by J. S. Scott
Table of Contents
Dreams
Copyright© 2019 by Lane Parker
A Christmas Dream
Copyright© 2018 by Lane Parker
Dedication and Author’s Note
The Dream
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
A Valentine’s Dream
Copyright© 2019 by Lane Parker
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Sneak Peek Dearest Stalker
Chapter 1
About the Author
Books by Lane Parker
Dreams
Curvy Girl Holiday Collection
By
J.S. Scott
Writing as
Lane Parker
Copyright© 2019 by Lane Parker
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover Design by Stacey Chappell
ISBN: 978-1-951102-09-8
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A Christmas Dream
By
J.S. Scott
Writing as
Lane Parker
Copyright© 2018 by Lane Parker
All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Dedication and Author’s Note
Happy Holidays to all of my lovely readers!
This story took much longer than I’d planned to write, but I hope you love both characters as much as I do.
I actually started Jackson and Hayden’s story two years ago while I was spending some off-season time on Galveston Island. I love being there in the winter, when the west side of the island is so quiet that I can sometimes go an entire day without seeing another soul on the beach. It’s a happy place for me, just like it is for Hayden.
I put the manuscript aside two years ago because I had other pressing commitments. When I finally picked this story up again a few months ago, I realized that it really was something I wanted to put out.
I finished it in its existing form, and then I just didn’t like it.
So I re-wrote it entirely.
What should have been a quick Christmas story for me turned into a labor of love so I could get Jackson and Hayden’s story right.
Yes, I will admit that it’s a cheesy, sugary sweet holiday romance that a reader would have to suspend belief a little to enjoy. But hey, it’s Christmas, and all things are possible at this time of year, right? **wink wink**
This sweet and sexy story is about love and acceptance. Sprinkled with a whole lot of Christmas magic, and wrapped up in a sexy love story.
I hope you enjoy Jackson and Hayden’s story as much as I loved writing it.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season! Much love to you and all of your family. May all of your Christmas dreams come true.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
The Dream
“You’re. Mine.”
I shivered as his growly, deep, possessive voice vibrated against the sensitive skin of my neck.
No man had ever made me feel the way he did.
One touch, one simple motion of his mouth on my skin set my entire body on fire.
I wrapped my arms around him, trying to pull his naked upper body tighter against mine.
“I’m yours,” I said, willing to say anything if he’d just keep touching me.
I’d never felt like this. It was as though he was consuming me, body and soul.
I wasn’t self-conscious about being as naked from the waist up. Not when my hard nipples were pressed against his chest like this.
All that mattered was the desperate need between us.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he rasped, his mouth trailing up my neck, leaving a scorching path to my lips.
I felt gorgeous.
I felt wanted.
I felt needed.
My heart rate accelerated as I waited breathlessly for him to kiss me. His lips hovered over mine, his warm breath wafting over my lips.
He was so much bigger than me.
So strong.
So powerful.
So all-consuming that I felt like I was trapped in a web of sensation that I never wanted to escape.
“Kiss me,” I said tremulously.
If I didn’t get some kind of deeper connection with him, I wasn’t sure I’d survive.
“Patience, sweetheart,” he teased, his voice as needy as mine. “I don’t want this to end.”
I let out a deep sigh as he stroked a hand down my back lovingly, and I savored his sensual touch.
I didn’t want it to end, either, but if he didn’t kiss me, the bone-deep ache I felt everywhere was going to become agony.
My hands smoothed down his naked back, reveling in the feel of his overheated skin.
The room was dark, and I could only see him in shadows, but I could feel him, feel the way that his essence sank into me, leaving me helpless to give a damn about anything else except finding a way to get us closer.
“I need you.” My voice was little more than a whimper.
“I’m here for you. I always have been.” His tone was seductive and devastatingly arousing.
“Then kiss me,” I pleaded, desperate for this man.
“I don’t think I can wait much longer,” he said with a groan, his mouth still poised within inches of mine.
“Then don’t,” I said in a pleading tone, my body trembling.
I needed us to be nude, and rolling around in the sheets somewhere, instead of standing with our naked upper bodies pressed together.
I needed more. So. Much. More.
His hands cupped my denim covered ass, and pulled my pelvis up and agains
t his own. I bit back a moan as I felt the enormous erection he was sporting underneath the material of his jeans.
“Wrap your legs around me,” he said insistently.
I immediately obeyed, and he handled my weight easily. I couldn’t resist grinding against his stiff cock, imagining what it would be like to have him inside me.
“You’re so hard,” I said, panting with anticipation.
“You make me that way,” he grunted as his hands tightened on my ass.
My fingers found their way to his head, and I buried them into the coarse strands of his hair.
I wanted this man to fuck me until neither one of us could move, and we satiated the craving that was so incredibly strong between us.
I needed to satisfy the clamoring desire.
I needed him.
I was enraptured by the way he made me feel like a seductress.
With him, I could almost believe that I was irresistible.
“I need to be closer to you,” I said, my hips still grinding against him.
It wasn’t enough.
It was never enough.
“I have to kiss you,” he said in a pained voice.
“Yes,” I breathed, his mouth so close to mine that I couldn’t stand it.
That intimacy was vital, so necessary that I breeched the miniscule distance, and finally sealed our mouths together.
The result was pure bliss.
He devoured me like a man who had been starved of something that he needed, his tongue tasting me boldly as he took control.
It was sublime, and I moaned against his lips, hungry to deepen the kiss that was turning my entire world upside-down.
I was lost.
I was thoroughly possessed.
I was…complete.
For one stolen moment, I had everything my heart and body desired.
And then…it was over.
Noooo!
I felt tears flood my eyes as everything I wanted was suddenly taken away.
His touch became only a brush of sensation until it completely faded to…nothing.
I was alone, standing in a dark room by myself, my whole being aching for him.
I was so soul-deep lonely that I started to sob uncontrollably.
*****
“No. Not this time. I don’t want to lose him again.” I sat up in bed with a strangled sob.
I’d been so caught up in the dream that it took me a few moments to realize that I was all alone in my bed.
Dammit!
“Not again,” I whispered into the darkness, swiping tears from my face.
Every single Christmas since I’d turned twenty-one years old, I’d had the same recurring dream.
A dream of him.
He was dark haired.
And he was enormous and muscular.
Other than that, I didn’t have a clue what he really looked like. The dream always happened in semi-darkness, and I’d never been able to focus in on his face. He was always in the shadows.
But it was never his looks that had been important.
It was the way he made me feel.
Loved.
Protected.
Wanted.
Needed.
Like I was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
Like I was some kind of miracle to him.
The dream was always short, but it had a big impact on my emotions.
And I’d always woken up sobbing with loss, just like I had in my dream.
Once we kissed, he always started to fade away.
I felt my heart slow down as I tried to shake off the sultry images in my head.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Hayden,” I chastised myself aloud. “There’s no phantom male out there just dying to have sex with you.”
I had no idea why I had the same dream every Christmas, but it was not some kind of message. More than likely, it was my overactive imagination playing some cruel trick on me, showing me everything I wanted, but would never have.
I wasn’t sure if the dream had been triggered by the fact that the latest loser boyfriend in my life had just dumped me earlier that day, or if it was because it was the holiday season. The dream was pretty random every year, but it always happened sometime during the holidays.
It only happens once every Christmas.
I wouldn’t be with my mystery man until next year—at some point during the holidays.
That’s how it had always been.
“There’s nobody out there for me,” I said as I thumped on my pillow to plump it up, and laid back down again.
I’m done with men completely. I should know by now that no dream man exists. Not for me.
Nevertheless, it took me a very long time to finally fall back to sleep.
Chapter One
Hayden
The next day, most of the remnants of the dream had left my mind.
I was back to my own reality, which pretty much sucked at the moment.
Nine days until Christmas, and I’d just been dumped by the latest jerk in my life.
You’re too fat, Hayden.
I’m ashamed to be seen with you.
I don’t want to have sex with you anymore. I never did.
The words my now ex-boyfriend had said to me kept ringing over and over in my head.
Dean, my latest error in judgment, hadn’t broken up with me gently.
Not at all.
He’d been brutal about letting me know he was moving on, and had found another woman who was a lot more attractive than I would ever be.
“Probably a size two Barbie doll,” I mumbled as I walked near Hermann Square in Houston.
I was on my way to a new toy drive to drop off my donations. Just because I was miserable, it didn’t mean I was going to completely cancel Christmas.
There are kids out there who really need to get something for Christmas. That makes my problems look pretty small.
Honestly, my relationship with Dean had sucked for a long time. But I’d tried to pretend like it was okay.
Or maybe I really had no idea what a good relationship was, or what it could be. Since every man I’d dated had used me for something, what did I know about real relationships, anyway?
Every one of the few long-term relationships I’d been in had ended the same way.
I wasn’t good enough for them.
I lugged the enormous box I was carrying onto the counter at the pickup station.
A very authentic-looking Santa came to take it from me.
Although I was far from a dreamer, I had to marvel at his immaculate, magical costume. It looked like it was tailor-made to fit his rotund body.
“Thank you, young lady,” he said in a merry voice.
“Happy to help, Santa,” I played along.
It was strange, but even his cheeks were the ruddy, red color depicted in the fictional pictures of Saint Nicholas.
Really, it was as though the guy was made to play Santa.
I watched as a jolly elf came up, and took the box away to put it with all the other donations.
“You don’t look very happy. Why so sad during such a festive season?” Santa asked as he raised a white, bushy brow.
“I just got dumped by my boyfriend,” I explained. “It’s not going to be a very merry Christmas this year for me.”
Oh, God. Had I become so pathetic that I was pouring my problems out to a guy dressed up in a Santa suit?
But I had to give it to the man playing the part—he was showing what looked like genuine concern as he looked at me. Like a real Santa might do—if he actually existed.
“I’m sorry,” I said, embarrassed. “I don’t usually pour my problems out to strangers.”
“But I’m not a stranger, Hayden,” he answered sincerely.
My eyes shot to his face in surprise. “How do you know my name?”
He gave me an admonishing look. “You were once one of my children, my dear. I never forget a child’s name, even after they become an adult. I don’t f
orget any of their Christmas wishes, either.”
I searched my mind for an explanation as to why he knew my name.
Had my name been on the box I’d given him?
That was the only thing that would explain this man’s knowledge of my first name.
I scrutinized him for a moment, but he was a stranger. I knew we’d never met before.
I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket nervously. “Okay. Well, thanks,” I said uncomfortably. “I hope you have a Merry Christmas.”
“Wait!” The word shot out of Santa’s mouth as I turned away to leave.
I knew I should have kept walking. I was in downtown Houston, and talking to strangers—especially when the conversation was getting incredibly weird—was not a good idea.
But for some reason, I felt compelled to turn around. “Yes?”
“I know some of your Christmas wishes, and your sister Amy’s, were never granted,” the old man said, sounding remorseful.
I smiled at him weakly. “It didn’t take either one of us very long to stop believing in Santa.”
“Even I have my limits,” he answered in a disgruntled tone. “I can’t make you something you weren’t meant to be, Hayden.”
His words surprised me. During my childhood, all I wanted was to be thin like my mother. All I’d wanted was her approval. My sister Amy’s wishes had been the same as mine. My mother had been a very successful supermodel, but my sister and I had inherited some kind of recessive fat genes. We hadn’t been pageant material, or model candidates, either.
My parents had seen Amy and me as failures, not the mirror images of themselves, and they’d been so disappointed they’d never tried to have another child.
I shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m all grown up now.”
“But you’re still sad. Come on, Hayden. Tell me what you’d like for Christmas this year. Maybe I can help this time,” Santa cajoled.
“I want a man who really wants me.”
I want a guy like the one in my dream, even though I know he doesn’t exist.
It was an impulsive statement that I sure as hell hadn’t meant to say to a total stranger.
