Chapter 68

“Don’t think I didn’t see that,” he said and nodded toward her hand. He dug into the bin and took out the bulb he found earlier and settled it on a branch. The ‘Dad’ in green glitter looked even better with the green backlight, he decided.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He reached around her and grabbed her hand before she could uncross the fingers. “You know that only works when you’re under ten, right?”

“Damn, why wasn’t I informed of this rule?”

He laughed and reached for another ornament. “Because I have a teenager and you don’t.”

“Damn, I hate when you’re right.”

“Better get used to it, I usually am.”

She balled up a taped corner of bubble wrap and chucked it at his head. “Get real.”

He blocked and hooked another ornament on the tree toward the center. “How about you decorate and I start a fire?”

“All right, only because a fire is very Christmasy.” She selected a glitter glued reindeer and carefully inched her way around the tree. He couldn’t decide if he liked watching her move or if it was just the bonus of the way her dress pants pulled across her ass when she reached for a high branch. “The only time my Dad ever insisted on a fire was the holidays. Even if it was too warm for it,” she said conversationally.

And because his staff was so good at their job, he had only to light the newspaper and kindling, letting the fire stoke and pop. He dropped to a crouch, stabbing at the fire with the iron poker and smiled when she found the tray of antique bells. Her head popped up and the smile there was breathtaking. He decided right then and there, that he’d do anything to make Christmas special if that was going to be his reward.

He stood hooked it back into the small case next to the fire. Reaching over he jangled one of the bells. “My Gram in Pennsylvania gave my parents these when they had me, then my parents passed them down when I had Stephanie.”

Her eyes misted and he took the bell, “Hey what’s this all about?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just being stupid.” She swiped her knuckle under her eye and caught the stray tears. “Christmas is about family and it just makes me miss mine sometimes.”

He ran his thumb over her silky brow and pushed her mussed hair back from her face. “I can be your family, if you’ll have me,” he said and tipped her head up.

She slipped her arms around his neck and he caught her close. His fingers gripped the soft sweater she wore, but it wasn’t enough. He needed skin, needed to touch her. Pushing it up, he found the bare skin along her back. His lips brushed her ear, “I love you, Tessa.”

She hugged him back harder, her arms firming around his shoulders. “You’re just bound and determined to see me cry tonight, aren’t you?”

He laughed and lifted her up until her toes dangled. “Only if you’re crying out my name in orgasm, babe.”

“Care to test that theory?” she sniffed and curled a leg around his waist.

He cupped her ass and lowered them both to the thick rug before the fire. He gentled his touch, needing to show her that he was a good bet. That she wasn’t making a mistake by giving him a chance.

Raising her sweater, he gently nipped her skin, laving a tongue over the small birthmark just under her ribs. He heard the soft moan and slowly moved higher, finding the scalloped edge of her bra, he followed the lavender lace to the center of her breasts and grinned when he saw the center snap. He flicked it open but didn’t push it aside right away. He let the cup drag across her breast, his cock swelled as the flushed pink of her nipple caught the firelight.

Taking it into his mouth he sucked gently, savoring the taste of her as she arched beneath him. He pressed the flat of his hand on her stomach and felt her quiver beneath him. His thumb slid under the button of her slacks, tracing her belly button as he scraped his teeth over her nipple.

He nosed apart her bra and continued his assault on the other breast until her fingers threaded into his hair, dragging him up to her mouth. “You’re killing me here,” she shuddered against his mouth.

“That’s the idea,” he said and pushed her sweater over her head. Her hair was as bright as the flames in the fireplace when she gasped through her first orgasm. The fact that he’d done so with only his mouth on her breast left him high. Not willing to lose the momentum he tugged her pants down and tucked his thumb beneath the line of her panties and pushed her over again.

His name was on her lips when he thrust his tongue inside of her. Pushing the matching lace panties down over her hips he opened her wide and lapped her up like cream. She writhed beneath him but he held on and slid two fingers inside of her, feeling her spasm around his hand, he couldn’t stop himself from freeing himself.

He dug for protection in his back pocket and then he was home. She wrapped herself around him until he wasn’t sure where she stopped and he started. He rolled with her as she rose above him, taking him deep into the fist of her heat. She rode him with firelight and the twinkle of Christmas surrounding her. Her thighs gripped him tight as she cried out and he followed, arching up to meet her.

~

They’d relocated to the couch, neither of them capable of much in the way of conversation. Jon curled around her, snuggling down in the suede couch. Their legs were tangled, his hair roughened calves felt super sensitive next to her smooth, the same went for his chest at her back and the strong arms that surrounded her.

He was so hard, where she was soft. She felt him fall away into sleep, the warmth of the room and the intensity of their lovemaking had taken its toll, but she couldn’t turn her brain off. She slid off the couch and snagged his denim shirt off the floor.

His offer of family had left her a little lost, the conflicting emotions of the secret and the lifetime had her so confused. He told her he wanted to spend his life with her at one turn and secreted her away at the other. At times she felt like the ‘other’ woman then an hour later she felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

She would wait for him, she knew that. In such a short space of time, she felt a connection that hadn’t been matched in all her thirty-six years. He made her want to take the time to build something and she hadn’t felt that way since her parents had died. She’d been shifting from job to job that suited her career, but had landed here.

Landed in his lap for all intents and purposes when you really thought about it. She’d settled roots for the first time in her life and wanted those roots to twine with his. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him sprawled out on the couch now that he was the only one on it. The suede was worn with use and the way he curled his arm beneath his head told her he’d spent some serious time on that couch.

She turned back to the tree, glancing at the sparse ornaments he’d placed then picked through the bins of ornaments and slowly, methodically decorated the tree. She pulled the obviously special ornaments out and placed them on the table, thinking maybe the kids would want to trim the tree as well.

She climbed the stepladder and hung the antique bells along the top of the tree where they wouldn’t be broken. The Christmas station had drifted into the instrumental version of carols and she hummed along in a low voice.

“There’s a half naked girl trimming my tree, how did that happen?”

Tessa gasped as he flicked a nail along the back of her knee and she nearly toppled the tree and the chair again.

“I’ve got ya,” he said, his voice scratchy with Jersey and sleep. A pair of low slung jeans was his only clothing. Pair that with strong arms and his amazingly defined chest and you had enough to distract her, but that near drawl echoed through her and zoomed in on her currently pantiless state.

“I gotta say you really look good in my shirts.”

She looped her arm around his neck. “You’re just saying that because I was flashing my butt at you.”

He laughed, “That you were. And it’s a truly fabulous butt,” he said using her word.

“Are you going to put me down?”

“Nope.”

“I have to finish-“

“The tree is perfect, Tessa. Richie and Ava are coming tomorrow and I’m sure they’d love to help me do the garland and sparkly stuff.”

Taking one last glance at the tree and the promise it said with far more eloquence than she could, she tightened her grip on his shoulder. “Well then, bedtime it is.”

“Of course I have had a bit of a nap,” he said and nuzzled along her neck. “I’m not in the least bit tired.”

She swung her feet playfully, “Then I should be rewarded for decorating while your lazy butt slept the hours away on the couch.”

”One reward, coming up!” he said and angled her into his bedroom. He lowered her feet to the floor and knelt before her, gently raking his nails up from her knees to the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.

His thumbs parted the tails of his well worn denim shirt and brushed over the soft hair at her center. Her head fell back at the almost touch, he flicked open the first button and let the backs of his knuckles graze her lips. He let the tip of his knuckle stroke inside of her before he moved higher to the next button. She could feel his warm breath on her slit and she slid her fingers into the hair at his nape.

Her own wetness made her shiver as his fingers trailed over her stomach and his thumbs traced her belly button before his tongue ficked inside. His knuckles dragged up the dip of her tummy as another button slid through its hole and he started to part the shirt. Another few buttons and he looked up at her, his nose nuzzling the curve of her breasts. He watched her as his hands followed around the curve of her ass and along the underside where her cheek met thigh.

She shivered and when he spread her thighs and touched her his name was on her lips. His touch continued to be gentle and teasing. He aroused every nerve ending without sliding inside of her. Instead his nose brushed along her stomach and he tasted her, the tiniest of flutters of his tongue drove her insane as he rubbed his fingertips along the plumped lips of her. He still held off from diving inside of her, instead coating his fingers with her own juices he spoke to her.

“I love touching you,” he said and curled his fingers over the fullness of her ass, spreading her cheeks to let the cool air of his room hit her. She sucked in a breath, then moaned as his tongue cruised over the curve of her breast.

He let her cheeks go and spanned his hands along her waist. “This smooth stomach with the hint of muscle,” he said and grinned up at her when her abs tightened. “This little mark here,” he said and laved his tongue over the cluster of discolored marks that rode high on her stomach.

His thumbs slowly circled along her belly button as he rose off his knees. She could feel the power being held in check as his arms shook a little when he caught her closer to him. He nosed apart the shirt and caught her nipple, sucking it deep into his mouth and letting the knot of its center go with a soft pop. “And how sensitive your breasts are,” he said and gathered the other into his mouth. “So much so that I can make you come just by tasting you.”

Her head swam as she tried to stay upright. His words in the rumble of the semi-darkness left her weak and overwhelmed. Only a shaft of light from the hallway illuminated them, the curve of his mouth and the crazy smirk was her undoing. She sank against him and his mouth moved to her clavicle then over to her shoulder pushing his shirt off and onto the floor.

His teeth sunk into the soft flesh that met shoulder and neck until she cried out. His fingers encircled her wrist as he drew back and nosed along the pulse beating wildly there. His teeth grazed over the veins there then eased the nip with a flick of his tongue.

He continued along her arm and the tip of his tongue rasped at the bend of her inner elbow and up her arm back to her shoulder then repeated the endlessly erotic touch along her other arm, scraping his teeth over the palm of her hand instead of wrist this time. She felt the flood of her cum drip along her thighs but still he continued on.

He pushed her back onto the bed and she muttered, “Finally,” As she felt his weight on top of her. Her fingers fumbled for his jeans but he just laughed.

“I’m not done yet,” he said and rolled her onto her stomach.

“Oh God,” she said and twitched beneath him. “I don’t know if I can take much more,” she said on a whisper.

He pressed his straining cock against her ass. “You can,” he rumbled into her ear. “If I can, so can you.” And he disappeared.

His fingers molded over the muscle of her calves, tasted the skin behind her knees and his thumbs drew circles along her inner thigh opening her. “You’re so wet,” he said and licked the cream that had slid down her thigh, letting his tongue dart inside of her. “Mine,” he said and opened her to let his tongue swirl and taste her.

She gripped the sheets and screamed. There wasn’t enough friction to let her finish and she ground her hips into the duvet in frustration. His fingers massaged over her cheeks as he shushed her. “Easy, Tessa,” he said with that low voice that would haunt her forever.

His touch turned to kneading as he drove all the kinks out of her back that she hadn’t even been aware of. And the entire time, she could feel the hard length of him trapped inside his jeans.

She swiveled her hips beneath his hands and ground herself against the thigh he had between hers. “Please come inside me,” she whispered, hoping that a little turnabout would drive him to the place she was. The madness that was starting to creep into her brain could be shared.

He tucked his thigh higher, between hers and let her buzz against the rough denim. “You have to wait,” he said and pulled his leg back.

She growled in frustration and rose on her elbows. “There’s a time for seduction and then there’s a time to just fuck. I’m there. I need you.”

His eyes glittered but instead of opening his jeans he just continued to knead her back and shoulders. Her hips rose and fell in tandem to his strokes, wanting the release that was just out of reach. “Please,” she begged and pushed back on him. “I need you inside me.”

His hands slid around her waist and up to cup her breasts. Her arms shook to stay upright as he plucked at the tips again and again, his mouth still soft as water on her back. “Not yet,” he said and pushed his nose up into the silky fine hairs at her nape.

He trailed his tongue up and down her neck, down to her shoulder blades and over to each shoulder as he lightly grazed his cock against her ass. No where near the friction she needed, even with the steady pluck and roll of his thumb and fingers at her nipples.

Her body was on fire and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. She heaved and gasped, so close to orgasm she couldn’t even focus. All she could feel was Jon and his touch everywhere. Finally she heard the zip of his jeans as he shucked them and covered her from the back.

Her hand came around the back of his head and she found herself muttering incoherently, a litany of his name and to fuck her. In her brain she screamed. And when he finally slammed inside of her she went wild.

His hands slid under her and pulled at her nipples then down to the sopping wet clit in between her thighs as he pummeled inside of her. She arched back against him the orgasm so intense she couldn’t fight her way out of it before another took her over.

His teeth scraped down her shoulder and around to her mouth. His tongue hot and deep in her mouth as she tasted herself and him and the heady blend of them both. He turned her head to meet his kiss and deepened it with each thrust of his cock inside of her. She tore away from him and arched against his thrusts.

Her fingers slid low on her belly to touch herself, the could feel the slick slide of him inside of herself as she pressed on the knot of nerves that still couldn’t be soothed. She pushed against him until she could get on her knees and the slap of his balls against her lips only intensified the screams she couldn’t stop.

His hands gripped her hips as he slammed inside of her again and again. She fisted around him, coming so hard that the world blackened and the last coherent thing she heard was his shout of release.