All of Me: A Holiday Bites Novel

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “What if… ” She took a breath. “What if you had ended up marrying someone else? Would you have given it to her?”

  I shook my head. “It was always yours, Luna.”

  My girl quickly wiped the moisture from her cheeks. “I love you so much, Harrison. As corny as it sounds, my heart could burst from the amount of love I have for you and always have had.”

  “Luna, you are my world.”

  6

  Luna

  Harrison’s words hit my heart like cupid’s arrow, but I’d already found the love of my life. When he’d asked me to marry him, it wasn’t him that had given me a moment of pause. It was my own fear that he was rushing to lock this thing down when all I wanted was something natural.

  The fact that he’d bought me a ring when he’d been in Oregon before we’d broken up and kept it for two years told me everything that I needed to know.

  He loved me and I loved him. That was all that mattered and neither of us was going anywhere.

  “Luna, you are my world,” he’d said.

  I lunged at him for the second time, taking us both to the ground. My lips crashed into his in a frenzy, not unlike a Black Friday shopper looking for that sweet deal. I wanted to own him as he owned me.

  Harrison flipped us over so that I was on the ground and he hovered above me, his erection pushing against my leg as our hips already began grinding against each other. We were fully clothed, but I didn’t think that would last long.

  He pulled back and yanked my shirt over my head then dove in. He kissed down my neck, nibbling on my ear then trailing down to my lace-covered breasts. I knew we’d end up naked at some point, so I’d taken a new bra and panty set to work with me. It was sheer and lacy and put everything I had to offer right out there with little to impede his view.

  I’d hoped it was sexy. The way he groaned when he hit that valley between my breasts told me it was as sexy as I’d wanted it to be. He pulled back a second time, reached over his head, and did the one-handed guy tug so that his shirt was gone too.

  Harrison was a thing of beauty. Hard-lined muscles that etched his skin and led to that ever-so-tempting V that disappeared below his jeans. He worked out with his brother and Beckham. I never minded his guy time and in moments like this, I thoroughly appreciated it.

  Though him being as sexy as he was, as fit, sometimes gave me moments of self-doubt. Harrison made me feel beautiful no matter how I looked, but I wasn’t as defined as him. Where he was hard, I was soft. It wasn’t that I was overly curvaceous and in fact I’d wished for thick girl curves more than once. But neither was I what would be called skinny.

  My breasts were what he’d called a perfect handful and they sloped down to a soft stomach. It was mostly flat, but it wasn’t fit and that jutted out into small hips.

  As I brought my thoughts away from what he might be seeing and back to him, he flicked open the button on my jeans. They soon slid down my legs and were lost in the abyss of the rest of the room. Harrison sat back on his heels and looked at me. Blonde hair fell over my shoulders, so he brushed it away.

  “Damn, Luna. You’re incredibly beautiful.”

  My cheeks heated, as did the rest of me. It was like he knew just the words to say to get my blood flowing. He did. My panties were already damp and I was aching for him.

  Then he was back to kissing me. Sliding himself down my body, his lips caressing across my stomach until he met the waist of my panties. They were white lace like the bra. His hands roamed down my legs then back up until he pushed my knees apart. The skimpy fabric covering my most intimate parts did nothing to make me feel less bare.

  But baring myself to Harrison wasn’t new and never made me feel exposed.

  First, he pushed the scrap of fabric aside and licked. My back arched and I moaned into the empty room. He sucked on the sensitive skin on the inside of my thigh before digging his fingers into my hips and pulling my panties down my legs. He made quick work of my bra as well.

  Then he sat back to take me in again. I let my legs fall open a little wider and he groaned.

  “I’m the luckiest fucking man alive,” he said, his voice thick with desire.

  Then he dove in to kiss me again. This time, it wasn’t on my lips. His head was between my legs as he worked me up. He flattened his tongue and licked from as low as he dared to my clit, which he then sucked gently.

  It wasn’t going to take much to push me over the edge tonight. I pushed my fingers into his hair and let the feeling wash over me. I was grateful that we lived alone when my orgasm hit with the force of a tsunami sending wave after wave of euphoria over me. Yet I felt certain that I wouldn’t have cared a bit if someone had heard us. And there was no way to control it anyway.

  My body was spent once it was over.

  Harrison kissed his way up my body, then whispered in my ear, “Damn.”

  It was one word, but it said everything that I was thinking and feeling. We were so damn good together.

  “You’re… really good at that,” I said breathlessly.

  “Only because you’re so fucking responsive.”

  He stood up to get rid of his pants, boxers, and socks. Being naked in the living room could’ve made me chilly, but even without a blanket, the fireplace kept us both toasty.

  It was only seconds before Harrison was back above me, pushing inside of me. He hadn’t even let me touch him yet. It wasn’t normally this one-sided, but clearly, he’d wanted what he’d wanted and I wasn’t going to argue. He filled me on the first stroke, causing my back to arch again. He took most of his weight on his elbows, which were propped beside my head and he pounded into me again and again.

  After enjoying the perfectness of his weight on me, I gave him a little push. It didn’t take much to persuade him to lie on his back so that I could be in control.

  I slid down the length of him and my eyes fluttered shut. I felt so full that even without moving, I was about to come again. But I did move. With Harrison holding my hips and urging me to do the things I already knew he liked, I pushed both him and me almost to the edge. But as he tended to do, before he released, he rolled us back over and slid his hand between us to make sure I got there again before pushing to his own.

  We lay there, breathing heavily and a glint of perspiration dotting his forehead for maybe thirty seconds before he pulled out, kissed me slowly, then told me he’d be right back.

  While he went off to wherever, the bathroom I assumed, I turned my aching muscles onto my side to face the fire. Lying naked in what had been my mother’s living room didn’t seem so weird now. The first time we’d had sex out here, the teenage version of myself had protested that someone would catch us. But I’d reminded myself that we were adults and this was my house. There was no one there to catch us.

  I was admiring my stunning new ring in the light of the fire when Harrison returned.

  “Lean up,” he said then dropped a pillow down as I did. He got in behind me and covered us with a blanket that I knew he’d grabbed from our bedroom. It wasn’t from our bed, but it was a spare we had in the closet.

  His naked body pressed against mine when he wrapped an arm around me. This was absolutely perfect.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked quietly.

  “How do you know I was thinking about anything? Maybe I’m over here without thoughts because of the way you just played my body.”

  His body shook with laughter. “I know you and I know you were thinking something.”

  “Honestly, I just can’t get over how beautiful this ring is. It’s perfect,” I told him. “What about you.?”

  “Well, I’m glad you love it.” He kissed the side of my head. “As for me, I was thinking about what a fantastic invention the IUD is.”

  Now it was my turn to laugh, only mine wasn’t low and sexy like his. Mine was loud and probably obnoxious, filling the whole house at one time.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yup. I’ve loved every single time we’v
e had sex, but since you got that and we don’t use condoms, I can’t get over how amazing you feel.”

  I’d gotten an IUD placed about a month ago. I wasn’t ready for a baby and this seemed like the smartest move for both me and for Harrison. Babies one day. We’d talked about that in general when we were together before and we’ve said that nothing’s changed.

  “Guys are ridiculous.”

  “We are,” he said, then he sighed.

  Harrison and I lay in front of the fire for a long time with only a break for me to use the restroom. Number one rule, my mom always told me, was to pee after you had sex. So I did. Eventually, Harrison turned the fire off. I wrapped the blanket around me and we made our way upstairs to bed.

  It was the first night we were sleeping together as an engaged couple.

  The next morning, I showered and dressed before Harrison even woke up, then I went down and started breakfast. Eggs and bacon with toast. Nothing fancy. Harrison was the much better cook, to be honest.

  Harrison made his way down right as I fixed up our plates. Perfect timing.

  “Good morning.” He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist as I was dropping pieces of bacon on the plates.

  “Good morning.” I turned my head so he could kiss me. His hand cupped the side of my face to make sure he could reach me. It was a position that should’ve been uncomfortable but wasn’t.

  “You made breakfast?”

  “I thought I’d be nice. It’s not fancy omelets like you make, but it’s edible.”

  “It’ll be great.” He took both plates over to the island where we usually ate breakfast when we were together. It had seating on one side and the kitchen area on the other. Mom had redone the kitchen a couple of years ago. “We left a mess in the living room.”

  My eyes grew wide and my hand with the bacon paused halfway to my mouth. “What kind of mess?” I asked because sex could get messy and I didn’t remember leaving anything… fluid behind.

  He chuckled and tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear then kissed my cheek. “Our clothes,” he told me. “Not whatever you were thinking.”

  “Oh. Right. I’ll throw them in the laundry when I’m done.”

  “I’ll pick them up.”

  We ate in silence for a full minute before either of us spoke again.

  “Want to talk about the wedding?” he asked and my heart jumped in my chest.

  The more I thought about marrying this man that I loved, the more excited I got, but each bout of excitement came with a small pang of sadness.

  My mom wouldn’t be here with me on my wedding day. Harrison would have his family surrounding him and I loved them. They had considered me part of the family before, but Killian hadn’t exactly been warm since I’d come back and Harrison and I had reunited. It seemed like he was trying. This might put a rift between us again because I didn’t think Killian would be all that happy about this arrangement.

  But I’d still be alone.

  “What?” he asked.

  “What what?”

  “I know you, Luna. I don’t know why I have to keep reminding you of that. What’s wrong?”

  I wet my lips and swallowed hard. “Nothing is wrong. I’m super excited to talk about the wedding. It’s just…”

  “It’s just what?”

  “You’re going to have your family around you. Harrison, you even have grandparents. I have… no one. I’m alone. I’ll be walking down the aisle alone. It makes me sad when I think about it.”

  He slid his stool closer to me, the breakfast on his plate forgotten for now. “You are not alone. I’ll walk you down the aisle.”

  “That’s not how it’s supposed to go. My father is supposed to do that and if he couldn’t, it should be my mom. But they’re both gone. I only have Jessica.”

  He raised an eyebrow and ran his index finger over the top of his lip. “Only Jessica, huh?”

  I rolled my eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant. You’ll be the one waiting at the end of the aisle. I meant I only have Jessica to escort me.”

  “How about if I escort you?”

  “That’s not—”

  “There are no rules here, Luna. We can do this however you want and anything that pops up, we’ll figure it out.”

  Nodding, I said, “I know. You just wanted to know what I was thinking and there are just going to be times that I think about my mom and dad while we plan this thing. It’s going to happen and it’s going to make me sad.”

  “And I’ll kiss that sadness away.” He leaned in and did his best to do as he promised. “Now,” he began after pulling back and taking a bite of his eggs, “let’s start at the beginning. What kind of wedding do you want? Big? Small?”

  “Not big. Your side will be full and mine will be empty.”

  “Not true, but yeah, big seems like a pain.”

  “I agree.”

  “So a small wedding.” He popped his second piece of bacon into his mouth.

  “Yes. And when were you thinking?”

  “Soon.”

  “Soon?” I asked. “How soon? There’s a lot to plan.”

  “How about within the month?” he said and I choked on the mouthful of water I’d just taken in. “If it’s not big, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “I guess. But holy shit. A month? Your mom is going to kill you.”

  He laughed again and the deep sound brought a smile to my face. His mom was going to be very happy about us getting married. There was no doubt about that. But damn. Within the month.

  We could do this or I thought we could do this. It was just going to take a lot of work.

  “And I’ll take care of the honeymoon if you don’t mind,” he said, bringing me out of the list already forming in my head.

  “I don’t get a say in where we go?”

  “Obviously, you do if you want to. I just thought I could surprise you.” He took my hand in his and ran it over my ring. “I think I’ve proved that I know you.”

  He had proved that he knew me over and over again sometimes better than I knew myself.

  “Surprise me. But maybe make it someplace warm and I do have a passport from my post-graduation trip with my mom.” It had been the one big vacation we’d gone on together. We’d gone places in the U.S. before that, but this time because I’d graduated from high school, we’d gone to Europe for two weeks.

  “I have one too, so that opens up a lot of warm places. And if you think I’d pass up the chance to see you in a bikini for a week, you’re crazy.”

  I giggled at the idea of me in a bikini still affecting him when he’d literally seen every inch of my body.

  I shook my head and said, “Boys are ridiculous.”

  7

  Harrison

  Luna and I agreed to tell my parents together that we were getting married. I called my mom and, like clockwork, she asked when we could come to dinner. I told her Monday because the restaurant was closed on Mondays and I wouldn’t have to work for sure. I didn’t work every single night but did work most of them.

  But Monday morning, we’d gotten six inches of snow dumped on us. Killian sent me a text early asking if I’d come help him shovel Mom and Dad out. They lived a little outside of town and had a huge driveway. Then there was the walkway and the porch. Dad had a snowblower that we could use on the big areas, but we’d need to manually shovel the smaller ones.

  Of course, I’d said yes. I took all my snow gear and headed over right after I shoveled Luna out so she could go to work. He was already there and working on the driveway when I arrived and gave me a nod as I walked by. After putting on my coat, hat, and gloves, I grabbed the shovel by the garage and went to work.

  Once he had half the driveway done, the snowblower shut down and Killian went over to his thermos on the front porch to take a big drink of the piping hot coffee. Steam billowed up from the container when he opened it. I had my own right next to his, so I thought this was a good time to grab some.

  “
Fuck, it’s cold,” Killian said when I stopped next to him.

  I yanked down the part of my coat that covered my mouth and took a drink before responding. “Yeah, it is. What are you doing tonight?”

  He blinked a few times as he thought about it. “Depends on what your next sentence is.”

  We both chuckled. “Luna and I are having dinner with Mom and Dad. You should come.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “Because I asked you to?”

  He shook his head. “There’s more to it than that. What gives?”

  “Promise you won’t say anything to Mom and Dad.”

  His finger flicked in the air as he said, “Yeah, yeah. Spill it.”

  “Friday night I asked Luna to marry me.”

  Killian stilled. As if he either hadn’t heard me or was hoping I was joking. “What?” That was not his nicest tone.

  I sighed. It didn’t have to be this way.

  “I asked her to marry me.”

  “Did she say yes?”

  My jaw tightened as I cocked my head to the side. “What the fuck kind of question is that?”

  “I mean… a normal one. You said you asked. You didn’t say she said yes.”

  “She said yes, asshole.”

  Killian and I stood about the same height, though I loved to remind him that I had about half an inch on him. We were built basically the same, though his shoulders were slightly wider. All in all, we were evenly matched and had the same dark hair and brown eyes.

  “Ah. And you want me here tonight because?”

  “We decided to tell Mom and Dad together and that’s during dinner. Tonight.”

  “You sure you want to do this?” he asked, which just pissed me off.

  Killian loved me. I know he did, but he was holding more of a grudge over Luna and me breaking up than I was. It’d taken him a bit to come around, but I’d thought when he’d come to help us paint the inside of the house he was getting over it. Guess I was wrong.

  “Why the fuck would you ask that? Why are you being an asshole?”