A thought pops into my head, and instead of discarding it, I decide to be brutally honest with her.
“I was the one who took that motherfucker down. I’d never admit this to my boss, but shooting him was the most satisfying kill I’ve ever had. And you know what? I would do it again in a heartbeat. Does that make me evil?”
Immediately, she shakes her head while her slender hands come to rest in my hair, brushing through the strands. “No, it makes you a hero. Remi’s hero…your brother’s hero, but mostly…my hero. I know I said I’m scared to be with you, but I’m also scared not to be with you. Yeah, you might get hurt on duty, but you could also get run over by a bus tomorrow.”
My brows furrow with a frown. “Morbid much?”
She rolls her eyes, and I just smile, which she reciprocates. “I don’t mean to be, but it’s the way of life. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring…but what I’m trying to say is, I don’t want to dictate my life by being scared anymore. I want to jump in the deep end with you. I want to risk it all. I want to be with you even though you frustrate me unlike anybody else I’ve ever been with.”
I let out a roar of laughter. “What, even more than Freddie?”
Instead of the eye roll I expect from her, she just throws me a sharp dagger. “He was just a grade-A douche bag with a small dick. You frustrate me because of your ability to know how to push the right buttons. You make me so angry that I want to fuck your dick off. Him, not so much.”
“God, we’re going to have some of the most amazing make-up sex. I can’t fucking wait.”
She giggles, letting her head fall to my chest. “You’re insatiable.”
Unable to hold back, my cock begins to get hard in between her legs, and she tilts her head back with a questionable pull of her eyebrow.
“Down, boy. No way am I going to let you destroy me with that monster again tonight. I’m way too delicate downstairs.”
“Hey, I’m with you.” I defensively hold my hands out at my sides. “He, on the other hand, has a mind of his own. I was going to suggest I take you up to your bed, so you can try to get some uninterrupted sleep.”
She shakes her head, beginning to shift off me. “You’re sweet to suggest it, but trust me, I won’t be able to sleep again tonight. You might as well go home, so you can get some sleep.”
“Well, if you can’t sleep, I won’t either. We could watch a movie?” I suggest.
I don’t want to go home. I want to spend as much time with her as humanly possible. She seems to think for a moment, and then her eyes light up like she’s had a lightbulb moment.
“How about we finish Remi and Nate’s wedding website? You can add in the security while I make it pretty.”
She smirks, obviously remembering the massive disagreement we got in over who would design it for them.
“Okay, but you’ve got to put some damn clothes on,” I say, glancing down at her sexy, naked body. “Especially if you expect this guy to calm down.” I point down to my erection, which is standing proud.
She lightly laughs as she stands from the bed. She gathers up our clothes from the floor and sets them on the end of the bed before throwing my boxers at me. “If I have to get dressed, so do you.”
She winks before proceeding to gather up my sweater, but instead of handing it to me, she pulls it over her head, covering her naked body…and it does nothing to calm my hormones or my excited dick.
I just stare at her because, damn, it looks better on her than it ever did on me.
“What?” she asks.
“Um, just wondering what I’m going to wear since you’ve taken my only sweater.”
She glances down at herself with feigned realization. “Oh yeah, you’re right,” she exaggerates. “I guess I’ll have to take it off again.”
She then removes it, throwing the sweater at me, leaving her yet again in her naked glory. The piece of clothing gets ignored as I lean forward and drag her pretty ass back into bed. She squeals with delight as we become tangled up in the sheets. I roll her onto her back and cage her in with my hard, muscular arms while my dick presses up against her pussy.
She lets out a low groan while grinding herself against me. “I thought we were going to finish the website.”
“We will…later,” I grit out while I slowly thrust inside her before claiming her mouth with mine.
It’s a few days before Christmas Day, and I’m at my parents’ ugly Christmas sweater party. Though I’ve only been here for an hour, my brother’s signature mistletoe margaritas are definitely hitting the right spot. The alcohol isn’t the only reason I’m in a fantastic mood. I just love Christmas. I turn into a big kid. The presents, the decorations, the food—hell, I even love the music. It’s the time to be merry, and though I get to see my family all the time, the older we get, the harder it becomes to spend time together as a whole family.
There’s just one thing that would improve tonight—or one person, who would be Ally. She’s the reason I keep looking over in the vicinity of the front door as I wait for her to arrive. We’ve been together officially for a little under a month now, and we haven’t told anyone about us yet, so to everybody else, we’re still mortal enemies. However, in reality, we’ve been boning each other’s brains out. It’s like the meaner we are to each other in front of Nate and Remi, the hotter the sex is. It’s even beyond my expectations, and before I met Ally, I wasn’t exactly a stranger to the art of seduction. It’s definitely fun, though a part of me hates the sneaking around. But we both agreed that we wouldn’t tell Nate and Remi until after the wedding. Luckily, it’s less than five weeks away, so I don’t mind the whole facade for another month.
“Ho, ho, ho, motherfucker,” my brother Blake says, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I swallow back the rest of my margarita. “Hey, man.” I glance down at my watch. “You’re an hour late, you know?”
“I know; I know,” he huffs with annoyance. “Corporate law doesn’t give a shit about the holidays, but I’m finally here with my ugly Christmas sweater.” He points to himself, beaming from ear to ear.
I snort at the awesomeness of it. It’s Ross from Friends, dressed as the holiday armadillo.
“Don’t let Kaelyn see that. You know she’s obsessed with all Friends clothing apparel,” I say, talking about our older sister. I think she has a drawer at home dedicated to just Friends clothes.
“Don’t let Kaelyn see what?” Kaelyn pipes up between us with her boyfriend, Chase.
They’re attached at the hip with a two-person sweater, which kind of looks like Santa threw up multicolored sugar cookies over the pair of them.
“Blake’s sweater.” I point.
Kaelyn’s eyes grow wide with amazement, a huge smile plastered on her face. “The holiday armadillo! I love it. I’m totally stealing that for Christmas Day!” Then, her eyes roam over my shirt, and she laughs. “I should have known yours would be dirty.”
It’s of a red candy cane, and in big, bold writing, it says, It’s not going to lick itself.
“If you think mine is dirty, just wait until you see Nate’s,” I tell her just as Nate steps up to us with Remi wrapped under his arm, wearing a way more explicit sweater with a filthy elf.
Kaelyn reads Nate’s sweater out loud, “When I think of you, I touch my elf.” She snorts while Chase laughs alongside of her.
“Ah, damn, I wish I had seen that before I let Kaelyn pick ours,” Chase says in a tone that suggests he isn’t a big fan on the couple’s sweater.
Kaelyn glares at him. “What’s wrong with our sweater?” she demands.
He purposely looks down to her shoes, which have to be at least seven inches tall. “You had to wear your highest heels just so you could match my height,” Chase points out.
She cocks a brow, a smirk sliding along her face. “I didn’t hear you complaining the last time I wore these heels. In fact, you begged me not to take them off.”
The innuendo and the way she winks make me almost vomit
.
“Nope. I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” I complain, twisting my face up.
Chase chuckles under his breath while Kaelyn pulls out her tongue. Then, she focuses her attention on Remi.
“Oh my God, are you supposed to be a fireplace?” Kaelyn asks with pure delight.
Remi steps back from Nate as she widens her arms, which are lined with tinsel, baubles, and small stockings. The chest of the sweater is a crackling fire. “It’s awesome, right?”
“So amazing. Where did you get it from?”
Nate pitches in, “This has been her pet project for the last week.”
“Well, Ally helped, too. We designed our outfits together,” Remi adds with a smile.
Kaelyn’s eyes roam around the kitchen. “Talking about Ally, where is she?” she asks, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“Oh, some of the bows came off her dress. She should be here soon.”
My eyes instinctively search for Ally, but instead, I come face-to-face with my brother Jace. Like the rest of us, he has made the ultimate effort with his Christmas sweater, which has red Solo cups glued on. What can I say? We love Christmas.
Shaking my empty glass, I say, “Where the hell did you go? I’ve been empty for five minutes.”
He just glares at me and points his head in the direction he just came from. “When I went to grab some more tequila from the basement, Beverley from across the road cornered me,” he states, lifting up a bottle.
Immediately, I start chuckling. Beverley is a sixty-year-old divorcée who’s had a soft spot for Jace ever since she got divorced five years ago. She isn’t even a MILF either; she has more stubble than Jace does…and also wears red lipstick as if she just made out with a red velvet cake.
Lifting my hand, I touch the spot where he has a red-stained lip print along his cheek. “I think she got you.”
He smacks my hand away, and it just makes me laugh harder.
“Who got him?” Blake asks with intrigue.
“Oh, just the love of his life, Beverley.”
Blake, Kaelyn, and Nate all roar out with laughter while everyone else looks on with confusion.
“Who’s Beverley?” Chase asks.
“She’s our neighbor who’s a little in love with Jace. The guys all used to help tend to her garden, but it was always Jace who got the bigger lemonade serving. It didn’t help that he once went shirtless one summer either.”
“Which one is she?” Remi asks with intrigue.
“She’s the woman wearing the Tis the Season to be Tipsy sweater, talking to Mom,” Kaelyn says, pointing in the direction of the patio doors.
Everyone looks over at the exact same time. A second later, our laughter draws her attention, and she waves her fingers at Jace, which just makes us all laugh even harder.
“Um, wow…” Chase coughs into his fist, trying to calm his laughter. “She’s a looker, huh? When’s the wedding?”
Jace throws him the bird. “I won’t hesitate to punch you again, dude.”
“Again?” Remi asks Nate.
He just shakes his head and says, “Long story.”
“Now, if you dickheads have stopped laughing at my expense, who wants a margarita?” Jace asks, making his way to the other side of the kitchen island that’s been made into a makeshift bar.
“Me, me!” Kaelyn and Remi both holler out while I lift my cup with a, “Hell yes.”
While we wait for Jace to mix up our drinks, I turn to my sister and Chase, realizing his eleven-month-old daughter, Sophia, isn’t with them.
“Where’s Sophia tonight?”
His eyes soften at the mention of her name. “She’s with her aunt tonight. Meaning we can have a much-needed night out.”
“AKA we can get as drunk as we want,” Kaelyn adds.
Chuckling, I nod my head to Jace, “Well, let’s hope Beverley doesn’t get to him again, or we’ll be waiting all night for our drinks.”
“I heard that, asswipe!” Jace shouts just before pressing his finger on the blender.
Kaelyn asks Remi about the wedding plans, but a wolf whistle from Remi has my head turning in the direction of the kitchen’s entrance, and it suddenly feels like someone has sucker-punched me in the stomach at the mere sight of Ally walking in. I barely register her parents behind her because she is all I can focus on.
She’s broken the rules on the ugly sweater, and instead, she’s wearing a black pinafore dress with multicolored Christmas bows on every inch of the skirt. She looks like the sexiest Christmas tree I have ever seen. My eyes keep traveling down her toned legs until I come to a stop at the hottest pair of killer heels. I trace my focus back to her face just as she approaches us, and of course, to keep with the appearance of our farce, she focuses her attention on anybody but me.
“Hot damn, you look smoking,” Remi tells her best friend as she pulls her in for a hug.
I finally drag my attention from Ally as a hand smacks me on the shoulder. I turn and smile when I see Ally’s parents.
“Hi, Dave, Lydia,” I greet, holding my hand to shake Dave’s.
He reciprocates the gesture.
I lean over to press a kiss on Lydia’s cheek before stepping back.
“Hi, son. It’s great to see you. Thanks to you and Nate for inviting us.”
“I’m glad you could make it.”
I take a glance at their matching sweaters, and I can’t help but laugh. They’re both of elves, but they have each other’s faces on them. This year is definitely the year for the best sweaters.
“I love the sweaters.”
“They’re cheesy; I know. Ally almost didn’t want to drive with us. She said she was too embarrassed to be seen with us,” Dave says.
I shake my head, scrunching my face up with mock disgust just as Nate sidles up beside me. “What? You guys look great. If I were married to the love of my life for as long as you guys have been, I’d wear the exact same thing. Wouldn’t you, Nate?”
“Definitely. I just hope to be as cool as you both while wearing them.”
Lydia giggles and waves her hands. “You’re both sweet.”
“Anyway, we just wanted to say hi,” Dave says. “We’ll leave you kids be. Have fun, both of you.”
“You, too,” I tell them before they turn and walk away.
As soon as they’re out of earshot, Nate doesn’t waste any time when he says, “If you were married to the love of your life, huh?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t mean it literally; I was just making conversation.”
“I didn’t realize you knew Ally’s dad that well.”
I shake my head. “I don’t really. I’ve only met him a few times. He’s always been really nice to me. Probably because I saved his daughter’s life.”
He cocks his brow up. “I doubt he’d like you if he knew you were trying to get into her panties.”
I laugh. “Oh, to the contrary. He likes me plenty, and he even told Ally that she should be with someone like me.”
“That will only happen when hell freezes over, brother,” he says, pitifully smacking me on the shoulder.
Hmm, shows how much he knows.
“Was that my name I just heard?” comes from Ally.
My heart and groin throb at having her close as she steps up to us.
Flashing her my panty-dropping smile, I say, “Yes. I was just saying that your dad likes me.”
She rolls her eyes. “God knows why. You’re an idiot.”
“Ouch, hit me where it really hurts,” I mock, holding my fist to my chest.
Her eyeline follows my hand as I drop it, and her lips pull together with humor as she reads my sweater before she quickly disguises it with a snarl.
“It’s not going to lick itself,” she reads. “Really?”
“Well, it isn’t.”
“Do you just spend your entire day thinking of ridiculous T-shirt slogans?”
“Oh, I wish I had the time, sunshine. I do, on occasion, make time to
think about you naked though.”
Her eyes widen, and I let out a grunt as she smacks me in the chest against the red candy cane on my sweater.
“You’re such a dog. Why is it, we’re only in each other’s company for less than two minutes, and I already want to grab a bottle of tequila and smash it over your head?”
“That would be the sexual tension,” I say with an arrogant shift of my shoulders.
“Or it could be hatred,” Nate pipes up, and I just shoot him a glare.
“Thank God my best friend fell in love with the right twin.” She slides her gaze from me to Nate. Her attention goes down to his sweater, and her eyes light up with amusement. “I love your sweater.”
I frown. “Wait. His is dirtier than mine. How can you like his and not mine?”
She glares at me, and if I didn’t already know she was madly in love with me, I’d definitely be worried at the level of hatred being flung my way. “Because when he wears it, it’s funny. When you wear it, well, it makes you a douche.”
“Believe me, sunshine, my brother is as much of a douche as me. I’ve known him a lot longer.”
“Hey,” Nate argues.
“Stop calling me sunshine,” she states, ignoring Nate.
“Stop calling me a douche,” I retort.
“Never.”
Oh, the defiant shit.
“Well, sunshine it is.”
“Ugh,” she exclaims, her face screwing up. “I need a drink.”
I have to fight back the laugh as she flicks her brunette locks and storms away from me, toward Jace and the margaritas. I’m unable to take my eyes off her swinging hips, and it takes a punch in the gut from Nate to pull my attention from her.
“I am not a douche.”
“You are, but according to Ally, you’re the nicer douche.”
He shakes his head. “You know, if you didn’t annoy her, she might actually tolerate you.”
Oh, she does more than tolerate me.
“I’m only playing with her; she knows that.”
“I don’t think she does.”
Keeping up the farce that we’re not boning each other’s brains out, I say, “Okay, I promise I’ll be nice for the rest of the evening.”
Forever Logan Page 12
