Winter Wishes

by Vivian Arend, Vivi Andrews

  A set of warm lips pressed against her cheek and Kyle’s make-her-weak-in-the-knees scent surrounded her.

  “What’s that smile for?” he whispered in her ear.

  “Hmm, I’m thinking that maybe family isn’t the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.” She turned to smile at him and got hit with the full impact of cat shifter in a formal tux.

  Rawr.

  Long lean torso, his broad shoulders nicely filling the jacket, and the dark charcoal contrasting perfectly with the crisp white of his shirt. Deadly sharp creases graced the pants. A slick part to his hair, and the rest of the gorgeous blond locks loose around his shoulders.

  Do not drool. Do not drool.

  “Hey.” She cleared her throat and dragged her gaze back to his eyes. His amusement shone through. Yeah, he’d caught her admiring him. Oh well, maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. She winked. “You clean up nice.”

  “Thank you. I can say the same of you. I love that dress. I love the color.” He stroked his fingertips along the sweetheart neckline, warmth stealing from his fingers and making her blood pound. He stepped a little closer and spoke into her ear again. “Are you wearing the red undies I bought you?

  There was a buzz in her ears as she fought to loosen her tongue. A commotion rose by the front door, and El leaned against him to peer over his shoulder. A massive group of reporters poured in, oversized cameras at the ready. El’s heart dropped to her toes.

  Media. Oh great. What was that line the chief had used again? Relative obscurity. So much for that idea. Kyle’s location would be common knowledge in a few minutes if someone spotted him during a live broadcast. She grabbed him by the belt and ducked toward the stairs.

  “El, what—”

  “Don’t talk. Just smile and move your ass. Work with me, okay?” He shrugged and followed her up the staircase, his hand now in hers. “Slow down a little. It’s okay, we don’t want them to notice us. Stay cool, stay ordinary.”

  Kyle spotted the new group crowding the front of the house. “Shit, is that CNN and NBC?”

  “Yup, and I think that’s ABC.” Cursing didn’t help ease her frustration much. El couldn’t leave the party, not for a while. She’d invited the wolf pack, and while Samuel would make sure they behaved, if she didn’t put in an appearance there would be questions asked. She saw no other solution. Once she tucked Kyle safely away, she’d work the party for a bit, then rescue him.

  From the upper landing, El led him down a long hallway, shoved open the nursery door and gestured him in. “Welcome to your new party room for the night.”

  He grumbled for all of four seconds before being surrounded by the youngest Scotts, who had all been fed and watered before the festive event.

  “Kyle! You gonna play w’d us?”

  “Tell us another story…”

  El patted him on the back sympathetically, her hand pausing as if magnetically connected to his solid muscles. “I’m sorry to have to hide you away last minute like this, but Mom is notorious about keeping her babies safe. There’s no way anyone is getting into this room without permission.”

  Kyle sat on the floor, his gorgeous tux quickly covered in cat hair as two of the littlest shifted in their excitement and crawled over his lap. “Oh, yeah, this is all peachy. I don’t mind a bit.”

  She stared in consternation. He sounded far too compliant. “Kyle, please—you’re not thinking of doing anything rash?”

  “Of course not, I’m as innocent as a kitten, I am.” He glanced around. “Who’s officially in charge of these rugrats? I can’t imagine your mom left them alone unsupervised.”

  Delilah and Darlene wandered around the corner, flicked on their brilliant smiles, and suddenly the whole situation made El even unhappier. Maybe this wasn’t the best solution after all. Maybe she didn’t have to put in an appearance.

  “Don’t worry, Kyle, we’ll take good care of you.” Delilah winked prettily at him, and El’s tummy fell farther.

  “Yeah, El, we’ve got it under control,” Darlene said. “You should probably be getting back down to the party. I heard Samuel asking for you earlier, when I went down to grab some munchies for the critters.”

  El flushed at the expression in Kyle’s eyes. “Samuel is simply a guest like any other.” Then, flustered, she hurried to the door and escaped.

  * * *

  Kyle watched the door close behind her and bit back the string of swear words that would have totally gotten him on Santa’s naughty list.

  “You look like you just got handed a speeding ticket,” Delilah teased.

  Kyle stood, arms still wrapped around the couple of younger ones who refused to let him go. “Tell me there’s a way to check out the dance floor.”

  There was a solid tug on his pant leg and he looked down into the mischievous eyes of the five year old who’d been his best confidante over the previous days. “You want to watch the par-tay? I knows where you kin look from and nobodies will see you.”

  Darlene’s soft voice broke in. “Only you would be safest in your cougar form. Even if someone did take your picture, none of the press are very good at identifying us in our shifter forms.”

  Kyle stared at her. “That’s a brilliant idea. So brilliant, in fact, I’m not even going to ask how you came to the conclusion I don’t want any pictures taken. Because you’re certainly too old to be eavesdropping at doors like your little brothers.” Darlene had the grace to blush as he handed the little one in his arms to her. “I’ll go change in the back room.”

  The twins’ synchronized complaints made him laugh, and he waved them off as he strode away. El’s family made him consider his own relatives. While he’d always enjoyed his brothers’ company, his uncle and aunt had been too rigid, far too uptight for his liking. Kyle shifted forms and padded back into the playroom, suddenly stuck by the fact it was nearly ten years since he’d last seen his guardians. He gave a mental shrug. Jake and Conner he kept in touch with via email, and they were doing well. The clan was still strong. In the big picture, that was all that mattered.

  In a few moments a small rag-tag bunch of kids, and Kyle, clustered together at the top of a high landing, peering down at the main room through thin railings.

  Kyle lay flat on the floor, his cat body low to the ground with two small bodies tucked tight to his side. El’s oldest brother, Edmund, whispered in his ear as he pointed people out.

  “Holy cow—that’s why all the media showed up. There’s the Vice President. Look! And I think that guy is with Apple, and that’s the CEO of DreamWorks.”

  Kyle nodded slowly. There were so many bodies in the room he was having a hard time finding—

  “There’s El. Oops. That’s her old boyfriend, Samuel.” Edmund leaned close and whispered even softer. “He smells like a dog when he gets caught in the rain.”

  Kyle watched intently. From his vantage point he saw Samuel closing in on where El stood chatting animatedly with a couple of important-looking women. Every nerve in his body went on high alert. There was no way he was going to lie there and watch that guy bother El. Not because El was anything…special, but…it was a party, and she deserved to be able to enjoy it without being harassed by wolves who didn’t know the meaning of the word no.

  Good enough excuse for now.

  He batted Edmund back toward the nursery with a gentle paw, and only after making sure the kids were safely tucked away did he slink down the stairs.

  It only took a few minutes to make it to the kitchen without being spotted. Not that he would be too noticeable—Darlene was right—there were shifters everywhere at the party, in both their human and animal forms, and no one blinked an eye at the furries wandering the room. He used his teeth to snatch a uniform from the pile stashed by the serving door, slipped behind a door to shift and dress as quickly as possible before grabbing a tray of canapés and heading out to the party.

  He wove his way steadily toward El, who now stood beside the far windows, her back to the room as she spoke intent
ly with someone. The someone, as he got closer, turned out to be Samuel, and Kyle bit down his growl of disgust. Raising the tray over his head to block his face from easy view, he bore down on the couple.

  And tripped.

  Dainty mushrooms on toothpicks, bacon wrapped scallops and miniature quiches flew every which way as he slammed into the wolf for the second time in as many days. The happy sound of laughter dimmed around him and just as a flash went off, the brilliant red of El’s dress swirled in front of his face as she squatted next to him and Samuel.

  Hmm, she smelled good. Not even the stink of wolf distracted him from noticing.

  Samuel sighed mightily. “We really have got to stop meeting like this.”

  Kyle snorted, the wolf grinned and El dragged them both to their feet. Kyle kept his head low and away from the cameras. El’s powerful grip wrapped around his forearm and yanked him rapidly toward the open door of the balcony, which he ducked through gratefully, hiding himself in the shadows to the side.

  Well, that had gone well. Not.

  He peered in the window, but no one seemed interested anymore in the clumsy waiter. A very efficient team cleaned up the mess, and the party went back to normal. Except now he was on the balcony peering in and unable to go anywhere.

  Shit, good one. Way to think with your dick.

  He watched as El shook her head at Samuel. The wolf shrugged and gestured. Suddenly the entire pack joined them, and Kyle pressed his nose desperately against the window. Screw hiding. If El needed him, he was going to be in there faster than a tot on the presents Christmas morning.

  Samuel waggled his fingers in his direction, a taunting little-girl move, and Kyle snarled. The bastard knew he was out here. What the hell was El telling the wolf? Moments later the pack, along with their leader, sauntered away and El visibly relaxed. Right before she turned her gaze on the window he stood behind and narrowed her eyes into dangerously thin slits.

  Oops.

  * * *

  “You look pretty damn gorgeous in that dress.”

  El glared at him. Not even sweet talk delivered in his incredibly sexy tone of voice was going to get him out of this one. “What part of stay put didn’t you understand?”

  “I’m…sorry.” He shrugged lightly and some of her bluster slipped away. “You’re right. I didn’t help matters by coming downstairs.”

  El paced across the balcony and shook her head. Damn. She’d managed to keep the media away, but only by giving the wolf pack what they’d been angling to achieve ever since she broke up with Sam. She glanced over the railing to watch the guys arranging the fireworks display in the yard and Samuel running a loving hand over the seat of the souped-up Harley. She tried to hide her sniff, but Kyle joined her, wrapping his arm around her waist as he peered down.

  “What is he up to?”

  “Diversion. There will be plenty for the boys with cameras to take pictures of in a moment.”

  “Not the fireworks.” He pointed at Samuel. “That.” He leaned over the railing and shouted angrily. “Hey. Hey Fido, get your hands off—”

  El slammed her hand over his mouth. “It’s okay.”

  Kyle shook himself free. Samuel glanced up at them and waved saucily before throwing a leg over the seat and starting her up. “He’s taking your bike? What the hell is going on?”

  She tilted her head from side to side. “Well, strictly speaking, it’s his bike. I…kinda took it when we broke up.”

  Kyle snorted, leaning back on the railing. “You stole his bike? How long ago was that?”

  “Seven years, right before I left for the academy.”

  “Classic.”

  El licked her lips and figured the smile on her face was pretty sheepish. “He was damn upset, and every time I’ve come home he tried to sweet-talk me into returning her. Only as long as I said no, he couldn’t do anything because of some kind of pack rules that says it was a gift…Whatever.”

  Kyle grabbed her by the wrist and positioned her between his legs. The white server’s uniform fit on the tight side, and he didn’t look nearly as suave as he had in the tux, but she still found him incredibly attractive.

  He nuzzled her neck, his hands warm on her lower back. “Did you do that because of me?”

  Shit. “Yeah. Well, no and yeah. I let him think I was stuck, and had to give it back. That way he can get some mileage gloating down at the pack house—I owed him that after all these years. But I intended on returning it this Christmas anyway. I have enough saved for one of my own.”

  Kyle led her carefully toward a bench along the far edge of the balcony. The sky was dark, only trickles of twilight clinging to the far horizon visible through the trees. It was going to be a spectacular night for the party, and now that she’d bolted the door, they should have a little privacy.

  She needed a break, and sucking back anymore of her father’s triple-dosed rum-punch wasn’t the way to stay in control.

  Kyle twisted her around until she straddled him, the slinky edges of her skirt rising and exposing skin to his touch. He rested his open hands on her thighs. “I’m sorry.” He repeated.

  He drew slow circles on her legs with his thumbs and she swallowed hard. He started at her knees and spiraled inward—slow, steady, intoxicating. She tried to concentrate. “Sorry for what?”

  “For everything. For making you have to deal with me on top of your new family situation at the holiday times. For being a twit and not staying hidden. For making you have to give the mangy beast his bike back even a moment early.”

  She laughed, then gasped to silence. He kissed the side of her neck while his fingers traced the inside of her thigh. The delicate movements teased the very lacy, and almost nonexistent, edge of the not-very-there panties she wore.

  “Those are the ones I bought.” His voice was ultra low, a purr against her eardrums and the goose bumps stood and saluted along her spine. Back and forth, his finger traced, his thumb dashing down the centerline of the gusset and pressing on her clit. “You’re wet, El.”

  No shit. “Ummm…”

  He kissed her, his mouth covering hers like a blessing. One hand cupped her neck and held her in place and his tongue invaded her mouth. Swooping and looping, driving the air from her lungs. At the same time he pressed more slowly, a small steady circle over her clit and she moaned into his mouth. Okay, all was forgiven. In fact she couldn’t remember what she’d even had to be mad about. Especially when he slid his fingers under the flimsy fabric and caressed her folds.

  It was dark enough that only the faint light shining out the floor-to-ceiling windows lit them, and that didn’t provide much illumination. But when he broke off the kiss and leaned back, she knew what was on his face. Lust, need, driving hunger. All the things she was sure showed in her body and face.

  He pressed a digit into her core and she groaned softly. The white of his teeth flashed in the soft glow. “We’ve waited for long enough. Right now, there’s no one but you and me.”

  Thrust, thrust, again and again into her sensitive core. His fingers stroked the front wall of her passage and it felt incredible. She dropped her head on his shoulder and waited for the fireworks. And between his relentless touch and the sweet words, the dirty talk he whispered in her ear, the wait wasn’t long.

  “I’m going to fuck you. Slip my cock into you and drive hard. Make your body buzz for attention, your breasts, your pretty little clit.” As he named her clit he brushed it and the first explosion went off. Fast. Hard. Pulsing her core so she clenched around his finger and refused to release him.

  Before her body stopped shaking she was airborne, being taken back against the cold wall of the balcony, the solid brickwork chilly against her skin. With the heat raging through her, she barely noticed. He yanked one shoulder strap off and peeled back the fabric to reveal the demitasse bra she wore.

  “Sweet mercy, woman. Hmm.” His mouth locked onto her nipple before she spoke a word. He suckled through the material, pulses of fire shooting from his
lips to her core and extending her fading orgasm. She contorted her hands behind her to undo zippers, helping bare herself to the waist. When he pressed her arms overhead and locked her wrists to the wall, she bit her lip to keep from screaming.

  She’d waited far too long for this. For a cat who knew how to tease. Knew what she wanted, and was willing to give it to her. In spite of being on her parent’s outrageously large balcony, or maybe because of it, she’d never been so turned on before in her life.

  Kyle kept her arms locked overhead and bent to worship her naked breasts, one side, then the other. He swirled his tongue around the nipple, drawing it to a tight peak and then blowing. The cool night air made the tip ache. She wanted to reach down and trail her fingers through his hair, wanted to touch his broad shoulders and the strong line of his jaw. All she was allowed was to soak in her own sensual torture, and it was amazing.

  He stepped back slightly and peeled off the white jacket, ripping off the tight shirt underneath to expose the glorious expanse of his chest. She reached out and pressed her palms against him and he rumbled, slipping closer so she could trace the outline of his abs, smooth her fingertips over his firm chest and strong shoulders.

  “I want you. So bad. You wanna go all the way?”

  El snapped off his pants button and tore open the zipper, catching his naked cock as it sprang out. She stoked his hard flesh with one hand as she shoved at the pants with the other. Thank you, Santa—as shifters, they didn’t need condoms to stop disease, and she was protected against pregnancy. Was she willing? Oh man… “Now. I need you now.”

  Kyle didn’t wait for another invitation. He stepped closer, catching her under the leg and lifting her knee high. Her back pressed into the wall behind her, the bricks icy against her heated skin. Kyle yanked her panties to one side. The string snapped and they both laughed for a second, smiling at each other. Then his cock was at her entrance, and their smiles froze as they both experienced fully that first slide together.