Stocking Stuffers: A Five Story Christmas Anthology

by E. J. Darling

  One brow shot up. “Not a new job.”

  She smirked and playfully hit his shoulder. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  He took her chin in his hand and tilted her head up, grazing his teeth along her jaw. “No new job.”

  “I might get fired.” She let her eyes slide closed as she tilted her head to the side. The heat of his mouth over her, the contrast of his teeth raking along her skin with the gentle flicks of his tongue along her neck, traveled straight to her core.

  “I highly doubt that.” He shifted closer, dragging his mouth down her neck, biting hard where her shoulder sloped into her neck, eliciting a sharp gasp. “I think you are far too valuable an employee to be let go.”

  “My boss frowns on interoffice relationships.” The words were a soft exhale as she leaned her forehead against his shoulder. The electricity skittering along her skin, the goosebumps in the wake of his fingertips as he trailed them lightly up and down her arms, all her mind could process was him. The feel of him. Her body’s response to him.

  “I think he would forgive this one.” He offered one last kiss to her neck before sitting back on the couch, running his fingers down her arm until he came to her hand, then threaded them though hers and held tight. “He can be reasonable. I hear he gave his PA an extra vacation last year out of the goodness of his heart.”

  “I had to beg, borrow, and plead to get that vacation, and you still gave me a hard time about it!” She knew he was teasing, but it was a sore point. While he relented, it hadn’t been without a hell of a fight. Lust gone, she tried to tug her hand away, but it only served to make him grip tighter.

  “I hear he also gives sizable bonuses to his employees every year, and he’s heavily involved in various charity endeavors.” His thumb trailed across the back of her hand

  “Reading to a group of kindergarteners as a photo op every year hardly counts.” She snapped the response, watching his fingers move over her hand. A halfhearted tug earned a smug grin as he kissed her knuckles, drawing her hand into his mouth and grazing his teeth against them. Everywhere his lips touched was set ablaze, and she craved the fire even as she tried to stay mad.

  “If you believe rumors, he stole his PA for a magical holiday in the mountains.”

  “How long have you been planning this?” She gave up trying to get her hand back, and tilted her head to the side as she tightened her fingers around his. The line they shouldn’t have crossed was nothing but a dot on the horizon now, but a new line lay in front of them she wasn’t so eager to jump over. If he wanted to take this further, if she were to entertain anything beyond a kiss, beyond Christmas, she needed to understand his motives, what led them to where they currently sat.

  “Since the day you walked into the office with puffy red eyes and no ring. I couldn’t stand by and watch some fucker who wasn’t worth the air he breathed take the light out of your eyes.” He pushed her hair off her face, tucking it behind her ear. “I couldn’t abide the thought of you spending your favorite holiday crying into a carton of ice cream with some depressing movie on because some asshole, who didn’t deserve you in the first place, hurt you so badly.”

  The answer hit her in the gut in a totally different way, and she felt tears brimming for the first time. Before they could fall, he wiped them away. “You care more about me than my ex ever did. Do you know how pathetic that is?” She laughed as she swiped the sleeves of her sweater across her eyes. “Maybe I’ll look into male escorts for holidays with my parents. It works for you.”

  Jaime laughed and gave a short shake of his head. “Casual sex and anonymous flings aren’t your style, Val. Neither are male escorts. You’re too caring. You have too much love to give for that.”

  She scoffed. “Yet, here we are.”

  “Yeah.” He cupped her cheek, slid his thumb across it to catch another tear. His gaze turned intense, his eyes darkening as they focused on her mouth and he leaned forward. “Here we are.”

  Silence fell between them, full of unspoken desire.

  Val struggled to remind herself she was doing a crazy thing in order to escape the insanity that was her life. None of it was real. None of it would last. Rebound sex didn’t result in forever, no matter what he wanted to think. Which meant if she went for this, losing her job was a real threat. Chances were good, one or both of them wouldn’t be able to handle being in the office together. The tension before sex had been oppressive. After sex, it would be unbearable.

  The thought loomed over her as he brought his eyes back to hers. Then he was moving closer. Slowly, inexorably. She should push him away, stop him somehow. The words were there, but she couldn’t say them. It was a line she said she wouldn’t cross again, but with mistletoe hanging overhead and Christmas magic in the air, she couldn’t resist. Instead of doing what she should, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back to offer her lips to him.

  He gripped the back of her neck, holding her still as he closed the last few inches between them, and took control of her mouth. There was no slow seduction that time, there was power. There was demanding, claiming, and stealing. His tongue swept through, forcing hers back when she tried to meet his demands. Cocoa lingered on his lips, the sweetness of marshmallows contrasting with the harsh grip of his fingers in her hair, pulling hard until she tilted her head far enough she was looking at the ceiling.

  His mouth left hers, traveling down her neck, teasing nips interspersed along the path his teeth made as he dragged them down her neck. “I want you, Val. For more than a romp in the woods. Think about it. Give me that much, at least consider it.” The words were a soft exhale against her skin, the heat of it shooting straight between her legs to intensify the ache already there.

  She swallowed hard, standing on a precipice she never intended to get close to. When he pressed his forehead to hers, she let her eyes close again, couldn’t think with his intense stare focused on her. No matter what they did, it was too late to go back. They’d shared a kiss. Multiple kisses. The type of panty melting, life changing kisses she’d only ever read about. Never had a kiss felt like that before. She had a sneaking suspicion no one would ever make her feel like that again.

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Six

  Okay.

  The word echoed in his ear, and a grin crossed his face. First hurdle jumped. But he still couldn’t take her to bed, not until she was sure. She was scared, timid, and when he took her to bed she would be confident in her decision and embracing what they both knew they shared. Instead, he let her direct him to finish untangling the lights and string them up while she started baking cookies in the kitchen.

  From his place at the tree, he had the perfect view of her, tears gone as she danced to Christmas music while hunting down ingredients and kitchenware. The sway of her hips mesmerized him as she flitted from cabinet to cabinet studying their contents and pulling down what she needed. When she met his eyes and gave a shy smile, a momentary lapse in her solo dance, he had to tear his eyes away.

  The image of her dancing in his kitchen kept him on his current track. Her hesitation was understandable, and he’d be lying if he said a part of him didn’t share in that fear. She was the best damn PA he ever employed, and there was no way he would find another to put up with his moods and read his mind like she did. Finding and training a replacement would be time consuming, and likely disappointing. Which was another reason he needed to tread carefully and time everything perfectly.

  He waited years to get this close, he could wait a few more hours.

  It took far longer than it should have to get the lights strung up around the tree, because keeping his eyes off her was impossible. Whenever she caught him staring she stopped swaying for a few seconds, and almost always tucked away the strand of hair that refused to stay up in the pile on top of her head. Inevitably she got lost in the moment again, the Christmas magic as she called it. The music, the cookies, the light snow that started outside.

  As she mixed the ingredients to form a doug
h, he slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, then pressed his lips to the slope of her neck. A spot he couldn’t wait to get his teeth on. The skin under his lips smelled so good, sweet with the slightest bit of spice. Like Christmas when he was a kid. He dragged his teeth over her, layered nipping kisses along a neck he’d stared at longingly for the past several years. He memorized the feel of it under his lips, the taste of it on his tongue.

  She had to agree, he wouldn’t give her any other choice.

  “Jaime. Cookies.” The words were a groan as she tilted her head back, resting it on his shoulder and exposing more of her neck to his wandering mouth.

  He was rock hard and ready to carry her to his bed, fuck the cookies, but if her Christmas depended on him, he was going to give her the best fucking Christmas she ever experienced.

  Bake, decorate, and get through at least a few of the movies on her list. If he took her to bed they wouldn’t get back out of it for days. He wouldn’t let her out. Which meant she’d miss out on decorating, baking, and movies. Things he couldn’t care less about, but brought a smile to her face. He’d do anything for that smile, to have it turned on him.

  To know he was the cause.

  “I prefer raw dough.” He murmured the words against her skin, the slight shiver running through her stoking his own desire, but he held himself in check. Despite being the hardest he’d ever been in his life.

  It fucking hurt.

  “So do I.” She made several dough balls as he rested his chin on her shoulder to watch her work, her fingers and hands rolling the dough into perfect spheres. When she reached up to pop one in his mouth, he opened obligingly. The dough was amazing, and he doubted putting it in the oven could improve it at all. “This is the best cookie dough I’ve ever tasted.”

  “Cinnamon.” She turned her head slightly to smirk at him. “My mom always made them with a touch of cinnamon.”

  He brushed away the flour on her nose as she offered him another bite. “You’ll have to make them for me every year. And on my birthday.” Preferably in his kitchen. While she danced to whatever music she wanted, because he’d listen to Christmas carols year round if that’s what would make her happy. “Or any other time I want them.”

  “I can manage that.” Her voice was softer, her shoulders slumped as she turned from him and back to the cookies. The mood shifted, and it seemed she was back in her own head about the cheating asshole again. There was no way in hell he was going to allow her to doubt her self-worth, her desirability, or to lose her confidence.

  Vulnerable Val was new, and he didn’t care for her. What he did care for was protecting her, making her feel like her secure and confident self again. Something he wouldn’t accomplish in bed, as tempting as it may have been. She physically shook in his arms, like she was ridding herself of some tangible thing, then turned to him with a falsely bright smile. “Let’s get these in the oven so we can decorate.”

  He nodded and released her, as much as he hated it, and watched as she put the single tray of dough balls into the oven and set the timer.

  * * *

  One look at her as she began to arrange the ornaments on the tree was more than enough to keep him satisfied. The smile was genuine again, happiness radiated from her like it always had before Thanksgiving. He debated getting up to help her, but he liked his vantage point far too much. Besides, if she could watch him wrestle lights, he could kick back and enjoy a beer and her cinnamon chocolate chip cookies while she covered the tree with knickknacks and brightly colored glass balls. He couldn’t remember another time he enjoyed the holiday as an adult.

  Finally, she stepped back and studied her handiwork, and when she turned to him the light was back in her blue eyes, giving them a glimmer he hadn’t seen in a month. This was his Val, the girl who greeted him every morning with his coffee made perfectly, who brightened the entire office simply by showing up.

  “Do you have an answer for me?”

  Her brows pulled down above her nose. “I’ve thought about it.” She dropped down next to him on the couch, and he curled his arm around her, pulling her head to his shoulder as he snuggled in.

  The words were ominous, but she willingly curled into him on the couch. “And what were you thinking?”

  “Like I want a little more time.”

  He reclined into the couch and pulled her down with him, putting his empty beer bottle on the table. “The tree looks perfect, like I knew it would.”

  “Not quite perfect.”

  As she settled her head onto his chest and pulled her legs up to tangle in his, he started tracing lazy circles with his fingertips over her shoulder. “What imperfections can you find?”

  “No piles of presents. I know Christmas isn’t about the gifts, but it’ll be odd without unwrapping. Not bad, just different. But, I guess this is the year for different. The year for change.”

  “Like new relationships?” It was a gutshot, but he needed an answer. Patience wasn’t usually a virtue he possessed, and what he had was running out.

  “Maybe.”

  “You’re killing me, Val.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and tugged her tighter. “Santa doesn’t take kindly to murder by torment, and he’s still watching.”

  She laughed, his favorite sound, and burrowed deep into his chest. “I hope he isn’t watching too closely, I’m hoping to be extremely naughty tonight.”

  His cock twitched at the insinuation and instantly sprang to life, making itself obvious in his grey sweats. God help him if he misunderstood or she was teasing him. When she reached down to trace the outline through his pants, his eyes slid closed and he gave in to the sensation, her touch setting off a chain reaction that set his entire body on edge.

  “I’ve always wanted sex on the floor by the light of a tree.”

  He laughed softly at the confession and tangled his fingers in her hair. “Have you ever had sex on the floor? I promise you it’s not as magical as you think.”

  She pushed up over him and her hair fell forward, forming a curtain around their faces. “Everything is magic on Christmas.”

  “Is this your answer, then?”

  She nodded slowly and licked her lips. “Yes.”

  Chapter Seven

  Holy hell, she was going to fuck her boss.

  Val’s heart leapt into her throat as Jaime eased her back by the fireplace, close enough to the tree the smell danced through her nose, mingling with his woodsy scent to create a unique combination she didn’t think she’d ever get enough of. When his lips closed over her collar bone, the familiar bite of his teeth coaxed a deep moan from her as she flooded with liquid heat. It had never been like that with anyone before, never felt that good with just a touch.

  Never felt that good at all.

  While she still hadn’t decided if she wanted a relationship, she knew she wanted this. When he slipped her shirt over her head, she did the same with his, running her hands up over his abs, his pecs, and lingering in the coarse hair sprinkled across his chest. He took his time undressing her, trailing his mouth, his tongue, over her breasts and blazing a hot trail down to her belly just above the button of her jeans.

  It was so much better than she’d imagined it would be, and he barely started. Maybe it was the anticipation, the realization of a thousand dirty dreams. Maybe it was Christmas magic. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to give it thought. She wanted to feel. Just feel.

  Just him.

  She tangled her fingers in his hair, tugging as he unbuttoned her pants and kissed every inch of her flesh as he exposed it, following each one with his teeth and sending goosebumps over every inch of her body. The hot and cold contrasted to make each breath against her skin feel like fire against the chill. “I’ve waited years for this, and still can’t believe I finally have you.”

  “Then take me.”

  He looked up at her, his lips curling up at the corners. “You’ll be mine by the end of this, Val. I promise you that.”

  On
ce her pants and panties were in a pile behind them, he trailed his fingers lightly up the back of her thighs to the curve of her ass, and she inhaled sharply at the almost ticklish sensation his light touch sent through her. She was soaking wet, and aching for him.

  She struggled to get his pants off, but he was impatient as she was and shoved them down himself, adding them to the growing pile of clothes. Already his erection reached for her, promising an experience only he could deliver. The desperate need to be filled flooded her consciousness as he coaxed her legs apart and teased her with his fingers.

  “So wet already. I’ve barely even touched you.”

  “I need you, Jaime. Inside me. Now.” The words were breathless, as desperate and needy as she felt. She tilted her pelvis up, grinding into the steely heat teasing her as it rested against her belly.

  He hesitated, looking down at her, his brows drawn tight together. One finger, then two, slipped into her as he dragged his fingers back over her clit. His thumb began tracing circles around it as he leaned back, his fingers finding a slow cadence set to tease rather than satisfy.

  Her fingers fisted on the rug beneath her, and she was desperate to find anything to hold onto, but there was nothing except him.

  His fingers curling into her, hitting the spot she hadn’t believed existed until he found it, set her body humming beneath him. With every other man she was self-conscious in the bedroom, preferred lights off and covers up. But here Jaime was, watching her every reaction to his touch, and she’d never felt more free.

  Uninhibited.

  But she needed so much more.

  A groan escaped from deep within her when he pulled away completely, but it turned to a gasp when his mouth closed over her and his tongue swiped up where his cock had rested seconds before. He closed his teeth over her, gently nipping at her clit.