by Sylvia Fox
“Okay, come on.” Liam put his hands under my arms and hauled me to my feet, keeping me steady when my skis threatened to pull me under. He sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes for a brief moment before turned toward the blonde bombshell. “I’m sorry, Julianne. I need to get Callie back to the cabin. Rain check for tomorrow?”
“Sure.” She gave him a sweet but curious smile. She probably wondered what the hell he was doing helping a complete mess like me. And to honest, it was hard to blame her for that.
Liam gestured at my skis silently, a pointed command to take them off. With a sigh, I obeyed, and we began the trek down the slopes while skiers swooshed past us, happy and relaxed. Completely the opposite of me. Here I’d had the great idea of strolling up all casually, like a normal actual adult, and I’d come across like a klutzy child instead.
No wonder he’d shut me out this morning. How could a man like Liam want a girl like me?
Halfway down the slopes, Liam suddenly stopped and took my shoulders in his hands. “Callie, what the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that it’d be nice to talk to you,” I said. “You were frankly kind of an ass this morning, and I wanted to know what was going through your mind.”
“You wanted to know…” He shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “You really have no idea what’s going through my mind?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” My voice grew louder, and I propped my balled fists on my hips. I was getting angry now, not only at myself for being a massive moron but at him. For pretending to care. For dumping me the second he could and running off to spend the day with some random woman he’d probably only met this morning. “You were hot one minute, then cold the next. How could you treat me the way you did this morning after the night we spent together?”
“Your father showed up at the cabin this morning, Callie. How the hell did you expect me to act? Like some teenage boyfriend of yours who was there to meet your parents? I’m his best friend, for christ’s sake.”
“I thought…” I blinked hard. The last thing I wanted to do right now was cry. “After last night, I thought you would tell him about us.”
“Tell him about us?” Liam winced and dropped his head, his eyes cast onto the snowy ground. “Callie, there is no us. I thought you understood that we were just having a bit of fun to pass the time.”
“A bit of fun.” The words were a slap on the face, and it stung harder than any physical hit ever could. I’d been right. He was just like any other boy I’d ever met. Only Liam Cox was way worse. He’d pretended that there was more to him than that. He’d made me think he felt something for me when in fact, it had just been another twisted game.
“You and me, we were never going to be more than that.” He squeezed my shoulders. “I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. Surely you understand. I’m sixteen years older than you are and—”
“You didn’t seem to have a problem with that last night.”
Liam sucked in a sharp breath. He finally looked up then, and the coldness I’d seen in him earlier was gone, replaced by that scorching gaze that made me weak in the knees. Despite all of his words, despite all of his attempts to push me away, I knew right then that he still desired me no matter how hard he tried to deny it.
I put my hand on his chest. Through the thick material, I could feel his heart beating wildly against his ribs. With my own heart roaring in my ears, I took a step closer to him. The falling snow fell onto our faces, and one got caught on his lips. I pressed up onto my toes and kissed the spot where the snowflake melted on his skin. His entire body tensed.
“I can’t.” He stumbled back and looked around him wildly as if he expected my father to be peering at us from the bushes. “We can’t do this, Callie. We just can’t.”
And with that, he was gone.
Chapter Eleven
It was gift exchanging time, and I wanted to be anywhere other than where I was. My parents were sipping on egg nog, donned to the max in their festive outfits. My mom wore a reindeer sweater, bright red and gold. They seemed so happy to be in the cabin that I felt even more miserable than I did before. Something about their cheer made me sad, probably because I felt the total opposite.
Liam sat on the couch where we’d first had sex. It was hard to see him there now, refusing to look at me, his jaw clenched tight.
“Okay!” My mother clapped. “Time to open the presents! Callie, you’re up.”
As the only child in the cabin during our many years doing Christmas here, I’d always been the one to hand out the presents. In the past, I’d enjoyed feeling like I was personally giving the gifts myself. But I was grown now and humiliated from the heated exchange with Liam, and doing what I’d done as a kid only demoralized me even more.
With a tight smile, I grabbed the presents from under the massive tree and passed them to my parents. When it came to Liam, I dropped the heavy package into his lap. He grunted from the impact, but I didn’t apologize. Served him right for being an ass.
Mom’s eyes narrowed as I moved back to my chair, her eagle eye vision never missing a thing. But at this point, I didn’t care if she caught on. What harm could it really do? It wasn’t as if Liam wanted anything to do with me anymore.
“Callie, who would you like to go first?” Mom asked, her eyes flicking between me and Liam. He was as stony as ever, staring intently at the flickering fire. Did it remind him of our moments together? Or was he too busy thinking about his date with the blonde the next morning? Maybe he was counting the minutes until he could get away from us again.
“Liam,” I said. “Liam should go first.”
Liam gave me a tight smile and began to unwrap the heavy gift with the skill of a surgeon. When he pulled back the paper, my heart faltered for one brief moment. My parents had gifted him three bottles of wine, and every single one of them was the same label from the night before. It was purely a coincidence, but it didn’t stop the blood from draining from my face. For the rest of my life, I would forever associate that wine with Liam. And I couldn’t bear to think of him in another hot tub, on another night, drinking it with some other woman.
It was just too much to think about.
I abruptly stood from the chair, dropping my unopened present to the floor.
“Callie, hon…” My mom frowned up at me as I backed out of the living room, desperate for an escape from this horrible situation. “What’s wrong?”
“I just remembered that I promised to meet someone at the lodge tonight for a drink.” I cleared my throat and glanced away, hoping she couldn’t see the lie in my eyes. “I’ve gotta go.”
I fled into the cool night, blinking back the tears that had bubbled up inside me. The air felt crisp and cold, and it cleared some of the cobwebs cloaking my thoughts. My parents would wonder what the hell had gotten into me, but I’d just deal with that later. Right now, I had to get away from Liam. And it pained me that this wonderful holiday escape in the beautiful mountains would be forever marred by what we’d done.
I never wanted to come back here.
Our holidays would never be the same.
We’d made such a horrible, horrible mistake.
But even though it felt like we’d ruined everything, a part of me wanted to hold onto it as tight as I could. I wouldn’t have changed it, no matter how much it hurt.
“Callie.” Mom stepped out onto the front porch. Panic gripped my heart, and I had the momentary urge to flee into the night. But she dropped a hand on my arm and squeezed, nodding her head like she understand everything that was going through my mind. “You don’t need to explain. I know.”
My heart thundered hard. “What do you mean you know?”
“My sweet, sweet girl.” She smiled and pressed my hair behind my ear. “You’ve never been very good at hiding your emotions, and I have to say that Liam isn’t being particularly subtle himself. Something happened between you two. It’s clear as the snow on the ground.”
“Mom, I can explain.” I shook my head, fear overtaking the pain in my heart. Even though it didn’t matter, truly, whether or not she knew, I still felt protective toward Liam, as much as I hated the thought. Dad would go insane if he’d spotted the tension between us like my mother had.
“You don’t need to explain. And neither does he. Not to me, at least.” She sighed, but she didn’t look angry or upset. She seemed to accept it the way she did everything else in the world. With grace and poise and an open mind. Too bad my dad wasn’t the same way.
“Not to anyone.” A tear slid down my cheek. “He’s made it clear that it was…just a bit of fun.”
I hated using those words.
“I see. Is that why you ran out of the living room like a bat out of hell?”
“I just can’t do it, Mom.” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t sit in there with him, not when I feel like this.”
“Well, then you go do what you need to do.” She smiled at me. “But when you’re ready to talk more, I’ll be here.”
Chapter Twelve
The lodge bar was brutally empty. Everyone else staying on the mountain had gone back to their lives, busy spending time with their families for the holidays. Luckily, the bar had decided to stay open a few hours longer, so I was making the most of it. As soon as I went back to the cabin, I knew I’d have to face Liam once again, and this time, my mother’s knowing look.
I ordered another glass of wine and fought the urge to guzzle it down when the bartender slid it across the wooden bar top.
“So, tell me.” He leaned his elbows onto the bar and cocked his head. “What are you doing hanging around here all by yourself on Christmas?”
Sighing, I tipped back my head and gulped down the wine after all. “I’m avoiding someone.”
“Let me guess.” He topped up my wine. “This someone is tall, dark, and handsome.”
“Ding, ding, ding!” I reached for the glass, but the bartender slid it just out of my grasp. “What are you doing that for?”
“Just another question. Does this someone look like he can power lift an elephant or two?”
“Yes. Why?”
Was he teasing me over my broken heart or something? I couldn’t tell. If so, that was pretty rude! I opened my mouth, emboldened by the wine, but he shook his head for me to be quiet.
He flicked his gaze behind me before nodding toward the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on the snowy hills. “I think your tall, dark, and handsome dude is out there waiting for you.”
What?
I twisted on the bar stool, almost toppling over. Hope flickered in my heart despite myself.
But the bartender hadn’t been wrong.
Out in the snow, Liam Cox stood waiting for me. He leaned against a horse-drawn carriage, arms crossed over his bulky chest, a lopsided smile on his ruggedly-handsome face. The horse stomped its foot in the snow and neighed, sending shivers along my skin. Liam beckoned at me with the flick of his finger, and my body responded before my mind did.
I pushed up from the stool and walked dumbfounded out the door.
Snow fell softly from a dark sky overhead, and the horse stomped the ground again, spraying Liam’s shoes with wet chunks of ice. I glanced behind him at the carriage. It was dark red and welcoming, soft seats empty and waiting for someone to climb inside. A man in a Santa costume sat in front, waiting quietly with the reins in his hand.
This couldn’t be happening. This was a dream. Right?
“What’s going on?” I asked in a whisper, looking up into Liam’s dark eyes.
“Climb into the carriage, and I’ll explain.” He shot me a smile, brilliant but nervous at the same time. What the hell had happened in the two or three hours I’d been gone from the cabin? How had Liam ended up here? With a Santa and a carriage and a hopeful look on his face?
“Are you serious?”
“Very much so.” He held out a hand and lifted me into the carriage. Liam followed behind me and settled onto the leather seat, patting the spot by his side. I sunk into the soft material and tried to calm the rapid beating of my heart.
“Do my parents know you’re here?” I asked.
“Yes.” He squeezed my knee before leaning forward to whisper something to the driver. And then we were off, shooting across the slopes. The horse galloped faster than I had expected, and I had to cling to Liam out of fear that I might topple right out of the carriage and fall into a heap on the snow-covered ground. Liam just laughed and held my hand, his thumb rubbing circles on my skin. His touch felt electric, tender. And confusing as hell.
Only hours before he’d been running away from me.
“What’s going on, Liam?” I asked, trying to pry an explanation out of him. But he remained silent, that goofy smile still lifting up the corners of his lips. After several moments, the Santa driver slowed the carriage to a stop in a small clearing on the side of the mountain, the very same spot where Liam and I had argued earlier that day.
Santa tipped back his red velvet hat and disappeared into the woods.
“Liam.”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to my lips, and I froze, startled by the feel of his hands on me again. “Let me explain before you say anything more. There’s a reason I brought you here, and I need to speak my mind.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
He took his finger away, and I ached to bring it back to my lips, to kiss him, to taste him, to feel him touching every inch of me again. But instead of losing control of myself, I waited patiently, my hands tucked into my coat and my heart held tight in my chest.
“I was an idiot before.” He ruffled his hair and sighed, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry, Callie. For saying what happened between us didn’t matter. For hurting you. For making you feel as if I didn’t want you.”
He scooted closer to me and took my hands in his. “The truth is, what happened between us yesterday meant far more to me than just a bit of fun. I’ve never…well, as crazy as it sounds, I’ve never felt like this before in my life. And it scared me, Callie. It scared me because of who you are and what you mean to the only people in my life I consider family. Your mother and your father, they’ve been so good to me. And how did I repay them? By taking their only daughter’s virginity. How could I risk losing them?”
I nodded. I understood. As much as it pained me to admit it, he had good reasons for turning away from me, and I felt selfish for not seeing them myself. He was a permanent fixture in my parent’s life, and I realized now that he needed that. Because he thought he didn’t have anyone else.
“I’m sorry I misjudged you, Liam,” I said, squeezing back. “I was being selfish, wanting you all to myself. I hope…well, I hope whatever happened at the cabin wasn’t too awful.”
“The last thing you need to do is apologize to me, Callie.” Liam wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest, making my whole body tremble. Why was he doing this? He’d just explained why we couldn’t be together, and yet he was holding onto me like I was a lifeline in the center of the darkest of storms. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Did something happen at the cabin?” I asked, my voice muffled against his chest.
“Well, it turns out your mother is the most observant woman alive, but I already knew that.” He chuckled, the total opposite reaction of what I would have expected. “I should have known she’d see right through my desperate attempts of hiding the way I feel about you. She decided we should have a chat, and your dad overheard. I thought they would both throw me out on my ass, but they surprised me. They told me to go after you and make things right. So…here I am.”
“The way you feel about me?” My heart thumped harder.
“I’m head over heels for you, Callie. Can’t you see that?” Liam pulled back and searched my eyes for signs that I believed his words. And I answered him the only way I knew how. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him close, pressing my lips against his. His mouth parted, and his tongue sli
pped into mine, needy and demanding.
We kissed like that for long, glorious moments, sitting in a horse-drawn carriage in the snow. My heart felt so full it might burst, and all the fear and pain I’d felt disappeared into the cold night air. Not only did Liam care for me the way I cared for him, but he’d made it a public declaration by showing up in the carriage, and it would go down in history as the best night of my life.
Liam lifted me onto his lap and kissed my neck. Shivers coursed along my skin, but it wasn’t from the cool air. Everything inside me yearned for his touch, for me to show him exactly how he made me feel. His hands dipped lower and lower before they rested on my zipper. My eyes widened as he pulled it down and slid his fingers against my thighs.
“We’re outside.” But I gasped when he dipped two fingers into my pussy, as my juices began to flow. His other hand snaked up inside my shirt, and he squeezed my nipple hard as I began to ride on his hand. At any moment, we could get caught, but that thought alone sent a delicious thrill through my veins. I’d always known there was something more to Liam Cox, and now I was finally finding out what that was.
He liked the thrill of getting caught.
And as it turned out, so did I.
Another finger joined his two, spreading my walls as wide as they could go. I moaned aloud, throwing all caution into the cold night wind. Liam looked at me hotly, his eyes swirling with an eager passion, but he didn’t stop to pull out his cock quite yet. Instead, he continued to fuck me with his fingers until I writhed against him, shuddering from the intensity of the orgasm that shook through me.
When my breaths finally calmed, he pulled out his rod, thick and twitching with anticipation. I wanted to take him as deep as I could, to have him fill me up to the very brink. And when he plunged his dick into my folds, I opened my mouth and screamed. God, he felt good. Too good. I was already seconds away from another mind-blowing orgasm. My clit ground against his crotch as I rode harder and faster on top of him, and the pleasure was almost more than I could take.
