Holiday Encounters Books 1-3 Omnibus

by Amy Lamont

  “So you’re saying, the pranks had nothing to do with my dad being a dick to you? You heard him yelling at me and decided you needed to…what, defend me?”

  The heat in my face intensified until I felt like my head might blow off my shoulders. But I offered the most nonchalant shrug I could muster up. “I guess.”

  “You guess.” He grinned and with just the shifting of his weight, he closed the space between us until he was pressed against me. “All this time I figured you thought I was a piece of shit. But you watched me on my bike and noticed how happy it made me. You defended me when my dad got out of hand. Why? Why did you do that, Katelyn, when you never spoke two words to me?”

  The breath left my lungs and my heartbeat picked up until I worried I might pass out. Heat moved through my body, starting at all the points where his body touched mine.

  He leaned down, bending his knees a little until we were on eye level. “Katelyn, tell me.”

  His low whisper so close to my ear sent shivers through me. Goosebumps rose on my skin. I stared into his eyes. I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. Why was Hunter holding me? My heart had too many years of hiding to hold out hope he might have some feelings for me.

  “Tell me,” he said. His voice was a whisper but that didn’t mean it wasn’t also commanding.

  I stared up at him and tried to read the emotions swirling in his eyes. His hands moved to slide up and down my arms. The move seemed like it should be soothing, but instead it sent tingles of warmth through my whole body. It triggered the feelings elicited by the dreams I’d been having, and desire curled through my belly.

  I placed my hands on his chest and it hit me. The question that I asked myself in my office this morning shot through my mind.

  God, had it only been hours ago I’d been sitting in my office? Standing in Hunter’s arms, his body pressed to mine, it felt like several lifetimes ago.

  But the question remained. What was I waiting for?

  I curled my fingers into his t-shirt. I took a moment to enjoy the feel of his hard pectoral muscles beneath my fingers and pulled in a calming breath. I needed to do this now or I’d never find the courage to do it.

  “Hunter.” I didn’t even recognize the throaty whisper that escaped me. “You have to know how I felt about you…”

  He slid his arms around me, trapping my hands between our bodies. “I thought you hated me, but now you’re telling me you stood up to my dad for me. You were happy when I was happy. I’m beginning to think I don’t have a clue about how you felt about me.”

  There was something in his eyes—hope and affection and something else I couldn’t put a name to. I couldn’t let him think for even another minute that I thought of him like the loser his father always called him.

  I scraped my teeth over my bottom lip and gathered my courage before I finally told him the truth. All of it. “I couldn’t speak two words to you because I got completely nervous and tongue-tied whenever I got within more than ten feet of you. I was sweet as pie to all our neighbors because it didn’t really matter to me if they just saw me as the nice girl that lived across the street. I saw how you felt about being able to ride off on your bike because I spent a lot of time watching you from my window. And I got so angry when your dad called you names and told you you’d never amount to anything because I saw the truth. I never doubted for a second you could do anything you put your mind to.”

  His arms tightened around me to the point it was almost painful. I slid my hands up over his shoulders until I had my arms around his neck.

  Oh my God. My breathing all but stopped and I kept my eyes glued to Hunter’s. His expression was fierce in a way I never saw him look before. “You’re telling me how you used to feel about me?”

  I nodded.

  “We haven’t seen each other for years, Katelyn. How do you feel about me now?”

  I couldn’t have stopped the words from pouring out if I tried. “Every time Logan calls home, the first thing I ask about after he tells me he’s healthy and whole is you.”

  “So you knew where to find me because…?”

  I squirmed in his arms, but he didn’t loosen his hold. God this was mortifying, but I didn’t tear my eyes from his when I answered him.

  “I knew where to find you because I always know where to find you. I knew where you were stationed in Afghanistan and when you were stateside. I knew when you moved back to New Jersey after you got out of the Army. And I knew you were here because I don’t even have to pump Logan for information anymore. He usually fills me in before I even ask.”

  Holy shit. I couldn’t believe I just blurted all that out. I let my head fall forward until I could bury my overheated face in his shoulder. “This is mortifying.”

  His shoulders shook beneath my hands, and when he spoke, the laughter tinged his voice. “Babe, look at me.”

  “No.” I wiggled deeper into his arms. “I’m staying here until I die. And if I keep spilling my guts to you, that should happen in about two point two seconds when I drop dead of embarrassment.”

  His shoulders shook harder and now he couldn’t hold back the laughter. “Katie, look at me. Please.”

  That did the trick. I snatched my head off his shoulder so I could gawk up at him. “Did you just say please?”

  He chuckled and nodded. “But don’t expect me to admit to it in front of witnesses.”

  Huh, Hunter Lawson had a sense of humor. That was sort of a new idea to me. I’d heard him crack jokes with Logan over the years, but I’d never seen him like this with a grin on his lips and amusement dancing in his dark eyes.

  As I watched, though, the humor slid away. His smile slipped from his face and his eyes turned a deep dark chocolate. The intensity of his look pinned me to my spot. “The first time I noticed you as more than Logan’s little sister, I think you were about fourteen. Too young for me, but still. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Logan and I were in his car about to leave for school. You came running out of the house to catch him to give him a book he forgot. You were wearing black shorts and a little pink tank top and your legs looked like they went on for days. If your brother knew the thoughts going through my head, he would have pulled over and beat the piss out of me.”

  “But-but, you never…I mean—” I shook my head, at a complete loss.

  He tightened his hold, giving me a quick squeeze. “After that, I never looked at you without thinking about how long your legs were, how sweet you were to everyone, and the thousand reasons I needed to stay away from you.”

  “Why did you have to stay away from me?” I whispered.

  “To start with, you were my best friend’s little sister and I was too old for you. I didn’t let myself think too much beyond that. And it wasn’t long after that, you started giving me the silent treatment.”

  “Around the time I was fifteen?”

  He nodded.

  Once again I dropped my head forward to hide my face in his chest.

  “Hey.” He curved his hands over my shoulders and tried to pull me back, but stopped when I resisted. “What happened when you were fifteen?”

  I stood there, hiding, for a long minute. Before I moved back, I inhaled deeply, pulling him, his scent and warmth, into me. But I figured I’d revealed plenty. What’s one more embarrassing, mortifying, humiliating detail?

  “When I was fifteen, I started to have dreams about you.”

  His head tilted to the side. “You dreamed of me?”

  “Yes.” God. Was he going to make me go into detail and spell it out for him? “Dreams.”

  He stared at me, his expression blank and I could see when my words started to sink in. He blinked, once and then again. Then a slow grin spread across his face. “You mean you started having X-rated dreams about me?”

  Of course he’d have to spit it out there like that. I rolled my eyes.

  “Give me a break. I was only fifteen. They were more like PG-13. Maybe R-rated. But
they were bad enough.” And I wasn’t about to tell him that the dreams hadn’t stopped then. Or about the fact that the ones I’d had more recently were much naughtier than the ones I had back then. “After I had one, I couldn’t be in the same room with you. I figured you’d be able to tell or something. I couldn’t even talk to you anymore.”

  I brought my hands down and pushed against his chest, attempting to put a little space between us. I needed breathing room. Maybe I needed to quit this honesty stuff and go back to being the goody two-shoes who kept her mouth shut.

  But he wouldn’t let me go.

  “Hunter, what’s going on here?”

  “I don’t know.” His face changed from tender and amused to something else entirely. “Maybe I’m wondering what would have happened if you admitted all this a long time ago.”

  His eyes got darker, more intense, and his jaw tightened. He held me even closer to his body, and I was suddenly very aware of every hard, well-defined inch of him.

  My body responded by shooting ripples of desire over my skin and through my belly. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and fought to keep my breathing steady.

  His eyes dipped down and fixed on my mouth. “Maybe we should find out now.”

  Before I could think, he lowered his head and took my mouth with his. And it was better than any dream I’d ever had. His lips slid against mine, demanding I open to him. I could do no more than comply, parting my lips to give him entrance.

  He wasted no time in slanting his mouth over mine and dipping his tongue inside, tasting and coaxing at once. I held onto him for dear life, lost in the sensation of his mouth taking complete ownership of mine. When he lifted his head, I gulped for air. I lifted my fingers to touch my tingling lips.

  “What was that?” I asked on a breathless whisper.

  Chapter Seven

  A small, arrogant smile touched his lips. “That was a kiss.”

  He wasn’t wrong. That was a kiss. The kiss to end all kisses. It was the kiss I’d been waiting on for over half my life. And it did not disappoint. All it did was leave me aching for more. Much, much more.

  “Again,” I whispered and pushed up on my toes, lifting my mouth to his.

  “As you wish, princess.” He dipped his head to meet me halfway.

  But I stopped and rocked back on my heels, staring up at him. “Did you just quote the Princess Bride to me?”

  His only response was a wicked grin.

  He did. He just quoted my favorite movie to me, the one I watched about a thousand and two times as a teenager.

  So many emotions churned inside me, I couldn’t name them all. And I couldn’t hold back a moment longer. I threw my arms around his neck and all but jumped into his arms, planting my mouth firmly on his and demanding entrance by running my tongue along the seam of his lips.

  He opened to me, and I plunged my tongue inside, eager to touch and taste every inch of him. But before I had my fill, he took over.

  His hand moved to the back of my head, fingers tunneling into my hair. He pulled gently, tilting my head back even more as his mouth took mine with a ferocity that snatched the breath from my lungs.

  I clutched the t-shirt covering his muscular back, digging my fingers in. I didn’t know how much longer my legs would hold me.

  Hunter released my head and smoothed both hands down over my back and then lower. His hands ran over the cheeks of my ass, caressing and rubbing through my pants until I moaned into his mouth.

  The sound seemed to ignite something inside him. His kiss grew fiercer and his hands moved to cup my ass, pushing until I took the hint and hopped up to wrap my legs around his waist.

  He took a step backward, one arm sliding under my ass to steady me, the other moving to brace my back. His hand moved under my heavy hair, his thumb caressing the back of my neck making me shiver. Through this, his mouth never left mine.

  But now he tore it away. “I want to take you to bed, Katelyn.”

  “Okay,” I said, and moved to close the tiny distance between our mouths.

  But he shifted just enough to keep me from reigniting the kiss. He gave me a little shake. The movement caused an intense friction between my needy center and his hard length. My eyes drifted closed, my head dropped back and I whimpered.

  “Fuck,” he gritted out.

  His mouth hit my exposed throat. He left a trail of hot kisses, nips, and licks in a line up to my jaw. I tilted my head forward, eager to have his tongue plunder my mouth again.

  But he pulled back. I let loose a frustrated groan and clutched his shoulders. “Hunter, please.”

  “Shh, baby.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Look at me.”

  I wanted to scream, but I made an effort to meet his eyes.

  His dark eyes blazed back at me. His jaw was rigid. His expression held so much desire that something deep inside me throbbed in response. I wiggled even closer, craving more of the delicious friction and wishing there weren’t so many layers of clothing between us.

  Hunter grunted and his arms became steel around me, holding me firmly in place. “Stop.”

  “You don’t want me?”

  The thought was enough to cause a prickle of tears behind my eyes. I might die right here and now if he denied what was going on between us.

  His grip on my neck tightened, to the point just before pain. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a long, long time. But I need to know you’re ready for this. Do you really want to keep going, Katelyn? Do you want me?”

  I stared at him, stunned. His words and his expression undid me. He wanted me. He wanted me in the same wild way I wanted him. I could see it. But he stopped to make sure I was okay. That this is what I wanted.

  I slid my hands around to caress his jaw, reveling in the rough stubble against my palms. I called up courage from somewhere deep inside so I could hold his gaze as I gave him the assurance he needed.

  “Hunter,” I said in a voice so clogged with need, I almost didn’t recognize it as my own, “I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember. I want to keep going more than I want my next breath.”

  He stared at me for several long beats, his eyes drilling into mine. My heart clenched, gripped by a fear that he was about to back away from me.

  But I needn’t have worried.

  “Good.” That was the only word he spoke before his lips hit mine again and he walked us through the living room.

  My hands clutched his shoulders and delighted in having his mouth back on mine. I didn’t care where he was taking us, as long as I got to have his mouth, his hands and every other part of him on me.

  In seconds, I found myself being lowered onto my back, a soft mattress beneath me. Our lips broke apart and I grabbed for his shoulders, trying to keep every part of him connected to me.

  He chuckled and followed me down. “Sorry, babe, looks like Daryl already stripped the bed.”

  I blinked up at him, trying to make sense of what he was telling me. I turned my head to the side, and in the dim light streaming in from the living room, I made out the shapes of bedroom furniture. Hunter had carried me into the bedroom. Another glance told me the bed underneath us was stripped bare. No sheets or blankets were left behind. Just bare mattress.

  I turned my head and looked up on him. “I don’t care. I don’t need roses and candlelight. I just need you.”

  The second the words left my lips, he was on me.

  He kissed me, hard, pushing me down into the mattress with his weight. His tongue plunged right into my mouth, holding nothing back, demanding everything.

  My eyes drifted closed as I tilted my head, offering him even more of my mouth. My hands clutched at his waist, crumpling his shirt in my fists, as his tongue swept in and out of my mouth. The motion sent heat racing through my body, forming an aching ball of need in my belly and even lower.

  I fisted my hands harder in his shirt, and for a moment I was transported back to my dreams. We
always came so close to the edge before I’d open my eyes and find myself back in my childhood bedroom clutching the curtains.

  My eyes flew open and I fought to free myself from his mouth as panic rushed through me. It was quickly replaced by relief when I saw Hunter’s face, hovering just inches above mine.

  He stretched his forearms on the mattress next to my shoulders, his hands reaching to cup my head. “What is it? Do you want to stop?”

  A lump formed in my throat at the tenderness in his gaze and his touch. I shook my head back and forth, and slid my hands from his sides up to cup his face again.

  “I dreamed about you.”

  He grinned. “You told me about that, babe.”

  I shook my head again. “No, not back then. Last night. And the night before that. And the night before that. Every night since New Year’s Eve.”

  “Okay.” He uttered the single word slowly, a furrow forming between his eyebrows. I reached up and smoothed a finger over it.

  I shifted my gaze from his and could feel my face getting hot. “I guess you could say they were a bit hotter than the PG-13 ones I had when I was fifteen.”

  The wicked grin that curved his lips made me roll my eyes, but I continued explaining my dream. “But just when things would really get good between us in my dreams, I’d be back in my old bedroom, holding onto the curtains.”

  He leaned down and pressed small kisses along my jaw and up to my ear. “Just how good did things get in these dreams, babe?”

  My breathing got heavier as his lips skimmed over my neck. “Things got good. But we never got to the best part.”

  I hummed low in my throat as his tongue traced a path along the neck of my black sweater. My hands skimmed through his hair and then slid down to his shoulders restlessly as he teased the skin just inches from my breast.

  “We need to do something about that.” His nose lightly nuzzled across my collarbone before he reached the spot where my shoulder and neck met. He stopped there and kissed and licked before nipping me.