Escaping Christmas (Contemporary Romance)

by Charlotte Ashwood

  “Angie?” Startled from her thoughts, Angie lifted her eyes to look into Alex’s. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded absentmindedly, suddenly aware that Alex was still hard beneath her. Just like that, she was horny all over again. Some trace of what she was thinking must have shown on her face because his eyes turned dark and his pupils dilated. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and his eyes moved to her mouth, transfixed. And though she didn’t think it possible, she felt him get harder.

  “I’m better than okay,” she said, replying to his earlier question. She felt reckless. She wanted him to take her to a place where the pain of the past year had no power over her. With Alex, she knew that she would have some respite from her tormented thoughts. Her hand trailed to his belt buckle and brushed lightly against his erection. “I’m ready to play.”

  Amusement lined his eyes. “Are you now?” he teased, and then turned serious. “Angie, I am going to make love to you. I’m going to bury myself deep inside you so that when you come I will feel every single tremor. I want to hear you scream, and I want to see your face when you come for me.”

  Angie felt her chest tighten and she was struggling for air. She opened her mouth to reply but found her voice was not working. She cleared her throat and tried again.

  “I’d like that very much,” she answered politely, even though there was nothing polite about the way he was looking at her, or about the thoughts going through her head, for that matter.

  “Do you have condoms?”

  Condoms?As in more than one? How many times did he intend to do it? She felt a thrill shoot through her.

  “I’m not sure, let me check,” she said, as she got up and headed for the bathroom.

  She hadn’t bothered to pack condoms because she had not come to Kuala Lumpur to have an affair. She’d actually run as far away from Boston as her legs could carry her, far away from Christmas and the memory of that day. Oh, no, she thought as she shook her head, she was not going to go there. This moment was for oblivion, for getting away from hurtful thoughts.

  In the bathroom she searched through the medicine cabinet and felt a huge wave of relief when she found a pack of condoms. What was her mother-in-law doing with a pack of condoms in here? On second thought, she didn’t want to know. She peered at herself in the mirror and took stock.

  She’d always thought her neck was too long, but considering what she’d gone through she was just grateful she even had a neck, so to speak. She still had nightmares about that night, when she’d lost her husband and was left hovering between life and death for several weeks. As soon as she was lucid enough to realize she wasn’t going to die, she’d wept until there was nothing left. She’d spent last Christmas unconscious at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the months afterward in therapy. The thought of facing another Christmas in Boston had been too much, and her mother-in-law had taken pity on her.

  Holding on to the edges of the sink, Angie took a deep, calming breath. She did not want to think about the accident, she did not want to think about her marriage and she most certainly did not want to think about her mother-in-law. She felt alive in a way she hadn’t in a year, maybe longer, and there was a man there with a raging hard-on waiting for her. She smirked. Who used the word raging outside of a romance novel, anyway? Shaking her head, she ran her fingers through her pale blond hair then over her body and felt a thrill rush through her when she encountered the taut tips on her chest. She was going to have this one night with the sexy Alex Farhadi. Maybe hot sex with a sweet and sexy stranger was just what she needed to forget the past and move on with her life. She was going to create new memories. With that thought, she smoothed the folds of her dress, picked up the box of condoms and walked out.

  Chapter Four

  Angie led Alex to the master bedroom. They were barely inside before he caught hold of her hand and drew her to him in a hot, passionate kiss, using his body to push the door shut. Burying her fingers in his curly hair, Angie gave herself up to the sensations swirling through her body as she pressed into him. Taking her hands out of his hair, she ran them over his broad shoulders and his back, then brought them up to his hair again.

  Alex moved his hands along her spine and down to her backside, pressing his erection against her. He turned her around so she was leaning against the door and broke the kiss to nibble on her earlobe while he explored under her short sundress. His fingers brushed softly against her bare skin, and when they encountered the rounded flesh of her bottom, a shudder went through him. She was wearing a thong.

  “Angie, you are so damn sexy,” he whispered raggedly.

  Angie moaned and felt her knees give way beneath her when he pushed aside the thin scrap of silk that was her panties and slipped a finger inside her moist center. Waves of lust coursed through her, and she held on to Alex as though she was drowning. She angled her head and bit down hard on his neck. His moan sent rockets of desire shooting through her veins. This was unlike anything she’d ever experienced, and she had been with her fair share of men. But she had never felt the kind of desperation she felt when Alex slipped a second finger into her. She moaned and cried out in frustration. She was so close.

  Alex found the tiny nub and rubbed it gently. Angie couldn’t hold back her cry. She began to pant as she felt the waves cresting. “Alex.” She panted his name over and over. He slipped in a third finger, brought them all out once and pushed them inside her again. Suddenly the walls of her sex contracted, spasm after spasm hitting her as she climaxed.

  Alex held her as she convulsed and pressed kisses to her face, her hair, her neck, before taking her lips. “God, you are like a live wire,” he teased, his voice warm with amusement.

  Angie buried her face in his neck and groaned. “You do things to me,” she muttered.

  He held her away from him so he could look into her eyes. “How long has it been?”

  She darted her eyes away from the intensity in his. Was she ready for this? Then she sighed. The man had already brought her to two fantastic orgasms and she still had her clothes on.

  “It’s been a year,” she replied reluctantly.

  She looked at him but his face showed no reaction. “You haven’t been with anyone since you lost your husband,” he said quietly.

  It wasn’t really a question, but she nodded anyway. “I haven’t really wanted to.”

  He closed his eyes briefly and smiled. “Aw, babe, you’ll give me a swollen head before we’re done.”

  An answering smile tipped Angie’s lips upward. She reached down and cupped his erection through his cotton pants.

  “I thought you already had a swollen head.” She pressed the tip and smirked when his eyes turned smoky. She placed her free hand on his chest and could feel the erratic pounding of his heart. It echoed hers. “Well, we need to do something about this.” She rubbed him gently but firmly.

  Alex groaned, and his hands moved up to her nape. He pulled her close, their lips almost touching. “You do intend to kill me, I see.”

  “Kiss me, Alex,” she murmured, feeling the fire start in her once more.

  They quickly removed their clothes, and Angie caught herself staring at Alex’s manhood. Michelangelo’s David had nothing on him, she thought in wonder. Her lips suddenly felt parched, and she brought out her tongue to lick them.

  “What?”

  “You are…” She waved her hands toward him then took a deep breath. “You are exceptionally well-endowed.”

  He choked on a laugh then wrapped his arms around her. “You are great for my ego.” He stepped back and stared at her, then almost reverently reached out to cup her breast. “You are beautiful,” he said simply.

  Angie stared into his eyes, into the fire burning in their depths. And they were burning for her, Angie Scot. She shook her head in wonder before taking the hand that was on her breast. She smiled at his confused look.

  “This one is for you.” She led him to the huge king-size bed and pushed him gently into a sittin
g position, then knelt between his open thighs.

  Alex’s eyes flared when he realized what she was about to do. “You don’t have to do this, Angie,” he said, his voice gruff.

  She smiled at him and ran the tip of her index finger over the length of his erection. “Oh, I know,” she said softly, gently giving the capped head a squeeze. She smiled to herself as he let out a groan filled with need. “But I can’t wait to see you lose control.”

  Alex woke up, already half-aroused as he lay still in the moonlight. Without looking at the time he knew it was 2:00 a.m. He woke up at that time every night. If he did not have a companion, he did some work. He rolled to his side and stared at the still form of the sleeping woman beside him. Angie Scot had blown away all his expectations; she had loved like it was her last night on earth, holding nothing back. In the same way, she had demanded all he had to give, and he still hadn’t had enough. She had said she wanted him to lose control, and he’d mentally scoffed; he never lost control. Boy, was he wrong.

  He could still feel the sensation of her lips when she’d taken him into her mouth. She’d used her tongue, gently grazing the underside of his shaft with her teeth. By the time she’d taken her mouth off him, he’d been blind and deaf to everything except the need to have her. He had taken her roughly, pounding into her like a man possessed, and she’d encouraged him, taking everything he gave and giving it back to him.

  He shifted uncomfortably, knowing he was hard again. He was beginning to think he would never have enough of this woman, and the thought disturbed him. It would be a mistake to fall for Angie, especially since she would be leaving so soon. Alex had been through something like this before, when the only woman he had ever come close to falling in love with had left him for her ex-husband. He’d learned the hard way to be cautious in love and he had a gut feeling that Angie Scot could hurt him deeply if he wasn’t careful.

  He needed to get some space between them, get back to his apartment. But his hands seemed to have a different idea, because they reached out and trailed over the delicate satin of her skin. She sighed and snuggled closer to him. He would go back to his apartment soon, but he needed to taste her first.

  He raised himself up, resting on one hand as he watched her wake up. “Hey.”

  Angie stared up at him, a blank look on her face. She blinked, and her cheeks flooded with color. Then she gave him a bright smile. “Hi.”

  Alex ran his fingers through her hair and leaned down to kiss her. They broke for air, and he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her closer as he settled comfortably on the bed. “What’s the time?” she asked, her voice husky from sleep and desire.

  “It should be a few minutes past two.”

  She raised her head slightly to peer at him in the moonlight-filled room. “How do you know?”

  He shrugged then turned to the clock by her bedside. “There, it’s 2:17. Happy now?” he said teasingly.

  She shook her head and lay back on the crook of his arm. “Why are you up?”

  “My internal clock wakes me up around 2:00 a.m. each day.”

  “Two o’clock in the morning every day?” she asked in wonder.

  “Every single day.”

  Alex could practically see the wheels turning in her head. He wondered if she was going to let it go, and what he was going to do if she decided not to.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  Damn, she wasn’t going to drop it. He sighed and shifted so he could stare at the ceiling. Where did he begin?

  “Well, when my parents died, we were taken to my grandfather’s. My sister and I were just kids, and settling down with Grandfather wasn’t easy.”

  “Was he mean to you?” she asked.

  He paused, and she got the impression he was searching for the right words. “Yes, he was mean. But he was also from a different age. An age where one didn’t show emotions, and you had to be strong, no matter what. So we were forbidden to cry.”

  “How old were you?” she asked.

  “I was nine years old. Farrah was only four.”

  “What happened to your parents?” she asked gently.

  “They were returning from a formal function when they crashed and were killed. We were woken up that night and hustled to our grandfather’s house. There was this great grandfather clock in the foyer of his house. We were brought there, and I guess the person who brought us must have left. So there we were, two frightened kids waiting for someone to show up, when the clock chimed twice.”

  Angie struggled to hide her sympathy for the little children who had been abandoned. She sensed that was the last thing he wanted. So instead she shook her head in wonder.

  “You don’t even sound bitter,” she said.

  He shrugged. “What purpose would that serve? What’s done is done, and I’m a better person for it.”

  She was silent for a long time, thinking about what he’d just said. Would there ever be a time when she could forgive her husband for what he had done and move on with her life? Probably, but she couldn’t see that day on the horizon.

  “Hey, are you sleeping?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied in a subdued voice. “So what do you do?”

  “I’m an architect.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  They were both silent for a while.

  “Well?”

  She turned to look at his profile. “Well, what?”

  “Won’t you tell me what you do?”

  Angie stiffened against him. “Nothing.”

  He pulled back to look at her with curiosity. “What do you mean by nothing?”

  She shrugged then tried to scoot away, but he held fast. So she took a deep breath and shrugged again. “It means that I am unemployed right now and I don’t do a single damn thing. I am a lady of leisure.”

  Alex wasn’t fooled by her light tone. The woman in his arms was such a mystery, and even after a passion-filled night of sex he was nowhere close to unraveling her secrets. He decided to let things be for now and instead asked a more pressing question. “How long are you in KL for?”

  “As long as I want.”

  He wasn’t satisfied. “What is the return date on your ticket?”

  She was silent for a while before reluctantly replying, “January sixth.”

  That meant they had less than two weeks. He suddenly forgot all the reasons he needed to put space between them and instead began to plot how he could keep her as close as possible for the next eleven days. “Will you spend that time with me?”

  “Alex, I like you and all that, and this night has been fantastic, but…” She trailed off.

  He framed her face with both hands and looked intently into eyes made darker by the moonlight. “Please?”

  She caught her lower lip between her teeth and frowned, then heaved a sigh. “Oh, all right. I’ll spend the time with—umf.”

  He swallowed the rest of her words with a kiss so sinful her toes curled. The kiss soon became even more heated, and Alex’s hands moved to the delicate curve of her backside, urging her closer to him. Angie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gasped into his mouth when the tips of her nipples pressed up against his rough chest.

  “Condom!” she reminded him with a gasp. After making sure he was sheathed, she pushed him down and quickly climbed on top of him.

  Hot and ready, she gently lowered herself onto his throbbing erection. She closed her eyes and moaned; the sensations were almost overwhelming. Sitting still, she let the waves wash over her before she opened her eyes and caught Alex’s gaze. Slowly, she began to move. She raised her body until his tip was hovering around the lips of her center, then she slammed down on him.

  Alex groaned, instinctively bucking as he lifted his hips to meet her. She repeated the movement and he gasped in pleasurable agony. He wanted to hurry her up but this was her show and he decided to let her run it. Besides, he could see the urgency building in her and he wanted to watch her come.

&nb
sp; He held on to her hips as she began a rocking motion, her sexy moans driving him wild. Finally, when he felt like he could not take another moment of torture, he felt her muscles tighten around his shaft. He raised his head and watched as her face twisted with passion. Bringing a hand to her breast, he pinched her nipple and watched her spiral out of control. She threw her head back and screamed out his name. She was exquisite, the most beautiful woman he had ever met.

  Just then the force of his own climax hit him; he shouted her name as he came.

  Gathering Angie into his arms, Alex felt the tremors go through her body, and a warm feeling he couldn’t identify rose up within him. As his eyelids drifted downward with sleep, he suddenly realized that the feeling was tenderness.

  Chapter Five

  It was New Year’s Day, and Angie couldn’t believe how much had changed in a single week. She’d spent Christmas Day walking the length and breadth of the Kuala Lumpur City Center Mall, trying her damndest to forget everything that had to do with that celebration. She’d been holed up when the New Year had broken, too, but the despondency had been noticeably absent, thanks to Alex.

  She felt her face warm up as she thought of him. They’d spent almost every moment together, making love. They had done it in practically every room of the apartment and on almost every surface. Up against the wall in the shower, on the breakfast bar where they had shared that container of ice cream, on the sofa in the living room… They couldn’t get enough of each other. Standing by the window in her bedroom, staring at the Petronas Twin Towers in the horizon, Angie was beginning to think she would never get enough of Alex. And that scared her beyond belief.

  She was not ready to trust another man after what Michael had put her through. She felt the bitterness rise as she thought back to those months after she’d left the hospital. She hadn’t just lost a husband. As her fractured ribs and punctured kidney had mended, she’d come to the painful realization that she’d never had him. But what had hurt the most was not Michael’s perfidy, or even the fact that she’d lost the man she’d been married to for all of three months. No, that wasn’t what had devastated her, sucking away her will to live. Losing her husband had hurt her. Realizing he was never who she’d thought he was had shattered her trust. But waking up to find that the business she had slaved away to build was no more, that had been the total knockout. What a fool she’d been.