A Kiss for Christmas
by
C.C. Wood
Published by Crystal Wilson
Copyright 2012 Crystal Wilson
Acknowledgements
I have to thank the Naughty Girl Posse for all their encouragement and help with this project. You ladies make me laugh at least once a day and provide me with unlimited ideas for future books. Ricki, forget the fitty cent already!
Also, special thanks to Kerry and Ana for all editing suggestions. You have kept me from embarrassing myself yet again. The check’s in the mail…
Table of Contents
A Kiss for Christmas
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Epilogue
Prologue
He watched as she moved through the crowded room. He loved to watch her move. It was something he could do for hours. Blair Bolton was incredibly watchable. Not just her carriage but her manner. She exuded warmth. Her smile and her eyes drew people to her but it was her laugh, that gorgeous husky laugh that was magic. Even the most taciturn melted at her laugh. Kevin Masters would have rolled his eyes at any man that voiced the thoughts going through his head at the moment and given him shit for waxing poetically about a woman’s laugh, yet it was all true. Blair Bolton would have inspired poetry two hundred years ago.
“You’re doing it again, big brother.”
Kevin looked to his right and saw his little sister, Kaylie, standing next to him. Kaylie was Blair’s best friend.
“Doing what?” He tried to appear confused, as if he really had no idea what she was talking about.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Don’t play innocent with me. You’re too big and scary to get away with it.” She jerked her chin toward her friend across the room. “You’re looking at my girl over there like you want to drag her off to your cave by her hair.”
Kevin scowled down at his sister and wondered, not for the first time, if she was as big a pain in Blair’s ass as she was in his.
“Bullshit.”
Kaylie took a slug of her eggnog. As every year, his parents had spiked it and it was particularly strong this year.
“Don’t bullshit me, Marine. I know that look. You get it every time you see her and every year it gets worse.” She drained the rest of her glass and grimaced a little.
“Jesus, Kaylie, slow down,” he muttered. “I’m not cleaning you up and putting you to bed if you drink yourself sick.”
She grinned and leaned against him. “Yes, you will. You love me, remember?”
Kevin sighed and took a drink of his beer. “Yes, I do, but, if I do have Drunk Kaylie duty tonight, I will have my revenge.”
She smiled before her face settled into a serious expression. “Big brother, I love you lots, but you know Blair. Her daddy was in the military and she will never go for a military man. Said she got tired of being dragged from place to place, never having friends. I realize most of my friends think you’re hot, Kevin, but I don’t think your pretty mug is enough to change her mind.”
He sighed and nodded. “I know, Kaylie. Why do you think I’ve kept my distance all these years? Well, that’s part of it. With her being so close to the family, I didn’t want to start something that might end badly.”
Though he would never admit it, Kevin Masters was pretty sure he would never let Blair go if he truly had her.
Kaylie wrapped an arm around his waist and he draped an arm over her shoulders. They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, watching Blair chat with some of their parents’ friends, her laugh drifting across the room.
“Still, if you decide to retire, I’ll be the first one to set you up with Blair, big brother. This way, she and I can be sisters for reals.”
Kevin laughed. Leave it to his sister to see straight into his brain. Without a word, she knew that what he felt for Blair was more than passing interest. “You’ll be the first I tell, Kaylie.”
His little sister rose up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips on his jaw. “Love you, Jarhead.”
He squeezed her. “Me too, Frog.”
Kaylie pinched his side at his nickname for her but smiled as she moved toward the huge bowl of eggnog in the corner. Kevin shook his head. Damn, his sister was going to be shitfaced before the night was over.
Three hours later, the last of the guests were gathering their coats and climbing into taxis or walking to nearby homes. Kaylie and Blair were standing in the kitchen, trying to help Barb, Kevin’s mother, clean up the kitchen. Since they were two and a half sheets to the wind, their efforts were more of a hindrance than a help. Kevin bit back a smile as his mother firmly shooed them out of the kitchen.
He herded them into the living room and told Kaylie to grab their coats. Earlier in the evening, when it became obvious they were getting plastered, Kevin decided to stop drinking and drive them home. Blair was looking at the framed pictures Kevin’s mom had hung on the wall. They were snapshots of family vacations, parties, and other various occasions. Hell, Blair was even in several of them.
Kevin came to stand next to her, unable to help himself. He’d been watching her all night and she looked beautiful, her long blond hair falling in waves and curls over her shoulders, and her toned figure was clad in a red dress that managed to be modest and sexy as hell. She was covered from collarbones to knee, but the knit fabric molded itself to every curve. Her scent was warm and sweet, like sugar and vanilla. It made him hungry, and not for sugar cookies.
Blair swayed a little as she looked at the pictures and Kevin gently grasped her elbow. She jumped slightly when his hand cupped her and twisted her head to look up at him. Even in her four inch stilettos, Blair was almost six inches shorter than Kevin but he liked how tiny she felt next to him. She blinked up at him and smiled dreamily.
“I love these pictures. Your family always looks so happy.”
Kevin looked into her eyes and, without thought, touched her face with his free hand. “We usually are happy.”
For the first time in the years they had known each other, Blair leaned into Kevin’s touch. She didn’t realize it, but every time he got close to her, she usually tensed and shied away slightly. He tried not to let it bother him. He knew he was a big guy and that some women were intimidated by that but he hated that Blair might feel that way. When she leaned towards him and pushed her cheek against his hand, he felt triumphant.
“Where’s what’s-his-name?” he asked.
Blair looked up at him, her brow crinkled. It was an adorable look. “Who?”
“Your boyfriend?” he prodded, leaving his hand against her cheek.
She sighed. “We broke up. He wanted the perfect Stepford girlfriend and I wanted to kick him every time he ‘corrected’ my behavior, so we parted ways.”
Kevin stilled. He’d never much cared for Blair’s boyfriends, but he really worried when she started dating the last one. That guy had seemed genuinely nice, he was a doctor, and they seemed serious. Kaylie had confided in him that she thought Blair might be getting married. Something about the idea of Blair marrying some other guy made his gut hurt but he never would have acknowledged it.
Suddenly, he noticed Blair was looking above them and followed her gaze. Dangling from the ceiling was a huge sprig of mistletoe. Kevin grinned. Blair wasn’t dating the dipshit doctor anymore and they were standing together under the mistletoe. He tilted his chin down to look at Blair. She was looking at his face again, rather than the sprig above them, and her expression was still a little dreamy.
Gently, Kevin used his hands on her face to pull her forward. She stumbled into him and
put her hands on his sides to help balance. Her eyes widened and her lips parted. Kevin decided that he really liked that look. It was even more adorable than her confused brow crinkle.
“Um, Kevin, what are you doing?” she asked.
He leaned forward and smelled the fruity scent of sweet wine on her breath. Kevin wondered if he would be able to taste it in her mouth.
“I’m kissing you under the mistletoe,” he murmured.
Blair tried to resist for a split second before she melted against his chest. Kevin realized he liked that even more than her facial expressions. Her body felt heavenly against his.
“Okay,” she whispered.
His lips touched hers lightly at first. Her mouth was so soft. Kevin moved his hands from her face down to her hips and around her back to pull her in closer. He swiped his tongue across her bottom lip. He really wanted her to open her mouth so he could see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled.
Blair made a little sound in the back of her throat but she opened her mouth for him and he swept his tongue inside. Hell, yeah, she tasted better than he thought, like wine and dessert, decadent and sinful. His arms crushed her against him and he felt every inch of her body from his chest to his knees. She moaned a little louder and rolled her hips against his, wrapping both arms around his waist. Kevin slid his hands down her back and cupped her very nice ass as her hips rolled against his again.
Suddenly, the sound of Kaylie clattering down the stairs brought Kevin back to the reality of where they were and the fact that they were not alone in the house. He pulled back slowly, reluctant to let Blair go. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him in a daze. It took everything he had not to kiss her again.
“Wow,” she whispered. Blair cleared her throat and her voice was a little stronger. “Really wow.”
Kevin grinned before he set her away from him. As soon as he was sure she had her balance, he took his hands from her waist. Just as he dropped them to his side, Kaylie burst into the room with all three of their coats.
He helped them both into their jackets and into the car. Though he really wanted to kiss Blair again to see where it might lead, he knew she was pretty tipsy and he didn’t want his first time in her bed to be a drunken quickie. He wanted to take his time and he wanted her to be focused on everything he was making her feel. He also wanted her to remember it all in the morning.
Kevin drove Blair home first to avoid the temptation to do something impulsive, like tear that red dress from her body and see how many orgasms he could coax from her before she passed out. He helped her to her front door, since she was still unsteady on her feet. He waited until she turned on the lights and waved the all clear before jogging back to his car.
Kevin drove Kaylie home, smiling as the crazy woman started singing Christmas carols at the top of her lungs and off-key. He had to laugh as he helped her into her house. Something large and furry brushed his lower leg and he jumped.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded.
Kaylie waved a hand at him. “No need to yelp like a little girl, it’s just Beans, my cat. He’s a rescue.”
Kevin turned on the light and stared at the beast sitting in front of him, its fluffy black tail brushing the floor. He didn’t argue about the yelp, because he was pretty sure that’s the exact sound that he made when it bumped into his leg.
“Holy shit, Kay, that’s not a cat, it’s a tub of lard. Aren’t you afraid it will drag you off and eat you for a midnight snack?” he asked.
“Nah,” she mumbled. “Just gotta be sure to keep his food dish full and I’ll be fine.”
Kevin helped her out of her jacket and got her a glass of water and a couple of ibuprofen while she changed into her pajamas. Once she was settled in bed, he made sure she took the meds and drank most of the water. He brushed her hair back from her face.
She repeated the words she’d said earlier. “Love you, Jarhead. Wish you were home more often.”
Kevin tweaked her nose. “Love you too, Frog. I’ll see what I can do.”
Within minutes she was asleep, so Kevin turned out all the lights, gave a half-hearted attempt to make friends with her cat, and headed back to his parents’ house. Not long after he left his sister’s house, he was in his bed in his old room, unable to sleep. He could still smell the sweet vanilla scent of Blair’s skin and taste the fruity flavor of the wine in her mouth along with the richer taste of her. When Kevin finally did fall asleep, he dreamed of her sweet kisses and the possibility of having them for a lifetime.
Chapter One
One Year Later
Blair Bolton was beginning to hate Christmas. She could not catch a break. First thing that morning, the stiletto heel broke off her favorite pair of knee-high boots. She had gone out to her car to go grab lunch at her favorite restaurant and the tire was flat. Instead of the shepherd’s pie she had been craving, she had to settle for a Reuben from the deli down the street.
To make matters worse, her business partner, Kaylie Masters, had already arranged for her big brother, Kevin, to stop by after work to change the flat. Blair was not happy about that either. Before last Christmas, she’d never had a problem with Kaylie’s big brother. Well, nothing major, just scared silly of the big, gorgeous Marine and how he made her feel. Something about him had always appealed to Blair, but he was a military man through and through and that was something she could not get over. Her father had been career Army and had moved her mother, her brothers and her all over the freaking country.
Well, the fact that he was also her best friend’s brother made things even more complicated.
Blair didn’t know Kevin very well. She’d only seen him a couple of times a year since she met Kaylie her senior year in college. She and Kaylie had become fast friends and inseparable when they decided to share an apartment their final year. The first time Blair met Kevin she had been smitten. Four years older, with the same almost black hair and grey-blue eyes as his sister, Kevin Masters had made a twenty-two year old Blair weak in the knees. Over the years, his polite but aloof treatment of Blair diminished her crush to distant appreciation of his male beauty and his dry wit. Now, she thought of him more as a friend than anything else and tonight she would see him for the first time since last Christmas.
She tried not to dwell on the feeling in her stomach when she thought of Kevin. After last year’s Christmas party, something about the way he’d looked at her had changed. She had a sinking feeling it had something to do with how drunk she had been at the party. Blair only hoped she hadn’t done anything too embarrassing. As hard as she tried she couldn’t remember anything past the last hour of the party. Hell, she didn’t even remember the ride home. Kaylie had to tell her that Kevin had driven them both home.
Now, Blair was trying to keep busy in her store while she waited for Kevin to show up and change out her tire. Sure, she could of have done it herself, but Kaylie had insisted, and once Kaylie insisted on something, it was easier to let her have her way. Blair had learned that lesson the hard way. With Christmas in a little over a week, the store was a madhouse almost every day, filled with women searching for the perfect Christmas party dress or gifts for their friends and relatives, Blair didn’t have the time to change the tire herself anyway. Despite the insanity, both Blair and Kaylie loved their shop, The Library. Kaylie had decided the name, joking that no man would ever complain if his wife told him she was going to the library, because everything there was free. So, she reasoned that a woman could tell her man she was going to The Library and he wouldn’t be the wiser until she came home with shopping bags.
It had all started after college. Her best friend and roommate in college had been Kaylie. Kaylie had majored in business like Blair but her heart was really in fashion. They had moved to Austin, where Kaylie’s family was located, and started a business. It had been difficult to get the small business loan they needed to open their shop but, six years later, business was good. Their clothing boutique was small and exclusive and drew cli
entele that ranged from sorority girls to society wives. Kaylie also designed and made one-of-a-kind evening gowns and dresses. Blair had tried to encourage her to start her own clothing line, but Kaylie realized early on that she did not want the stress and the insanity that came with creating an entire line each season.
The bell over the front door rang, jerking Blair from her thoughts. It was closing in on six o’clock and the shop was full. She didn’t have time to reminisce. She smiled at the new customer and asked if she could help. For the next hour, she ran her feet off. Kaylie had left earlier in the afternoon with the excuse of helping her mother set up for their annual Christmas party, but Blair was positive her friend planned to finish her gift shopping, the sneaky bitch.
Finally, at seven, Blair flipped the hand-painted closed sign around and locked the door. There were still two customers making final selections, but they had been there for almost an hour so Blair knew they would probably finish up soon. By seven-thirty, she had ushered the last smiling customer out the door and she started to close up. She was in the office doing the register and books, Christmas music playing softly on her radio, when she heard footsteps.
Blair froze, staring at the door to her office, as the footsteps grew louder. A huge figure filled the doorway and she stifled a scream. The man in the doorway jumped.
“Jesus, Blair. Are you trying to scare the shit out of me?”
Blair pounded on her chest with her open palm. “Holy shit, holy shit.” She sucked in a deep breath and yelled, “What the hell, Kevin? I thought you were some ax murder or something!”
He held up his hands, a key ring jingling on his finger. “Sorry, I thought you heard me. I called out when I came in the back door.”
Calmer, she stood. “Unfortunately, I didn’t, otherwise I might have saved the ten years I just lost due to being frightened out of my skull.”
Kevin grinned. “Can I have your car keys? I’ll get that tire changed so you can get out of here.”
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