his entire body tensed, every muscle rigid as he found his own release. With a groan and a few more thrusts of his hips, he collapsed on top of me, his breath hot and heavy in my ear.

  God. Even that was enough to send tingles along my skin again, small shocks, echoes of what came before.

  He tucked his face into my hair and kissed my temple. “Holy shit, baby. We might be dead in a week.”

  His words startled a laugh from me.

  He leveraged himself over me and stared down into my face, his eyes roaming and studying each of my features. He brought a hand up and pushed my heavy hair back from my face in a gesture so tender, my laughter faded, a small lump forming in my throat.

  “You okay, baby?”

  I stared at him a long moment, reveling in the warm concern he let me see, before I nodded. “I’m good.”

  He grinned. “You’re good?”

  I offered him an answering grin and did my best to give a nonchalant shrug. No easy feat when my hands remained tied over my head. “Sure. That was…nice.”

  “Nice, huh? I think you can do better than nice.” He turned his head to look toward the clock on the bedside table. “But it looks like it’s time for me to head to the studio. Maybe I should just leave you tied here to think about whether or not you can come up with a better adjective than nice for what just happened here.”

  My eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Oh, baby, is that a challenge?”

  The amusement lighting his eyes let me know he was teasing, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Especially when I had visions of the housekeeper coming in and finding me here trussed up like a Christmas goose.

  “No, no. No challenges here. You’re right. It was better than nice.”

  “How much better?” he teased.

  “On a scale of biscuits and gravy to lasagna, I’d give that a chocolate mousse,” I said.

  He laughed and leaned down to snatch me into his arms again. As much as I enjoyed the feeling of his body shaking with laughter against mine, I was ready to have my hands back.

  I cleared my throat. “An appropriate reward might be, I don't know, releasing my hands." I gave my arms a meaningful tug and bugged my eyes at him.

  He stood up and came around to my side, reaching for the sash of the robe. His eyes roamed my body, starting at the top of my head and making stops at my lips, the tips of my breasts, my belly, and lower, before his gaze came back up to meet mine.

  “Damn, you're gorgeous.” His voice came out on a growl and he leaned over me and pressed a hard kiss to my lips. “Thank you for trusting me enough to let me tie you up.”

  As he spoke, he lifted his hand to my wrists and slowly worked the belt from around them. I stared up into his eyes, which remained intent on mine. Something did a slow, languorous somersault in my stomach at his words.

  I tried to tamp down my reaction. But I liked knowing he understood how much trust was involved in what we’d done. I wasn't a girl who gave up control easily.

  “You're welcome.” How I managed to get the words out through my suddenly dry throat was beyond me.

  He pressed one more, quick kiss on my lips and then stood, the robe belt falling from my hands at the same time.

  I sat up on the desk, but before I could wiggle off the surface, he'd retrieved my robe and brought it over to me. Instead of just handing it over, he put his hands on my hips to ease me off and then he held the robe open, folding me into it.

  I held the ends closed in front of me, but he moved to free the sash from the table rung and in moments had it wrapped around me and tied closed.

  “Thank you,” I whispered. I didn't know why I felt the need to whisper, except it felt like something happened between us in the last few minutes. Something about the way he acknowledged the trust I put in him caused a warm, glowy feeling to lodge somewhere near my heart. I most definitely wasn't ready to examine the feeling, but neither was I ready to break the spell we'd fallen under.

  He tucked a few wayward strands of hair behind my ear and put a hand on my belt to maneuver me closer to him.

  “I wish I didn't have to go to the studio.”

  His quiet words made me smile. And if I were being honest with myself, I'd have to admit I hoped it meant he felt whatever was going on between us, too.

  I raised my hands to rest them on his chest, bracing myself there so I could lean up and place a soft kiss against his jaw. I loved the scrape of his whiskers against my lips. “It's okay. We'll have lots of time together this week. By the end of it, you'll probably be more than ready to send me on my merry way.”

  I ignored the sharp twinge that idea caused, and tucked it into my mental file of emotions I wasn't going to examine. This week was going to be about fun and relaxing and getting my head on straight so I could go back to school and work with renewed purpose. Not so I could examine any growing feelings I might or might not have for Jared. That would be a futile proposition.

  Jared wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. “I still can't believe you agreed to come with us. I've never looked forward to going on the road this much.”

  I pressed my face into his chest, inhaling his warm, musky scent. “I should probably have my head examined. What kind of girl goes on tour with a rock band?”

  “Hey, I'll have you know lots of women would kill to be invited to g
o with us.”

  I laughed at his indignant tone.

  “I don't doubt it,” I said wryly. “But in case it escaped your notice, I'm not lots of women.”

  He pulled back just enough to look down at me, all traces of amusement and indignation gone. I fought the urge to hyperventilate at the intensity of his gaze.

  “Believe me, Paige, I know you're not like the rest of the women. It's why you're the only one I'd ever think of inviting along with us.”

  My heart flipped in my chest as my pulse sped up so fast it seemed I could feel the blood thrumming through my veins. Before I could formulate a response, he hugged me hard, pressed a kiss to my temple and then stepped away from me.

  “There's a key card here.” He pointed over to the top of the dresser. “You can hang out and wait for me or if you want to go get some clothes, you can come back whenever you want. I should be back in two or three hours.”

  I nodded, still trying to process his earlier words as he gave me instructions.

  He picked up his wallet and a few things from the top of the bedside table, snagged his black leather, soft-as-butter jacket, and then strode to me. He kissed me long and hard, stealing my breath.

  “That might hold me until I get back,” he said.

  And in seconds he was gone.

  I don't know how long I stood there after he left, motionless, my fingers pressed to my lips. It was only when my phone rang that I snapped out of my thoughts and the fog lifted a little.

  I ran to grab my phone when it was on the last ring. The display showed me it was Emma. Was I ready to talk to her?

  I sighed and sent the call to voicemail. I had some things I needed to do before I spoke to her.

  Chapter 7

  An hour later, I'd dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt I'd rummaged from Jared's stuff. Even pulled as tight as I could get them, the pants hung dangerously low on my hips and pooled over my feet. And the t-shirt all but swallowed me whole. But this outfit still beat my hospital scrubs by a mile. No way I'd put them back on my clean body.

  I sat in one of the black and white striped upholstered chairs in the living room, holding my phone and staring at it as if it held the answers to all the questions in the universe.

  No such luck. With a sigh, I swiped my thumb across the front. I navigated to my email app, and with my stomach churning, I emailed my instructors to let them know I had a family emergency that would keep me out of class for the next two days and that I'd return to classes the Monday after spring break. I decided to also call the secretary at the department in case they didn't get my emails right away.

  She was so nice about my need to take the days off, I started to feel guilty about my lie. As she wished me good luck with my family situation, I was relieved that I could hang up. Two more minutes of her sweet, solicitous attitude and I'd be blurting out my plans to spend the week with a rock band and begging her forgiveness.

  As soon as I hung up, I finally listened to Emma's message. It was just a quick check in. I hadn’t seen her or Katelyn or Jade in a couple of days. Fairly normal considering we all had crazy schedules.

  Since I hadn't shared with any of my best friends that I was seeing Jared, I wasn't looking forward to explaining my absence.

  I hated lying to my friends, and I couldn't explain, even to myself, my need to keep what was between us private. But for whatever reason, I felt protective of the time I spent with Jared, unwilling to share even a second of it.

  With a sigh, I dialed Emma's number.

  “Hey, I was about to send the troops out for you,” Emma said, skipping any of the customary greetings.

  I laughed. “Darn it, you mean I could have had a bunch of hot military guys showing up looking for me? I should have waited longer to call you back.”

  “Hmm, we’ll have to keep that idea in reserve.”

  I could hear her smile.

  “How are things? How's the writing? How's Nate?” I fired out the questions in rapid-fire, hoping to deflect any and all attention from me. Emma wrote a sex column and did a bunch of other freelance writing gigs. She'd also recently become involved in a hot and heavy relationship with a billionaire, emphasis on the hot. So that should be more than enough to keep the talk away from what I'd been up to.

  “Ugh, don't get me started. It's famine time for my writing. I had no queries out the last few weeks, so when I finished my last article a few days ago, I had no new work lined up. And Nate, he’s out of town and I haven't gotten so much as a text from him in two days.”

  Her voice softened when she first said Nate's name, but by the time she finished, I could easily hear the note of melancholy in her voice. “I'm sorry, Em. I'm not worried about you and work. You know you'll have more than enough to do once word gets out you have an opening.”

  And it was true. Emma's writing was in demand, and she never went long without someone looking to hire her. But I wasn’t sure how to reassure her about Nate. Not a happy feeling since I was the one who gave her the push into his arms in the first place.

  “Is that not normal for Nate?” I asked, trying to feel my way carefully into this conversation.

  “Well…”

  Something about her tone made me sit up straight. “Why do I feel like you’re leaving out a detail or two?”

  “Because we might have stayed up all night before he left for his trip doing unspeakable acts to each other and now he has tons of meetings and long flights and he may just be unconscious while he tries to catch up on sleep in the few moments he has free between all that stuff.”

  Her words came out in a tumbled, breathless rush, but I got the gist of it. I rolled my eyes. “So you’re saying you shagged him silly before you sent him off and now he’s probably busy and sleep deprived?”

  “Um, yes?” she responded sheepishly.

  “You have my deepest sympathy.” My voice dripped sarcasm. “That sounds like you have a real problem.”

  “Okay, so I might have been exaggerating a little when I made it sound like a real problem.” Emma paused for a few beats. “Honestly? I just hate when I can’t talk to him everyday.”

  “You guys are pretty serious, huh?”

  “One of us is,” Emma said, her voice tinged with sadness. “I just don’t know what he’s thinking.”

  “Have you asked him?”

  A sigh came over the line. “No. I don’t want to be that girl.”

  I knew exactly what Emma meant. She didn’t want to be the girl who clung too hard or expected too much or asked for a relationship status update way too soon.

  “You’ve been seeing him for over three months, though, Em. I don’t think it would be out of line to have a little bit of a discussion about your relationship. At least to ask whether he’s seeing other people.”

  It occurred to me as I handed out my advice that I’d been seeing Jared for exactly the same amount of time. I met him the same night Emma met Nate.

  Well, shit. I wasn't about to start a conversation with Jared about where our relationship was going or if he was seeing other people. A shudder rolled over me.

  No way, no how. Even the word relationship made me want to break out in hives. I could only imagine trying to juggle my career in medicine with Jared's career, which let’s face it, was more like a constant party than an actual job.

  “Hey, you still there?”

  Emma's voice broke me from my thoughts. I shook my head in an attempt to clear them away.

  “Sorry. My mind wandered there for a second.”

  “Are you sure everything's okay?” Emma asked in her softest, sweetest voice. Emma was a born caregiver. I could only imagine her reaction if I told her about Deanna. She'd be devastated—for me, for the little girl who lost her fight, for Deanna's family. Emma's heart was big enough for the whole world.

  I sucked in a deep breath. I wasn't ready to go there with Emma. I put up my mental shields and dug deep to pull out some happy.

  “I'm fine. Well, tired and totally sick of foo
d from the hospital cafeteria. But aside from that, fine.”

  “Okay, good. Well, I was calling to see if you wanted to join Jade and Katelyn and I for dinner. For once, we all seem to have a free night at the same time.”

  Ugh. I was so not ready to finish the inquisition. And even I had to roll my eyes at my own hypocrisy. Usually, I was the ringleader when it came to grilling my friends about what was going on in their lives. But I also wasn't going to pass up the chance to sneak into the apartment and get some clothes and stuff while they were all out.

  “What time are you guys going?”

  “About six thirty?”

  “Darn, I think I'm going to have to skip this time. I probably won't get away from the hospital until late tonight.” How was I going to explain my constant absence from home when I had no classes? “Actually, I'll probably stop home to get some extra stuff. I'm going to pick up as many extra shifts at the hospital as possible while I'm off from school. I may even pass out there between shifts.”

  I cringed at my own words. I hated sleeping in the on-call rooms at the hospital. First off, the doctors weren't too thrilled about sharing their space with a lowly orderly-slash- medical student. And the lack of privacy made my skin crawl. The idea of people wandering in and out of the room while I slept gave me the willies. And Emma, my best friend, the girl who shared a bedroom with me for a good chunk of our high school years and all of college, was well aware of my sleeping habits.

  I held my breath while she stayed quiet on the other end of the line for several long seconds.

  “Does this have something to do with the bet?” she finally asked, referring to the bet she'd challenged Jade, Katelyn, and I to in order to make us have the adventures of a lifetime.

  “No!”

  Crap. I said that too fast not to raise suspicions.

  “Why don't I believe you?”

  I winced. If I told them the truth, I probably had enough wild adventure going on to win the bet several times over. I was sleeping with a rock star, and I'd just made arrangements to play hooky from both work and school so I could travel with his band for a week.