LILAH
When I opened my eyes,for one disoriented second, I didn’t know where I was. Then my brain caught up, recalling the cozy fire, the broken cot, the couch—with Holden.
His arms wrapped around me, him snoozing away with even breathing. Warm in his embrace, my entire body went molten in a traitorous ripple. But this shouldn’t feel this easy, not for a fling.
I pretended to stir, but he tightened his arm around me, tugging me closer into his side like we were puzzle pieces made to fit with precision.
“Merry Christmas, Frosty,” he croaked, rough from sleep.
I screwed around with the guy who was involved in the worst day of my life, but now we were somehow past that, and we’re—what? Fling friends? This was going to be awkward. So awkward.
“What time is it?” I asked, faking a yawn.
Holden lifted his head, squinting at the little antique clock on the mantel. “Uh… wow. Almost noon.”
“Noon?” I bolted upright, but only made it halfway because Holden’s arm weighed me back down. “I overslept. I should’ve been up hours ago because I was going to bake cookies all day.A cookie buffet for the staff when they return could be great for morale, and?—”
He interrupted me with a growl, vibrating against my back. “Youcoulddo that. Or we could lie here a little longer and enjoy each other’s company.” His hips ground his twitching cock into my backside way too suggestively.
My face lit on fire. I buried it in the blanket, only that was worse with scents of us mingled there. “We need a shower.”
“That too.”
“I didn’t necessarily mean together.” I scrambled for distance, but he wouldn’t let go. “Let me shower first. You can rest. Or something. Come see me later in the kitchen when you’re hungry.”
“Nope, not today, Frosty.” His voice dropped into a maddening, playful command that woke up all the butterflies in my stomach. He shifted, rolling us until I was pinned beneath him, wrapped in the blanket. “It’s Christmas. And as your employer, I hereby forbid you to work.” He nudged his nose against mine.
“You forbid me?” I sputtered. “You can’t do that.”
“I think you’ve forgotten who signs the paychecks.”
I wrestled out of his hold—half because I needed air, half because if he kept looking at me like that, I’d drag his face between my thighs for more of that tongue stroking he was so good at.
“What else am I supposed to do, then? I’m not great at lying around doing nothing,” I protested.
He opened his mouth—probably to say something ridiculous or seductive—but his gaze flicked over my shoulder, over the arm of the couch.
“Wait. Hold up.” He sat abruptly. “Come here. You need to see this view.”
He tugged me off the couch with him, and moved toward the windows. I pulled a blanket around my naked body fast to guard against the chill in the air. Forget the view outside, though. My breath caught at the sight of Holden’s backside, a fine landscape with those shoulders and muscles sloping down to a perfect ass.
“Good morning, mountain,” he greeted. Before us, the peak glittered in white, as if dipped in powdered sugar. The storm had buried every branch and slope under flawless, untouched snow. Like a pristine wonderland, the world outside had transformed, the bright blue sky almost too sharp against the snow to be real.
“It’s magical,” I whispered.
“It’s fresh powder,” he whispered right back, but with the fervor of a wild man-child. “I amitchingto get out there and snowboard.”
“Well, have fun.”
“Nope.” He grabbed my wrist before I ran off. “You’re going with me.”
“Uh, I haven’t snowboarded in years.” Panic nibbled at me.
“Then that’s exactly what we’re doing today.” He grinned like I’d just told him the password to a secret club.
“Holden, you’re out of your?—”
“Mind? Absolutely.” He beamed. “What better day to take advantage of these conditions than Christmas, before the crowds hit us? It’ll be just us on my mountain, like we were the first people to discover it.”
