A Christmas Spark: An Enemies to Lover's Christmas Romance (A Pride and Pranks Romance)

by Cindy Steel

  Glancing over, he gave me a charming grin. “I’m cold.”

  All thoughts fled as he entered my space. I was helpless to stop him. My heartbeat trumpeted in my ears. The movie forgotten. Had there ever been any other thoughts in my head before now? This was Chase Riley. How could I let this happen? It wasn’t supposed to be Chase, but I only had thoughts of him. He had moved past my defensive barrier, and before I realized what had happened, the enemy had invaded. The blanket was protecting my space. Protecting me. Protecting my hands from being held, my body from being touched, and my heart from being broken. Attraction was one thing—a relationship was another. I had just let him in, and my stupid body was reacting to him—just like I was afraid of.

  I shifted toward him, when I should have moved away. When our hands brushed across each other under the blanket, I didn’t pull back. When his fingers reached out to grab my hand, I let him.

  For a long while, he held my hand under the warm blanket. He stroked my palm and played with the rings on my fingers—and it felt amazing. For my part, the fuss and resistance I had initially felt to offer, dissipated like the smoke in the warm fire blazing before us. My head found its way to his shoulder and after a moment, he released my hand and put his arm around me. I curled into his warm body, my head on his chest, and my fingers splayed across his shirt.

  The plight of George Bailey was long forgotten as I closed my eyes and relished the embrace.

  I awoke sometime into the night. My neck felt stiff as I tried to get my barring. This was the third time in two days I had fallen asleep on Chase. Either he was extremely boring or extremely comfortable. Unfortunately, my heart knew exactly which answer it was. The fire had cooled to embers, the glow of the TV the only light in the room. Underneath my head, Chase’s chest rose and fell in a deep rhythm, clearly asleep. There was something so cozy—so lovely about falling asleep with someone. As much as I wanted to stay in this embrace and fall back asleep, the two cups of hot chocolate had taken its toll.

  As gently as I could manage, I uncurled myself from his arms and removed my hand from his grasp on his chest. I left his side and padded toward the bathroom, shivering at my loss of body heat. I used the restroom, brushed my teeth, and splashed a bit of water on my face before opening the door, pausing in the hallway. It was so tempting to go back to the couch and snuggle back into Chase’s embrace, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Nothing good would come of that. Falling asleep innocently was one thing, putting myself back out there on purpose was something else entirely. Just as I turned to go into my room, a movement in the dark caught my eye.

  Chase was walking towards me, his steady eyes on mine as he moved closer, the sliver of light from the bathroom illuminating our shadows. At his soft, panther-like approach, my instinct had me taking a step backward, bumping into the wall.

  He stopped a breath away from me, the heat from his body warming mine, though we weren’t yet touching. When I shyly lifted my face toward his, soft brown eyes met mine. He lifted a hand and brushed a piece of hair behind my ear, his fingers leaving a trail of heat across my skin. My breath hitched. And then he reached for me. One of his hands found my cheek, while the other wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him. My arms found their way home on his shoulders, while my hands found his hair. Then his lips were on mine—softly at first. He pulled back to look at me.

  Finding no discouragement from me, he kissed me again. This time, the shy meeting of our lips had passed, deepening to something heated. His mouth moved intensely against mine—darting, clinging, tasting. He pressed me closer. His mouth left mine as he trailed tiny kisses across my jaw before returning to taste my lips again. As for me, I clung to him—my fingers in his hair—and desperately wished for the kisses to never end.

  Twice he pulled back, as if to stop, but a glance at me and our resistance would crumble all over again. He gently pushed me back against the wall with his body. His lips took advantage of my gasp, while his hands held my neck and caressed my face, moving my head to whatever angle would satisfy. Finally, he stepped back, holding me against the wall with one hand as he moved his body away from me.

  “You need to stay over there, if you don’t want me to pull you in over here.” He motioned to his doorway and I bit back a smile, even as I flushed, grateful for the dark hallway.

  Nearly out of breath, I walked backward toward my room, smiling at him the whole time. “Goodnight, Chase.”

  His eyes were soft and his voice, a bit huskier than before, said, “goodnight, Penny.”

  I stopped. Oh, he had said my name before, but never like that. Chills raced down my spine and my stomach tied into knots. The good kind of knots.

  The very good kind.

  “Hold on,” I whispered, as I walked back to him, fast and sure. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down to reach his willing lips. Passion ignited like a flaming arrow between us. His arms banded around my waist as he lifted me up off the ground. Our lips clung and parted together in wild fury for minutes, hours, seconds… I had no idea of the time. When our fire finally slowed to something sweet and tender, I pulled my lips from his, while my feet found solid ground once more.

  His eyebrows rose as he kissed me across the lips once more. “Remind me to call you Penny from here on out.”

  I smiled up at him while he tucked my hair behind my ear. “That’s a dangerous game to play.”

  I pulled out of his embrace and walked backward toward my room, laughing as his grip on my hand tightened and refused to let go of mine. He trailed along after me, but before he could enter my room, I tugged my hand from his grasp.

  “Goodnight, Chase!”

  He grinned roguishly and stepped back, but as I turned around and entered my room, I felt a light smack on my butt.

  I turned around in shock, but he only laughed and said, “if you only knew how long I wanted to do that. ‘Night, Blister.”

  I closed the door, a smile permanently emblazoned across my face.

  While sleep was still a very long time coming, my dreams were filled with sweetness.

  Chapter 10

  Oh, the clarity a morning brings.

  When the dawn of a new day chips away at the cozy darkness that came before, perhaps the coziest I’d ever been…Those kisses… My hand rose up to touch my fiery cheeks, just thinking about those kisses with Chase.

  I laid in my bed, my door securely locked, though I wasn’t sure if I locked it to keep Chase out, or me in. As far as I could hear, the living room was quiet, meaning Chase still slept. I sighed and fluffed my pillow before laying my head back on it again, drawing the covers more tightly around me for warmth.

  The name Chase Riley didn’t hold much disdain anymore. Now, when I said or thought his name, my heart spiked in rhythm and all I could picture were his hands cupping my face, and the look in his eyes before he kissed me.

  Stop.

  Those eyes though. The hands.

  STOP IT.

  I drew in a deep breath and tried to clear my head with some quick Zen breathing tricks. The problem was, I didn’t know what kissing Chase meant. In high school, he fell into more of the player category. Granted, it was high school, and he was on the football team. He had been popular and good looking, so it wasn’t hard to imagine he’d never be shy of dates. But it had been ten years since then. He may have changed, or he may be the same Chase Riley he had always been.

  I was alone with him at a remote cabin. The only interesting, hot-blooded thing around, besides the bears and coyotes, and possibly Bigfoot. I’d be a fool not to consider that I may just be a plaything for him during his vacation. I thought I couldn’t stand him before I came to the cabin, and then six days later, I found myself all over him like a bear to honey.

  Is that all he was to me? A plaything?

  I thought about the way my body responded to him as we kissed—heck, every time we touched. Attraction wasn’t my issue with Chase. In high school, I hated him so badly, but I would eagerly await Friday n
ights for the football gang to come to the house for poker. Was it the group of friends that had me applying that extra coat of mascara? Or him?

  What about Chase’s confession that he liked me in high school? Was that a line? A confession to put me in a better position to gain my trust for a kiss? Why did thrills erupt through my body at his confession? Had I always liked Chase, deep down? Or was I trying to compensate, to make him like me after the dog comment. Had I secretly tried to make him change his mind about me in high school? We were always arguing and debating, ribbing and bashing, but hadn’t I been the one to start most of the fights. Was it his attention I had been after?

  She looks like my dog, but not as hot.

  The words broke through my thoughts and I struggled to remember the feelings they usually invoke inside me, and for the first time, I came up short. The words seemed almost dead to me now. I wasn’t a dog. I didn’t feel like a dog, especially the way Chase looked at me last night. Maybe those words could finally be put to rest. They’d been proven wrong.

  Or had they?

  What would happen tomorrow, when he packs up to go home? When our lives separate beyond the cabin? Was all of this just some sort of emotional stress relief between two people locked away together?

  I checked my phone for the time and nearly gasped. Ten in the morning. I pulled back the covers and rolled myself out of bed. I had never slept in this long, and didn’t want to seem like I was hiding out. Especially since that was exactly what I was doing. Was he?

  I put my hand on the doorknob, determined to put my roaring feelings aside. When Chase told me our kisses were all in fun, or a mistake—I would agree and shake it off. I would be Taylor bloody Swift. We still had a whole day together, and I really wanted to make it as awkward-free as possible. I took several ragged breaths, trying to calm my hyperventilating heart. Why didn’t I know what I wanted? Or how I felt? How could I go from a semi-successful woman, to a scared, confused, teenager in less than one week? Frustrated with my thoughts, I opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

  The house was quiet. Chase’s door was closed. I breathed a sigh of relief, until I realized he was probably hiding in there too, not wanting to face what we did. Not wanting to face me. I crept into the bathroom. I used the facilities and brushed my teeth. The forgotten mascara of the night before showed in the dark bags beneath my eyes. My lips looked puffy and swollen, the only physical trace of the previous night’s sweetness. Well, that and my hair, mused into something akin to a rat’s nest, piled high on my head.

  My head was no clearer by the time I had washed my face, applied a fresh coat of mascara, and tamed my hair. I opened the door and walked out into the hallway, immediately noticing Chase’s door ajar. He was awake. With deep breaths, a pounding heart, and wearing Chase’s oversized sweatpants and a sweatshirt, I trudged closer to the kitchen. I stopped when I saw him. He was leaning against the small kitchen counter, dressed in his basketball shorts and his flannel button down shirt. His hair was rumpled, and he had his arms folded, peering at nothing, as if deep in thought. He must have sensed my presence and his eyes shifted to mine.

  All of a sudden, I knew.

  I knew exactly what I wanted. And who I wanted. And very likely, who I had always wanted.

  He pushed away from the counter and walked toward me. I forced myself to stand still, though my heart spiked. When he reached me, he clutched my face in both hands and kissed me. His lips were soft and warm against mine. The hands that cupped my face were gentle. My heart sang as my surprise wore off, and I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed close to him. A few long moments later, we came up for air.

  “Hi,” I said, smiling shyly at him.

  He pressed his forehead to mine. “Hey, Blister.”

  When I opened my mouth to take him to task over his pet name, he kissed me before any words formed, wrapping his arms around me and pressing me close. A moment later, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what I was going to tell him. By the time he pulled away, Blister seemed the most romantic endearment to ever grace the earth.

  He smiled at me, his eyebrows raised suspiciously. “You weren’t hiding back there, were you?”

  I scoffed, “Who, me? Of course not. I’m not scared of… anything out here.”

  Grabbing my hand, he tugged me toward the couch where he sat down, pulling me onto his lap, my legs dangling over his thighs. I sighed as his arms came around me, cradling me against his chest.

  “Listen Pen, I’ve got to say something,” he began, his voice rumbling in my ear. And if you think my heart didn’t skyrocket at his shortening of my name, you’d be wrong. “About the dog comment… I honestly don’t remember saying it, and I don’t know if that makes it better or worse—probably worse. I made you into some sort of fourteen-year-old punchline to impress an idiot, and I wouldn’t put it past me back then to do something like that, but I just want you to know, I always liked you. Even back then. I don’t think I ever had romantic thoughts about anything but football in the eighth grade, but I remember you in Mr. Thomas’s class. I thought you were cool. And obviously, when I got to know you better in high school, I thought you were more than cool. But I’m really sorry that I put you through all that.”

  His hand stroked my arm as I thought on his words for a moment. I had already made peace with everything, but I appreciated his thoughts. His effort to make something right. The genuine distraught in his tone as he did so. “Thanks Chase. And I’m really okay.” I smiled up at him, placing my hand on his chest. “I’m very okay actually, but I appreciate you saying that.”

  He nodded, his eyes flashing with something sexy and drew me closer, before I pulled away again to add, “to be fair, I think I got you back in high school.”

  He laughed. “Actually, that was probably my favorite part.”

  “Really? I was so horrible to you.”

  Brushing a hair back from my face, he added, “I don’t think you were as mean as you remember. All the insults just made you that much more enticing. Combine that with your hostile, overprotective twin brother and I thought about you all week long. Friday night was my favorite night of the week.”

  I smiled into his chest, my face ablaze. “Mine too.”

  And then we were kissing again. All warm and cozy. Seriously though, were his fingers laced with fire? Everywhere he touched left a trail of heat in its wake. So much fire. Too much fire. Chase didn’t seem to have the same inhibitions as me. This relationship was new. So new. I guess I could call it a relationship, though we hadn’t really given it a definition. Actually, we hadn’t talked much at all, since last night. The last thing I wanted to do was too much too soon and ruin everything. Which meant I had to be extra vigilant with us alone together in the cabin. My breath hitched as he pulled his lips from mine, leaving tiny kisses along my jaw before finding my lips again.

  Okay, maybe just another minute or two.

  After a few more moments full of complete bliss, I forced myself to pull away from those dang lips. “Do you want to go cut down a Christmas Tree?”

  He blinked back at me, as though confused as to why I had pulled away, his eyes still hazy with… desire? I felt my face redden at the thought. A moment later he breathed out a laugh of disbelief, biting his lower lip with his teeth. “How did you know? That is exactly what I wanted to do this very second.”

  I hid my face in his chest again, trying to hide my embarrassed smile, when he cupped my face, tipping my chin up to look at him. He kissed me again, briefly, before he said with a knowing smile, “that’s probably a good idea.”

  After spotting an ax and old tree stand in the dusty garage, we geared up and spent the rest of the afternoon hunting down the perfect Christmas tree. We held hands, threw snowballs, and made snow angels. At one point, I jumped on his back and he carried me while I nipped at his ear with my teeth. We acted like teenagers. Giving all the signs of complete infatuation. Except, when Chase looked at me, there seemed to be more than just admir
ation in his gaze. Something much deeper, and sweeter shone through when he looked at me. Something that made my heart race and my body tremble. Something that had me thinking about tomorrow.

  Our expiration date was stamped on our foreheads. Tomorrow he would leave. He would go back to Eugene to be with his family and then, after that, his life was in Boise. And my life, well I guess technically as a writer it could be anywhere, but it had only been a week. That’s crazy, right?

  I made it three hours until I couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. The not knowing. And really, surviving all the kisses and accidental pinches and nudges while we fixed dinner, put the lights on the tree, popped popcorn, and decided on a movie, all the while feeling like I was going to blow a gasket, felt like quite the accomplishment. We were cuddled under a blanket, sitting on the couch, the movie credits beginning to roll, when I could stand it no longer.

  “What happens with us after tomorrow?”

  Chase coughed, jolting forward on the couch. He had just tossed a handful of popcorn in his mouth. I had impeccable timing. I grinned sheepishly at him while I banged on his back and handed him a glass of water from the coffee table.

  After approximately seventeen hours later, he could speak again. He paused the movie, leaned back on the couch, his head resting on the headrest, and shifted his eyes toward me.

  “That depends. Are we done messing around?”

  I held myself still, my lungs waiting for me to give the signal to breath.

  “What do you mean?” My defenses prickled. Was this all messing around to him?

  He sat up on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees, as he turned toward me. “You’re it for me. Even after all this time, I still want what I wanted in High School. I’m not messing around here. I want us to be together. And I’m pretty damn sure I love you.”

  I sat in stunned silence for a moment, and then, ever so slowly, a smile crept across my face, growing bigger and bigger as his words hit home. Was it really going to be this easy? No more games? He seemed to be waiting for some sort of answer, but with his expectant brown eyes peering intently into mine, a bit of shyness overcame me, and I tried hiding my face with my hand.