A Soldier's Christmas: I'll Be Home for ChristmasPresents Under the TreeIf Only in My Dreams

by Leslie Kelly

  Her breath suddenly caught in her throat, though, when she found the scars.

  One was about three inches wide, on his side, between two ribs. The other was on his chest, below one flat nipple. She pulled away enough to look at them; the raw redness of the one on his ribs said the wound hadn’t been there long.

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  “Nothing.”

  Tears came to her eyes as her mind tried to imagine how these marks had come to be on his body. But even these had a kind of beauty, told a story about the man he had become, so she didn’t press him for details. Rafe brushed the moisture away with his fingertips, just as silent. Finally, she moved on, continuing with the shirt, pushing it all the way up. He took over, yanking it over his head and tossing it to the floor, now wearing just his partly unbuttoned pants.

  She sat back on her heels, staring at him, having to remind herself to breathe. He was just so amazingly perfect, so incredibly hot, her brain forgot to work. Her heart was falling down on the job, too; her heartbeat was a staccato jangle, all thuds and leaps. She wanted to kiss and stroke every inch of him, but just wasn’t sure which delicious spot to sample first.

  “So,” he said, “one of us is wearing too much up top and the other too much on the bottom.”

  She immediately pushed at her panties. “You mean these?” Yanking them down, she heard his hoarse gasp and laughed wickedly.

  “Mmm, not exactly what I was referring to, but I definitely like the way you think.”

  “Oh, wait, did you mean my shirt?” she asked, pretending to pull the panties back up.

  “Forget it,” he ordered, pushing her hands away. He hooked his own thumbs in the nylon and tugged them down. She rose up onto her knees again so he could get them all the way off her, loving that his hands shook as he lifted the small bundle of fabric and shoved it into his pocket.

  “Did you just steal my underwear?”

  “Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Are you going to sell glimpses of them to all the other freshmen in the boys’ bathroom?”

  “These are for my own personal treasure box,” he promised, those dark eyes gleaming. “When I first went into the service, I spent a whole lot of nights wishing I’d stolen a pair right off you.”

  “I wish I’d had the idea to give you some,” she murmured, wondering how long he’d fantasized about her before he’d finally decided to force her to let him go for good. Somehow, she knew he’d thought about her long after he’d made that decision. Just as she’d thought about him long after she’d given up.

  “Let’s not dwell on any of that,” he said. “Tonight is like getting the Christmas gift I always wanted but never dreamed I’d actually get. So let’s just be glad for what we have now rather than what we didn’t have then.”

  A lump formed in her throat as she heard the emotion in his voice. She swallowed the lump down, knowing he was right, but she was so heartbroken for all those moments they’d never had.

  “I want you, Ellie,” he said, hunger chasing away any lingering regrets. “I’m dying for you.”

  She considered dragging the anticipation out some more, building it higher, but right now, she just wanted to be naked, wanted him naked, wanted to fill every minute they had with erotic intimacy.

  So she wasn’t coy. She didn’t tease. She simply reached for the bottom of her sweater and yanked it up and off.

  “God, you’re so beautiful,” he said, staring down at her as if he’d never beheld anything so perfect. He couldn’t take his eyes off her breasts. Her nipples were poking saucily against the lace of her bra, both from the cold and from the incredible heat he’d built within her. Remembering how much he’d loved to suck them, she traced her fingers against the puckered tips, very aware he wanted to replace her hands with his mouth.

  “Show me,” he demanded.

  She unclasped her bra and let it fall off her shoulders. Then she was kneeling on the bed before him, stark naked, her long red hair covering her chest, though her nipples peeked between the strands. He eyed her as though she were a banquet and he couldn’t decide what to taste first.

  She flung her hair out of the way and lifted her breasts in her own hands, tweaking her nipples with her fingers.

  “Please,” she begged.

  Decision made. A deliberate smile on his face, Rafe dropped to his knees on the floor and pulled her closer to him. Her parted thighs went around his waist, and he moved one hand to her breast as he caught her mouth in another kiss. Their tongues thrust and played while he tweaked and stroked her, one breast, then the other, until she was panting and gasping against his lips.

  She twisted and thrust, wanting more, wanting him to suckle her, and she realized he was intentionally drawing this out when she heard his deep, evil chuckle.

  “Tell me what you want,” he said.

  “You know very well.”

  “Maybe, but I’m just a simple soldier. Give me an order.”

  “Don’t tempt me...”

  He nuzzled her throat, kissing his way down to the hollow and growled, “I love tempting you.”

  She arched her back, pressing her breasts toward him, then gave him the command he’d been determined to wring from her. “Suck my nipples, Rafe, please. Use your mouth on me and don’t you dare be gentle.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, satisfaction oozing from him.

  And oh, the man was good at following orders. He kissed his way down her chest, scraping his teeth over her collarbone. Holding both breasts in his hands, he tweaked and plucked her sensitive nipples until she was quivering. When he finally moved his mouth to one breast and licked his way down the upper slope, she whimpered. And when that mouth moved over her nipple and he suckled her, she let out a little scream of pleasure.

  The sound inflamed him. As if he’d finally shaken off the last of his own restraints, he sucked her hard. She wound her fingers in his hair and held him close, crying at how good it felt. When he left her breast long enough to kiss his way to the other one, she realized she couldn’t stand much more. She needed him inside her, breaking down the last of the walls between them.

  She reached for his half-unbuttoned fly and began working the remaining buttons free, hearing him hiss as the back of her hand brushed against the tip of his cock. She was all sensation and electricity, every brain cell was focused only on how much she wanted him inside her—wanted that heat and that strength and that thickness.

  “Wait a second,” he said. “I’ve got condoms in my pack.”

  She didn’t ask why, she was just thankful he had them. Considering she hadn’t even given it a moment’s thought, it was lucky he’d been a good soldier and come prepared.

  He moved away and dug around in his bag. She watched him from a couple of feet away, admiring the play of light on his flexing muscles. From here, she was able to make out a large, military tattoo on one shoulder, and she was determined to examine it more closely later. When she had regained some semblance of sanity.

  He pushed his pants off his lean hips as he returned, sending his boxer briefs with them to the floor. Ellie let out a tiny moan, seeing how massive and proud he was, and how very much he wanted her. She couldn’t resist reaching out and brushing her fingers across the throbbing tip of his cock, smoothing the moisture that had gathered there. He groaned and his eyes fell closed as he thrust into her hand, silently begging for her touch.

  Ellie encircled him and stroked, up and down, squeezing him, marveling that he grew even thicker, even longer, in her hand.

  “So much I want to do,” he muttered, “but I have to be in you now, El.”

  She didn’t hesitate, scooting back on the bed and lying down, her legs parted invitingly. After putting on the condom, he raked a thorough, heated stare over her body—admiration dripping from him�
��then moved between her open thighs. As the tip of his cock nudged against her slick folds, she arched toward him, welcoming him, crying out as he slid into her. Inch by inch he entered her, filling her with warmth and with pleasure, reminding her of all that had been missing from her life since he’d left it.

  Oh, yes. This is pleasure. This is what I’ve longed for. Now I remember how it feels to be really alive.

  She glanced up, her attention drawn to that mirrored ceiling, and suddenly understood the appeal, being able to see him plunging down into her as she thrust up to meet him. He looked absolutely gorgeous lying between her legs, the muscles in his powerful back flexing, his taut buttocks tightening, his thighs so dark against her pale ones.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he said, staring down at her as he sank deeper and deeper. “I must have dreamed this moment a thousand nights.”

  Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. “Then we were having the same dreams,” she admitted. “I just hope we don’t wake up this time.”

  5

  ALTHOUGH THEY HADN’T gotten nearly as much sleep as they’d intended to when they’d stopped at the motel, Rafe woke up the next morning feeling better than he had in years. Yes, he’d slept on a lumpy bed with dingy, paper-thin coverings, in an arctic-cold room, beneath some huge, cracked mirrors, but it was a palace compared to a lot of the places he’d slept in recently. And it wasn’t just because he was in a bed, inside a building, rather than on a cot in a crowded barrack. No, the smile he’d been wearing on his face since the moment he woke up was caused entirely by the woman who’d slept in his arms.

  Ellie was still asleep, her body wrapped around him. One slim thigh rested between his legs, her arm lay draped across his waist, her fingers brushing his hip. That glorious red hair was spread out on the pillow, a mass of tangles and curls, evidence of the way he’d buried his hands in it through the night. Her lips were swollen—so well kissed—and there were faint reddish marks on her throat and her shoulders from where he’d explored her with his mouth.

  He couldn’t remember another night in his life as amazing as the previous one. They’d pleasured each other for hours, drifting into short naps between intense, erotic bouts of lovemaking. He hadn’t left a spot on her body untouched and she’d driven him just as crazy with that luscious little mouth.

  He hated to slip out of her arms, but a soft morning light had crept in around the edges of the curtain, and a quick peek at his watch said it was after 8:00 a.m. As nice as it might be to spend the entire day in bed, he’d promised to get them both home for Christmas. He intended to keep that promise, as long as the weather cooperated.

  Getting up and going into the bathroom, he returned to find Ellie tucked to the tip of her nose beneath the blankets. She eyed him accusingly. “You took the heat with you.”

  “Sorry,” he said with a laugh.

  “Warm me up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He dropped the clothes he’d been about to put on and crawled in beside her. She was deliciously naked, her breasts immediately drawing his attention, the pert nipples pearly and tempting. So tempting, he couldn’t resist sliding his mouth across her throat and sucking her good morning.

  “Oh, my,” she whispered, twining her hands in his hair. Her body arched toward him, silently demanding more. He complied, tweaking and sucking her until she was quivering, not with cold, but with pure heat.

  “Rafe, please,” she whispered, her voice a study in need.

  “Please what?”

  “Please don’t stop.”

  “I couldn’t if I wanted to,” he said with a throaty chuckle. “You might rip my hair out by the roots.”

  She immediately unwound her fingers. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he insisted as he kissed his way down her belly, noticing the goose bumps but not sure whether they were from the cold or from the path his mouth was traveling.

  Soon, it didn’t matter. She might have been cold when he’d left her in the bed, but by the time he reached his destination and slid his tongue between the slick folds of her sex, she was on fire.

  “Please,” she groaned, her hips gently thrusting toward his mouth.

  He’d pleasured her like this during the darkest hours of the night, but now he loved being able to see her, to thoroughly explore her secret places, to drink from her softness. She tasted warm and feminine and mysterious, and probably the only thing better than swallowing down all that sweetness was hearing her cries as she climaxed right against his tongue.

  “Oh, Rafe, yes!” she cried, her nails digging into his shoulders.

  Desperate to be in her before the last spasms left her, he yanked on a condom and moved over her, settling between her thighs. She welcomed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, drawing him down for a deep kiss. She must have tasted herself on his tongue, but she kissed him deeply, erotically, and that just got him off even more.

  “I have to be in you,” he groaned.

  She widened her thighs, bending her knees and opening for him, crying out as he nudged his cock into her slick channel. She was hot and ready, tight and so damned perfect, he almost wanted to stop just to imprint the memory of her on his brain. Nobody had ever made him feel the way Ellie did, and, he was now certain nobody ever would. He was a one-woman man and she was his woman, and that was the end of it. If he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anyone.

  Once upon a time he’d been sure he’d lost her. After last night, though, he’d begun to question that assessment, to hope he might have his second chance after all. Maybe they could make this work.

  He wanted that more than anything. More than he wanted his discharge, more than he wanted his life back, more than he wanted a future. He just wanted Ellie.

  But he didn’t know if she felt the same way. Last night she’d said she wanted him to be her lover...for the night. She’d said nothing about what the next day would bring.

  Staring down at her now, with him buried in her body, he cupped her cheek in his hand, rubbing his thumb across her lips. She kissed it, staring up at him, her beautiful eyes hiding nothing, and the tenderness in her expression grabbed his heart and squeezed.

  He began to thrust slowly, imprinting himself on her, sure of what she wanted and what she craved. Their bodies had been made for this, created for each other, and she answered every stroke and met every tender thrust. Until, once again, they came together in a hot flood of insanity that left him never wanting to be sane again.

  * * *

  THEY LEFT THE HOTEL at about nine-thirty—much later than the dawn departure time they’d discussed the night before. But considering neither of them had wanted to get out of that bed, Ellie figured they’d made pretty good time.

  As it turned out, it was just as well they’d slept in. During the past half hour or so, they’d heard the whirr of an engine in the parking lot. When they walked outside, they spotted the owner of the hotel riding a small lawn tractor with an attached snow blade. He was plowing out the snow behind their rental car, and offered them a broad smile when they emerged.

  The snow hadn’t stopped, but it had definitely slowed down, the flakes falling evenly but softly. The sky was a muted blue-gray, the sun in hiding, the clouds thick and pregnant with moisture.

  “Trucks’ve been going by up on the interstate,” the man called as he backed the tractor out from behind the car. “Weatherman’s saying we’re in the eye of the snow-i-cane and it’s never gonna be better than it is right now. Maybe you can stay in the eye and travel with it clear on out to Chicago!”

  “That was so nice of you to clear us out,” Ellie said as they walked over to him.

  Rafe immediately extended an arm to help the owner off the tractor. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Didn’t figure you’d want to spend a lot of hours digging out. Musta gotten another six o
r seven inches after you folks pulled in here last night.”

  Ellie couldn’t help it. She sucked her lips into her mouth and let out a tiny bark of laughter, thinking that she’d gotten a lot more than six or seven inches last night.

  Rafe glanced at her, curious. She just bit her lip harder and shook her head, aware her eyes had to be sparkling with naughtiness.

  He finally caught on and a grin tugged at his lips. “Bad girl,” he muttered.

  “Eh, what?” asked the elderly man.

  “Nothing. Not a thing. Listen, can I at least pay you for your trouble?”

  “Don’t you insult me, son! You and your missus get on home to your folks and have a merry Christmas, and that’ll be payment enough for me.”

  Rafe didn’t correct the man on the missus thing, and Ellie found herself warmed by that. She’d dreamed years ago of being Rafe’s wife, and while those dreams had once faded, last night had brought all of them rushing back into her mind.

  She had awakened yesterday morning in New York sure she knew how she would spend the next several years of her life. She’d be happy—or at least content—with her job. She’d probably meet and date men. She might even find one she wanted to marry. But she hadn’t believed she’d find the once-in-a-lifetime passion she shared with Rafe, assuming she’d left that behind.

  Now, the entire world seemed different. So many possibilities were spread out in front of her.

  Last night, she and Rafe had proved they still had amazing chemistry. She would never, as long as she lived, have a lover as perfect for her as he was.

  But now that daylight had returned—bringing with it the crazy weather, their jobs, families, expectations and the past that hovered over them like a cloud—could they really move forward? Could she risk falling in love with him all over again—with this new Rafe she was only just getting to know?

  She wasn’t sure. Because even after everything they’d shared throughout the long, erotic night, neither of them had broached the subject of the future. Just what was going to happen when they got to Chicago? Did Rafe see this merely as a chance to make some old dreams come true, to get some old, lingering emotions out of his system once and for all? Was she alone in wondering if the wild sex was evidence of a still-deep, abiding love? Could they possibly regain the happily-ever-after they’d once talked about, that had seemed so irrevocably lost to them?