You Had Me At Christmas: A Holiday Anthology

by Karina Bliss

  Naked seemed too raw.

  I don’t know if I can do this.

  Then we won’t. Let’s talk about your job. What do you do for fun? I just want to keep talking. I’m not sure why but I have this crazy feeling… like we know each other already. I’m sorry if I pushed. I thought that’s where you wanted to go.

  The last twenty years of her life had been all about her job. It’s why she was spending Christmas with a stranger on her phone. A stranger who wanted her to get naked.

  Who are you?

  I’m John. And you’re… safe with me. I promise.

  I don’t want to talk about my work or what I do for fun. I want to go there.

  Then take off your clothes and let me take you there.

  Kate set the phone down. He said he wanted her to strip for him. That every piece of clothing she took off was for him. Her cashmere sweater. Her dark skinny jeans. Her Victoria’s Secret bra and matching lace panties. He thought she would hesitate, but she didn’t.

  Her gas fireplace was on, giving her enough heat, but still she covered herself with a soft throw blanket, stunned by how good it felt on her bare skin.

  Okay. I’m naked. What next?

  First you need to relax, this is supposed to be fun Kate.

  You sound like you’ve done this before.

  Sex? I have, yes. Phone sex via an app, I have not. This is as crazy for me as it is for you but I do have a pretty active imagination.

  But you’re not naked.

  Hold on.

  Kate took another sip of her wine and cuddled deeper into the blanket. Who knew something so simple could feel so good. The rub of the fleece material against her thighs, her stomach. Maybe she needed to hang out in her living room naked more often.

  A minute later he was back.

  There, now we’re both naked.

  Where are you?

  On my bed, pillows propped behind me.

  She didn’t know where it came from, the courage. Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the loneliness, either way she didn’t care. There was another person out there in the universe who she was connected to. Who was connected to her.

  Are you hard?

  Yes. I have been since I started kissing you. I want those nails down my back again. I want you to squeeze my ass.

  You don’t want me to touch you? Pleasure you?

  No. First I want to know you. And I like to watch, Kate. I want to see you touch yourself so I know what you like. Where you like it hard and rough, where you like it soft and slick. Do that for me now. Touch your breasts, pinch your nipples.

  Kate ran her hand over her breast and wasn’t surprised that her nipples were already hard. It was the most sensitive part of her body. When she took the time to masturbate, which she hardly ever did, she always started with her breasts. There were times, if she was turned on enough, she could play and tug on her nipples and that alone would be enough to send her over the edge.

  But that’s not what this was about. It wasn’t about her getting herself off. This was sex with someone else. Even if he wasn’t in the same room with her.

  They’re hard. I’m pinching them now.

  What color are they?

  Dark pink. Darker now.

  Do you like them to be sucked?

  Yes. Kate groaned then as she felt a deep punch of pleasure low in her gut. There was nothing she loved as much as that. A man’s mouth and tongue sucking her deep, her fingers in his hair. The tug and pull of desire running down her chest and into her pussy.

  That’s what I would do then. Take them into my mouth, bite down ever so carefully. Suck on them until you screamed. You would feel it the next day, Kate. Your breasts would be a little sore and you would think of me and what I did to you.

  Yes!

  Now I need to know what else you like. Move your hands down your body, slowly. Touch your ribs, dip a finger into your belly button, run your hand along your hips.

  I wish they were your hands.

  They will be someday, but you’re not ready for that I think. Hell, I don’t know… it doesn’t matter. Touch yourself, Kate. Between your legs. Are you wet?

  Kate could feel how wet she was and gasped. How long had it been since she’d been this aroused? What would everyone think of the stuffy boss lady now? Naked, stretched out on her couch and having phone sex with a stranger.

  Her fingers between her legs. Touching herself even as she held the phone awkwardly in her other hand.

  Now you. She fumbled a bit as she typed, but she didn’t want to be doing this alone.

  Okay. I’ve got my hand around my dick. I want you to slide your fingers inside yourself while I do this. Do you like pressure on your clit?

  No. Not directly, it’s too sensitive.

  Kate looked at the words she’d just sent. Had she ever told a man that? She didn’t think so. Always she just let them do what they wanted with her body, what they thought she wanted. Never being honest with them, or herself really.

  No, she didn’t like it when a man pressed against her clit too hard. Like it was some kind of on or off switch to a climax.

  He knew that now. John knew that about her. It seemed oddly intimate.

  The barest of touches then. I wish I could taste you. Maybe you’re too sensitive for a finger, but instead you need the brush of my tongue. Can you feel me there? Between your legs, my hair brushing your thighs?

  Kate leaned back her head and tried to imagine it. A man kneeling between her legs, his tongue brushing up against her wet slit. Because she was so sensitive, she’d never let a man do that to her.

  Then it happened. Without even really touching herself, she crested over and felt the orgasm roll through her body. The phone dropped to the floor and she moaned aloud as it rippled throughout her. It took her a second to recover her breath as she let her body enjoy what had to have been one of the most intense sexual experiences she could remember.

  A pretty sad commentary on her sex life, now that she thought about it. Bending down, she reached for the phone.

  She had to tell him it was over. At least for her.

  I came, she typed bluntly.

  It was a few minutes later.

  I’m glad. I wish… I wish I could have heard you. Seen you.

  Of course that wasn’t possible. They were strangers to each other. Just two lonely people on Christmas who had found each other. Kate wasn’t going to forget it, and she wasn’t selfish enough not to offer comfort back.

  What can I do for you?

  Kate started typing out a very detailed description of what she intended to do with her tongue when he interrupted her sext.

  Meet me.

  She looked at her phone as she tried to process what he was asking. He messaged again.

  Not tonight. Maybe next week. Drinks or coffee. But let’s not let… this… fade away into the night.

  Kate tried to imagine it. A blind date with someone who she sort of already had sex with? It would be strange and weird and not like her at all.

  Let me think about it?

  Of course. Text or call.

  Kate looked at the phone number he sent like it was some kind of weapon. A knife that had cut through the curtain that had separated them all night.

  Goodnight, she wrote to him.

  Merry Christmas, Kate. Sleep well.

  Just like that, it was over. She clicked off the app and put her phone away and wondered if it was strange that she had already memorized his number.

  Chapter Three

  “Did you have a nice Christmas?”

  Kate looked at her assistant, Sally, and smiled. “I had a great Christmas.”

  Immediately, Sally pulled up a seat in front of her desk. “Why do I think there is a story there?”

  Kate leaned back and chuckled. It was one of the disadvantages of having someone working with her so closely for the last ten years. There wasn’t anything Kate could ever hide from her very perceptive assistant.

  Sally’s head tilted. �
��You know, if I didn’t know you better…”

  “What?” Kate asked. She refused to believe she looked any different. The ridiculous idea that somehow after sex a person had a glow about them was not supported by biological fact.

  “Well, frankly I would say you look like you got laid. But I know you, and hooking up with a random stranger on Christmas is not your style.”

  Kate’s jaw dropped and she had an immediate urge to seek out a mirror. Did she look different? It wasn’t possible. It was just an orgasm after all, not actual sex.

  But it had been more than that. There had been intimacy… with John. Whose phone number had rattled through her mind all morning. Creating lyrics in her head like a bad remake of an eighties song.

  “You didn’t. Did you?” Sally asked reverently, as if Kate would be handing her assistant some kind of present if she actually had. Sally loved drama.

  Kate shrugged. “Well… I mean it wasn’t… real… that app you told me about…”

  “O.M.G. You hooked up with a guy online and had internet sex. That is so awesome!”

  Kate looked over Sally’s shoulder at the open door to her office, making sure none of her employees were walking by. She did have a reputation to maintain, after all.

  As a stuffed-shirt spinster?

  She didn’t feel like that today.

  “Can we please keep this between us?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Sally whispered. Then the younger woman clapped her hands in rapid succession. “Yeah! How was it? Did he give good sext?”

  Kate could feel the heat in her cheeks. “I’m not discussing details. But… yes, it was very… he was very…”

  Kate sighed. She simply didn’t have the vocabulary to explain how she was feeling. Not all of it was pleasant either. In many ways she felt raw and exposed. There was a person out there in the world who knew some of her sexual secrets. A man she didn’t know. It wasn’t exactly comfortable.

  “Well, good for you. Way to break the internet ice.”

  “He wants to meet me,” Kate admitted.

  “What! Are you serious? So this might be more than a one-time hookup?”

  “I’m not sure. He gave me his number, but I think it would be awkward.”

  Sally rolled her eyes. “Of course it would be awkward. First, it’s a blind date—by its nature it’s awkward. Second, the first thing you’re both going to be thinking is how fast you can get each other out of your clothes. Unless of course he lied about his picture and he looks like a creepy troll who lives under a bridge. Then you’re just going to want to run for it.”

  Kate considered all of that. The clothes flying, the creepy troll. She really hoped he wasn’t a creepy troll.

  “You should do it.”

  Kate could see Sally’s face had transitioned from excited co-conspirator to something more serious. Concerned friend.

  “Don’t,” Kate pleaded, not wanting to hear the speech again. A speech Sally rattled off at least once a year in some fashion or another. How Kate worked too much and let it take over her life. How she deserved a relationship and happiness and love but was never going to get that if she didn’t do something to make it happen.

  “I know it’s scary,” Sally said in that gentle tone Kate recognized. “I know it’s probably easier to forget his number and focus instead on whatever task you need to accomplish today, but… you have to try, Kate. You wouldn’t have let me put that app on your phone if deep down you didn’t want to find someone.”

  “Spoken like a person who has never had to suffer a blind date,” Kate said a little harshly. She knew Sally was trying to help. Knew everything her assistant said was true. Nobody knew how hard it was to set yourself up over and over again for what had always ended in disappointment. She was Charlie Brown kicking the football.

  Sally smiled sheepishly. “I know. I’m a bitch. I met my husband in college and we’ve been together for twelve years and I never once had to put up with the bullshit you have. But if I don’t say it to you, Kate, no one will. This place, this business that you’ve created, it’s an amazing thing and you should be damn proud of yourself. But there is more out there in life. If this guy got you to break out of your shell even for a night, then he might be something special. Someone worth knowing.”

  Kate had definitely felt as if something been cracked open. The question was, did she want to open that crack even further?

  “I’ll think about it. In the meantime, I have the Hutchinson deal I have to finalize…”

  Sally took the cue. “Yes, ma’am. Back to work.”

  Kate watched Sally bounce out of her office, and even though she said she wanted to focus on the Hutchinson deal what she really wanted to do was talk to John. Ask him how he felt about blind dates and whether he went on them often.

  Kate took out her phone and set it on her desk. It was office policy to keep phones put away and on vibrate mode. An attempt to curtail usage for her younger employees who seemed addicted to the things.

  For the first time she started to understand that addiction. Because she felt compelled to look at it and wonder, if she texted him would he message her back like he had last night? Or would he wake up this morning, having forgotten her entirely?

  Maybe he’d been drinking, too.

  Kate thought about the couple of glasses of wine she’d had, how it had loosened her up. Of course on a blind date she would have to limit herself, since she would be driving. Which meant she would be her typical uptight self, who could only talk about her life as it related to her job. A guarantee that would drive him away.

  “Will you stop overanalyzing everything!” Kate huffed softly to herself. There were times when she was sick of her own head space. Almost out of spite, because she knew with certainty she was her own worst enemy, she reached for her phone.

  She punched in the numbers she had memorized and thought about what she wanted to say, what she wanted to ask, what she wanted to hear.

  In the end she typed two letters. Hi. And hit send.

  Then she pushed the phone out of reach, feeling like a colossal fool. Or a fourteen-year-old girl who was just discovering she liked boys. They were probably pretty close.

  Dropping her face in her hand, she actually groaned. What would he possibly think of her when he saw that? That she was desperate, needy, or God forbid, horny again. Certainly not a mature, sophisticated woman who had no problem dealing with post-Christmas sexting.

  She was about to reach for thing again, prepared to put it in her purse so she wouldn’t even have to look at the evidence of her idiocy, when the double ding of her text alert sounded, letting her know she had a new message.

  It was almost crazy to her, the way that sound resonated through her entire body. Cautiously she reached for phone, telling herself the whole time it could be anything. A text from her friend, a bank alert, anything.

  Only it wasn’t any of those things. It was from him.

  Good morning. I was just thinking about you… and smiling.

  She smiled in return and texted back, feeling bolder that he’d responded so quickly.

  How do you feel about blind dates?

  I hate them! Which is why I never do them. Hell I’m not even sure why I was on that app. I guess I liked the idea that something might happen. Then there was you.

  Kate appreciated the sentiment. She was about to respond when she saw the dots on her phone signaling he was still typing.

  Shit! When I said I never do them I meant I haven’t done them in the past. But I want a date with you. I want to meet you, Kate.

  OK.

  Kate sucked in her breath. It was done. She was committed now. Or at least in some way she felt honor bound. He’d asked and she had accepted. It didn’t matter that part of her was already dreading it, she knew herself well enough to know she wouldn’t back down at this point.

  Okay. Yes. Good. Tomorrow night?

  OK.

  I’m sensing your enthusiasm in your single word responses. LOL. You name
the place. I live in the city. An apartment in the Northern Liberties area.

  Kate didn’t know much about Philadelphia. Despite having lived just across the bridge for most of her life, she rarely made it to the city except for the occasional girls’ night out when they wanted to be adventurous.

  No, most of her time was spent between her office building and her home in Haddonfield. She’d heard about the renaissance of the Northern Liberties area. Apparently a lot of cool new restaurants and bars.

  I work just over the bridge in South Jersey. Easy for me to get to the city. Is there some place you like around you?

  McGlinn’s. Great place, great atmosphere, great French fries.

  French fries were a particular weakness for Kate.

  Ok. McGlinn’s. 8ish?

  Yes. I can’t wait.

  Kate smiled. She wished she could say the same, but already the questions started to race through her mind. Would he think she would automatically go back to his place with him? Would he expect sex because of what they had shared?

  Would he be, as Sally described, a creepy ugly troll in real life?

  She didn’t know, but she knew the only way to find out was to go and see.

  See you then.

  Hey Kate… don’t chicken out okay?

  I NEVER chicken out.

  LOL. Okay. Tomorrow.

  She didn’t feel the need to write any more. The date and time and place were set. Now it was just a question of meeting him. Kate let a small smile play around her lips. After everything she had been feeling earlier, the only thing she could identify swirling in her stomach felt a lot like hope.

  John stared down at his phone and knew that if he could see himself in a mirror he would have the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. He had a date. With a woman who looked like Kate. Who he had felt so freaking connected to last night. This never happened to him.

  A moment of pure happiness.

  Then the smile faded as he thought about what a date meant. Especially a first date. Lots of questions. About his life, his story.

  His past.

  Someplace he didn’t want to go. Was it a requirement, he wondered? Like filling out a job application? Did he have to tell her he’d spent time in jail? Was it only fair that he include that as part of his life story?