“You said it yourself, Carly. We’re friends. We’re having fun. It’s Christmas Eve. Why don’t we let whatever happens happen?”
The thought of doing what he suggested scared her. Carly didn’t take chances, but she couldn’t deny how wonderful being with Jake felt. It was as if a Christmas fairy had sprinkled magical snowflake dust on them. Maybe following his advice would be…okay.
Carly took a deep breath. “I—I can do that.”
“Good.” His smile reassured her. “Now want to help me put together this pirate ship so we can finish up everything?”
Relieved, disappointed, she nodded. “Where are the instructions?”
“I’m not big on instructions—” he reached under the box and pulled out a white booklet “—but you can use them.”
She read the directions, found the necessary pieces and assembled the captain’s quarter. “We might get the ship put together faster if we both followed the directions.”
“I have a better idea.” His eyes narrowed in on her. “Let’s divide the ship parts in half. Whoever finishes first wins. You use the instructions. I won’t. What do you say?”
The challenging tone of his voice reminded her of the bets Jake and Nick had made over the years, decades really. “I thought you would have outgrown making stupid bets by now.”
“Nope. And they’re not stupid bets.” Jake set the pieces of the ship on the carpet. “Sean ended up having to chop my firewood this fall after we bet on how much rockfall we’d see. He then wanted to go double or nothing by guessing when the bergschrund would be open. He, of course, lost.”
“He shouldn’t have bet to start with.” She glanced over the directions. “I’m not much of a gambler.”
“Even if it’s a sure thing?” he asked.
“Nothing’s ever a sure thing.” Carly knew that better than anybody. She picked up two new parts of the ship and studied at the diagram in the instruction manual. “Though I must admit I’m partial to guarantees.”
“I see nothing wrong with a friendly wager every now and then.”
How friendly? She snapped a rail onto the ship’s deck. “That’s because you rarely lose.”
“Losing is always a possibility, but that’s what makes it exciting.”
Exciting? Try terrifying. “I don’t think so.”
All Carly had done for the past six years was lose. Her fiancé. Her brother. Her parents being together. Pretty much everything and everyone she’d grown up loving had disappeared or changed. Every person she’d loved had disappointed her. She couldn’t take anything else.
“We could make the prize something easy,” he suggested. “Whatever you want.”
She wanted Jake to hold her, to pull her against him and kiss her. Hard. The thought alone raised her temperature ten degrees. Not good.
His flashed her a charming lopsided grin. “I’ll give you a head start.”
“Don’t try to egg me into accepting a bet. I’ve already put more pieces together than you.”
“Then you can’t lose.”
She wished that were the case, but experience had painted a much different picture with wide brush strokes even she couldn’t pretend not to see. “No, thanks.”
“You said you would let whatever happens happen.”
Carly stared at him. “Are you always so…?”
He raised a brow. “Charming?”
“Persistent?”
Jake laughed. “It depends on how much I want something.”
“And you want it, I mean a bet, this much.”
“Yes—” the intensity in his eyes took her breath away “—I want…it that much.”
Oh, boy. Anticipation skittered down her spine.
“What do you say, Carly? Will you take a chance?”
His smile full of warmth and laughter hinted at a promise she couldn’t even imagine. A simple bet with an easy prize. She was tempted—oh, so tempted, considering she’d already agreed to let whatever happen happen.
“Come on,” he urged, those baby blues of his melting away her resolve. “What have you got to lose?”
Only one thing, she realized. Her heart.
“I can’t believe I lost the bet.” Jake ate another cookie. He’d already munched down carrots and taken bites out of celery sticks before tossing them outside so the kids would think the reindeer had eaten them. “But if you thought drinking milk and eating cookies left for Santa would be a chore, it’s not.”
“Somebody had to do it.” Carly lay on the couch. “Better you than me. If I ate them, they’d go straight to my hips.”
But they sure were nice hips. She had curves in all the right places.
“I’ll do anything to help the cause.” Jake bit into another cookie, a snowman with red candy buttons on his front.
“So you would have eaten the cookies even if you’d won the bet?” she asked.
“If you had wanted me to.”
He wanted to help her. Not out of guilt, but because he cared. Not for the girl she’d been, but the woman she’d become.
Is that what’s best for Carly?
Hell, yes. Jake only wanted what was best for her. Even if that might not be him.
A soft, sweet smile graced her lips, and Jake’s heart did a flip-flop. “Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome, but are you sure you don’t want something else from me?” He walked toward her. “You won fair and square, but I’m the one who got the treats.”
“I’m good.” She glanced at the clock. “I’m a little tired, but happy we got everything done before midnight.”
“We’re a good team.”
She nodded.
Jake raised her sock-covered feet off the couch, sat and placed them on his lap. As he touched her left foot, she tensed. The moment he rubbed, the tension seeped from her body.
She sunk into the couch. “Oh, thank you.”
“You deserve it,” he said. “You’ve been on your feet all day.”
“I’m on my feet at work.”
“Yes, but you’re not used to this kind of work.”
“You’re not kidding.” Her eyelids closed. She sighed. “Is there anything Jake Porter can’t do?”
“I suck at differential equations.”
Her eyes remained closed. “When was the last time you did one of those?”
“On the final exam.”
She smiled. “You’re going to have to come up with something better than that.”
He moved to the other foot.
“Oh, Jake.” She practically purred. “This is wonderful.”
He agreed. “Glad you’re liking it.”
“I’m loving it.”
He wished he could give her more, but he didn’t want to press his luck.
A cuckoo clock Nick had bought on a ski trip to Switzerland sounded twelve times. Midnight.
She opened her eyes and sat with her elbows supporting her weight on the sofa’s armrest. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Carly.”
A beat passed. And another.
Their eyes locked. Even their breathing seemed in sync.
What he wouldn’t give for some mistletoe because if there ever was a perfect time for a kiss it was now.
Right now.
But Jake hesitated. He didn’t want to make the wrong move. He’d known fear, on the mountain, not knowing if he’d make it down in one piece. The quiet. The waiting. The unknown.
Jake felt like that now.
Oh, the stakes weren’t life or death, but they felt high nonetheless. What was the price of a kiss?
A brush of his lips on her forehead. A friendly peck on her cheek. A juicy one planted right on her lips. He wasn’t about to be picky though if he had his choice he’d go for juicy. Especially if it was going to cost him. He rubbed her ankles.
If only he knew what she wanted him to do. Not that he had a clue himself beyond wanting a kiss. But the wanting alone pushed what he was feeling out of the friendship realm and i
nto something else altogether. So he sat, his hands on her feet, holding his breath, waiting for inspiration to strike.
He’d told her to take a chance. Yet he was unable to do the same. Coward. He might as well plop down on a nest and warm a clutch of eggs.
Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”
“It’s late, too,” he said, breaking the mood like a glass dropped on a tile floor. “I should probably be going.”
Carly moistened her lips. “Unless you want to stay the night.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
UNLESS YOU WANTto stay the night.
Carly cringed. She couldn’t believe she’d said those words out loud. Oh, she’d been thinking them. Boy, had she ever since his warm, strong hands had worked their magic on her sore, tired feet. Her entire body had responded to his foot massage.
But asking Jake to spend the night here?
He’d already spent the night before, she reminded herself.
But not with her.
I promise I’ll be careful.
So much for keeping that promise. She gulped.
“You want me to stay the night,” he said, his steady tone the exact opposite of the way her insides trembled.
Carly noticed he hadn’t asked a question. Was he that sure of himself? Or of her? She didn’t like thinking she was so transparent. She was no longer the immature teenager who wore her heart on her sleeve. Maybe it was time to remind them both of that. She sat straighter.
“If you want to.” Carly wanted a cue from him to tell her she wasn’t making a big mistake. “Being here might make things easier in the morning.”
“I’m all for easy.”
She was afraid of that.
“I already put my presents under the tree,” Jake said. “And I have a bag with extra clothes in the car.”
As she thought about why he might keep extra clothes in his car, Hannah’s words echoed through Carly’s head.
He doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to relationships.
“I never know what’s going to happen with OMSAR so keeping a dry set, something to wear after a mission, in the car makes sense,” he continued. “Though sometimes I’m too tired to change and all I’ll want is to get home.”
OMSAR. Relief washed over her, but a little doubt remained. “It does. Make sense.”
She sounded like an idiot. Or a thirteen-year-old with a huge crush. Maybe a combination of the two.
“There are clean sheets on Hannah and Garrett’s bed if you want to sleep there,” Carly said.
“I could take one of the bunks in Austin’s room.”
Not the words of a man burning with impatience to have sex.
Was she so out of practice she had completely misread his signals? Or was he letting her set the pace and parameters of their relationship? Not that she was even sure what they had could be called a relationship.
Why don’t we let whatever happens happen?
She tried not to think of the queen bed in her room. A bed too big for one person. Especially on this cold winter’s night. Right now Carly wasn’t sure enough of her feelings or his to do anything.
“Whatever you want,” she said finally.
Jake winked. “What I want isn’t a possibility. Unless it’s what you want, too.”
The flash of desire in his eyes took her breath away. He made her feel as if she was exactly what he hoped to find under the Christmas tree tomorrow morning. She felt the same way about him. Tie a ribbon around him, attach a gift tag with her name on it and this would be the best Christmas ever.
What was happening to her?
When Jake was around, she forgot all about being careful and playing it safe. And yet…
He seemed to know it. Darn him.
His confidence undermined hers. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore.
He put on his coat. “Be right back.”
As the door closed behind him, Carly rose from the couch. She shuffled her way to the front door and stood by the window, waiting and watching.
Jake moved with the agility and grace of an athlete. The snow-covered driveway didn’t slow him down. He disappeared behind the back of his SUV. A moment later, he reappeared with a dark-colored duffel bag in his hand.
So he was spending the night.
No. Big. Deal.
Too bad she saw right through the self-denial. Carly wanted to believe she’d asked him to stay for Kendall and Austin’s sake, but she hadn’t been thinking about the kids when she’d asked Jake to stay. She was the one who wanted him to be here. She was the one who hadn’t wanted to have to say goodbye. She was the one who wasn’t even ready to say good-night.
As he walked up the step, she opened the front door for him. The cold night air felt good blowing against her.
Jake crossed the threshold, his presence filling the small foyer. He removed and hung his jacket on the rack. “Thanks.”
Carly closed the door. As she clicked the lock in place, she felt as if she were sealing her fate, as well.
Stop overreacting, she told herself. Her reasons for asking him no longer mattered. Sure, she might have thought she was ready for something to happen, but she’d changed her mind.
“You’re going to get cold feet,” Jake said. “Standing in the doorway in your socks.”
His warning was too late. Carly already had cold feet. She stepped back.
Jake stared at her with a wry grin on his face. “Better watch out.”
Another warning? “Why?”
“You’re standing under the mistletoe.”
She glanced up to see the greenery hanging above. Flushed. “I forgot it was there.”
Carly should move away, but his blue eyes mesmerized her, held her transfixed to the spot where she stood.
“I didn’t,” he said.
“But the kids aren’t here to make us kiss.”
His eyes darkened to a midnight blue. “This isn’t about the kids, Carly.”
A beat passed. She raised her chin. “What is it about, then?”
“Tradition.”
Not the answer she had hoped for. And yet…
Why don’t we let whatever happens happen?
Why not?
“I for one wouldn’t want to stand in the way of a time-honored tradition.”
Rising on tiptoes, she kissed him on the lips. Tentatively. Softly. Expecting him to back away at any second.
But he didn’t.
Instead, Jake moved his mouth over hers with such tenderness she felt totally safe and in control. She parted her lips more and slightly increased the pressure of the kiss. He did the same. Carly liked being the one who decided what came next, as if they were dancing and he was following her lead.
A loud thud sounded. Not her heart. Maybe his bag? He wove his fingers through her hair. Yes, his bag.
Each step she took to deepen the kiss, he matched until she could no longer think straight to know what she was doing. Tingles flowed from her lips to every extremity. A toe-curling kiss, most definitely, but this one also had her heart doing cartwheels and her feet wanting to float off the ground.
This was far more than a Christmas tradition, far more than a kiss between friends, but Carly didn’t care. She only wanted…more.
His arms wrapped around her. She arched closer, reaching up to embrace him. As she pressed against his body, she felt the rapid beat of his heart against her chest. The scent of him surrounded her. The taste of him filled her.
Her hands splayed over his back. She ran her fingers along the contours and ridges of his muscles. So strong and all hers.
For now. That was enough. It had to be.
Suddenly, Carly felt his arm come under her knees and she was no longer touching the ground. Jake carried her, as if she weighed nothing, his lips never leaving hers for an instant. He sat on the couch with her on his lap.
The mistletoe.
They were no longer standing beneath it, but that didn
’t seem to matter. Thank goodness.
Jake kissed the corner of her mouth. He trailed kisses along her jaw up and nibbled on her ear, shooting sparks through her.
She held on to him, her fingers digging into his back. If he let go she would slide right off his lap. But Carly knew, in her mind and in her heart, Jake would never let her fall.
He ran his tongue along her earlobe, the light touch making her quiver with delight. Desire burned like the blood rushing through her veins. “Jake.”
Her voice sounded different. The word was more a plea than anything else.
“Hmmm?”
“Kiss me again.”
Slowly, almost tortuously, he expertly trailed kisses along her neck until Carly thought she would burst with pleasure. Finally he reached her mouth and pressed his lips against hers.
“Like this?” he murmured.
“Uh-huh.” She could barely talk, let alone think, as sensation washed over her.
She’d never felt so overcome by a kiss. Time no longer mattered. Nothing did. All she knew or could think about was Jake. How it felt to be in his arms and kissing him.
This was what had been missing in her life.
She hadn’t thought she’d wanted it, but she needed it. Badly.
The cuckoo clock sounded once.
Jake kissed her hard on the lips again, and then pulled away. His ragged breathing matched her own. He struggled to catch his breath, but never let go of her.
The way he held on to her made her feel precious and adored, a way she hadn’t felt in years. A blissful euphoria surrounded her. She looked up at her friend Jake, at the man who had made her feel such passion.
The hunger in his eyes made her swallow. She’d put that look in his eyes. Her and their kiss. Make that kisses. Power and confidence blazed through her.
“I need to buy more mistletoe,” he said. “And put it all over the house.”
She wiggled her toes. “Sounds good to me.”
“Over the bed,” he teased.
Carly smiled, but her heart lurched. “That’s quite a line. Have you used it before?”
Jake grinned. “Not that one. I made it up just for you.”
Meaning there had been other lines, she deduced. Other women. Hannah’s words came back to Carly.
Rescued by the Magic of Christmas Page 11
