Under the Mistletoe

by Aria Cole

  “Mason?” I asked.

  Mrs. Potts’s eyes went from his back to mine. “Oh, I just assumed you realized… this is Mr. Kingsley, the owner of the estate.”

  “And the man who hired you.”

  His gravelly voice landed with a whirlwind in my stomach. Never in a million years would I have assumed that this man could be the owner of everything around me. Mason Kingsley was a man’s man, so muscular and broad he looked as though he spent his days doing manual labor. He was, without a doubt, the most handsome man I’d ever seen. Sadly, he also seemed to dislike my very presence here.

  His blue eyes cast up and down my form, sending shivers coursing through me. They narrowed when they reached my face, and he nodded then averted his eyes again.

  “Can we take Everly for a walk in the gardens, Daddy?” Savannah hopped up and down with the excitement only a kid could muster.

  “Sure, love. That sounds fun.”

  No, no, no. That did not sound fun at all. Walking next to that sweet baby girl and the gorgeous man she called daddy would be the death of me. No way could I spend my days with an arrogant, moody, devastatingly good-looking asshole. He’d drive me insane with his mysterious looks and growly replies. Leave me aching and breathless every time he was in the room. Mason Kingsley made me feel all sorts of conflicting emotions with just a single look.

  “Sit, sit,” Mrs. Potts said. “Everly needs something to eat before she goes off touring the grounds.”

  I sat, anxiety piercing my veins as I felt every nerve in my body on high alert in his presence. My gaze washed over the sharp angles of his rugged face. My fingers begged to touch the steel cut of his jaw, the laugh lines around his eyes, the bronze shade of his skin… everything about him was enthralling.

  He glanced up, eyes catching mine.

  I waited for his words, begging my lips to form sentences as I felt every slow, thundering heartbeat in my chest. What was this? Why did he have this all-consuming hold over me? For the life of me, I couldn’t read him, his stormy blue eyes shielding the thoughts that surely were spinning in his mind. He made me so uncomfortable, so painfully aware of myself.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” Savannah asked sweetly.

  I almost choked, tearing my eyes from Mason’s as I felt heat bloom up my neck. “No, no, I don’t, honey.” I focused on the sandwich in front of me suddenly, feeling my tummy rumble.

  “Daddy says he’ll never get married, but I want a mum like the other kids at school.”

  Oh my god. Kill me now. If I could melt into the floor and disappear, I would.

  “Well…” I stammered, unsure of what to say. Awkward silence fell thick between all of us.

  Mrs. Potts patted Savannah on the head. “Savannah is a chatty little thing—loves people and could talk your ear off.”

  “She’s sweet.” I smiled deeply as I felt the love emanating from this tight-knit family.

  Mason leaned over and cooed in Savannah’s ear, “I said not too many questions today, Savannah. We have to let Everly settle in.”

  My ovaries almost exploded. I’d only seen the gruff side of him before, but this guy was like a giant teddy bear wrapped around his daughter's little finger. I’d been wrong to jump to assumptions about him, even if he had been a cranky bastard on the drive from the train station.

  “But we’re going to be best friends! I can tell, Daddy.” Savannah shot me a wide grin before winding her fingers in mine.

  I smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. “We are going to be the very best of friends.”

  “I’m all finished!” the little girl squealed and hopped from her seat. “Can we go for a walk now, Daddy?”

  His normally hard face melted into sweet sincerity when he looked into her bright eyes. “Sure, baby. Just for a bit, then I have to get back to work.” He linked his hand in hers and stood from the table.

  “Come on, Everly, we’re going for a walk with Daddy!” Savannah snagged my hand in her other one so Mason and I were linked through the ball of energy hopping between us.

  I shot Mason a half smile, noticing the hard set of his jaw and the way his eyes seemed to harden and flash away every time our gazes met. What was up with that? I couldn’t have done anything to warrant that kind of treatment. He made me feel like a troll infiltrating his perfect, beautiful life, like I didn’t belong. Little did he know that that only solidified my determination.

  I did belong here. I was great with kids, I loved kids. This would be the best time of both my and Savannah’s lives if he just gave me a chance.

  Or he could just stay the hell out of my way.

  I’d take either at this point, as long as his penetrating dark stare wasn’t eating up my insides for the next three months.

  Mason, Savannah, and I took off down the hallway, hands still linked as she swung between us. Somehow, it felt oddly right. As though we’d been doing this for years instead of minutes.

  “Lead me to the garden, Savannah!” I called when we stepped through the doors I’d walked in an hour ago.

  “This way!” She bolted off, the wind carrying her giggle.

  “Hope the bedroom is to your liking.” Mason’s throaty voice shocked the hell out of me.

  I shot him a sideways glance, wondering if he even deserved an answer. “It's fine.”

  Short, simple, sweet—that was how I would keep my interactions with him.

  Just before we turned the corner of the house, Mason stopped and grabbed my elbow, his head leaning toward mine and swallowing all the oxygen between us. “Savannah means everything to me. I need to know I can trust you with her.”

  I froze in place, too aware of the burning sensation of his palm on my forearm. I licked my lips, fire coiling in my belly before I whispered. “Maybe that’s something you should have asked before I flew all the way across the ocean.”

  One slash of dark eyebrow rose before a stubborn smile twitched his lips. “Good point.”

  “So you can smile?”

  Both of his eyebrows nearly shot into his hairline. He shook his head a moment, squeezed my arm a little tighter, then brushed his nose across the shell of my ear. “If something, or someone, gives me a reason to.”

  My blood throbbed with his words. The wash of his breath across my neck sent a flurry of fireflies loose into my ribcage.

  “You're a beautiful woman, Everly. Maybe I should have asked for a photo before hiring you.”

  I tipped my chin up, challenging him with a cocky smile. “And then you wouldn’t have hired me?” I tipped my chin up, challenging him with a cocky smile.

  “Not at all. I just would have known what kind of torture I was in for,” he stated matter-of-factly as he watched his daughter weaving in and out of the rose bushes ahead of us.

  I stood there, rooted to my spot, stupefied by his words as excitement burned through my system as it never had before. Mason Kingsley was a man of mystery, a man of few words, a man who already had me completely beguiled. Taking care of a five-year-old would be a breeze. Controlling my body’s reaction to her daddy would be the real problem.

  “Everly! Let’s play tag! Daddy’s it!” She shrieked and darted away from him.

  Mason’s lean body jogged after the tiny girl whose corn silk ringlets flew on the wind behind her.

  I felt as if I had stepped right into a modern Jane Austen fantasy, complete with my own brooding Mr. Darcy. “Coming!”

  Chapter 3

  Mason

  I sat at the chair in my home office, mind spinning wildly with thoughts of my new hire, all five foot eight curvy inches of her. This little bird was something else. I didn’t know how I could survive knowing she was sleeping like an angel under the same roof as me. I’d expedited a background check to make sure the woman taking care of my most precious possession would be a good fit for our family, but why on earth hadn’t it occurred to me to ask for a photo before flying her to my home? Because I hadn’t cared, not really. She’d been perfect on paper, that’s all I needed to off
er her the position.

  I grunted, thrusting a hand through my hair and shooting out of the chair, headed for the window that overlooked the back of the property. Moonlight spilled across the green landscape, shadow and sky as far as the eye could see.

  I loved this place, loved it more than anything, or almost anything.

  Kingsley Manor and Estate had been passed down to me after my parents were taken too soon, first my father from cancer, and shortly after, my mother, with what I still believed was a broken heart. This land was their legacy and had been in our family for generations. I was proud, determined to uphold the reputation of Kingsley Manor. My ancestors had always had a reputation for caring for the locals, and I did what I could to help the town. Once a year, I was happy to invite all of the local townsfolk to our traditional opulent holiday ball. All the food and all the booze they could handle kept them pretty happy.

  I’d skipped dinner tonight in favor of work, perhaps partly to avoid the beautiful woman now sitting at my table. I couldn’t avoid her forever—that would make me look even more ridiculous—but I just couldn't face her. Not when something burned low in my gut whenever her startling eyes met mine.

  Eyes so round and doe-like my cock throbbed and I had to look away just to maintain control. I’d wanted to throw her up against the house this afternoon and snog her until we were both ragged and desperate for air.

  But I was a man of morals. Or at least I tried to be.

  Maybe she’d let me have her. Maybe thrusting my tongue down her throat wouldn’t send her running, but I just didn’t know. I felt some spark and crackle whenever we were close enough to touch—how could she not feel that too?—but the bottom line was that I had to put Savannah first. Always.

  I turned, prepared to head up to bed and wank my cock with visions of her sweet curves in mind, but a flash of movement caught my eyes out the window. “Shit.”

  I recognized Everly outside on the patio. She must have come down while I was working, or thinking about her at my desk, and I hadn’t even seen her. I thought about heading up to bed anyway, but then I thought better of it and did the only thing I really wanted to do. I went to her.

  I took long strides out of my office and down the hallway, a man determined. What I was determined to do, I wasn’t sure, other than to be in her presence for another breath longer. My hand found the knob of the wide French doors, and I paused, watching her dark hair glisten in the moonlight as she sat perched on a bench. My gorgeous little kitten. She looked ethereal, like a dream come true, sent here for my pleasure only.

  I had to stop thinking this way. Christ, I’d need a babysitter myself to keep my hands off her.

  “Trouble sleeping?”

  Everly turned, eyes wide and startled. “Yes. I mean, no. It’s just so beautiful out here.”

  I nodded as I stood beside her. Arms crossed, I pretended to look out at everything that was mine, when really I was feasting my eyes on her. Her body, her eyes, her hair. Her. “Listen, I didn’t say it earlier, but I’m glad you came.”

  Everly glanced at me before her head turned back to the moon and she nodded.

  “I’m not good with words, so…” I pushed a hand through my hair then immediately stopped myself. My nervous habit. Damn, why did this girl make me so nervous? I was strung-out on adrenaline and need when she was around.

  “I caught that,” she mumbled, refusing to meet my eyes.

  That only irritated me more. I wanted her eyes, her lips, her everything.

  “I certainly hope I haven’t… pushed you away.” Christ, this was awkward. I should have gone right upstairs and avoided her completely. But I couldn’t do that, could I? There was no avoiding Everly.

  “Well, like you said, I’m here for Savannah, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

  Something about her words and dismissive attitude lit a fire in me. How could I, all of a sudden, be jealous of a five-year-old? But I was. I wanted Everly’s attention for myself. It didn’t make sense, but I supposed things like passion and desire never did.

  Thinking I had a lot of work to do to make this girl feel comfortable around me, I sat down on the bench, right next to her so our thighs brushed in the dark night. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Everly sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and nearly drove me insane. My eyes flicked down the generous curve of her perky tits, the nip of her waist, and those creamy thick thighs that were begging to be wrapped around my head.

  “Listen, I can tell you wish you’d rather not have hired me, for whatever reason I don't know if I’ll ever understand but I want you to know you can trust me with your daughter. I love kids; I spent all of my teenage years babysitting. I can do this. And we’ll have fun. I’ll keep Savannah so busy you won’t even know we’re here.”

  My gut hurt as I ingested her words. Shit, this isn’t the impression I’d wanted to give her at all. If anything, the opposite was true.

  “Everly…” I thought my words over carefully. Finally I decided words just wouldn’t do, and I took a leap. I took a leap because no woman had ever made me feel quite like this. “That’s not that I meant at all.”

  I sat next to her, slipping a hand up her arm, reveling in the shiver that coursed through her body before my fingertips dusted across the curve of her neck. Her breathing stopped, her eyes wild and round with something I couldn't bring myself to place.

  “I’m fucking glad to have you here.” My heart thundered as my palm wrapped around the back of her neck.

  I leaned in and brushed my lips across her pillowy ones. She didn't react at first, but then a tentative palm stretched across my thigh and her nails dug in. With that movement, my tongue pushed past her lips, so velvety soft and so sweet. I sucked long and slow, nibbling at her lip, swirling my tongue inside her mouth, loving every bloody minute my body was connected to hers.

  “Fuck, you undo me.” I pulled back for a breath, enjoying the way her eyes were watching me.

  “I don’t know what this is. I’ve never…”

  “You’ve never…?” I probed, dying to know the words on the tip of her tongue.

  “I’ve never been with a man. I’ve never been kissed. I’ve never done this before.” She gestured between us.

  “Jesus, Everly, you’re a…?”

  “Virgin? Yes.” The word dripped from her lips like honey.

  How could it be possible this gorgeous creature was all pure and mine for the taking? My lips, my tongue, my hands, my everything only.

  “I don’t know if I should corrupt you then,” I teased, rubbing a thumb across the velvet skin at her wrist.

  “Just because I’m a virgin doesn't make me naive.” Her eyes sparked, her gaze darting from my eyes to my lips and back again.

  “Everly…” I hummed, failing to maintain my thinly held control before I lunged across the space between us. My lips found hers again as though I was a man dying of thirst.

  Jesus, I was. I’d been dying for her. I’d spent my whole life focused on work, maintaining Kingsley Manor, and taking care of Savannah. I’d be damned if I let her go, no matter how young, innocent, or untouched she may be.

  Hell, I liked her that way. I could put my mark on her, claim her and know that no man had ever touched her like I had.

  “Jesus, I don’t know how I’m going to keep my hands off you,” I uttered against her lips, not yet ready to separate from her.

  “Who said you have to?” Her eyes, sweet and beguiling, flicked up to mine before her palm wrapped around the back of my neck and she pulled me against her lips again.

  On instinct, my hand went to her thigh, kneading and desperate to touch her skin without the flimsy barrier of clothing between us.

  Before I knew what was happening, Everly was sliding into my lap. My hands held her thighs firmly around my waist as she kissed me as though she was as hungry for me as I was for her, as though she’d never been kissed before.

  Because she hadn’t.

  This was all mine.
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  I thrust my hands into her hair as her hips worked back and forth on my lap, the ridge of my cock pressing painfully against the zipper of my trousers as her hot center ground against me.

  “Jesus, Everly, I want to take you to my bed and never let you leave.”

  “I’m not opposed to that,” she murmured with a giggle against my lips before her tongue plunged into my mouth again.

  “Horny little kitten, aren’t you?” I uttered, one hand crawling up her back and pulling her tighter against me. The fleshy globes of her tits pressed against my chest and made me feel as though this was where she was meant to be. Right here on my lap like a good girl, catering to my whims while I pleased her with my fingers, my tongue, and my rock-hard cock. “I can’t wait to fuck you with my tongue, taste your sweet pussy, and make you cum all over my face.”

  My words seemed to egg her on. Her hips gyrated, pressing deeper into my cock and making me nearly insane with the need to sink inside her.

  “Mason…” she moaned, her fingertips digging into the flesh of my shoulders.

  “That’s it, kitten, let me hear you.” I slid a hand between us and pressed my thumb between her legs, searching for that tender bud that would send her flying.

  “Oh god.” She moaned.

  And I found it.

  I slid my tongue past her lips, moving with the same rhythm my fingers took between her thighs as I rubbed her to her first sweet, satisfying orgasm by a man’s hand. Her muscles tensed, her body shuddered, and before I knew it, her head was back and she was cumming on my hand.

  “Watching you cum is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.” I dragged my teeth up the line of her neck, enjoying the remaining tremors racking her body. “And I can smell your sweet cunt already. I don’t know how I'm going to sleep tonight with this image in my mind.”

  Her lips turned up, her arms wrapping around my neck as she shivered against my lips. A smile pulled at her cheeks when her eyes flickered open. “That was…”

  “Incredible?”

  “Mind-blowing.” Her eyes glistened with arousal as she pressed her lips to mine again. “I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight.”