by Vivian Lux
"Your ass looks fantastic," he growled stepping forward and cupping his hands against it. "But it looks even better with your clothes off.”
He backed me into the house, his lips already at my throat. I was laughing, and gasping at the same time, and even though desire coursed through me, I was careful not to mess up his shirt, or his pants. This time I threw them carefully onto the couch instead of on to the floor.
He noticed, and gave me a wry smile, before going to his knees. He pressed my back up against the wall, and pulled my legs free of my jeans. “Right here, baby," he said, patting his shoulders. “You wanted a date night? Well there's nowhere else I want to be than right in there."
I wrapped my legs around his head. "Aren't you suffocating baby?"
"If I do," he said, his voice muffled. "Then I’ll die happy. And I won't have too far to get to get to heaven."
My laugh was cut short by a gasp when his tongue met my center, sliding against me with an incredible heat. I arched upward reaching out to grab a hold of something, anything, and in the process I knocked all the cookbooks off the counter and sent them crashing to the floor.
Derek didn't even budge. He worked like a man possessed, his thumb and fingers finding parts of me that somehow still hadn’t been awakened, and by the time the orgasm tore through me, I was screaming his name.
He stood back up again, covering my mouth with his, filling my nostrils with the scent of me that still clung on his stubble. "You ready to go?" he said.
I felt slightly faint, dizzy with desire. "Where are we going?"
He looked me up and down. "Well, I can't believe I'm asking you to cover that body up, but you need to dress warm."
I grinned. "You want me to put clothes on?" I teased sliding my hands down his chest to close my fingers around his cock.
His eyes darkened still further. "Well," he said in a low voice that thrilled through my spine. "Maybe not yet. They don’t light the tree until it gets dark.”
I pushed him back. “Wait, the tree? You’re taking me to the tree-lighting?”
He growled a little, pushing himself against me. “Did I say that? I don’t remember saying that.”
“Derek!” I clapped my hands together in glee. “I haven’t been to the town tree lighting since I was a little girl!”
He sighed and pulled back, rolling his eyes. “I know. I thought you’d like to see it.”
“Are they doing the Santa house?”
“Mr. Banner’s beard is at peak Santa, I hear. Though I don’t want you sitting in that old lech’s lap. If you want any presents this Christmas, there’s only one lap you need to sit on.” He cupped his groin firmly.
I wrinkled my nose. “Don’t be gross, it’s Christmas-time.” I pressed my fingertips to my lips. “I’m so excited, why am I so excited?”
He looped his arm into mine. “Because it’s a chance to do it all over again, and do it right this time?”
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “You know everything, don’t you?”
“I know I love you.”
“That works out well, because I really, really love you.”
Derek drove us into town, and even though I checked several times, I did not see him anxiously clench the steering wheel. Not even a little bit. Not even when we rounded the bend where I knew the accident had happened. Jesse had even come up to the house and his daughter had built a snowman on the lawn. If he knew who’d designed the prosthetic that allowed him to walk upright around the carriage house, he didn’t let on, but I thought I’d caught him staring thoughtfully into Derek’s workshop before he’d left.
The lights were wound around the trunks of the trees that lined Main Street. Only a few had lost branches in the freak October storm, unable to handle both the weight of the snow and their unfallen leaves. The town had come and hewn off the jagged branches, and the trees were twisted into new shapes under the blanket of freshly fallen snow. Some things changed but some things stayed the same.
“Do you mind walking?” Derek asked. “I’m not sure we’re going to find parking. I think the whole town is out for this.”
He was right. As we rolled slowly through town, I saw one familiar face after another. Charlie, the sweet but overworked hostess at Bob and Lou’s diner must have had off today, because I saw her hurrying down the street with a bundled up baby in her arms. Mr. Melton, old and crotchety but still spry as ever, was grumbling his way through the crowd, his scowl twisted permanently downward. I saw Mrs. Collis, the formidable old English teacher scowling at me from across the street. And I thought I spied Xavier and Steve walking hand in hand towards the town square, but the disappeared into the crowd before I could call to them.
“Let’s park now, we’re going to miss it!” I exclaimed, bouncing in my seat like an overexcited child.
Derek pulled off the glittering Main Street and found parking back behind the shops. He came round and opened my door and helped me to my feet. “I’m glad you’re wearing sensible boots,” he observed. “No tripping and falling tonight, okay?”
I scowled at him, and he laughed and suddenly I was laughing with him because I was so damn happy. I clutched my purse to my side. For a second I thought I felt my phone vibrating, but I didn’t give a crap once Derek pulled me close to him.
“Oh,” I breathed as I rounded the corner. “It’s so beautiful!”
“Not even half as beautiful as you,” he said, slinging his arm over my shoulder and leading me to the square.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Derek
I kept discovering new things that I loved about this woman. This evening, I discovered just how much she loved Christmas.
As we strolled along with the crowd, I felt myself walking straighter with Aria on my arm, my chest puffing out just a little bit with pride. Instead of wanting to hide away from the eyes around me, I found myself squaring my shoulders and returning the smiles of greeting that were directed our way.
The main square was already crowded with throngs of happy people milling about as they waited for it to get dark enough to light the tree. “Here looks like a good spot,” I told Aria, helping her climb up onto one of the brick planters that lined the square. “Can you see?”
“I can see everything!” she squealed, turning in a full circle. Her eyes were shining so bright they could be mistaken for Christmas lights.
“Hey,” I said. When she turned to me I wasn’t sure what it was I wanted to say. Maybe start off with some speech about how she’d changed me, how I’d never felt happier or more complete.
“What’s up?” she asked.
As I looked at her, one of the dancing snowflakes alighted on her face - a perfect pointed crystal - before the heat of her cheeks burnt it away to a droplet that rolled like a tear down her face. Whatever I was about to say fled my brain and I was left utterly fucking speechless.
She turned to look across the square, eyes shining. "Wow," was all she said.
I looked where she was looking. Our town’s Christmas tree came from Abbott’s farm, a thirty-foot tall spruce they dragged in using Mr. Melton’s skid steer. I couldn’t imagine what a giant pain in the ass it was to get that thing down here, much less string it up with all those lights, but looking at it through her eyes all I could see was the wonder of it all. Each light that danced in her eyes reflected back at me even more brightly than they shone on the tree. “Holy shit. You’re beautiful," I said.
She sort of froze in place, looking at me sidelong, like she wasn't sure if she'd heard me right. I wasn't sure if she'd heard me right either, the words had sort of just slipped out without a meaning to say them. It was like they bubbled up out of me, overflowing, unable to be contained any longer. "You're beautiful," I repeated. “And I love you. You take my goddamn breath away."
My frozen lips met her frozen cheek and she turned to kiss me full on the mouth there on top of the planter, in front of everybody. But everyone was looking at the tree, so it was our own private moment there above
everything. I kissed her harder, and now each flake that landed on our skin almost sizzled. “Should we head back?” I murmured into her mouth.
“Ummm,” she moaned, squirming against me. “I want to…but the tree!”
“I’ll get you your own Christmas tree. I’ll go out in the woods and chop it down myself, I swear to god, just come home with me right now before I tear your clothes off in public.” I pressed my lips to that pulse on her neck and found it was beating as rapidly as my own heart.
“You make a convincing argument,” she moaned, twining her fingers in mine. “Let’s go.”
I turned to leap right off the planter, but at that moment there was a shout and then the sound of protests and the scrape of boots on the ground as people struggled to keep their footing. I jumped back up onto the planter and looked out over the crowd to see a figure making a beeline towards us, parting the crowd with shouts and rough shoves, “Who the fuck is that asshole?” I wondered out loud.
Next to me, I felt Aria’s whole body stiffen.
I turned to look at her. “Aria?”
All the color had drained from her cheeks and the light was gone from her eyes. She looked at me, dull and colorless and it freaked me the fuck out to see her this way. “Aria?” I asked, a frantic note sounding in my voice. “Who the hell is that? What do you see?”
“There you are, Jane,” a roughly accented voice shouted from the square. “I’ve been looking for you!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Aria Jane
I’d been so happy that he’d been easy to ignore. Seven years together, and I had nearly forgotten he existed.
Killian.
The first nonsensical thought that went through my brain when I recognized him was, God, he looks like shit I wonder if he’s having trouble sleeping again.
Then my next, more coherent thought was, What the hell is he doing here?
That is the third thought, coming roaring on like a freight train - a sucker punch to the gut - was, he's here for me.
It was like he could sense I was happy, and content, and feeling good about myself. Lord knows he couldn't let that happen.
It's a strange thing, seeing your past come stumbling and shouting right up to your present. Derek leaped down from the planter and stepped in front of me, swinging out a protective arm and pushing me right back behind him. He was trying to shield me, I knew that, but there was something he didn't understand.
I didn’t need to be protected from Killian.
Killian needed to be protected from me.
Anger, the pent-up rage of seven years of mistreatment, seven years of putting myself on the back burner for him, and for what? To be discarded, to be made a fool of in front of all of our fans? All that rage boiled up until it erupted like a volcano.
"You motherfucker!" I shouted.
The force of my rage made Killian step back on his tracks. Several heads turned in our direction and I heard a murmur rise up from the crowd. For a second I thought Killian would shout at me.
But then, just like always, he ignored me.
His eyes slid right past me, deciding I wasn't worth the effort, and instead they landed on Derek.
“Now I know why you haven't been returning my texts or calls," Killian smirked. Derek moved a little more in front of me, his face inches from Killian now. I could see his fists balling at his sides, but his shoulders were loose. Ready to swing.
Ready to fight.
"This? Really?” Killian laughed out loud. "I figured you’d flaked out on me again, Jane, but I didn't think you'd be out boning some slack-jawed yokel.” He narrowed his eyes. "Are you understanding me there, Cletus? Should I talk a little more slowly here?"
"Nah,” Derek said, and only Killian's arrogance allowed him to ignore the danger in that voice. “I’m understanding you loud and clear."
"Yeah? So maybe you should understand this. Jane is leaving, right now.” He finally deigned to turn in my direction. “You’re coming back with me, you hear me? Enough of this sulking like a spoiled baby."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, Killian!" I shouted. More heads were turning. I could hear the murmurs of alarm running through the crowd.
But Killian, as cocky and assured of his star power as ever, didn't even notice the growing disconcertion that was surrounding him. He was too focused on getting what he wanted.
Me, back under his thumb.
"You heard her," Derek said slowly. "She's not going anywhere with you. So get the fuck out of my town."
“Ha!” Killian snorted. "I could buy and sell this whole backwater hellhole. In fact, I might do that, just to prove you've got no say in this. Jane is coming home with me."
Derek lifted his chin, and stepped in closer, eye to eye with Killian. This physical dissimilarity was striking. Killian was whip thin, that long body of his looking puny standing in front of a real man. Derek was broad shouldered, his hands were huge, his back well-muscled and strong. If Killian had any idea what he was up against he would turn tail and run away screaming, but his arrogance had him still believing he had the upper hand. "She's not going anywhere with you," Derek repeated"
"I don't give a fuck what you say, Cletus," Killian snapped. He looked over Derek’s shoulder. "Jane…” he called warningly.
"Her name,” snarled Derek, balling his fist. “Is Aria!”
Several things happened at once. There was a struggle and then a sharp whooshing sound of air being forced from lungs. And then Derek had Killian by the shirt collar as Killian swung wildly about his head. But Derek paid no more attention to the blows he was landing then he would to a fly buzzing uselessly around. The two were shouting at each other, but the blood was pumping so loudly in my ears I couldn't hear a single thing. Instead, I launched myself, ready to scratch Killian's eyes out with my nails when I suddenly felt a hand at my waistband tugging me backwards.
"Yo!" A voice thundered.
I looked down to see Jesse Klingman forcing his chair right in between the two of them. Killian fell back, eyes glazing, ready to launch himself at this new interloper, then he blinked at the wheelchair and stopped.
"Try me, motherfucker," Jesse said. “I’m at the perfect angle to punch you straight in the nuts.”
“You’d better leave Derek Granger the fuck alone!” came another voice. I whirled to see Will Abbott shouldering his way through the crowd. Behind him came a burly looking man I didn’t recognize, but the stiff way he walked told me exactly what he had at stake in this fight.
“I’ll fucking beat you with my fake leg!” the burly man rumbled. Then he turned to Derek. “You’ll make me a new one if I do, right?”
Derek stared, open-mouthed. “Sure,” he muttered.
“My buddies from the VA are all right over there,” Will Abbott told Killian. “All really surly motherfuckers too, on account of their prosthetics not fitting right. They think if they’ve got Derek’s back in this fight, he might return the favor. What do you say?”
Derek was looking dazed, so I took his hand. “The word got out,” I whispered. “Everyone knows what you’ve been doing.”
“Yeah we do!” another voice called. “You’re a good man, Granger!”
"I called the police!" another voice shouted. "And they're gonna be here real soon," Brynn Reese called as she pushed her way over to us. Killian looked around wildly to see himself suddenly surrounded by the townsfolk of Reckless Falls all spoiling to fight on Derek’s behalf. “Benefits of a backwater hellhole, the cops don’t have too much going on and they respond really fast,” Brynn added with a raised middle finger in Killian’s direction. She planted herself next to me and grabbed my hand. “I figure that means you have about two minutes to get the hell out of here.”
“Yeah get the hell out of here!” a voice from the crowd shouted. Then another, then another took up the cry, until a multitude of voices were shouting at Killian, not to cheer for him, not to praise his ego, but to get rid of him.
He didn't know what to do. I
could tell by the way a dopey reflexive smile played around his lips. He'd never had a crowd turned against him like this before.
It felt like justice.
“Get the hell out of here!” I said, raising my voice. "Get the hell out of my town!” Because it was mine. My town, my home, with my love.
My ex-lover blinked at me. Derek pulled me close and we watched silently as Killian slowly backed away.
I turned to bury my face in Derek’s chest. “You okay?” he asked. I could hear how rapidly his heart was beating.
“I’m more than okay,” I sighed into his shirt. “I’m home.”
EPILOGUE
Aria Jane
The ground was still frozen and I was glad I’d thought to bring a blanket. “I hope those clouds don’t get any bright ideas,” I said, pointing to the west.
Derek was walking carefully across the dark lawn. “It’s supposed to stay clear for a while,” he said as he seated himself next to me and handed me my favorite hot cocoa mug. “We should be able to see something.”
“We will if my parents would turn off the light,” I grumbled, twisting around on the blanket and glaring at the great house.
“It’s after ten, they’re usually in bed by now,” Derek agreed. The light from the windows was spilling out across the lawn, making it hard to see the stars overhead. “What do you think they’re doing in there?”
“Well, my Dad is probably complaining about something,” I sighed, sipping from my mug. “Probably some special on Dateline NBC.”
“He should relax.”
“I know. You’d think moving into a place with all of the maintenance taken care of would mellow him out a bit.”
“He doesn’t like having to depend on you,” Derek said.
“He’s not depending on me. I’m just…keeping an eye on him. So he doesn’t do something stupid like try to shovel his driveway again.”
My father had suffered a heart attack right after Christmas and his doctors had forbidden him to do any more heavy lifting around his home. I reached out and squeezed Derek’s hand as I remembered how simple he’d made it for me. “Move them up here, I can take care of that kind of shit for him.”
