It Must Be Christmas

by Jennifer Crusie

  Nate forced himself to appear impassive when what he really wanted was to reach out and touch. A woman like that could bring a man to his knees and Nate was more than up to showing her what he could do for her from that exact position. Rather than tuck tail at his forced stoicism, she squared her shoulders and stepped up to him. Ballsy. And not at all what Nate expected.

  “I’m sorry about your father,” she said without preamble. “But between you and me, he could be a real ornery bastard.”

  Nate canted his head to one side as he regarded her, careful to keep his expression stern and emotionless. “So, you knew him?” He appreciated someone being straight up with him for a change.

  “No,” she replied in that same guileless tone. “We spoke a couple of times on the phone. Then again, I did tell his secretary that I was pregnant with his baby in order to get past the gatekeepers. It might have had something to do with why we got off on the wrong foot.”

  A smile tugged at Nate’s lips but he didn’t give in to his amusement. “Probably.” In a sea of pretentious windbags and vapid, bottle blond daddy’s girls, this one was a breath of fresh air. Her dark auburn hair was piled atop her head in a haphazard mess that made Nate wonder if she’d rolled out of bed and into her car. Freckles dotted her nose and dusted her cheeks, accentuating the deep emerald green of her eyes. Her full lips were glossy, but not painted on like most of the women here. She wasn’t made up or overdone. It might have been the beer talking, but her fresh face and brash sincerity was exactly what Nate needed right now.

  “I’m Chloe by the way.” She held out her hand. “And you are the infamous Nathan Christensen.”

  His brow knitted. “Nate. I hadn’t realized that my infamy elevated me to no-introduction-needed status.”

  Chloe smiled. An open, friendly expression that tugged at the center of Nate’s chest. “Being a Christensen comes with its own brand of notoriety.”

  She had that pegged. Likewise, being a Christensen didn’t always attract the sort of woman that Nate was interested in spending time with. He didn’t have the time or the patience for Dallas high society. The women who fished that pond were as fake as their plastic surgery and wanted a man with a bulging wallet and one who wasn’t carrying a closet’s worth of emotional baggage.

  “How so?” Her voice was naturally sensual, almost a purr and Nate couldn’t help but wonder what it would sound like in the grips of passion. His heart raced just imagining it. He didn’t want their conversation to end. Chloe was quick on her feet and her honesty was a fresh breath in the stale air.

  She cocked her head to the side. “Oh, come on. Like you all don’t know that you’re the black sheep of this herd.”

  Nate smirked. “I’d say you’re in the right company then.”

  Her eyes widened with feigned innocence. “What could possibly prompt you to think such a thing?”

  Cheeky. Nate appreciated sarcasm. And in Chloe, it was goddamned attractive. His gaze swept her once again from head to toe with appreciation. Black heels, black pencil skirt that hugged her voluptuous curves in a way that was practically lewd. Crisp, pinstriped dress shirt with the top buttons left undone to tease him with the ample swell of her breasts. The heels brought her almost to his height and he liked that she wasn’t another waifish socialite. His plan up until now had been to drink and continue to drink until he was so shitfaced that his brothers would have to carry him out of here. Nate had been so on edge for the past week that it was a wonder he hadn’t gone off the deep end. He needed a release. Something to take the edge off. Maybe instead of using alcohol to numb the ache in his chest, he could fuck the emptiness out of his system.

  “Why did you tell my dad’s secretary you were pregnant with his baby?” It gave Nate a perverse sense of satisfaction to think of his dad’s chains being rattled.

  She gave him a sheepish grin that caused Nate’s gut to clench. “I’d been trying to get ahold of him for weeks. His secretary shot me down every time I called, so I switched up my tactics.” Her gaze turned devilish and a rush of liquid heat shot through Nate’s veins. “She put me through without asking a single question.”

  His dad’s reputation as a lecherous son of a bitch was pretty well-known. He liked his women young and tight. Arm candy he could drag all over town. That his secretary wouldn’t bat a lash at the notion his dad had a mistress on the side left a sour taste in Nate’s mouth. His dad had professed to Nate and his brothers that he’d been faithful to their mom until the day she died. In the back of his mind, however, Nate had always doubted the truth of it.

  “So you weren’t sleeping with him?”

  Her insulted glare caused Nate’s lips to twitch in an almost smile. “No way. I run a charity organization that provides sports programs for underprivileged and at-risk kids. A girl’s gotta pay the bills and Byron seemed to have the cash to spare.”

  Nate snorted. His dad was a tightfisted son of a bitch. He didn’t have to ask Chloe how the conversation went to know that he’d shot her down. “Somehow, I doubt you’re here to thank us for Dad’s generous donation.”

  Her mouth turned down in an almost pout that made her bottom lip deliciously full. “Not exactly.”

  Holy shit, did he want to bite that lip and then lick the sting away. “Maybe your tactics sucked.”

  Her mouth opened in shock but her eyes sparked with mischief. “Are you suggesting I rubbed your dad the wrong way?”

  “I’m suggesting you need to learn more about your targets. Don’t you know that the Christensens are notoriously disdainful of people looking for a handout?” Which was precisely why Nate was considering off-loading his inheritance. The last person he wanted a handout from was the one man who’d ruined his life.

  * * *

  Her first assessment of Nate had been pretty spot-on. He was a tough nut to crack. His gaze had warmed from a cold, emotionless death glare to something altogether hotter, though. It sparked a warm glow in Chloe’s stomach that steadily built to a slow burn. After talking to Nate, she realized that she was going to have to play this closer to the hip than she’d anticipated.

  Notoriously disdainful of people looking for a handout. She didn’t have much time to charm a sizeable donation from Nate, but it seemed she had no choice but to be patient. If she hit him up now, he might just tell her to fuck off—his earlier stare had certainly implied as much—and she couldn’t risk letting him slip through her fingers.

  “So you’re saying I would have gotten farther with him if I’d actually been pregnant with his baby?”

  Nate burst out into a round of cynical laughter. He motioned for a cocktail waitress and scooped a flute of champagne off her tray and handed it to Chloe. “Probably.” She took the glass from his outstretched hand and tried to keep her gaze from lingering on the muscles that flexed over his forearm. “Can you believe this spread?” He indicated the room at large with his bottle. “Any excuse for these people to get out and be seen.”

  Nate wasn’t at all what she’d expected. He was like the anti–Byron Christensen. There wasn’t a stuck-up bone in his body. “It’s a little swankier than the memorial services I’ve been to,” Chloe admitted. “I suppose his friends wanted to send him off in style.”

  “Hyenas.” Nate took a long swig from the mouth of the bottle and Chloe’s gaze wandered to his lips. Was it possible to be jealous of an inanimate object?

  “They can’t all be bad.”

  He cocked a brow. The expression faded into something akin to resignation. “Maybe.” His gaze raked over her once again and Chloe felt her cheeks flush. “I’m reserving judgment until I get to know you better.”

  Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. Chloe had had enough champagne to know that one more would push her past tipsy, and it was time to head home and form a new game plan for how to handle Nate before she said something she might regret. Like how much she wanted to bite the delicious curve of his ass cheek for starters. The man was perfection. Every hard angle of his body begging f
or a closer inspection. Chloe wanted to bite him. Lick him. Taste that lovely junction between his hip and thigh right before she ventured lower.

  Oookaaay. Time to go home. She couldn’t curb the train of her erotic thoughts any longer and the future of her foundation depended on her keeping her damned panties on. She wanted a professional relationship with Nate Christensen. Nothing more. Good god, his ass …

  “I think it’s time for me to call it a night.” Chloe placed the empty flute on a nearby table. “It was nice to meet you, Nate. And again, I’m sorry for your loss.”

  His brow furrowed as though he waged some internal battle. Chloe knew the feeling all too well. Before he could convince her to stay—and it wouldn’t take more than a look—she turned and headed for the coat closet just outside the ballroom.

  As Chloe searched through the rows of hangers for her jacket, she tried to slow her racing heart. Nate’s gruff demeanor, no-nonsense attitude, and piercing hazel eyes stirred Chloe’s lust to a fever pitch. How could she possibly charm him into parting with his money when she couldn’t even look at him without being starstruck? He tied her into knots without even trying. Hell, if he asked her right now, she’d empty her own bank account and lay it all at his feet in tribute to his magnificence. Way to melt into a useless heap at the first sight of a good-looking guy, Chloe. Oh, hell. Who was she kidding? Nate Christensen left good-looking in his freaking wake!

  The hairs on the back of Chloe’s neck prickled as she sensed someone behind her. Her breaths came quick and shallow. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Nate had followed her—and what he wanted. His gaze had practically set her on fire.

  “Do you always run off in the middle of a conversation?” His deep voice rumbled close to her ear and Chloe shivered.

  “I didn’t know you had something more to say.” Her own response was nothing more than a breathy whisper. Her pounding heart didn’t allow for her to fill her lungs.

  Nate’s palms came to rest at her hips and the contact sent a jolt of electricity through Chloe’s body that settled between her thighs. Her sex pulsed in time with her heart and her tongue darted out to lick her suddenly dry lips.

  “I’ve got a lot more to say.”

  She swallowed. Hard. This was a bad idea, and yet, she couldn’t help but ask, “Like what?”

  “Like I want to fuck you.”

  A rush of wet heat spread between Chloe’s thighs at Nate’s brash words. Her head spun with his scent, his proximity, the sheer size of him that crowded her from behind. The length of his erection brushed her ass and Chloe hissed in a breath. “Are you sure that’s not the IPA talking?”

  “You and I both know we haven’t had that much to drink.”

  True. If she had, Chloe could blame the epically bad decision she was about to make on the champagne. As it was, she had no one to blame but herself. His fingertips dug into her hips, a delicious amount of pressure that made Chloe bite back a moan. “Right here in the coat closet, huh? Wanna bend me over that chair in the corner and get right to it?”

  “If you want.” Nate’s voice rippled over her skin as his mouth moved to her neck. He nipped at the skin and a thrill raced through her. God, the anticipation would give her an orgasm long before Nate was able to even get her clothes off. “I’ll hike up your skirt right here and now if you want me to. But I’d rather take you upstairs.”

  Chloe couldn’t help but grin. “Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m dying to get a glimpse of your pussy.”

  Oh. Wow.

  “Are you wet, Chloe?” He eased his erection against her ass again. A slow roll of his hips that made Chloe’s breath hitch. Nate Christensen was a first-class dirty talker and he was talking her right into a wanton frenzy.

  She didn’t even have to guess. “Yes.”

  “Mmmm.” His warm growl of approval made her wetter still. “My room’s upstairs. All you have to say is yes, Chloe. Goddamn, I want to fuck you.”

  His mouth touched down on her throat, hot and wet. The scrape of his teeth on her sensitive skin coaxed goose bumps to the surface of Chloe’s skin and she shuddered. If she gave in, if she said the word he wanted to hear, it might submarine her chances of saving her foundation. Problem was, only one word formed on her lips and she was powerless not to speak it. “Yes.”

  His hands moved up her torso and brushed the outer curves of Chloe’s breasts. She sucked in another sharp breath as her nipples hardened to stiff peaks inside of her bra.

  “Let’s go. Now. Before I can’t wait any longer and bend you over that chair anyway.”

  “Okay.” Chloe tried to slow her racing pulse and frantic breaths. Already she felt naked, exposed to him and he’d barely touched her. If they didn’t get upstairs, Nate wouldn’t have the opportunity to bend her over that chair because Chloe was pretty sure she’d hike up her skirt and bend herself over it for him. “I’m ready.”

  THREE

  Nate fumbled with the key card as he shoved it into the reader. Chloe’s mouth was too sweet, her lips too soft for him to even consider breaking their kiss for as long as it would take to unlock the hotel room door. As he reached back to turn the doorknob, Chloe’s fingers brushed against his fly and his cock throbbed through the layers of fabric that separated their skin.

  “God I need to fuck.” They stumbled through the door and it slammed closed behind them. Chloe sighed against his mouth and she gripped him harder through his slacks, cupping her palm around the length of his erection. He kicked off his ridiculous leather loafers and groped for the buttons on Chloe’s shirt. “I can’t get you naked fast enough.”

  Chloe’s expression heated. Goddamn. There was nothing coy or shy about her. She was every bit as wound up as he was. When he unfastened the last button on her shirt, she tore it from her body and discarded it somewhere behind her. Nate buried his face between the swells of her breasts, biting, licking, kissing the tender flesh that spilled over the cups as he stripped off her bra. Chloe let out a low moan that vibrated down his spine and settled in his balls. She popped the button on his slacks and jerked down the zipper before sliding his pants and underwear down over his ass. With a firm grip she took his cock in her hand and squeezed. The delicious constriction caused his hips to buck, and she stroked from the engorged head to the base in a twisting caress that caused his stomach to clench.

  He was ready to come right here and now and they’d barely gotten started.

  “Do you have a condom?” Her voice was a breathy plea as she stroked him again with that same torturous precision.

  “Wallet.” He couldn’t manage more than the one guttural word.

  “Good. I would have hated to stop now.”

  Fucking hell. The heat between them built from a smolder to a roaring inferno. His mouth seized hers in a hungry kiss as he slipped her skirt down off her hips, leaving her clad in nothing more than her black stiletto heels and underwear. Nate shrugged out of his own shirt before he cupped his palm over the rounded curve of her ass, loving the sensation of the satiny fabric as his hand slid over it. He kicked off his slacks and underwear from around his ankles and Chloe shifted to step out of her skirt.

  “Leave the heels on,” he commanded against her mouth.

  “Naughty,” Chloe murmured in a teasing tone. “I like it.”

  “Get on the bed.” Tremors shook Nate’s body as he guided Chloe down onto mattress. She moved to push herself farther up on the bed but he stopped her. “No. Stay right on the edge.”

  Her green eyes darkened and her tongue lashed out at her bottom lip. He couldn’t tear his eyes off her as he dug through his slacks for his wallet. With shaking fingers, he pulled out the condom from one of the pockets and tossed it onto the bed beside her. It took a sheer act of will not to roll the damned thing on, jerk her underwear aside, and bury himself to the base inside of her.

  Chloe leaned back on her arms and spread her thighs. Nate scrubbed a hand over his mouth as he took in the sight of her pale skin, the curv
e of her hips, and the slight roundness of her belly, her breasts impossibly full and rosy nipples erect. She wasn’t nervous or unsure or even a little shy. Her confidence turned him on more than anything. Wound him up so tight that his balls ached. She wanted this as much as he did. Maybe she needed it as badly as he did, too.

  Nate leaned down and braced an arm on the bed beside her. Chloe’s breath came in quick little pants of anticipation that sent his blood racing though his veins. He kept his eyes trained on her face as he reached down with his right hand and gently stroked between her thighs with the pads of his fingers. Her gaze went liquid and a barely visible tremor shook her. He stroked her again, this time circling the tiny bud of her clit that stood out against the satiny fabric of her underwear. Chloe’s hips thrust toward him as a slow throaty moan escaped her parted lips.

  She didn’t look away as he continued to pet her. The intensity of her gaze, the dark sensuality of her flushed cheeks and full lips fueled his fire. She pushed herself up and reached out with one hand to stroke his cock. “God, Nate. You’re so hard.”

  A wave of lust stole over him and punched straight into his gut. He took Chloe down to the bed and laid himself out on top of her, careful to shift the bulk of his weight off of her. His mouth seized hers again, slanting with a desperate ferocity as he thrust his tongue inside of her mouth. Her passion matched his and then some. Nate thrust into her hand, fucking her palm at the same time his tongue fucked her mouth. He gripped the lacy elastic band of her underwear and plunged his hand inside. A groan vibrated in his throat as he made contact with the slick heat of her pussy. Her lips were swollen, her clit hard and protruding from between them. Her arousal coated his fingers as he slid between the folds and what had started out as slow, easy caresses escalated into something purposeful and desperate.

  Her quiet moans turned into loud mewling cries that echoed off the stark hotel room walls. She shifted, pulling her hips back but Nate refused to let her shy from his touch. He wanted her mindless and ready to beg if he asked her to. Hell, he’d beg her if she wanted him to.