by Lexy Timms
“I want to believe you, Allyson,” he ground out.
“Then believe me,” she urged. “Believe in me, like I believe in you.”
“You lied to me,” he said. “You kept telling me that it was nothing.”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” she said. “It’s been tearing me up inside. I hate keeping secrets. I love you.”
He averted his gaze to look past her. To look off into the distance like she wasn’t even there anymore. Like he was thinking thoughts he would never reveal to her. “And I love you. But everyone has secrets.”
“No,” she said. “Not everyone. You don’t.”
“Everyone does,” he repeated bluntly. “That’s why I forgive you.” He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his.
A hot, desperate ache rocked through her as she wrapped her arms around him and returned his kiss.
They both had secrets. Both had things they kept from the other. Right now, more than anything, she wanted to bare herself to him. Her body. Her heart. But with the secret locked away in her heart, all she had to give him now was her body. And she ached to give herself to him.
Arching her back to get closer to his hard body, she parted her lips and welcomed him in. His tongue stormed into her mouth. Dane’s kiss was bruising. Passionate.
As their tongues collided, she moaned softly. His hands wandered up her back and she never wanted him to let her go. He had managed to inspire such a primal desire in her already that she knew if she didn’t have him now she would explode.
She pulled away to abruptly end the kiss. “Take me inside.”
The darkness in his eyes had disappeared, and in its place was an inferno. Wordlessly, he took her hand in his and they rushed across the sand.
When they got back inside the villa, he stopped in the living room and wrapped his arms around her waist. The living room was in complete disarray. Christmas ornaments and decorations were strewn across the floor. But Dane didn’t even notice. All his focus was on her. That look in his eyes...
“Here?” she breathed out. “You want me here?”
“If that’s what you want.” He caressed her cheek, his eyes meeting hers.
It was what she wanted. Oh, damn, it was. “What about Mrs. McKenzie? And the rest of the staff? We might get caught out here—”
“After you left, I told them to go home early.” He leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “It’s just us.”
Just us.
Which was what he seemed to want so much.
That turned her on even more. Made the secret place between her thighs wet. Being wanted like this always excited her. His desire for her was so intoxicating. She craved him so intensely. So desperately.
He was right. There was no way she could make it upstairs. No way she could bother to even wait for them to get out of their clothes.
“I want you right now. Right here.” She pulled him to her until her back was up against a wall.
She lifted the hem of her dress, dragging the fabric up her thighs.
His huge hands traveled up her thighs until they stopped at the waistband of her panties.
Anticipation made her inhale sharply. When he tugged her panties down her legs, her whole body trembled. Desire coursed through her.
Reaching down, she undid the button of his pants and unzipped him.
The sight of his massive erection made her mouth water. She licked her lips and took the length of him in her hand.
He jerked back in surprise, and then grinned wickedly. “Minx.” His lips found hers again and he kissed her deeply. Ran his tongue across her teeth and probed her mouth.
When he released her mouth, he asked raggedly, “Are you ready?”
“More than ready.” Her voice was breathless with longing. All she wanted now was to have him between her legs.
She lifted her leg and hooked it around his waist to give him better access to her. He gripped her waist to steady himself. Then, with one quick, powerful stroke, he guided himself into her tight, slick heat.
The pleasure was exquisite. A cry escaped her throat, and he started to thrust rhythmically into her. Her heart was racing. She might have been holding back a piece of her heart, but right now all control was gone. Giving herself over to him completely already felt so good.
She clenched around him, making him groan loudly. Wrapping her arms around him, she clung to him tightly. As he pumped into her, ecstasy already had her panting. Gasping for breath with each stroke into her.
He pounded into her, her back slamming against the wall. She moaned his name loudly, and came hard and fast.
Dane came right after her, breathing so heavily she could hear each intake of breath.
The pleasure had made her turn to molten lead. She could barely stand. When she collapsed against him he hoisted her up, crossed the room, and gently set her down on the sofa. Then he zipped his pants back up and sat down beside her.
Still breathing heavily, he turned to face her. “I think you’ve tired me out.”
Allyson laughed. “Sorry if I distracted you from your work.” She gestured at all the Christmas decorations on the floor.
“There’s still time to put up the decorations,” he said. “If you’re up for it.”
Going into town had eased her troubled mind somewhat. But until she could tell her husband the truth, there was still an obvious tension between them. She might not be as desperate to return to New York now that she had missed her appointment, but she was still missing out on celebrating Christmas the way she really wanted to.
She looked at him. Even when she had finally revealed that she was keeping a secret from him, he was still willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Still willing to meet her halfway. If Dane was going to put in the effort to make the best of all this then she was, too.
“I’m up for it,” she said finally. “Let’s decorate the villa.”
“I know it’s tough for you to have to change your Christmas plans,” he said. “But I’m glad you’re here. For a second I thought you had taken off and weren’t going to come back.”
“Dane, no matter what happens, never doubt that I love you. Because I do. And I always will,” she said softly.
“I love you, too.” Her husband wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “And since I love you, I want you to be happy. Maybe there’s still chance we can make it to New York in time for Christmas. How about before we start decorating, we check the weather?”
Chapter 10
She reached for the remote and turned on the television.
There was a shot of a weather reporter standing outside in a fierce snowstorm. The weather hadn’t changed. Which meant they were stuck here until at least tomorrow. Christmas Eve.
“I think I’m going to call everyone and cancel our plans,” Allyson said. She knew that they were about to decorate the villa and make the place look more festive, but it was hard not to feel glum. Christmas in New York was all she wanted. It would have been perfect. And all the magic of spending a holiday with her family had been taken away from her.
Dane nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”
After she went upstairs to get freshened up, she contacted the caterers. Then she called her family members, Dane’s parents, and family friends to make sure they were safe during the snowstorm. Everyone was disappointed that the Christmas plans were cancelled, but with the storm grinding New York to a halt they more than understood.
When she headed back downstairs, she found her husband putting up the large plastic Christmas tree. She was used to having real trees, but she had to admit the plastic tree looked pretty realistic. And it was absolutely huge. Almost as big as the ones in department stores.
“Honestly, despite the cancellation, you and I might end up getting the better end of the deal here,” she said.
Her husband turned to her and smiled. “I know I got the better end of the deal. I get to spend Christmas with the most beautiful girl in the world.”
His words made her heart flutter. “I meant we don’t have to deal with the bad weather. But being here with you is nice.”
“Is it? Because you don’t look all that happy,” he pointed out.
She sighed. “I’m trying to enjoy this. But it’s still so hard having to accept that I won’t be spending Christmas with my family. I’ve never missed a Christmas with them. Not once. And now I’ll be missing my first Christmas as a Prescott.”
He reached for one of the sparkling blue Christmas ornaments on the coffee table and handed it to her. “Why don’t we at least try? I know your mind is elsewhere right now, but maybe if the place looked more festive you’d come around.”
“Okay,” she said. “I can’t promise a lot, but I can promise to try.”
First, they put white lights on the tree. Then they got to work decorating the tree with blue and silver ornaments. The ornaments were mostly nautical-themed and probably tacky, but there was something oddly charming about them. There were sparkly anchors, iridescent seashells, seahorses, and regular round ornaments that were silver or blue. Finally, Dane put the giant starfish on the top of the tree.
He caught her gaze and frowned. “You don’t like the tree, do you?”
“It’s pretty,” she said. “Just not what I’m used to.”
“It reminds me of our wedding,” he said. “Anything nautical-themed reminds me of the day we got married.”
“Really?”
Dane nodded, his eyes focusing on the tree. “Do you remember the day we met?”
“How could I forget?” She smiled. “I’d never been so nervous on a job interview in my life. My hands were shaking so much. Not just because I wanted the job so badly, but because you were so handsome. And so smart. Plus, I’d read all about you.”
He turned to her. “You looked me up?”
“Didn’t have to,” she said with a laugh. “I used to read the gossip rags, you know.”
“Ah. Well, you can’t believe everything you read.” He paused for a moment. “Didn’t you almost spill coffee on me?”
Her cheeks flushed at the embarrassing memory. “Yes. You didn’t have an assistant, so you handed me the coffee yourself. Your hand touched mine and I nearly knocked over the coffee cup. Honestly, I thought I wouldn’t get the job after that.” She laughed.
“I probably fell a little in love with you when you almost drenched me with hot coffee,” he said.
She gasped, her eyes widening. “You didn’t.”
“I did,” he said. “But I had to put my feelings aside. You were the best candidate for the job and I had to hire you. Even if it meant we couldn’t be together.”
“But we’re together now.”
He stared at the tree again, and lightly touched one of the seashell ornaments. “The sea will always remind me of you. Of the time we spent in Rhode Island—”
“Lying to your parents,” she pointed out.
“Lying, and secretly wishing it was all true,” he said. “And then it did come true. By the sea.”
She blinked. It wasn’t like him to be so openly romantic. Returning to the villa must have brought back so many memories for him. But while Dane wanted to hold on to memories from the past, she wanted to make new memories. New memories with their new family.
“I’ll never forget how you looked that day,” he continued. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
Warmth spread through her. He always knew how to make her feel like the most gorgeous woman in the world.
“It was a beautiful day,” she agreed. “But we didn’t have family with us that day.”
“Do you regret that?” he asked. “Do you regret not having family at our wedding?”
“No,” she said. “Not at all. Because I thought we’d have plenty of time for family later.”
“We still have time for family.” He approached her and reached for her hand. “As long as we’re together.”
“Our wedding will always be one of the best days of my life,” she said.
He frowned. “Only one of? Not the best?”
She hesitated. How could she tell him? Allyson lowered her eyes. “On the day we got married, I couldn’t believe it was possible to be that happy. Our wedding was like a dream.”
“Why can’t it be like that now?” he asked. “This past year, no matter how many times I think I’ve lost you, Allyson, you’ve come back to me. All I want is for you to come back. To not be so distracted. To be present with me now. Why can’t you come back to me?”
SHE STILL WASN’T LOOKING at him. Even though he held her hands in his, her eyes were trained on the floor.
“Allyson, look at me,” he said. “Please.”
“I’m trying,” she said in a shaky voice. It sounded like she was on the verge of tears. He’d give anything in the world to ease whatever pain she was choosing to go through. “Really I am.”
“I don’t want to push you,” he said. “But now that I know you’re keeping something from me, I want you to tell me the truth.”
Decorating the tree hadn’t brought him closer to her. If anything, it had driven them further apart. Reminded him that there was this wall between them and that his wife was keeping something from him. Allyson didn’t trust him enough to tell him her secret. Knowing that hurt more than anything.
“I know it’s hard for you to be patient. It must be so hard for you to understand, but I promise I will tell you,” she said.
“When?”
“When the time is right.” She lifted her head to look at him, her green eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Soon.”
The fear that she had been unfaithful to him was coming back. Dane could forgive a secret. After all, he was keeping a secret from her. She had no idea what it had really taken to get her out of prison. Some secrets were necessary. But one thing he couldn’t forgive was cheating. Because he would never do that to her. The thought of her doing it to him was like a cold knife in his heart.
“I’m going to hold you to that,” he said firmly.
She nodded. “I understand. How about we finish decorating and then have dinner?”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Chef Durand left a ton of food for us, so we’ll have more than enough food for the next several days.”
With the Christmas tree up, they focused on the other decorations. In less than an hour they had put up a whole bunch of wreaths, garlands, and tinsel. Allyson even got the bright idea to put out a bowl of candy canes, which made the living room look more festive. Finally, his wife discovered the potted poinsettias Mrs. McKenzie had brought earlier in the day and she set them up right outside the villa’s back entrance.
When their work was done, they headed into the kitchen to find something to eat for dinner.
“What should we have for dinner?” Allyson asked.
“We’ve got seafood,” Dane said.
“I have an idea,” she said, suddenly sounding excited.
“What’s your idea?”
“I know the villa looks great with all the decorations up, but how about we have a picnic outside?” She smiled. “We can eat right at the spot we got married.”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “That’s a great idea.” When he had talked about their wedding earlier, he didn’t think she seemed to care all that much. As if her mind was focused on something else. He didn’t know what could be more important than their wedding, and her distracted response had unnerved the hell out of him. But now, it looked like she wanted to revisit the memories of the wedding, and he wanted that more than anything.
“I can warm up the food,” she said.
He nodded. “Okay. While you do that, I can get stuff ready outside on the beach.”
After he helped Allyson take some food out of the fridge and the freezer, he hunted for items to take down to the beach. He got a cooler and filled it with drinks. Then he packed a bag and included blankets, towels, utensils, and other items.
By the time he got to the beach, nig
ht had fallen. The moon was out and the villa’s outside lights automatically came on. All he had to do was set up their picnic and turn on the lights that had been set up for the palm trees.
Once everything was ready he headed back to the kitchen and grabbed some of the food his wife had heated, while she took up the rest of the food and followed him.
When they stepped out onto the beach, she gasped.
“Dane!” she cried. “The palm trees are so beautiful!”
They were. Earlier in the day he had helped the gardener, Mr. Bell, wrap strings of Christmas lights around the trunks of the palm trees on the beach. It was a Christmas tradition for locals to string up lights around trees outside, and the way the white lights glowed really was breathtaking.
Row after row of palm trees swaying in the breeze, covered in dazzling white lights. Illuminating everything. Including her. Especially her.
Beneath the lights of the palm trees, she looked like she was glowing. Watching her now, he knew that he had never seen his wife look more beautiful. The look of wonder on her face as she stared at the lights reminded him of the day they had gotten married on this beach.
Despite the happy memories they had made here on their wedding, Allyson hadn’t looked happy since they had returned to the villa this time around. But she looked happy right now.
“Do you like it?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I love it,” she breathed. “Everything looks so magical.”
“We’re almost at our spot,” he said. “We can sit under the lights soon.”
They headed to where he had set up the blankets and started setting up for the picnic. Dane poured out some cranberry juice while she piled their plates with food. They ate together, talking about their childhood Christmas memories.
The food was delicious. Chef Durand really had outdone himself, with grilled fish and coconut-flavored shrimp.
