by Anya Nowlan
He wasn’t entirely sure how he knew this, but he simply did. There was no other way.
“Whoa,” was the first thing she said as the elevator dinged up to Pran’s floor.
The whole floor was his room. He grinned impishly, motioning for her to step out and into his “modest” accommodations. Though there was only one bedroom, the suite itself was huge, with a full kitchen, a dining area, and a living room and two baths. It had panoramic windows overlooking Boston in all its late-night glory, shimmering in the darkness as the city was. That was where she went to first, the windows.
“What the hell do you do that you can afford a place like this?” she asked, looking transfixed at the skyline with her mouth slightly agape. “I’ve never seen Boston looking so… regal.”
“Logistics. Air cargo,” Pran commented nonchalantly, stepping up to her after grabbing an afghan blanket from the couch.
Gently, he took his jacket off her shoulders and draped the blanket there instead, letting his arms stretch around her for a moment that he would have loved to continue, but he let go as soon as she had a hold of the fluffy, warm ends of it. He didn’t miss the little glance she gave him though, that shy flick of the eyes which was all the more adorable considering how feisty he knew her to be.
Pran tossed his jacket on the couch, feeling the heat slowly return to his body as well.
“My family sort of has a deal with the hotel. We’ve had it for cent— I mean, we’ve had it for a while now. Whenever someone from the company’s in Boston, they stay here. I think we have shares or something,” he elaborated, shrugging as he went to turn on the coffee machine.
“Hell, I’d never leave if I had a view like this,” Kelly said, yawning softly at the end of her words.
It sounded cute. She was cute. Everything about her was cute.
“Can I offer you some coffee? Tea? You look cold. I don’t think you want to get sick right now,” Pran said, trying to will himself to not be entirely distracted by how much he wanted to scoop her up, carry her into the bedroom and snuggle her to sleep.
What the hell are you thinking? Snuggling?
Pran Frost was not a snuggling kind of guy. He was anything but, actually, and usually he was exactly the kind of man who’d be gone by breakfast to save both parties the awkward chat over bagels and coffee that had to end in cheek kisses and promises to call. But with Kelly? Hell, there’d be no awkwardness. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to leave her side, actually, regardless of how bumpy the first date or night went.
Is this a date? It sort of is, right? Am I fucking it up? I’m probably fucking it up a little. Buck me.
“Sure, coffee sounds good. Can I use your phone?” she asked, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes.
“It’s in the bedroom,” Pran said, pointing at the wide oak doors leading into the back of the suite.
When she walked in there, clutching the blanket, he heard another rather satisfying gasp when she realized that the bedroom continued the whole floor-to-ceiling windows thing and the bed was large enough to fit half a hockey team on. Well, half a hockey team where the guys weren’t the Shifter Grove Shovelers, but still, it was a big-ass bed.
“Holy hell!” she commented, poking her head out of the door. “This place is ridiculous.”
“I’ll pass on your compliments to the interior decorator,” Pran shot back with a chuckle before she closed the door and got to her calls.
The five minutes she was in there were torture. He decided to make her coffee and then changed his mind about five times over, finally settling on hot chocolate for the both of them. She needed her sleep and he didn’t want to rile her up with the caffeine. Plus, no member of the Frost family could go too long without decent hot chocolate, and no one knew how to make it quite as well as the Frosts. It was something they’d picked up from their uncle, Nick, who was an absolute addict of the stuff.
There are worse addictions to have, he thought mildly, watching Kelly approach as he popped some mini marshmallows in both of their cups and sprinkled some cinnamon on top.
“Did you reach your parents?” he asked, handing her one of the steaming mugs as she came to him.
“Just the machine. Makes sense, it’s like five in the morning. But I left a message to two of my brothers on the morning shift as well so they know what’s going on when they find the pub only half-cleaned,” she said, accepting the cup and taking a whiff, her face lighting up beautifully. “Is this real hot chocolate?” she asked.
“Do I look like the kind of buck who’d make you something out of a can?” he asked, cocking a brow. A second later, he decided quickly to expand on that. “Don’t answer that,” he said, catching her exactly when she was about to open her mouth, a little sly grin on her lips. “Yes, it’s real hot chocolate, and I’ll bet you that you won’t have had any better anywhere, period.”
“Oh, is that so?” she questioned as he led the both of them to the large white leather couch that took up half the living room space.
“Yup. What do you want to bet?” he asked, sensing a challenge.
“Um, I don’t know. If I’ve had better hot chocolate you’ll… have to tell me what you were actually doing at the pub so late?” she asked dubiously, glancing from the very inviting hot chocolate back to Pran as they sat down.
“Hmm. Okay. I can play that game. And if you haven’t had better hot chocolate, you’re going to spend the night here.”
“Hey, I’m n—”
“Wait a second! I wasn’t finished!” he said, cutting through her objections. “You’ll take the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch. You know I wouldn’t let you drive across town in the dead of night alone, so actually, you’re doing both of us a favor by staying here where I can be sure you won’t freeze to death or get attacked by some quasi-Irish mob or whatever. I’ll walk you back to the pub tomorrow morning, okay?”
She looked at him, pursing her lips, and the desire to kiss her was overwhelming. But he held firm, not only in spirit, as he had to put some serious effort into not getting a raging hard-on just by looking at her, until she nodded with a sigh and a smile.
That’s more like it.
“Fine, you’ve got a bet.”
“Great! Drink up,” Pran said triumphantly, taking a solid sip of his hot chocolate.
She drank as well and a wide grin snaked over his lips as he watched her eyes roll back a little in pleasure and then go wide as she looked at him, completely shocked that he hadn’t been full of crap when he’d made the deal.
“Holy hell. You’re right. This is amazing. What did you put in here?” she asked, taking another hurried sip and making one of those semi-orgasmic sounds that every man loves hearing, though maybe not in reference to his hot chocolate.
“It’s a little Frost family secret. Maybe I’ll teach you one day,” he said secretively, chuckling.
“You could make a fortune selling this stuff. I’d never drink anything else if I could.”
“Well, you find yourself in the right company for that, then,” Pran offered with a wink.
“Is that so?” she asked, though another stifled yawn ate up the last word a bit.
“Yup, sure is. But this means I’ve won and you, little lady, need to march into that bedroom and sleep, all right? I hear you have another few thousand drunken assholes—I mean customers—to serve tomorrow. I promise I’ll make you more hot chocolate in the morning.”
“Are you sure?” Kelly asked, obviously referring to the whole sleeping-over part more than the hot chocolate bit of it. “I don’t want to impose. I can sleep on the couch. I don’t want to kick you out of your bed,” she said, biting her lower lip in the most maddening way.
What he wouldn’t have done to be able to glide his thumb across that plump lip of hers and then claim her mouth as his. He was willing to bet that she tasted better than anything he had ever had, too.
“I’m positive. I’m adamant about this, actually. There’s nothing you can do to change my mind,” he sa
id with a flourish, finishing up his drink and setting the empty mug on the table.
She was done a moment after him and as he stood up, he reached over and took her hand in his as he led her back into the bedroom, like it was the most normal thing in the world. The silly thing was, it sort of felt like it was. It felt… right. And any cold he might have still been feeling was completely wiped away just by the touch of her hand.
Pran found her one of his T-shirts to sleep in, figuring that she would look far hotter in it than he ever could, and after too many protests he finally got her to stay in the room and consider sleeping. His keen sense of hearing told him that she was out like a light by the time he could take the mugs to the dishwasher and find himself another pillow and blanket from a closet.
When Pran lay down to sleep as well, his mind was completely filled with images of the sexy Irish girl in the next room, sleeping on his bed, and how much better everything would be if he just had her in his arms.
Yup. I’m definitely in a lot of trouble, he thought with a smile before falling asleep.
CHAPTER SIX
Kelly
Kelly had never slept so well in her life.
When she woke up in the morning, the sun was high in the sky and the sometimes so treacherously cloudy Boston skyline looked positively radiant. It helped that she was above most of the buildings and the fact that she was looking down at most of the city only then really dawned on her. It was gorgeous, simply put.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she stumbled into the bathroom, finding the toothbrush that Pran had given her where she’d left it last night. She brushed her teeth quickly and washed her eyes, pulling a hand through her messy plume of red hair as she gave herself a quick once-over. Not too bad for the day after St Patrick’s, considering that she usually managed to look something like death warmed over after one of those hard nights. Somehow, she wanted to look as cute as possible for the dreamy werebuck in the next room.
You’re being stupid, she chided herself, but still, when she left the lavish marble-tiled bathroom, there was a spring in her step.
She stepped out of the bedroom only to find a shirtless Pran whistling some sort of Christmas tune, wearing only a pair of gray sweats that looked absolutely divine on him as the fabric clung to his sculpted ass.
He was making what looked like pancakes. “Don’t tell me you cook,” she groaned, sneaking up by his side and stealing one of the small round cakes.
“Hey! You’ll ruin your appetite,” he said, giving her a stern but playful look, waggling his brows as he swung the spatula he used to flip the pancakes in her general direction. “Besides, those taste way better with honey and jam. Trust me.”
“Another Frost family recipe?” she asked, nibbling at the pancake and pushing the button on the coffee machine to fill up a cup, which had already been placed beneath the spout.
She was sure he’d put it there for her. Because that was just the kind of guy he was. Enragedly adorable.
“Nope, this one is all me,” he said, not without a hint of pride. “And you’re just in time too.”
He turned off the gas and grabbed the big platter of pancakes, placing it in the middle of the table, where fresh fruit and juice and eggs and bacon were already waiting. It looked like enough food to feed an army. Yet, by looking at Pran’s completely mouthwatering body, she sort of got the feeling that this might have constituted a light breakfast for him.
“You’ve been busy! You could have woken me up, I could have helped,” she said, grabbing her coffee cup and Pran’s as he’d left it on the counter before moving to the table.
“And ruin your sleep? Never,” he scoffed, pulling out a chair for her.
Of course he did.
“So a buck and a gentleman. What else are you hiding?” she asked with a chuckle, plopping down on the seat.
“You mean aside from these abs?” he asked, pointing at his perfectly chiseled six-pack. “Oh, I don’t know. Charisma, great sense of humor, shocking bravery in the face of adversity, that kind of stuff,” he said, slipping into a seat as well.
“And so modest, too,” Kelly laughed, scooping a few eggs and a few strips of bacon on her plate as Pran poured her some orange juice.
It was difficult looking anywhere but at him, though. Damn near impossible, really. What was more problematic was that the difficulty seemed to be shared, as Pran spent far more time looking at her than he did on focusing on his plate or the food stacked on it, though his hand seemed to be oblivious to this as he kept piling on more.
“Think you have enough there?” she asked, pointing at the plate which was close to losing its high-stacked tower of eggs and bacon any second now.
“Shit,” he commented dryly, turning his attention back on the food. “I guess you’re really distracting.”
He said it so simply. Like it was the most normal thing to say over breakfast. That she was distracting. She could feel the blush light up not only her cheeks, but the tips of her ears as well. Kelly was sure she must have been splotchy as hell now. His grin seemed to grow only wider from that, and when her eyes glanced down along his strong, muscular arms and the wide expanse of his chest, the glint of amusement turned into real, raw lust.
It was like a switch had been turned on in him and suddenly, all she could see in his eyes was desire, though she could now recognize that he’d really done a pretty shoddy job of hiding it before. She had to imagine she hadn’t been much better.
“So, you’re going to have to excuse me here, but I think I’m going to kiss you. If you have any objections, you better voice them now,” Pran said conversationally, dropping his utensils and pushing his chair back from the table.
Kelly watched him with her mouth falling open again, her brain and body in complete agreement for once. No objections.
Her hands were reaching for him before he was out of the seat and as soon as he came to her, leaning down, her fingers coiled into his hair and pulled him close in one maddening, endless kiss that was nowhere near enough. His mouth tasted like coffee and pancakes, sweet and a tiny bit bitter and just right and she moaned into the kiss like she’d been thinking of nothing else but sharing one with him since she laid eyes on him.
Come to think of it, it might not have been too far from the truth.
His arms swept around her and he plucked her from her seat. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked her over to the couch, dropping back to sit on it without breaking their kiss. She gasped as they fell down on the plush leather, her straddling him, feeling his massive erection against her pussy and poking into her stomach. Those sweats really weren’t hiding much.
“Unless you stop now, I won’t be able to control myself,” he said, his voice a low, heady growl that shuddered through Kelly like a lightning bolt.
“I don’t want to stop,” she said breathlessly, kissing him again with ravenous hunger.
Pran was stunning, simply put. Her tongue darted out of her mouth to wet her lips as she pulled back a moment later to look at him, his body toned to perfection. Her staring must have been very obvious to him since he flexed with a grin on his delicious lips, letting her see the powerful muscles play beneath his skin, and the strength his body contained. Not that she hadn’t seen it already.
“Fuck, you’re hot,” Pran murmured, cutting through her thoughts like a knife.
His lips found hers, forcing his way into her mouth as soon as she opened her lips to him again. Pran’s hands roamed her body, groping her roughly, mapping every contour of her curves with that grumbling growl purring at the back of his throat.
She moaned into the kiss as he pressed and rubbed his cock against her. His entire body was tense, coiled in expectation. She wasn’t much better off, her pussy so wet she doubted she needed any foreplay other than a few more kisses before she absolutely had to have him.
“I want you,” he whispered into her ear, kissing and biting her neck as he peeled off her shirt.
She wasn’t wearing a b
ra underneath and he groaned when he cupped her breasts in his wide palms, filling his hands. He kissed her chest and nuzzled her soft alabaster skin, making her arch her back and press her hands against his wide shoulders, loving the way he felt so hard all over.
“Fuck me,” she pleaded, feeling him chuckle against her neck as he moved upward with his kisses. “Now,” she urged him.
He didn’t need to be told twice. With a wicked snarl, he moved her so he could rip off her panties and then pushed down his sweatpants. The head of his cock rubbed against her pussy now, wetting it, brushing against her clit in a way that made her double over, push against him. She dragged her nails over his shoulders, moaning at the feeling and welcoming the teasing as she writhed against him.
“I want you so fucking bad,” he growled, making her smile.
His voice was so low when he was filled with passion, it almost vibrated when he spoke against her skin. It sent wild, intense shivers down her spine, making her arch against him shamelessly. His cock was huge and thick as it rubbed against her, throbbing against her pussy.
She looked him in the eye, her hands pulling him even closer. He groaned at the motion, one hand holding her against him, the other having snaked into her wild, messy hair.
“I want you. Fuck me.”
Pran’s eyes clouded over in pleasure. She barely had time to lean back a bit to support her hands on his thighs when he pushed in. A sob escaped her lips, relieved by the contact and desperate for more. It felt so good, so utterly, blindingly good as he pushed into her, slowly filling her.
Pran caught the cry from her lips with his mouth when he thrust in further, giving her time to adjust. Kelly moaned into the kiss, her nails scraping lines on his thighs as she kept her hips up, sinking down on him slowly as she felt every inch stretching her wider. He breathed heavily, his breath warm and sweet on her skin.
“You’re so tight,” Pran choked out, his teeth gritted.
