It was ridiculous how turned on she could get just from seeing bits and pieces of his body. It hadn’t always been like that. Okay, it had been like that a good portion of the time, but being pregnant, she was ten times more likely to jump him just because he bent over to put on a shoe.
“But what did I find instead?” Russell continued, drawing her attention away from his chest and back to what he was saying. “An absentee wife. A wife who was instructed not to leave because of the snowstorm coming.”
“I left a note and I made it here just fine.”
“I asked you not to leave. I would have driven you over later tonight if the snow let up.”
“No, you told me, told.” She made sure she emphasized the offensive word. “And I left in plenty of time. It was barely snowing when I arrived here.”
“That’s not the point, Tamara.”
“No, it kind of is. You’re not the boss of me, Russell Crichton.” It had been their biggest argument since she’d told him of her pregnancy. It seemed for every inch she grew he became just a tad bit more overly protective. He was taking the supportive husband thing way too far and driving her insane in the process.
“No, you’ve made that extremely clear again and again, but there’s something you’ve forgotten.”
“The capitals of all fifty states?”
His lips twitched like she’d hoped they might, but he stayed strong and pressed on. “No, you forgot that although I might not be able to boss you around, I have squatters rights on this.” He placed his hand on her belly and the baby responded with a sound “Hi, Daddy” kick. “I get you want to be Little Miss Independent. Which is fine. I didn’t marry a doormat, and I don’t expect you to turn into one, but, Tamara, it’s not just about you anymore.”
“I know that,” she grumbled, hating like hell when he used logic against her. That was what she got though, for marrying a former lawyer.
“Then why did you come?”
“Because I’m lonely. It’s Christmas Eve and I need to be with my family.” She knew it sounded pathetic and sad, but damn it, that was how she was feeling.
“Hey.” Russell took her left hand in his and ran his thumb over the ring that bound them by law and love. “I’m family.”
Tamara could hear it in the background. The sounds of the ice around her heart unthawing. She let out a sad sigh and squeezed his hand. “And you’re out there doing what you have to do to support us. I know this and I love you for it. But, Russell, if I had to sit one more second in that house alone, unable to work because of the baby, I was going to go insane. I needed some girl time. I needed some Candace time. I needed some space.”
He looked hurt by the last statement. “Are you saying I’m not giving you space?”
She frowned and crossed her arms over her ample breasts. “I’m saying that I noticed that you activated the tracking device in my phone.”
He tossed his hands up as if to say, So what? “That was just in case something happened and I had to find you.”
“Tracking. Device.” No matter how he tried to explain it she was pissed. She wasn’t a car that needed to be LoJacked.
“Safety,” he countered.
“Smothering,” she yelled back, angry he couldn’t understand her side on this.
“You’re acting like I’m trying to throw you down a well with a dog named Precious and a bottle of lotion.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“I’m not that bad,” Russell insisted.
“Tracking. Device,” she said the words soft and slow, but very distinctly.
“It would have been necessary if the storm had kicked up to the level it’s at now while you were on the road. You want to be free and I just want to know you’re safe.”
“You know what I want. My chips. You brought them, didn’t you?” Tamara knew Russell loved her and that’s why he did the things he did. He was just going to have to accept she was going to do certain things to thwart him. And then they both needed to let it go. No one was going to come out the winner in this fight, so she might as well get her eat on.
“Yes, but you aren’t getting them until you admit you shouldn’t have left like you did.”
Tamara opened her mouth to argue the point then slammed it shut. She wanted chips more than she wanted to be right. “Fine, now gimme.”
“That didn’t count.”
She furrowed her brow. “It’s the best you’re getting.”
“Is it? Because I could have sworn cheddar and sour cream are Candace’s favorite chips as well.”
“Oh you play dirty.” She frowned. “Fine. I, Tamara Crichton, used faulty reasoning when I escaped.”
“Tamara…”
“Left my prison.” She substituted in a sing-song voice.
Russell growled menacingly. “Tamara!”
“Home, left home, and I won’t do it again.” When it’s about to snow, she added silently.
“Thank you.”
“Until next time.”
“You little brat.” Russell swept her up in his arms, causing her to gasp and grab on to him as he lowered her back down to the bed. As soon as her head hit the mattress, his lips covered hers. Even though it had only been a few hours since they were last together, it felt like years. Tamara wondered if she would ever get over the way he made her feel with just a touch, but she didn’t want to. Kissing Russell was like coming home. She was so completely his and she wanted him to know it, even if she might not ever be able to say it with words, so she put all her love and desire for him into the embrace and put everything she was and everything he’d help her become into it. Russell responded happily, deepening the kiss for a few seconds more before breaking away from her mouth and moving his lips down her jaw to her slender neck. He licked at the pulse pounding underneath her skin then nuzzled his way up her neck to her ear. “You know if you weren’t pregnant, I would have spanked your bottom by now.”
Tamara shivered in anticipation. Was that supposed to be a threat? “Why do you think I waited to show my ass until I was pregnant.”
“Good point.” Russell grasped a handful of her bountiful bottom and gave a good squeeze. “Speaking of ass.”
“Russell…’tis the night before Christmas. What would Santa say?”
Russell rolled her over on top of him. “Have a seat on my lap, little girl, and tell Santa want you want.”
“That’s so dirty.” She laughed, pushing herself up so she was putting no undue weight on her belly.
“And your point is…”
“Not a damn thing.” But now that she was sitting up, another blatant point was being made. She climbed off his lap. “I’m going to make a quick stop in the ladies’ room then I’m going to come back and tell you all about the really big list I want to give Santa.”
“And Santa has a really big present he wants to give you.”
Tamara’s lips twitched with mischief. “Not sure I should get it. I’ve been a little naughty.”
“Wouldn’t you know it, that’s just the type Santa likes.”
When Tamara disappeared into the bathroom, Russell undressed down to his boxers then called over to their ranch to check in with the foreman. His spread was growing but still wasn’t as large as Ty’s was yet, which meant he had more to lose if things took a turn for the worse tonight, but he was going to stay positive and put faith in the men he hired, the barn he had built and the higher power he believed in. After giving the other man some last-minute instructions, Russell hung up, feeling a little bit better than he had before the call.
Russell was trying to learn to be more Zen about things. If something was going to go wrong, it would happen whether he was at the ranch or not. But that only extended to his feelings about the ranch. For some reason he couldn’t be that blasé when it came to Tamara. He honestly didn’t think he could survive without her, which drove him to sometimes act a little irrational when it came to her, but he’d rather her be alive and pissed off at him than dead or hurt
somewhere he couldn’t reach her. It was something he was going to have to work on…but not tonight. It was Christmas Eve. The petty stuff could be worked out after the holidays when there was less mistletoe and hopefully less mischief about.
“Santa baby…” Tamara singing softly drew his attention over to the bathroom door where she was standing in the doorway, one hand on her hip and one on the frame above her head. She had on a Santa’s hat and a red baby doll nightdress that had black fur around the trim and the low-cut neckline. “Just slip a sable under the tree for me.”
Blown away, Russell placed his hand on his heart. “Wow! Now this was worth driving through a snowstorm for.”
“Such a sweet talker.” Tamara laughed and came all the way in the room. She walked over to him and lightly pushed him down on the bed, so he was sitting and she was standing in front of him. She took the hat off her head and tossed it carelessly behind her. “And if I would have come out in a ratty robe, with my hair in my head scarf, while scratching my ass, what would you have said then?”
Russell didn’t miss a beat. “Now this was worth driving through a snowstorm for.”
Tamara rolled her eyes. “You’re such a liar.”
“Don’t you know?” Russell asked with all sincerity.
“Know what?” she asked with a slight puzzled look on her pretty face.
Russell made sure to hold her gaze so she could read the truth in his eyes for herself. “That you are the most beautiful woman in the world to me.”
“I thought that was Janet Jackson,” she teased.
“Janet is fine but… She isn’t carrying my baby.”
“That bitch better not be.”
“Oh, I love it when you get jealous of people I’ll never meet or ever have a chance with in real life.”
“I don’t like to share. Not even with random dream girls.”
“You are my dream girl.”
“If you’re trying to talk your way into my panties, you can stop. I’m not wearing any.”
“Who’s the sweet talker now?” The delightful scent of cocoa butter wafted up to him the closer she came. Russell inhaled deeply then let out a contented sigh. “Damn you smell good.”
“You’re just easy to please.”
“Remember that next time you say I’m overbearing.”
She stared at him blankly. “I remember nothing.”
“That’s what I thought.” Russell laughed. “So, if you were coming over here to escape me, who did you pack this little number for?”
“Ty.”
Russell froze. “Excuse me?”
Laughing, she slapped him lightly on his shoulder. “You, silly.”
“Oh, so you just knew I was going to come chasing after you?”
“I plead the fifth.”
“I bet you do.” Russell reached out and fingered the straps of her gown. The top of the lace slip dress was doing very little to contain her breasts. Tamara was a busty girl before, pregnancy only enhanced parts of her already impressively curvy body, making Russell one very lucky man. Her breasts especially drew his gaze in that outfit. His mouth watered at the thought of taking her nipples into his mouth. “I love this dress but it looks like it’s cutting into your shoulders.”
“It is a bit.”
”I thought so.” Russell slid the straps off her shoulders and pulled them down so her breasts popped out obscenely over the black fur. He licked his lips at the sight. “Better.”
“For whom?” Tamara teased.
Russell was too enthralled by her sexy breasts to reply. God he loved her body. Especially “the twins” as he jokingly called them. The heavy mounds were tipped with the darkest nipples he’d ever had the pleasure of kissing, and to both their delights the pregnancy had turned the dark beauties into the most sensitive part of her body next to her clit. The right amount of pressure could make her come just from nipple stimulation alone.
“Don’t even think it.”
It took effort to force his gaze up to her face. “Think what?”
“About making me come just yet.”
Russell took her nipples between his fingers and squeezed them tightly. “Isn’t that the entire point?”
Tamara gasped and leaned into him. “It’s so the point but I…I…”
“You what…” Russell lowered his head and took one of her nipples in his mouth. He suckled it, getting the dark peak hard before releasing it to blow cool air across it.
Tamara buried her hand in his hair and forced his head forward again, lining him up to pay the other nipple the same amount of attention. “Want you inside me first.”
Not one to leave a woman wanting, Russell laved and teased the other nipple as he had the first before pulling back. “We have all night. We can do many things. In many positions. In many holes.”
“The rest of the night can worry about itself. I want you inside me now.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have put this on. It’s giving me all kinds of naughty ideas.”
“Not that you needed them.”
“Not that I did.” Russell slid his large callused hands beneath the nighty and around to the soft curve of her ample bottom. He squeezed the thick flesh between his fingers before moving it back and delivering a sharp smack to her bottom.
“Hey!”
“You deserve that one and you know it.”
Tamara pouted. “No fair leaving the other cheek unattended, too.”
“I could not agree more.” He followed up his words with another light hand pop but this time on the other cheek before rubbing his stingy palm all over her behind. They might play around with a little slap and tickle here and there, but he would rather cut off his own arm before he hurt her. “You’re such a tease.”
“I don’t tease you. Anything you want from me. I’d give it to you.”
“Well, right now I want you out of this thing.”
“Don’t you love it?”
“Oh, I do. I’m just willing to bet I’ll love it even more on the floor.” He took hold of the bottom portion of the dress and gave it a couple of tugs, pulling it down past her stomach and to the floor. He glanced from his nude wife to the puddle of material on the floor then back at Tamara and grinned. “Right again.”
Tamara placed her hands on her hips and let out a fake sigh. “You just love me for my body.”
“That I do.” Unable to help himself, Russell leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on her belly. Any other time he would have spent time talking to their unborn child, but right now, he needed to attend to his wife. “Climb on the bed, baby, and let me show you how much I love it.”
Laughing, she did as he requested, but instead of lying down, she remained sitting. “I’m having a little hard time breathing on my back.”
“For what I have in mind you don’t have to lie down…just open your legs.”
“I love the way you think.”
Russell grabbed the pillows from the top of the bed and pushed them down behind her so she could lean back on them but not be horizontal. “Comfy?”
“Very.”
“Good,” Russell climbed on the bed between her splayed legs and let out a happy sigh. “I’m home.”
“Home, sweet ho—” Her words cut off the second his fingers parted the damp curls covering her nether lips and his tongue touched her clit.
He didn’t wait around for her to finish her sentence or come up with a new one. He was too busy feasting between her thighs. There were many things he loved doing for and to Tamara, going down on her was at the top of his list. Her taste and aroma drove him wild, as did the arousing noises she made whenever he did something she liked, and he always made it a point of doing something she liked.
“Russell…God…yes…” Her cries urged him on as did the hand she planted firmly at the back of his head to keep in him place. For someone who said she didn’t want to come until he was inside her, Tamara was doing a very good impersonation of someone who was about to come.
Beca
use he was a jerk, he pushed against her hand, moving his mouth away from her ever so delectable pussy, but kept his fingers moving in and out of her wet, tight hole. “Still want to wait?” He gently blew across her clit after asking just to watch her quiver.
“Stop playing,” she said as she shoved his face back against her.
“Thought so,” he muttered before taking her clit between his lips and suckling as he pressed his fingers a little deeper inside to find her G-spot. It only took a few seconds of rubbing the sensitive section with his fingers to send her soaring. Her orgasm damn near bucked him off her, but he held on to her until she came down from her high.
When she released her hold on his hair, he looked up and licked his lips, enjoying the sweet, lingering taste that remained. She looked beautiful but done, so done, but it was just the beginning. “Roll over. Ass in the air.”
Tamara moaned and reached out to him for help. Laughing, he sat back on his heels and helped her get into position. He moved her closer to the edge of the bed then got down on the floor so he could stand.
When she was finally in place and comfortable, Tamara looked back at him and narrowed her gaze. “If anyone asks, moving over like this did not take fifty years and I looked extremely sexy while I was getting into position, like something out of a James Deen porn…not something from a show at Sea World.”
Russell ran his gaze over her, stroking his hard cock all the while. “All I see is porn, baby.”
“Good,” she said, turning back around.
“It’s about to be great.” Russell moved in. It was time to put them both out of their misery.
Stepping up to her, he ran his hand over her bottom, then worked his hand down between her legs, pausing to caress her wet pussy. Aroused and beyond ready, he parted her nether lips then centered his cock at her entrance. Even though he was primed for a wild ride, Russell eased into her slowly, letting her body adjust to his girth. Despite the fact this pregnancy had acted like an aphrodisiac to Tamara, Russell didn’t rush things. She might be ready, she might be wet, but he also knew she was tender at times and he wouldn’t risk injuring her just because he was too randy to make it good for her.
Mischief and Mistletoe Page 3
