“Really?” Noelle asked, but it came out more like “Weawwy?”
“Of course. How could a kiddo as sweet as you not be the first rooftop Santa lands on this year?” That time, Kimberly tweaked Noelle’s cheek. “So make sure you leave an extra cookie and a biggie size glass of milk, because I bet he spends a lot of time at your house unloading gifts and filling your stocking.”
Noelle’s mom beamed and nodded.
Noelle’s lip jutted out again, as though she wasn’t convinced. “But last year he skipped my house.” Tears welled in her eyes. “My other mommy said we didn’t have any lights up, so he couldn’t find us.”
Ross and Kimberly glanced at each other, then at Noelle’s mom. She took the little girl from Ross and set her down. “Hon, can you go play on the swings for a second?” She pointed to the swing sets across the park.
When Noelle scampered away, her mom said, “I’m her foster mom. When the social worker gave me her birthdate, I assumed that’s why she was named Noelle.” Her gaze kept darting toward the little girl, apparently not wanting to let Noelle out of her sight. “Her last foster home was…” She glanced away, obviously unsure of what to say. “Well, she was neglected. A friend of mine works in Child and Family Services for the state. She asked me and my husband if we’d take Noelle on a temporary basis until they find a responsible foster home.” She eyed Noelle affectionately. “Or a nice family to adopt her.”
“If…” Kimberly interrupted. Splayed fingers went to rest just under her collarbone. “If they find a family to adopt her.”
The heartbreak in Kimberly’s expression was palpable. It tore Ross’s thudding heart right out of his chest.
The crowd started to disperse.
“Right.” Noelle’s mom seemed a little embarrassed. “My husband and I own the Rocket Pizza Parlor here in town. We’re in the process of opening three more in different vacation towns throughout the Rockies.” Her gaze dropped to the ground. “I just found out I’m pregnant, and I don’t think I can handle all of the changes at once, so we’re hoping an adoptive family will come along and fall in love with her. She’s a great kid, but—”
Kimberly held up her hand. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation, least of all us.” The professional attorney, who obviously had a lot of experience in family court, surfaced. “You can only do so much, and it’s better you know your limitations up front than to take on something you can’t handle.” She paused. Drew in a stream of air, then let it rush out again. “Or something you can’t finish.” Her voice went a little shaky on the last sentence.
“Well, thank you for saying such sweet things to her.” Noelle’s foster mom let her stare slide to the swing set where the little girl swung back and forth, singing Frosty the Snowman loud enough to carry across the park.
Her off-key child’s voice made Ross’s chest squeeze so tight he could barely breathe.
“I’ll try to make sure she gets enough gifts to make up for the years she had to do without,” said her foster mom.
“Let us know if you need help with that.” Kimberly’s voice was ragged with emotion. “We can add her to the Wishing Tree if you need us to. That’s what it’s for.”
“Thank you,” said the young woman. She went to get Noelle and led her out of the park.
Kimberly’s silence and the wetness shimmering in her eyes said she was as choked up as he was.
“Hey.” He put an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. “Noelle is going to be fine. She’s in a good home.”
Kimberly gave her head a quick shake. “For now—” Her voice cracked.
“Tell me what it was like.” His grip around her waist tightened. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
The crowd thinned as everyone left in different directions.
A tear slid down her cheek, and she swiped at it. “One of my foster parents used to house at least four kids at a time. We’d have to eat soup out of a can every day because she said she couldn’t afford the gas it would cost to heat it on the stove. She used all the money she got for us to buy scratch-off lottery tickets.” Another tear streamed. “When Christmas rolled around, there were no gifts.” Kimberly eased out of his grasp. “She said Santa didn’t visit poor kids.”
Scalding anger pounded through his veins. How could people be so cruel? “Oh, babe. I’m so sorry.”
She took another sidestep away from him. “I’m sorry, too, Ross, but I can’t do this. I don’t have anything to offer you.” The street lamps in the park glinted off the wet streaks on her cheeks. “There is nothing left inside of me to give.” She pointed toward the direction Noelle and her foster mom had left. “They just reminded me of that, and better that they did, because I need to take my own advice.” She took another step, distancing herself from him. “I can’t let us start something one of us won’t be able to finish.”
He took a step toward her and opened his arms. “Babe, don’t—”
She darted out of his reach. “Don’t call me that. I’m nobody’s babe and never will be.” She turned and set out in a dead run across the park in the direction of her office.
He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and stared after her. He had no idea how much time passed, but finally, he turned to head toward his truck and pulled up short when Chairperson Clydelle’s cane poked him in the chest.
“That’s your way of fixing things?” she groused.
Ms. Francine was at her side. Purse dangling. Tongue tisking.
Comet whined.
Ross knew exactly how the poor dog felt.
“Leprechauns and Valentine’s hearts? And now your partner in crime has run off to God knows where again?” Ms. Clydelle waved the cane in Kimberly’s direction. “Fix this, or you’ll wish you’d never grown up in Red River.”
As much as Ross hated to admit he’d been bested by two little old ladies, he believed her.
Chapter Ten
Kimberly paced the length of her office.
Her heart wasn’t just thundering against her chest from running all the way from the park. No, it was hammering against her ribcage because of little Noelle. Because of the years of neglect Kimberly had suffered. Because of the memories of never knowing when her time would be up at one home and what circumstances the next would offer.
The few times she’d moved to a nice, normal home, it hadn’t lasted long because it had been a nice, normal home with nice, normal parents who didn’t know how to handle a messed-up kid like her.
By the time she aged out of the foster system, she’d known she would never be nice and normal. She’d never have nice and normal to offer anyone.
She trekked back to her desk and snatched up her phone. Her hands trembled as she typed a text message to Ross. They had a solid plan in place to get Red River ready for the holidays. He could handle his share of the responsibilities and she could handle hers without working side by side. When they did need to spend time together, she’d make sure they weren’t alone.
The sound of someone crashing through the front door made Kimberly freeze. Then the door slammed shut again.
Ross appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily, as though he’d run to her office from the park, too. He braced a hand against the doorframe as Comet appeared at his side, panting.
The look of determination in his eyes made her swallow back sheer terror. Terror that she’d cave in unless she could get him to leave first. Terror that he’d see how empty, how desolate she really was on the inside if their relationship went any further or any deeper than just friendship.
“Ross, I can’t—”
“Yes, you can.” He pushed off the doorframe and came toward her with measured, fluid steps.
“You don’t understand.” She backed up until her butt came up against the desk.
“Maybe I don’t, Kimberly.” He kept coming at her until he was a breath away. “You don’t understand what I went through losing my sister, either.”
She pointed to her phone. “Um, I was just
sending you a text about what happened in the park and what we can do about it.” Changing the subject back to the mob in the park seemed like the best idea. Focusing on work had always helped keep her mind off of her pathetic life.
Off of her pathetic self.
“You know we can’t leave the Nativity scene and the caroling up to them. Not after what they’ve done,” she said. “We have to keep after them.”
He took the phone from her hands and tossed it onto the desk. “I don’t care about that right now. We’ll deal with them later.” He braced a hand on each side of her, hemming her in, as though he was trying to keep her from escaping. “Right now, all I care about is you. We’re going to deal with us.”
“Ross.” Her words were a plea. “There is no us.”
“Exactly.” His gaze raked her face. “But there should be. There is no reason for there not to be an us.”
“Yes, there is,” she protested.
“No, there’s not,” he countered.
She let her head fall back and her eyes slide shut.
“Kimberly, look at me.”
The way he said her name made a shiver of longing race over her. She opened her eyes.
His heated breaths washed over her, and he brushed his nose against hers. “I keep telling you that you can count on me.”
That was the problem. Ross was the most solid person Kimberly knew, and he deserved someone who wasn’t emotionally crippled.
Her lips parted, but she couldn’t speak.
He was such a lovely man. She couldn’t say yes, but she sure as hell couldn’t bring herself to say no, either.
He must’ve sensed her resignation, because he placed a kiss where her neck met her shoulder, then dragged his nose all the way up to her ear to nibble on the lobe.
A shudder of desire raced through her, and she flattened both palms against his chest as she gave in to the attraction, the connection between them she could no longer deny.
He nuzzled her ear, his warm, wet breaths making her body react so violently that she was almost convulsing.
“This,” he whispered. “This is the way it’s supposed to be between us.” One hand dropped to the back of her thigh, and he lifted her leg to wrap it around his waist. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this. How long I’ve waited for this.” His voice turned to a growl. “How long I’ve wished for this.”
That was her undoing. She’d secretly wished to be with Ross for so very, very long. Wished that she was the type of person who could let go and trust. Ross was the only man who’d managed to get her to consider it, even slightly.
Her hands slid up to his shoulders, then into his hair. “Should I put your wish on the tree?”
“Not necessary anymore.” His hands grabbed her ass cheeks, and he scooped her up in one quick movement.
She squeaked and wrapped both legs around him.
“It’s coming true right here, right now.” He took her mouth in a punishing kiss and walked to the sofa.
She didn’t unwrap her legs from him as he laid her down, pulling him along to cover her body with his. He ground his hips into her center, and she arched into him as his rock-hard shaft pulsed against her.
An electric current of sexual desire lit every nerve, every cell on fire.
Good Lord, if he could make her feel like she was about to spontaneously combust fully clothed, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like when he finally did enter the Promised Land.
She pulled at his clothes.
He shucked his jacket and shirt and came down on top of her again, devouring her neck with his mouth, teeth, and tongue.
Comet whined, and she broke the kiss.
“Comet,” Ross grumbled and pointed to the door. “Go.”
Surprisingly, Comet obeyed and trotted to the doorway.
“Stay,” Ross said, looking over his shoulder at the dog.
She framed his faced with both of her hands and pulled his mouth back to hers. Her kiss was frantic and frenzied, as she let her fear seep away and opened her heart. She wanted him. Every part of him. Protecting him by staying emotionally and physically distant wasn’t an option anymore because he’d chipped away the last of her resolve.
She broke the kiss and stared into his eyes. Got lost for a moment, then made herself refocus. She molded a palm to his cheek, gently. Lovingly. “I keep telling you,” she mimicked his words from earlier. “I’m not good at long term.” Long-term relationships. Long-term feelings or emotions.
Because nothing lasts forever, even when people promise that something will.
So giving him an out seemed only fair, but she found herself hoping he wouldn’t take it. Found herself holding her breath, wanting him to say she was worth the risk, because no one in her life had ever told her so.
The emotions shimmering in his eyes that said he wasn’t taking the easy way out, no matter how many times she offered it, made her heart shatter. Then the same glittering desire, need, and tenderness put her heart back together again, one sliver at a time until she couldn’t breathe.
“There’s a first time for everything.” His head dipped, and he pressed a kiss behind her ear.
She quivered.
“We’re both flawed.” His kisses grew hungrier as he trailed them along her jawline. “Together, though, we might be perfectly imperfect.”
Her heart stuttered. Oh, my gawd. Was that the sexiest thing she’d ever heard or what?
He swallowed her sigh with a deep, desperate kiss.
Flames of lust engulfed her, and she was lost in his touch as his hands traveled over her. He sat up, and she went for the button on his jeans. Before she could unzip them, he covered her hands with his. Took one of her hands and helped her stand.
He kicked off his boots and socks and laid back against the sofa, shirtless. Jeans unbuttoned. Hands laced behind his head and ankles crossed. And then he just stared at her with a lazy smile on his lips.
“What?” She gave him a frown.
He didn’t answer with words. Instead, he let one brow arch high, and his gaze traveled down her length, then up again.
“You want me to strip?” Her jaw fell open, dramatically.
One of his shoulders lifted. “Call it another wish.”
Her hands went to her hips. “More like a fantasy.”
He angled his head in a you got me there look. “Fantasy works for me. Either way, I finally get to see you completely naked, and I want to savor it.”
The look of pure lust in his eyes made her breath hitch. If it was a show he wanted, then it was a show he was going to get.
She fingered the hem of her top. When she slowly lifted it, his gaze hung on the small gold ring at her belly button, just as it had in his garage.
His eyes grew smoky with desire.
“It was a college-girl whim,” she explained.
“I suddenly find myself a huge fan of college-girl whims.” He actually licked his lips as he kept staring at her piercing. “I’m going to need to examine that one closely. With my tongue.”
Heat licked over her skin as his gaze found hers again. She tossed her top aside. When she was down to her panties and bra, the bulge at the front of his jeans was impressive.
She nodded to it as she reached around and unhooked her bra. “I’m going to need to inspect that, too.”
“I promise to let you.” His thick biceps flexed and tensed, sexual tension obviously rolling through him.
Her straps slid down both arms, but she caught the bra from falling away by covering her sizable breasts with her palms. She massaged the soft lace against her sensitive nipples.
They firmed into peaks.
Ross let out a lusty, guttural sound that came from deep inside of him.
Which made her confidence soar, and she gave her breasts one more sensual squeeze, turning her nipples into stones.
She tossed the bra aside, hooked both thumbs into the thin elastic and pushed her panties down. They pooled around her ankles, and she stepped out of
them.
“Fuck’s sake, woman.” His voice crackled with sexual electricity. “Get over here.”
When she walked to him, he uncrossed his ankles so she could step between his knees. He sat up, and grasped both hips, pulling her closer. He circled her belly button with his tongue, then used the tip to toy with the gold ring.
Her eyes fluttered shut, and she wrapped her arms around his head to cradle him closer.
“That’s the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered against her flesh. Hot, moist breaths made her skin pebble.
“You’re the sexiest effing thing I’ve ever seen,” she said into his hair.
He devoured her skin, kissing along her torso, her ribs, her hips. He found a nipple and pulled it between his teeth, worrying it until she ached with so much pleasure that she could hardly bear it. One hand stayed on her hipbone while the other smoothed down and circled her ankle. He guided her foot up to rest on the sofa. The roughness of his fingertips had her knees shaking as they trailed along the inside of her thigh and found—
“Oh, God,” she gasped as his thumb circled her clit.
“No, just me.” He moved his hand and sunk his teeth into the flesh around her hipbone with just enough force to make her hiss with pleasure. “But thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Smartass.
She pinched his shoulder.
Just as he sank two fingers into her core and moved them in and out, rotating and circling, until her toes curled.
She whimpered and curved her nails into his shoulder.
His incredible fingers picked up speed. So did his thumb circling her nub.
“Ross.” Her voice was feathery and distant, almost as though it wasn’t hers.
“Yes, baby.” He kept nipping at her belly, kissing her flesh everywhere his mouth could reach. His tongue traced a line up between her breasts and he buried his face there, breathing her in. And those fingers. Those exquisite fingers, they kept pleasuring and pleasing until her insides quivered and quaked and she was hurtling toward the edge of heaven.
His head dipped, his mouth closed over her nub, and he sucked hard.
It's In His Christmas Wish (A Red River Valley Novel Book 7) Page 10
