It Must Be Christmas

by Jennifer Crusie

  “You’re seeing him again, though. That’s why he called, right?”

  Somehow, Chloe doubted they’d be discussing business in his hotel room tonight. “Yeah, we’re meeting at eight.”

  “So, put your people skills to work and talk that boy out of his millions!” Hailey exclaimed. “You can’t give up now, Chloe. This foundation means so much to so many people. Just go for it.”

  That was the problem. She’d gone for it and then some. “In case I don’t show up in the morning with a big fat check, can you make a few more cold calls today? I heard that the Blackwell Foundation might be looking to expand their charitable ventures.”

  “Will do.” Hailey pulled out her tablet and scribbled something on the screen with the stylus. “I have a couple more leads I haven’t explored yet, too. None of them are whales, but I bet I could shake them down for ten thousand apiece.”

  “Sure. That’s a good idea.”

  “Hey,” Hailey said at Chloe’s downtrodden tone. “Every little bit helps.”

  “It does.” She gave Hailey her best optimistic smile. “And I appreciate everything you’re doing.”

  “You can thank me when we’re back on our feet,” Hailey said. “I expect a huge gala and a gold trophy.”

  “I don’t know about the gala,” Chloe said. “But you’re so getting that trophy.”

  “With rhinestones,” Hailey added. “Now, stop daydreaming about Nate Christensen and get to work.” She gave Chloe a wink in parting and closed the office door behind her.

  Chloe slumped down in her chair and stared blindly at her computer screen. How could she possibly bring up the foundation with Nate now? Any attempt to plead her case for a sizeable donation would come across as sleazy. She’d never planned to sleep with him. She couldn’t change what had happened, though, and it was going to happen again. Nate was a force of nature. She had no choice but to be caught up in the storm.

  With any luck, Hailey would be able to secure some real, solid funding today and Chloe wouldn’t have to worry about Nate’s money and what it could do for her struggling foundation. She checked the clock on the bottom of her screen. In less than ten hours, she’d be back in his hotel room and too mindless to think straight. Chloe rolled her shoulders and opened the Excel file with her list of possible contributors. Without thinking, she picked a random name from her list, picked up the phone, and dialed.

  “Hi, this is Chloe Benson from the Youth Sports Foundation of Dallas. Is Mr. St. Claire available this morning?”

  Chloe waited as the receptionist put her on hold. Think positive thoughts. With any luck, this wouldn’t be the bitch of a day she expected it to be, fraught with disappointment. Otherwise, she’d be begging Nate for a handout whether she wanted to or not.

  FIVE

  Ten minutes to eight and Nate was about to crawl out of his fucking skin. His day had been every bit as shitty as he’d anticipated with the lawyers, his dad’s stuffy board of directors, and even his own damned brothers making their cases for why Nate needed to stick around and not renounce his inheritance.

  Nate had been given controlling interest in Christensen Petroleum in his father’s will. Talk about a kick in the nuts. His anxiety was beginning to crest—never a good sign—and if he had to sit in this goddamned closet of a room alone with his thoughts for another second, he was going to start smashing the furniture.

  On the plus side, you now have the money to pay for the damages.

  The soft knock at the door five minutes later became his lifeline. Knowing Chloe was on the other side of that door made him instantly hard. He rushed to the door and threw it wide. Before she could even say hello, he grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her against him, kissing her as though his life depended on it. His sanity sure as hell did. The door slammed closed behind them and Nate didn’t waste any time. He gripped the hem of her skirt and jerked it up around her waist. On his way down, he shoved her underwear over her thighs and tossed them to the floor behind him. The buttons on her dress shirt posed a problem; he couldn’t focus on undoing them while his mouth was busy devouring hers, but he eventually got them open and jerked the cup of her bra aside, covering the stiff peak of her breast with his lips as he nibbled at the hardened flesh.

  Words had no place in their frenzy. Chloe tore at the button on his pants and shimmied them off, along with his underwear. Nate cupped her ass in his palms and lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their lips tangled in a slippery dance as they bounced down the narrow corridor from the door toward the bed, pausing only long enough for Nate to grab a condom off the dresser. Chloe slid down the length of his body and planted her feet on the floor, her emerald gaze sparking with passion as she watched Nate roll on the condom. He grabbed her around the neck and pulled her in for a ravenous kiss before hoisting her up again and bracing her body against the wall.

  Her thighs glistened with arousal and Nate let out an impassioned growl as he entered her. She gasped at the intrusion, her gaze liquid as she kept it focused on his. He thrust hard and fast, pounding into her with every ounce of frustration that had built within him over the course of the day. Chloe’s breath came in quick little pants but that wasn’t good enough for Nate. He wanted to hear her. Wanted those sweet cries that he’d missed so much to echo off every wall.

  “I want to hear you, Chloe.” He thrust harder. Her nails dug into his shoulder as she whimpered. God, yes. That was it. “Again.”

  Her lips parted on a moan. God, she was so wet, so tight, so damned responsive. Nate’s fingertips squeezed into the roundness of her ass that fit so well in his palms. Chloe’s head rolled back on her shoulders. She arched into his hips, and his gaze was drawn to her full breasts that bounced with every deep thrust.

  “Nate,” she said on a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, god, Nate. I’m going to come.”

  He slowed his pace but continued to thrust deep. He didn’t want to push her, but rather wanted her to drift gently off the edge. He knew it would make her orgasm more intense and that’s what he needed from her, that intensity that matched his own. That unshakeable focus that kept them locked together in the moment.

  “Faster, Nate. Harder. Please.”

  “No. Trust me, Chloe. I’m going to give you what you need.”

  Her moans bordered on desperate frustration, but Nate continued to pull out and drive home hard with slow precision. Her eyes grew wide as her pussy clenched around him. She cried out, deep, wracking sobs of pleasure that vibrated down Nate’s spine and tightened his sac. Just a few more strokes and he’d be right there with her. Each contraction of her orgasm pulsed against his cock and when Chloe tilted her hips and tightened her thighs around him, it squeezed the head with the perfect amount of pressure. Nate cradled her ass in one hand and braced the other palm against the wall as he came, his hips jerking in time with every intense pulse of his cock. “Ah, fuck, Chloe!” he shouted. “You feel so good. God, that feels so good.”

  As the orgasm ebbed, Nate’s thighs began to quake. He touched his forehead to Chloe’s and let his eyes drift shut. A sense of peace crested over him, a calmness that he hadn’t felt in a long goddamned time. She stroked the back of his neck, the light scrape of her nails on his nape coaxing chills to the surface of his skin. Nate’s gut twisted into a knot. He’d dragged her through the door and fucked her without even a hello. His need for her bordered on desperate and he didn’t even really know Chloe. All it took to lose himself to her was a couple of sexual encounters and a single casual conversation.

  Did Chloe help to fill the empty void that ached like a sucking chest wound, or had he simply traded one dysfunction for another? It’s not like he was in any sort of mental or emotional condition to have a relationship with anyone. So far, the extent of their time together had been spent fucking. Not that he was complaining. Chloe was amazing.

  When Nate felt confident that he could take a step without dropping the precious cargo in his arms, he turned and carried Chloe to the bed.
She wrapped her arms around him, the soft caress of her breasts on his chest a delicious torture that did nothing to cool Nate’s lust. He set her down on the mattress as though she might break. Sort of laughable considering the fact he’d nearly pounded her right through the drywall moments ago. Chloe stared up at him, a wry smile playing on her full lips. A rush of electric heat shot through him. He wanted her again. Now. God, he was an asshole.

  “I’ll be right back.” He placed a quick kiss to her forehead before hiking his pants up on his hips, and headed to the bathroom to clean up.

  Nate emerged in nothing but his boxer briefs. Chloe had shed her skirt and wore only the white dress shirt. She’d fastened the two middle buttons, leaving both the swell of her breasts and her belly button exposed to his gaze. The shirt flared out around her hips and painted an erotic portrait that stalled his breath. Her auburn hair framed her face in a tangle and when she looked up from the room service menu and smiled, Nate’s heart clenched in his chest.

  Beautiful.

  “I recall someone promising me room service if I showed up here tonight,” Chloe remarked.

  “I did,” he said with a smile. “I guess it’s time for me to pony up.”

  A shadow darkened her expression and he could have kicked himself for his choice of words. “Not that I have to pay you for anything. I mean…” Way to stuff your foot in your mouth, asshole.

  “I know what you mean.” Chloe’s smile brightened and again that tightening of Nate’s chest returned. “Are you hungry? I skipped lunch.”

  Unfortunately, he’d been wined and dined by a handful of his father’s former minions who all had their heads up their asses. “I can eat.” Nate never said no to food.

  Chloe looked up at him from lowered lashes. “Worked up an appetite, huh?”

  Hell, she tied him into knots. “I did,” he replied. “And I plan on burning a hell of a lot more calories before the night is over.”

  * * *

  Chloe’s cheeks flushed at the innuendo. The sight of Nate, wearing nothing more than his boxer briefs was enough to convince her that there were more important things in life than food. In any other circumstance, she would have been embarrassed at the way she’d thrown herself at him without even a “Hey, how are ya?” before she’d let him strip off her underwear and pound into her as though she’d die if he didn’t take her right then and there.

  He’d wanted her with the same mindless disregard, though. How could she feel embarrassed or ashamed when what had happened between them was mutual? Chloe wanted Nate. Couldn’t get him out of her head. It didn’t matter that she knew almost nothing about him. She wanted to live in the moment with him.

  Nate settled down on the bed beside her and leaned over the room service menu. Every nerve ending in Chloe’s body sparked with an awareness of him. His clean, masculine scent invaded her senses and the heat of his body infused her own skin with warmth. She thought back to their first night together and his breath hot in her ear as he’d said, “You smell like sex and honey.” Chloe shuddered as a riot of butterflies swirled in her stomach.

  “Are you cold?” Nate’s arm came around her and he tucked her close to his body.

  She was anything but cold. Her body was close to combustion. As they studied the menu in silence, she relaxed against him, loving the way his broad, muscular chest supported her. Nate’s arm draped over her shoulder, his hand dangling over her breast. He idly caressed her, feather-light flicks of his fingertips that brushed her nipple through the crisp fabric of her shirt. Chloe sucked in a breath at the intensity of sensation and her pussy clenched as a rush of wetness spread between her bare thighs.

  If he kept touching her like that, food was going to have to take a backseat to another hunger. A sigh slipped from between her lips and Nate changed up his tactics, plucking at the hardened peak through her shirt. Chloe’s clit began to pulse in time with every gentle pull. Dear god. He made her absolutely mindless.

  Her sighs transformed into shallow pants. The words on the menu became nothing more than jumbled symbols as she lost focus of everything but the tingle of sensation spreading through her body. Nate’s free hand slid under her shirt and cupped her other breast. He took her in his palm, massaged her with slow pumps of his hand before he began to tease that nipple as well. Chloe’s abdomen tightened and she squirmed on the mattress. She rubbed her legs together to find that her thighs were already slick and coated with her arousal.

  She turned to face Nate to find him studying her with that same intensity that stole her breath. “I could watch you for hours,” he said, his voice strained. “God, Chloe. The way you look when you feel good.”

  Her lips parted. She meant to respond to him, but all she could manage was a throaty moan. Nate shifted, rolling over her and coming to rest on his knees between her legs. He grabbed Chloe by the thighs and pulled her down until she was laid out on the bed. His gaze burned as he scooted down until his hips and legs dangled off the edge of the bed. Chloe’s knees fell open and Nate’s breath brushed her heated and sensitive skin.

  “What about dinner?” Her voice went husky and thick.

  “The only thing I’m hungry for right now is your pussy, Chloe.”

  Holy crap. The things he said to her. Chloe’s stomach did a backflip, lodging itself in her throat before floating down on a cloud of sheer bliss. He dragged the flat of his tongue from her opening and ended on a flick at the tip of her clit. Her back bowed off the bed and her thighs quivered. “Nate!” His name left her lips in a breathy rush. “That feels so good.”

  He angled her hips up toward his mouth. The pressure of his fingertips indenting the flesh as he held onto her hips only pushed Chloe further toward the edge. He held her with purpose; every swirl, every pass of his tongue carefully orchestrated to give her the greatest amount of pleasure. Nate took her clit between his lips and sucked. Chloe’s thighs tightened on either side of his head and she trembled. He reached to her thighs and spread them wide, holding her open to him. He refused to let her move, pinning her down with his mouth and his hands. Her breath came in wild pants as she tried to control her spiraling world. She knew that Nate didn’t want her to be controlled or quiet. He wanted wild shouts and reckless abandon.

  “Oh god.” Chloe thrashed her head from side to side. She was helpless to do anything but feel and Nate brought her to the cusp of release with every slow, methodical pass of his tongue. “Ohgod ohgod ohgod…” A cry that was half pleasure, half frustration built in her chest. “I want to come, Nate. I need to. I want you inside of me.”

  “No.” The word vibrated over her clit and she shuddered. “I want you to come on my tongue.”

  His words were the final push. Chloe toppled over the edge and Nate buried his face between her thighs, lapping unmercifully at her pussy as she came. He held her legs wide and every inch of her body quaked violently as wave after wave of intense sensation stole over her. Chloe cried out, deep sobs of pleasure that left her throat raw and dry. The orgasm seemed to go on forever, a violent storm of passion and sensation that left her weak and shaking.

  Nate brought her down slowly, soft easy passes of his tongue that were goddamned luxurious. Chloe’s body went boneless. She wouldn’t have been able to move if she’d wanted to. “I think it’s your turn,” she murmured on a deep sigh. The thought of taking Nate into her mouth stirred her flagging desire.

  He kissed the inside of her thigh, downward to her knees. His kisses brushed the side of her knee and Chloe squirmed. “That tickles.”

  Nate smiled against her skin. “Oh yeah? Next time I might have to find where else you’re ticklish.”

  “Nope. I said it’s your turn.” She wasn’t about to not reciprocate. Not after he’d given her one of the best orgasms of her life.

  “Later.” He continued to kiss her. Warm, wet passes of his mouth.

  She guided his head up to look at her. “Later?”

  “Yep.” A slow smile grew on his full lips, and Chloe’s breath stalle
d as she realized she’d never seen him give a genuine, open smile before. Magnificent. “If I’m going to fuck you all night, I need to fuel up.”

  Dear lord. Nate Christensen was going to be the death of her.

  SIX

  “So, I’m assuming you don’t live in Dallas.”

  Nate couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He’d never met anyone like Chloe. His intensity had a tendency to scare people away. But she responded to it. Matched it, even.

  “No. I live in Sanger. It’s a couple of hours away.”

  “I’ve never been there, but I’m familiar. What does a newly moneyed billionaire do in a tiny town like Sanger?”

  Nate took a bite of his cheeseburger and chewed. “Run cows,” he responded before washing it all down with a swig of soda.

  “Really?” Chloe smiled. Blinding and brilliant as the sun. “You’re a cowboy?”

  “Sort of,” Nate said with a snort. “Trying anyway. My ranch isn’t big. And I’m not a billionaire,” he said as an afterthought.

  “Okay, a multimillionaire?”

  He pursed his lips. “I won’t be that either, if I get my way.”

  Chloe’s brows knitted. She swirled a fry around in her ketchup before popping it in her mouth. She’d devoured most of her BLT already. He wasn’t the only one who’d needed to tank up. “Is it true that you joined the Navy to get away from your dad?”

  Nate cocked a brow. “Doing your homework on me, Miss Benson?”

  She averted her gaze and shrugged. “People talk.”

  “Only in certain circles.”

  “With my line of work, I have a tendency to butt into those circles.”

  Nate laughed. Chloe certainly wasn’t the sort of woman who tiptoed into any situation. “Tell me about your work.” He knew he shouldn’t go there. It would be best to keep their relationship impersonal. Sex and nothing else. He wasn’t interested in settling down and sooner or later, the high of being with Chloe would wear off and he’d move on. Curiosity won out over good sense, though. She intrigued him. How could he not want to know more about her?