A Christmas Seduction

by Daire St. Denis

  “No. I—”

  “Liar.”

  That shut him up for all of two seconds, and then a change came over him. His face went blank. Gone were the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes, which she loved, and instead his face looked like it was carved out of stone. No expression; thin lips. He looked dangerous. And sexy as hell.

  “I know that Gloria told you to stay away today.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. “She did,” he admitted gruffly.

  “She called you a man whore, you know.”

  “A what?”

  “I know.” Jolie moved her other leg inside, leaning against the door frame so Thad wouldn’t be able to shut it on her. “But here’s the thing I don’t get. She asked you to stay away from me right from the beginning, didn’t she?”

  “Maybe.”

  Jolie inched inside a little farther. “And you never listened before. Why today?”

  “C’mon, Jolie. You know why.”

  She shook her head. “No. I don’t. Explain it to me.”

  “This isn’t real.” He indicated the space between them. “And I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Particularly not at this time of year.”

  Jolie threw her mittened hands in the air. “You, too?”

  “Me, too, what?”

  “What is it about me that seems to say I am incapable of having a casual no-strings-attached affair?”

  Thad gave his head a half shake. For the first time since she’d met him, he had nothing to say.

  “Do I have a billboard across my forehead or something? ‘Jolie Duval, looking for Mr. Right to settle down with and have babies. All single men beware!’ Is that it?”

  When Thad just stared at her, blinking, she poked her mitten at his chest. “Tell me.”

  “You want the truth?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s way too long for a billboard.”

  She scowled at him. “This isn’t a joke.”

  “Okay, here’s the truth.” He grabbed her hand and held it tight. “I’ve known plenty of women in my day. I know the type that can have no-strings sex.” He placed her hand on her own chest. “You are not one of them, sweetheart. Oh, you think you know what this is.” He indicated the space between them again. “But when push comes to shove and it’s time to say goodbye...” Thad paused as his gaze dropped to her mouth.

  “You don’t think I can say goodbye?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Leaning close, she said, “You want to know what I think?”

  The angle of his head said no. But he replied, “Go on.”

  “I think you’re afraid of getting attached.”

  Thad made a face.

  “I know it’s going to end when I leave, but it’s you who’s making a big deal about it, not me.”

  “Jolie, listen—”

  “No, you listen. If you don’t want to continue, that’s one thing. But don’t avoid me. Don’t make me feel like a fool. Be man enough to—”

  She didn’t get to finish.

  Thad yanked her inside. He slammed the door with his foot and pressed Jolie up against it once it was closed.

  “Be man enough to what?” he said through clenched teeth as he pinned her against the solid door.

  Jolie gazed into his stormy blue eyes. “To say it, to my face.” She bit down on her lower lip.

  Thad grabbed her chin and ran his thumb roughly over the surface of her lip. “Don’t do that.” His voice was low and menacing.

  “Do what?” She touched his thumb with the tip of her tongue.

  He groaned before crushing her lips with his. Not one bit of that kiss was gentle and Jolie loved it. She loved it more when he prodded her mouth open with an insistent tongue, and when he released her arms to unzip her jacket and tug it from her shoulders. That gave her freedom to drop her mittens and tear off her cap, leaving her hair wild and free.

  It was like she’d run a race, she was so out of breath, particularly when Thad reached down between them, past the hem of her sweater, and slid his hand up the inside of her thigh, cupping her through the thick tights she wore.

  “Lord, you are hot down here.” He squeezed and Jolie wriggled against his hand. “A regular furnace.” He gripped her, tights and all, causing Jolie to throw her head back and suck in air. “You look so sweet, but then...” His hand twisted between her legs and Jolie dug her fingernails into Thad’s shoulders, crying out with pleasure.

  “There’s a fire brewing inside of you, isn’t there?” He eased up on the hold and slid his hand under her sweater, pushing her bra up so he could squeeze her flesh.

  “Thad,” she moaned.

  He abraded his stubble deliciously against her cheek before kissing her again while grinding his pelvis against hers. Holding on to his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around his waist, needing to open to him, needing to feel him as close as their clothes would allow.

  “I’m glad we understand one another.” His body ground exquisitely against hers.

  “Just a fling,” she panted against his cheek.

  His fingers threaded through her hair and he tugged her head back. “A holiday fling.” He kissed her neck, though it was more like licking and biting.

  She blindly fumbled with the buttons on his shirt. Desperate. The man made her frantic in her desperation. Her blood ran in a frenzy through her veins, her hands shaking with the mad need to undress him. Quickly.

  Now!

  While her legs were still wrapped around his waist and her fingers fiddled with his buttons, Thad carried her, with long, sturdy strides, through the sitting area into his bedroom. No time for lights. Together they landed on his bed, rolling and grappling, tearing one moment at each other’s clothes, the next minute at their own. Thad took the time to pull a condom out of his nightstand and roll it on so that when they came together in the dark they were skin to skin. He moved on top of her, parting her thighs with his, kissing her soundly, his mouth hot and wet with the same need that drove her to wrap her bare legs around his waist again.

  This was what she’d been craving.

  This was the gift she’d wanted from him. A connection. A physical, primal connection to another human being. And that’s what she got. Every inch of Thad’s muscled body felt right as he moved over her. Every inch of his breathtaking cock made her feel whole, as he moved inside of her. Every kiss, every bite, every scratch from his beard felt exactly like the thing she needed.

  “I’ve never...” she began, wanting to explain that she’d never felt so close to anyone before. But she stopped herself, realizing that was exactly the kind of sentiment that Thad would see as a warning that she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye.

  * * *

  “I’VE NEVER...” SHE didn’t finish what she was going to say, thank God. Though he wanted to finish the statement for her.

  He had never acted this way with a woman before. Never been unable to control himself like this. One innocent—or not-so-innocent—nibble on her lip and he was undone.

  The need to be with Jolie was so overpowering it defied reason and logic. And it made him do stupid shit.

  But if she was adamant that she knew what this was, well, hell, he was powerless to stop her when she set out to seduce him. Didn’t want to stop her.

  No, Thad wanted to keep going and going, making love to her morning, noon and night. For as long as it lasted.

  He propped her knees up, opening her wider, and leaned all of
his weight onto her as he increased his pace, feeling wild with lust and need. Those gentle hands of hers gripped his shoulders with a strength he hadn’t known she possessed, biting into his flesh in a heavenly way. The only thing he’d change right now was to be able to see her. He loved watching her face as she came. Loved how her large doe eyes glazed over with passion. Loved how her cheeks flushed and her gorgeous mouth parted, swollen from his kisses.

  The image of her was so clear in his brain, however, that it was like he could see her hair spread across the pillow, her breath hitching, her beautiful breasts flush with his chest.

  Thad grabbed her hip bones, the need mounting, coming from the backs of his knees and shooting up his legs and into his cock. It came with such force that he knew she could feel it, knew it from the gasp she made as his orgasm hit hard and fierce.

  “Thad!” She grabbed his ass and held him there, trembling beneath him. That’s when he realized her body was pulsing and vibrating around his.

  Coordinated orgasm? No way. It was too good to be true. This woman was too good to be true.

  Rolling over with Jolie in his arms, not wanting to let her go, Thad realized one very important thing.

  Jolie had been right. It wasn’t her he should be worried about. It was him.

  He was the one who was fucked.

  * * *

  JOLIE SAT IN the lodge of Mystic Mountain Ski Resort, her laptop open on the table in front of her. She was drinking a big mug of hot chocolate with tasty peppermint schnapps and a dollop of whipped cream on top, pretending to work.

  Except the whipped cream was distracting.

  It made her think of Thad. Not that she’d ever seen him eat whipped cream, but she’d like to, preferably with him licking it off parts of her body. She squirmed in her seat, letting the lingering sensations from this morning settle over her.

  Thad letting her sleep in while he left at some god-awful hour to do chores.

  Then...slipping back into bed, freshly showered after chores, waking her up gently.

  Being roused in the most scrumptious way possible, with kisses, licks, caresses...a hard male body sliding over hers...into hers.

  She shut her eyes to enjoy the memory.

  It took a family of four clambering around the table beside her to pull her dirty mind from her lustful thoughts. She needed to get some work done, which was why she was here at the ski hill and not back at the ranch, lounging in bed with the sexiest man she’d ever met. She was on assignment and Jolie had to remind herself of that.

  So she’d nearly broken her neck this morning, taking ski lessons with a bunch of four-year-olds. She’d vowed to try new things on this trip and she was proud of herself for doing it. But once the lessons were over, Jolie had beelined for the lodge, claiming she needed to work, while the rest of the party skied. She plugged her phone into her computer and uploaded the pictures from the day into the file folder for the Travel America article. Once the new images had transferred, she scrolled through all of her pictures, all three hundred seventy-five of them.

  That was weird.

  She surfed through them again.

  How was it possible to take three hundred seventy-five pictures of the ranch and area and not get a single one of Thad? Well, when she got back to the ranch, that was the first thing she’d do. Get a whole bunch of pictures of him. She had no doubt he’d be photogenic, with those striking blue eyes and rugged good looks—the Marlboro Man, a billboard for the ranch. She’d have to get him to sign the waiver, of course, but an image of Thad would be as enticing as any of the other photos of the ranch. Maybe more for the female audience.

  Something hot twisted in Jolie’s gut at the thought of other women ogling him online. Maybe she should keep the pictures of him for her own purposes.

  Using the free Wi-Fi in the lodge, Jolie typed Thaddeus Knight into a search engine and hit Return. Why hadn’t she thought to do a search on him before?

  Because you’ve been too busy having sex with him.

  True, but it was never too late to look him up and ogle him online. Stalk him. See which sites he frequented. Learn a little more about the enigmatic Louisiana ranch hand.

  Jo browsed the results of the search: there were links to Facebook pages, LinkedIn, Google images, articles... Plenty of people called Thaddeus Knight, but not her Thaddeus.

  She added the term Louisiana and came up with more hits, but none were of Thad. She tried Montana and Half Moon Creek, but there was nothing there either. The man had no online presence whatsoever. Of course, he lived a simple life as a ranch hand; obviously he was one of the few remaining people who hadn’t bought into the world of social media. And why would he?

  Still...

  Tapping her fingers against the tabletop, she figured getting pictures of him was now dire because she would absolutely need something to remember him by and clearly keeping in touch via social media was out of the question.

  The hot mess in her gut twisted some more. With a hand to her temple, she chided herself. She still had a week to enjoy Thad’s company. She’d worry about leaving later. For now, she needed to get to work on her actual assignment so that when she got back to the ranch she could work on the stuff she did for fun. Writing about Thad in her journal or, better yet, making love to Thad for real.

  13

  A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a thousand pictures is excessive.

  Jo Duval

  IT WAS RARE FOR Thad to fall asleep with a woman. If he did, it never happened twice. But here he was, for the third night in a row. One minute Jolie was giving him a recap of all the firsts from the trip: petting a canine, dogsledding, snowshoeing, cutting down a Christmas tree, opening a stocking, downhill skiing...the list went on and on. The next minute he was waking up at 5:00 a.m., his internal clock telling him it was time to get up for chores. Slowly and carefully, he eased his arm out from under her, trying not to rouse her.

  Unfortunately, or fortunately—Thad couldn’t quite decide—Jolie did rouse, and she sounded sexy as hell, making faint little sounds as she snuggled warmly against him.

  “Where you going?” Her voice was so soft and sweet he grew hard just because it reminded him of other soft, incredibly sweet parts of her.

  “Work.”

  “Oh.” She sighed and fit herself right back into his arms.

  Lord, all he wanted was to kiss her into wakefulness and make love to her all over again. But he needed to get up. He extricated himself and sat up on the edge of the bed.

  One of her lovely hands snaked beneath the covers, finding his bare thigh and questing up higher. Thad was already sporting a morning woody, and her delicate hand only made the situation worse.

  Or better.

  “Don’t do that, baby.”

  “Why?” she asked sleepily, stroking him. “This part of you seems to like it.”

  “More than likes it. But a man can’t shirk his duties.”

  “You can’t?”

  “No, baby. I can’t.”

  Her hand went slack around him. Dammit. With regret, he eased it off him and stood. “You go back to sleep. I’ll be done in a couple of hours.”

  “Mmkay.”

  He leaned down to kiss her forehead and Thad was pretty sure she was asleep already. He dressed quickly, putting on the clothes from last night—the cattle didn’t mind—and thinking once he was done, he’d shower and slide into bed, just like he had yesterday morning, and finish wh
at they’d started.

  Thank God the woman was leaving in less than a week because this was becoming dangerous.

  Dangerously addictive.

  * * *

  JOLIE COULDN’T GO back to sleep after Thad left for chores. Her mind decided it wanted to replay the last few days over and over again. Skating on the pond and doing some simple jumps. Okay, so she was showing off. So what? Having another wonderful dinner in the big house, playing games. Then, when everyone else opted for a hot tub, she chose a hot shower...with Thad...in his bunkhouse.

  She’d done things in the shower with Thad that she’d never tried before. Wonderful, naughty, sexy things.

  Things she wanted to do again.

  Now that the air had been cleared between them, everything was easy. Fun. Exciting. She’d been staying in the bunkhouse the last few nights because it was more private and cozy. Plus, it made it easier for him to get up and go to work, and he didn’t have to sneak out in the middle of the night.

  God, she could get used to this.

  She rolled over in bed and checked the time on her phone. Six in the morning. Throwing off the covers, she stepped out into the cool morning air and found the overnight bag she’d remembered to bring with her this time. Staying here was less trouble for him but there was nothing like showing up at the lodge looking like hell warmed over. Or rather, like she’d been having monkey sex, which was the case.

  Setting hairbrush and toothbrush aside for later use, she found her journal tucked into a side pocket. Because she’d been so busy skiing and Googling Thad and having fun and making love, she’d neglected to write in it yesterday, and she planned to make up for that, right now. Pictures of Thad were one thing, but her musings and stories would be an even better way to stay connected to him once she left. She reread the first few pages and was rewarded by a tightening of the rib cage.

  It was going to be hard to leave. Worse would be the weeks that would follow.

  Okay. So she’d lied her face off. Jolie Duval was not a fling kind of girl, no matter what she tried to tell Thad, or Gloria, or...herself. But it was too late to back out now. She was just going to enjoy it and deal with the pain after.