Once again joining his lips to hers, he quickly removed his slacks and then pressed his body fully against hers; she reveled in the feel of his hardness.
“Yes, please,” she begged. It had been so long since she’d made love, and now that the moment was close, she wanted nothing more than for him to fill her.
She heard the ripping of foil and blinked in surprise. She’d been so caught up, protection hadn’t even crossed her mind. She was thankful that one of them was thinking.
He pulled back just a bit, making her cry out in protest until she felt him pushing inside her.
“Oh, yes.” Encouraging him to drive into her, she moaned her approval as he stretched her open.
“You are so tight,” he groaned as he stalled halfway inside.
“Don’t stop!” she demanded. She wanted motion and she urged him on with her hips.
“Hold on,” he groaned, giving her body time to adjust. But she didn’t want time; she wanted him — now!
For a moment, he clenched his teeth and looked into her eyes; then he surged forward, burying himself in her heat, making her head fall back as she cried out. If he moved even a little, she knew she would climax. She’d never shattered so quickly while making love.
As if he could read her body, he withdrew and drove back in, sending her spiraling over the edge, making her clench around him, forcing a groan to rip from his throat.
He moved gently to stretch out her pleasure until the last of her tremors died down. Then he grabbed her head and kissed her deeply as he began to thrust more quickly within her, with long, deep strokes.
Time lost all meaning as his hands explored her body and his mouth devoured her. The beating of her heart moved in time with his body. The pressure within her began building again as he continued his lovemaking, and suddenly her release was rippling through her again, rushing through her body as her pleasure spiked.
As she shook in his arms, he cried out, sinking deep inside her, pulsing, spilling, and then growing still.
His head collapsed against her shoulder as a tremor racked his body. She tasted the salty tang of his flesh, loved the flush that had stolen over his beautiful dark skin.
An eternity must have passed before he leaned back and looked at her passion-spent face.
“That was unbelievable,” he said as he again caressed her cheek.
“I could do that over and over,” she replied, leaning forward and brushing his lips against hers.
“A lady after my own heart.” He lifted her from the counter and began moving through the apartment.
“Where are we going?” she asked, holding on so she wouldn’t fall.
“To continue doing it over and over and over again,” he said with a wicked smile.
“Oh, I must have been a very good girl this year.” She laughed in delight as he set her down on his bed and quickly climbed in after her.
“Mmm, yes you have. You’re definitely on Santa’s good list,” he said with a laugh.
“That’s too bad. I kind of like being on the naughty list,” she said, then blushed.
“This just keeps getting better and better, Ms. Ridgley,” he said after a pause.
“I can’t imagine it getting any better, but I’m more than willing to give it all I’ve got to try,” she said.
She didn’t have to try hard at all.
Chapter Eleven
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Storm. You’re a free man.”
Tanner looked down at his monitor-free ankle and sent the officer a withering look. He needed these guys to get the hell out of his apartment before Kyla woke and found them.
When this had all begun, he’d been planning on beating the officers out of the building as soon as the ridiculous contraption had been removed. Now, it was Christmas morning and he had a beautiful woman sound asleep in his bed.
Neither of them had gotten more than two or three hours of sleep the night before. Still, he felt more energized than he could ever remember feeling.
He didn’t know whether that was from a night of great lovemaking or because he was off house arrest, the ankle device was gone, and he could finally return to his beautiful penthouse.
Why wasn’t he just writing her a note and thanking her for a great night, telling her that she could have whatever she wanted from his apartment and that it had been fun, but he was out of here? He’d gotten what he wanted. There was nothing else for them to say to each other. It was finished.
Of course, he’d never done that to a woman, and he didn’t want to be the kind of man who did. Kyla wasn’t some cheap hooker, and he wasn’t a complete bastard. Or, at least, he hoped he wasn’t.
Even just thinking about doing such a thing turned his stomach. The officers left and he shut and locked the door and found himself wandering back to his room, standing in the doorway, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed evenly in her sleep.
Kyla was stunning, both inside and out. It was depressing to think that he’d never really looked beyond the externals with any other women. He’d really only cared that they looked good on his arm and satisfied his needs in the bedroom.
Kyla’s enthusiasm and relative innocence had rocked his world the night before. She’d teased him about leaving his socks on, but he’d found a satisfying way of distracting her when she’d told him she was going to pull them off.
The last thing he’d wanted was for her to find the monitor.
That was a nightmare in his life that was now over and done with.
As she began to stir, he left the doorway and went to start a pot of coffee. By the time it was ready, she walked into the kitchen, her hair tumbled, and his shirt the only thing covering her, offering him a tasty view of her toned thighs.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said, shifting nervously on her feet.
“You look far better in that shirt than I ever have,” he said with a smile before he walked over and leaned down, joining their lips for a brief kiss.
“I have to agree. I prefer you without any shirt at all.”
“Merry Christmas, Kyla,” he whispered, his throat uncomfortably tight.
“Merry Christmas, Tanner. I…uh…have a favor to ask of you,” she said, her voice hesitant. He was ready to say that he had to get going, but that’s not what came out.
“Anything.”
“I want to go home, just to see the place, just for a few minutes,” she said, choking on the last part of her sentence.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he told her, though not understanding what she wanted.
“I know we don’t know each other that well, but I don’t want to go there alone.”
Ah, no wonder she was having a difficult time asking him. Did he really want to do this? It seemed too intimate, too personal — more so even than making love. He was walking away from this woman today. He started to tell her no, but once again, the wrong words came out of his mouth.
“Of course I’ll go with you.” What was with his brain these days?
But her sweet smile made it all worth it.
“I’m going to go get changed; would it be OK if we went in half an hour?”
When he nodded, she left his apartment, peeking out into the hall before crossing over still wearing only his shirt.
*****
Kyla trembled as they stood outside the front door of her family’s home. The dried wreath still hung in the center of the door, testifying that this home had been a tomb for the past two years. She was so afraid to walk inside — terrified of what would be on the other side of the heavy wooden door.
“Take all the time you need.”
Kyla jumped at the sound of Tanner’s quiet voice. They hadn’t said much at all since she’d returned to his apartment to find him ready to go. And now, she’d been so lost in her thoughts that she’d forgotten him.
Was this a mistake, she wondered, coming here on Christmas morning? If so, when would be the right time? If she were going to do this, now was as good a time as any.
Because her fingers were shaking too badly to insert the key in the lock, Tanner gently took the house key from her hand and set it in the lock, then turned. The sound of the long-unused lock clicking open seemed louder to her than a rifle shot.
He didn’t turn the knob, just waited to see what she would do next.
With a deep, fortifying breath, Kyla opened the door. The entryway was dusty and decorated with cobwebs, the pictures on the walls barely visible under a film of grime, the floor dull with all the dust. No one had set foot in the house since a few days after the three tragic deaths, when her parents’ attorney had arranged to have the food removed from the house.
He’d told her it was to keep the smell away, and the rodents out. She hadn’t cared about anything at that time and told him do what he wanted. But when he’d said he would remove the Christmas decorations, too, she’d freaked out, screaming at him to leave them alone.
Later she’d apologized, but he was a kind man and had never tried to make her feel guilty about her behavior. He had offered to have a cleaning service take care of the house, but she hadn’t wanted anyone inside, feeling that it would be an invasion, an insult to her mother.
So the attorney had the lawn taken care of, the outside of the home looked after, but no one came inside.
Their shoes left marks in the dust covering the floor as they walked inside, and dust motes danced around them in the thick, stale air. Kyla found herself drawn to the family room, where a brown tree stood tall with decorations hanging off its dead limbs, and wrapped gifts underneath, everything covered in dust.
“I’m so sorry, Kyla,” Tanner whispered as he stood behind her, lifting his hand to place on her shoulder.
“This is how I feel inside — dead,” she said as tears welled up in her eyes.
Those gifts had been picked out with love, some of them for Kyla, some for her brother, and some for her parents.
With a few steps, she stood in front of the tree and sank down to the dirty floor, her hand reaching out as she touched one of the once brightly wrapped gifts. Picking it up, she ran her hand over the top of the package, wiping away the filth that covered its beauty.
“This one is for my brother. I got it for him. It’s a football jersey for the Washington Huskies. He would have opened it and laughed, telling me there was no way he’d wear a jersey from a rival school, but he would have worn it when he got homesick. We were close, closer than most siblings. Yes, we had our fights, but we loved each other immensely. We could kick each other’s asses, but if anyone else messed with either of us, we’d jump in and defend the other. I miss him so much,” she said, now not even trying to hide the tears.
“I don’t know what to say,” Tanner said, sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her.
“There’s nothing to be said. It’s been two years, and yet it feels like yesterday. Why was I the one who got to live? It’s not fair.”
This was something she’d never said to anyone, not the therapist she’d seen for a year, not the police, not the hospital staff — not a single person. Why was she saying it now — to a stranger? Maybe because it was easier to speak with him, someone she knew she wouldn’t see again when this thing between them was over.
It wasn’t a matter of if, but of when it would end.
“It’s Christmas. Why don’t you open this?” he asked as he grabbed a small package and wiped away the dust covering the tag, showing her name clearly written in her mother’s beautiful calligraphy.
“I can’t,” she said, though she took the package from his fingers.
“She would want you to have it.”
“How do you know that? What if she just wants to be home, wants to celebrate the next fifty Christmases with her family, like she’s supposed to?”
“I know she would want you to have it, because if I had a child and I died, I would watch over that kid, smile when they triumphed and cry when they fell. I would want my child to go on, no matter what happened. That’s all parents want for their kids.”
“Do you have kids?” Kyla asked, turning to look at Tanner, really look at him.
He paused. “No,” he admitted.
Kyla looked down at the package, and she suddenly felt herself undoing the paper. Inside, shining up at her from a bed of velvet, was a gold heart-shaped locket, a smaller heart carved into its front.
Her fingers shaking, she opened the locket and found, staring back at her, a tiny picture of her family, one of the photos they’d had taken a month before the accident. On the opposite side was an engraved message: We love you forever, Mom and Dad.
Kyla smiled as she closed the locket and struggled to open the clasp on its chain. Tanner gently eased it from her fingers and placed it around her neck.
“How can I go on?” she asked, her mouth trembling as her fingers clutched the golden heart, which rested near her own.
“You have to for your parents’ and your brother’s sake. They wouldn’t want you to mourn them for this long. They would want you to cry, to say goodbye and then to remember them always. They would want you to live life to the fullest so the beautiful daughter and sister they loved can do all the things they wanted you to do. Weren’t they happy when you succeeded?”
“Yes, my mother was my biggest cheerleader. I would call her almost every day once I moved into the dorms — after a date, after a hard test, after every little milestone. I also came home every chance I got, and she came to visit often. She was my mom and my best friend.”
“Then don’t you think it would tear her apart to know how much you’ve given up?”
Kyla thought about his words. Yes. It would rip her mother apart. She would understand that Kyla needed to mourn her family’s death, but she’d been mourning too long now.
“Thank you, Tanner. Thank you so much. I need to be here alone. I know I asked you to come, but I want to be home for a while, to feel close to my family. You can go back to the apartment now. I appreciate that you came, but I need to do this.”
“Are you sure, Kyla? I don’t know if I should leave you here feeling like this,” he told her.
“I’m fine, Tanner. I need to say goodbye.” For the first time in two years she believed that she would be OK.
“Then I’ll respect that.” Tanner stood, and helped her to her feet as he wrapped his arms around her. “Goodbye, Kyla,” he said before leaning down and kissing her.
When he let go, something inside of her knew this was the last time she would see him. His eyes looked regretful, but they also looked determined.
She could change her mind, plead for him not to leave, but she’d known exactly how this affair was going to end. She’d known all along that he wasn’t a person who belonged in her world.
He said nothing else as he turned and left her alone in the family room. The sound of the front door opening and closing was his final goodbye.
Kyla sat back down in front of her dead Christmas tree and she wept for the last time, saying her final goodbye to her family and also to the stranger who’d come into her life to help her heal.
Chapter Twelve
This is the life, Tanner thought as he kicked back in his lounge with a sixty-year-old scotch and looked at the snow falling outside the huge picture windows of his penthouse.
Home. There was no better place to be. At least there were no rodents scurrying across his floors. There were no drunks yelling outside his door, no broken water pipes or faulty heaters, and he didn’t have to worry that some scumbag was going to come rushing through his door, demanding money or drugs.
So why was he tense? Why was the expensive liquor practically choking him? Why couldn’t he get one woman’s face from his mind?
Because that place had made him temporarily insane.
Tanner stood, setting his empty glass on the end table, and he paced his pristine floors, replaying the last two weeks over and over again.
He’d hated being Santa, yet he couldn’t erase the image of that little boy asking for his parents ba
ck, saying what a good boy he would be.
Why in the hell had Judge Kragle given him such a ridiculous punishment? He would have rather spent the two weeks in a small jail cell. At least then he’d just be pissed off, and he wouldn’t have these ridiculous what-if thoughts running through his mind.
Midnight struck and Tanner turned, staring blankly at the antique timepiece. “Christmas is over,” he said aloud, trying to get his brain to function properly. “It’s over, so let’s get back to the way things were.”
As he climbed into bed that night, he tossed and turned, sleeping little. He should have been in ecstasy in his luxurious oversized bed. But no, he was restless and out of sorts, feeling alone there for the first time ever.
By the time Tanner got up the next morning, he was even moodier than he’d been the night before. He had to get away. Leaving as the sun rose in the sky, he drove to his father’s office building.
At one point his dad had hoped his sons would take over the family business, then when none of them had stepped up to the plate, he’d sold that business and moved here, giving them each this test to turn a failing company around.
Crew had succeeded. He was doing great.
The rest of them were still struggling, fighting their father.
But as he stepped inside the building, he nodded at the guard on duty — the only other person there — before going to the elevator and riding it to the top floor.
He then went into his office and walked around. Hid dad had an office in the building for each of his kids, hoping they’d see the light. He wanted his children to feel passion, to outgrow the selfishness they’d all embraced for a time.
Tanner felt only emptiness.
He sat down at his desk, bound and determined that this would be just a phase, a phase that would soon pass.
And it would. He had a strong will, and he wouldn’t be held down for long.
*****
Tanner knew he’d lost his mind when he found himself parked in front of the old apartment building on New Year’s Eve. This was the place where he’d been condemned to live for two weeks while donning a Santa suit and dealing with a bunch of whiny kids. Why in the world would he subject himself to coming back here?
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