A Little Christmas Faith (Choc Lit)

by Kathryn Freeman

  She gasped. ‘Do that again.’ He repeated the movement, sending waves of lust simmering through her, but then his face twisted and he swore. ‘What is it?’

  ‘I need to be inside you, but …’ his eyes fell briefly to her mouth, her breasts, then back up to hers. ‘Please tell me you have a condom?’

  She laughed, reaching over to her bedside drawer and plucking one out. ‘I’m a modern woman.’

  ‘Thank God.’

  She noticed his hand shake, just ever so slightly, as he tore open the packet. Moments later he was slipping inside her.

  His gaze remained on her and every ounce of pleasure he was feeling was reflected in his smoky eyes. ‘This is going to be over far too quickly.’

  She smiled, her hands reaching up to cup his face. ‘We have all night.’

  He began moving inside her, his hips thrusting, his eyes fluttering shut, his expression as tight as a drum. ‘You feel amazing,’ he groaned, increasing the pace, driving her higher and higher towards the place she wanted to be.

  She could have said the same – his massive body, his hard muscles, his hot skin all felt beyond amazing. But his mouth was on hers, devouring her with the same intensity his body was taking her and her brain was becoming a scrambled mess.

  Suddenly she was shattering, crying out his name, pleasure shooting through her body and leaving nothing but lethargy in its wake.

  With a final thrust, Adam grunted softly, his body shuddering with the force of his climax. Then he rolled onto his back, his face staring up the ceiling, his chest heaving up and down. Just when she started to worry, to think that was it, they were going to enter an uncomfortable silence, his fingers threaded through her hand and he squeezed. Not content with that, he lifted her hand to his mouth and planted a gentle kiss on each knuckle. The gesture was worth more than words. It spoke of delight, of contentment. Of gratitude.

  Warmth flooded into her heart and Faith bit into her lip. No, she wasn’t going to fall for this man, with his hulking good looks and quiet intensity. His sad eyes. Not now.

  When his breathing started to normalise he turned onto his side. As those eloquent eyes scanned her face he reached to smooth down her hair, the gesture so tender it squeezed her heart. ‘How many condoms do you have in that drawer?’

  She let out a strangled laugh. ‘More than one.’

  His lips curved in a half smile. ‘Do you mind if I use up another?’

  Feeling giddy, flushed, unbearably turned on even though she’d just reached heights of pleasure she’d once thought were beyond her grasp, Faith shook her head. Before she could ask if he meant later tonight, or tomorrow, his mouth was on hers, his hands running hungrily, greedily, across her body. Caressing and arousing wherever he touched.

  Slowly she came back to earth again, her head resting on Adam’s chest as she listened to the thump of his heart. No longer racing as it had been a minute ago, it was more of a steady, reassuring beat beneath the huge muscles of his chest.

  She glanced up at him, liking how relaxed his face finally looked. It made her realise how much tension he carried with him. He arched a brow and she smiled. ‘I take it you didn’t plan on ending the evening like this?’

  She noticed the moment he understood what she was saying, his expression turning from puzzled to adorably sheepish. ‘Ah, the condoms. No. I mean I hoped, I fantasised that I’d end up with you in a bed, sure. I guess I didn’t venture to the planning stage.’

  Intrigued, she levered herself up a little higher so she could look at him properly. ‘You’re an enigma, Adam Hunter.’

  He blinked. ‘I am?’

  ‘You are.’ She huffed, sitting up, waving her hand towards his naked chest, the duvet nestled tantalisingly low around his hips. ‘You look like a flaming Greek God, you’re funny and kind, yet you don’t carry a condom in your wallet and you say it’s been a long while since you’ve been with a woman.’ She caught his eye. ‘Can I ask how long?’

  ‘You can ask—’

  ‘But you’re going to tell me to mind my own business,’ she cut in. ‘And quite right, too.’

  His chest rose and fell as he sighed. ‘Faith, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression here. You’re an amazing woman. I find you incredibly attractive—’

  ‘Here comes the but,’ she murmured.

  He frowned, reaching over to frame her face with his large hands. ‘Please, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not in the right place in my life where I can offer you anything beyond my stay here.’

  She gave him a wide-eyed stare. ‘You mean you’re not going to marry me?’ He froze, panic flying across his face, and Faith immediately touched her forehead to his. ‘Relax, I’m joking. I’ve got a hotel to get up and running. Do I seem like a woman who wants to start up a relationship with a man at the other end of the country?’

  Adam’s muscles slowly began to unfreeze and he exhaled the air that had become trapped in his lungs when she’d mentioned the word marry. But even as he smiled with relief at her statement, a small part of him was analysing her words. She wasn’t averse to starting up a relationship, just didn’t want it to be with someone living so far away.

  He imagined her in a few months, in this bed with another man, and felt a wave of unwanted, irrational jealousy.

  ‘Let’s enjoy this for what it is,’ she said softly, her lips planting teasing kisses along his jaw. ‘A Christmas fling. Hopefully it will give us both a bit more spring in our step as we stride into the New Year.’

  He thought back to the previous three starts to the New Year and felt a small, green shoot of hope. ‘Yes please,’ he murmured, turning so he could capture her mouth with his. As he kissed her, he eased her down so they were once again lying on the bed, her supple body draped around his. They continued to kiss for a while and soon he felt the long forgotten, yet now gloriously familiar, stirrings of arousal. Before he pressed her back onto the mattress, he decided he owed her an answer to her question. It might just be a fling, but he wanted it to be a real connection and not just about sex. ‘It’s been three years.’

  Surprise flooded her face. ‘Wow. That’s a long time.’ Her finger trailed across his chest, dipping down to his abs and he bit back a groan. ‘Didn’t you miss it?’

  Now he had this vibrant, sexy woman lying next to him, touching him, Adam couldn’t comprehend how he’d endured three days without sex, never mind three years. But if he took his mind out of her bed, and back to his own, he had his answer. ‘For a long while I didn’t like myself much,’ he admitted, shutting his eyes as he fought not to drown in memories he’d spent the last few years trying to push away. ‘If you don’t like yourself, it’s hard to convince others to like you. Harder still to believe them if they say they do.’

  When he opened his eyes again, she was gazing at him in sympathy. ‘Well, whether you believe me or not, I’m telling you right now. I like you very much, Adam Hunter.’ Her hands ran over his chest again. ‘And not just for your body.’

  He let out a half laugh, half huff. ‘I thought women went for sparkling personality?’ He watched, unsure whether to be upset or just plain delighted when she peeled into laughter.

  ‘That’s a myth. We go for looks first, just like men do. We only dissect your personality if we want you to stick around.’

  He felt a twinge of something he didn’t want to feel. He wasn’t sticking around, so it didn’t matter that she didn’t want him to. Did it? But then she was straddling him, and suddenly Adam didn’t give a toss whether she wanted him for his body or his mind. It was enough that she wanted him.

  Three times, he thought to himself smugly as Faith flopped down onto the bed next to him. But even he, with his three years of abstinence, didn’t think he could manage another round tonight. So should he put on his pants and hobble off to his own room?

  The thought of l
eaving the warmth of her bed, the warmth of her, didn’t sit well with him. He’d never had a fling, though. Maybe that was what he was supposed to do?

  Rolling to his side, he ran his hand across Faith’s stunning curves, causing her to turn her head. Together with her muzzy sex hair, flushed cheeks and smiling eyes, she looked so bloody amazing his breath left in a rush, and for a moment he couldn’t speak. ‘Do you want me to go?’ he managed finally.

  She frowned. ‘Why would I want that?’

  He gestured towards the bed. ‘It’s your bed, your place. I don’t want to intrude.’

  ‘You didn’t seem to mind intruding for the last,’ she glanced at her bedside clock, ‘two hours.’

  That had been sex, he thought, but felt too uncomfortable to say it. ‘I’m not sure of the rules of a fling.’

  Understanding dawned across her face and she leant forward to kiss him. ‘I’m not either. Why don’t we make up our own rules?’

  He studied her, appreciating her straightforwardness. ‘Then I’d like to stay.’

  Her lips curved in a warm smile. ‘Consider yourself invited.’

  Adam nudged her onto her side and tucked in behind her, his front to her back. He put his arm around her waist and hugged her closer, his nose burrowing into the hair at the back of her neck.

  His last coherent thought was he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. The body he was cuddling felt delicious – soft, lush – but also wrong. She smelt different to the one he was used to. Felt different, too.

  But then he fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Five days before Christmas

  Her back was resting against a furnace, Faith thought as she started to stir. A hard, solid, hot furnace.

  Memories of the evening before raced through her. Adam, his surprising gentleness and his raging, seemingly unquenchable passion. A passion not unleashed for three years.

  She released a sigh of sheer contentment. Whoever had screwed him over – it had to be a woman – she was grateful to her.

  Lips pressed against her neck and the arm around her tightened, drawing her against him. She felt his heat, the heavy throb of his arousal, the musky scent of him. His hand cupped her breast, teasing, rubbing, and Faith smiled. If she knew the name of the woman who’d hurt him, who’d caused him to bottle up his passionate nature for three long years, she’d send her a Christmas card.

  A long while later she stepped out of the shower and walked into her bedroom to find him dressed and sitting on the bed, looking lost in thought. His head snapped up when he heard her and he rose to his feet. ‘I didn’t want to go without saying goodbye.’

  ‘You’re booked until Boxing Day.’

  He gave her a half smile. ‘I meant I didn’t want to slink off while you were in the shower. I know we’ll see each other around but, well.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I wanted to say thank you. Last night was … it meant a lot to me.’

  Her heart stirred, and even as she smiled and went to kiss him, fear rippled through her. How was a woman supposed to not lose at least some of her heart to a man who looked so physically commanding, yet had such a sweet awkwardness about him? ‘It meant a lot to me, too. I hope we can do it again.’

  He cupped her face, his expression serious. ‘You promised me a fling.’

  ‘So I did. A Christmas fling, I believe I said.’

  He gave her a slightly pained look. ‘Except for the obvious timing, is there anything different about a Christmas fling?’

  Before he left she was going to get to the bottom of why he hated Christmas so much. But not now. ‘I’m sure I can think of something,’ she replied teasingly. ‘Obviously we’ll have to kiss under the mistletoe.’

  ‘I can manage that.’

  ‘And as you don’t like mince pies we’ll have to find something else to gorge on while we drink whisky.’

  ‘I can push to a piece of stollen,’ he said stoically.

  ‘Excellent. How do you stand on eggnog?’

  He shuddered. ‘You can keep the sugar, eggs and cream. I’ll take the rum.’

  ‘Deal.’

  He bent, lifting her up so he could look her straight in the eyes. ‘Can I see you tonight?’

  ‘I’ll have the mistletoe ready.’

  As Faith walked towards the reception she felt flushed and breathless, and it wasn’t just from Adam’s final humdinger of a kiss. Yes, they’d spoken of a fling, but it was one thing to have the word mentioned in abstract. Another to have a firm agreement. To know that in around twelve hours they’d be getting naked and sweaty again together.

  She fanned herself as she strode past the huge Normandy fir, her secretive smile turning into a full-blown one when she saw her middle sister, Charity, waiting in the lobby. Trying to calm her fussing four-month-old.

  ‘What a lovely surprise.’ Charity looked up and immediately Faith felt a jolt. Charity looked terrible. Huge dark circles under her eyes, face far too pale. Chestnut hair that was usually so glossy, now looking lacklustre and hanging limply around her face. ‘What are you doing here so early? Is everything okay?’

  Charity gave her a tired smile as she moved Jack onto her shoulder and ran a soothing hand down his back. ‘Everything’s fine. This one woke us up early. Phil decided he might as well use the time to get some work done, so I thought I’d pop in and see how your new venture is going. I saw Mum and Dad in the car park. They said they were going home to check on things but now they’re staying with you till Christmas?’

  Faith rolled her eyes. ‘So they say. I’m not sure if it’s because they genuinely want to, or if they’re keeping an eye on me.’

  Charity kissed the top of Jack’s head as he started to cry. ‘Probably a bit of both. They did the same to me when this one was born. Maybe they don’t like to think we can manage without them.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got a child of your own to worry about now.’ Faith held out her arms. ‘Come on, let Auntie Faith have a cuddle.’

  Charity sighed and handed him over. ‘He’s not hungry, not wet. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.’

  Faith blew a raspberry against Jack’s soft cheek. ‘Teething?’

  ‘It’s early but yes, I guess it could be.’ Charity frowned. ‘When did you become a baby expert?’

  ‘I’m not, but I remember spending time with Holly when Chloe was about Jack’s age. Baby Chloe was really cranky and Holly kept telling me it was down to teething.’ Faith looked up after pulling another face at Jack. ‘Teenage Chloe can also be cranky, but now it’s down to hormones.’

  ‘Ouch.’ Charity glanced around the hotel lobby. ‘She’s not in yet?’

  Jack stopped crying and started gurgling. Delighted, Faith kissed his cute little nose. ‘She’ll be here in a bit. The bus is usually late.’ Once again, she studied her sister. ‘How much sleep did you get last night? And the night before that?’

  Charity made a pffing sound. ‘Sleep? What’s that?’

  Faith’s heart ached for her. ‘You look tired,’ she told her softly. ‘Why don’t you pop into my place and get your head down for a few hours. I’ll mind this one.’

  Charity looked like she didn’t dare to believe what she was hearing. ‘But you’re working. I didn’t come here to—’

  ‘I know,’ Faith cut in, squeezing her arm. ‘I’ll need to wake you up by 11.30 as I have a meeting with a potential guest. They’re looking for a place to hold a small New Year party.’ She glanced down at her watch. ‘But it gives you almost two and half hours to rest your eyes.’

  A gleam of delight crossed Charity’s tired face. ‘And that’s why you’re my favourite sibling.’

  ‘You say that to all of us.’ Suddenly Faith remembered the previous night, and what had happened on the same bed her sister was about to lie on. She felt her
cheeks burn as she rummaged in her pocket for the room key. ‘Umm, I hope I didn’t leave the place in too much of a mess.’

  ‘Oh, I’m used to messy …’ Charity tailed off as she studied Faith’s flushed face and her eyes rounded. ‘Bloody hell, Faith, you’ve had a man in there, haven’t you?’

  ‘I might have.’

  ‘Well, well, you’re a dark horse. Last time I spoke to you about men you said you didn’t have time for them.’

  ‘I don’t.’ Faith had never hidden things from her sister, and couldn’t see the point in trying to now. ‘This one kind of landed on my doorstep, so to speak.’

  If anything, her sister’s eyes grew wider. ‘You’re shagging one of your guests?’

  Faith hurriedly checked around her. ‘Jeez, why don’t you say that a bit louder? I’m not sure everyone heard you.’

  Charity blinked, and blinked again, a sly smile creeping across her face. ‘If I hang around here a bit longer will I get to meet him? Or is he flaked out in his room recovering from sexual exhaustion?’

  Faith shoved her sister towards the hall. ‘Go and sleep. I’ll fill you in later.’ She gently cupped her nephew’s head. ‘When young ears aren’t listening.’

  ‘I’m going to hold you to that.’ The tiredness she was obviously feeling crept up on her again and Charity yawned. ‘Sadly right now I’m too tired to even talk about sex, never mind consider doing it.’ She gave a little wave towards her son. ‘Be good for your aunt or she’ll never look after you again. And you’ll have blown any chance of siblings.’

  After watching her sister wearily walk away, Faith looked down into the round, blue eyes of her nephew. ‘So, little man. What am I going to do with you for the next few hours?’

  Adam allowed the hot water from the shower to pummel his exhausted muscles. He wasn’t just knackered from his morning work-out, he thought a touch smugly as he squirted soap onto his body – the same body Faith hadn’t been able to take her hands off last night. He’d forgotten how tiring late night sex marathons could be.