A vise closed around his body. “Do we have to?”
She smiled, her hazel eyes dancing. “And not about drugs and murder and things like that.”
He started pulling away, thinking they should probably sit for the coming conversation. To his surprise, she held on tight. Catching his feet before they toppled over, he looked down at her in question.
A shyness he didn’t usually see crept into her expression. “I’ve talked to my parents about Christmas, and we’ve come up with a plan. That is, if you and Kendall agree.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Wariness crept into Collin’s eyes, and her stomach threatened to revolt, but she took a deep breath and powered on. She was about to take them over a relationship cliff, and while shethoughthe’d be okay with it, the fact that they’d only been back in each other’s lives for less than two weeks played in her head. Like her grandfather’s records when they used to skip, playing the same five notes over and over again.
“Talk here or somewhere else?” she asked.
His head swiveled a little wildly, then he stepped away. Twining his fingers with hers, he led her down a series of halls to a smallish library in the back corner of the castle.
“I don’t know what this room was originally,” Collin said, flicking on a gas fireplace. “Roger made this upgrade when he did the others. Sometime when I was a kid.” He paused and studied the flames. She remained silent as he prodded at some memory or thought. He came back to the room abruptly and gestured to the leather couch. “Shall we?”
She held out her hand, her body warming as his big one closed over hers. When they were seated, he pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over her legs. “What’s this plan?” he asked, the expression on his facereminding her of someone winding the handle of a jack-in-the-box waiting for it to pop out.
“I’m guessing you and Kendall both want to get settled in Mystery Lake.” He opened his mouth, but she held up a hand to stop him. “I have no idea what the next few weeks or months are going to look like with Sundaram, so I’m only focusing on the next few days.” He gave a hesitant nod. Her heart started fluttering, and she turned his hand over to trace the lines of his palm, more to give her own hands something to do as she jumped off this cliff.
“My parents want to meet Kendall. They’ve accepted she’s going to be a part of their lives, and they want to welcome her to the family.” She felt his head jerk toward her. Not that she saw it, since her eyes were fixed on his palm. “My brother and Patrick will be in tomorrow. I propose that we stay here and have Christmas Eve with my parents and brother’s family, then after dinner we drive up to Mystery Lake so Kendall can wake up Christmas morning in her new home. I have a few weeks off, and she and I can spend the time getting to know the town and maybe learning more about the schools and that sort of thing. I say ‘Kendall and I’ because I know you have to work. Hopefully, we can troop around as a threesome when you have the time, though. What do you think?”
Several seconds passed and he said nothing. Nausea started crawling into her throat, sharp and bitter. But then he blinked, drawing her attention to his eyes. His glassy eyes.
“Collin?” she said, tentatively lifting a hand to touch his cheek. Only she didn’t get the chance. Before she could even gasp in surprise, he had her across his lap, his lips on hers.
In a whirlwind of clothes, indiscriminate sounds, and squeaks from the couch, what felt like a heartbeat later, an orgasm rocketed through her thanks to his nimble tongue and talented lips. Before she even finished, he pushed inside her,saying something. Lots of things. But consumed by the feel of him, by his unleashed need and trust, she couldn’t make any out. Not that she needed to. His body, the way he touched her, told her everything. She shouldn’t have questioned leading them over this cliff. They were already falling. And holding on to each other the whole way.
That heady realization, that certainty that he waswithher through whatever the future might bring, brought her to the edge again, and together, pleasure erupted through their bodies in pulsing waves so strong they stole her breath.
They hung, suspended there in that moment, a moment much bigger than the physical, for the space of several breaths. Then, as it was wont to do, life inched its way back into their world.
Her spine released its tension and relaxed onto the couch. Collin didn’t lower himself fully on top of her, but the tautness of his back eased under her fingers. Languorously, she traced the muscles, his skin damp beneath her touch, as they caught their breath.
She wanted the moment to stretch and imprint itself in her memory, but her hip digging into the back of the couch had her shifting. Collin lifted away but didn’t rise. Instead, he stilled and gazed down at her, an impossibly tender look in his eyes, maybe even a hint of awe.
She ran her fingers along his jaw, then cupped his cheek. “I take it my plan works for you?”
“It’s more than I ever thought to even hope for,” he answered, his voice gruff with emotion. Her heart threatened to break for him—for all the holidays he hadn’t had as a kid, for those he spent deployed in far-flung parts of the world, for the family he never thought he’d have. Yes, he had his brothers, but Collin’s yearning for a family of his own, for a partner in life, had never been a secret to her. He’d never said anything, notat fourteen or even eighteen, but she’d seen it in the way he watched her parents, in the way he became a part ofherfamily.
She tipped her head back, lifting her lips toward his. He obliged her invitation with a lingering kiss before withdrawing from her body and crossing the room to the massive dark oak desk. For someone who didn’t have a lot of sexual experience, he was remarkably comfortable with his own nudity. Maybe the military made any sort of modesty difficult, but whatever the reason, she definitely didn’t mind. In fact, she rather enjoyed the sight of him prowling around without a stitch on.
Finding what he went looking for, he returned with several tissues. “Sorry, there’s no bathroom attached to this room,” he said, handing them to her.
It took her a second to figure out what he meant; when she did, she shook her head. “There’s one two doors down. I’ll go use that to clean up.”
He frowned. “Then you have to get dressed.”
She rose and reached for her shirt. “As appealing as a day lounging around in the nude with you is, we have a house full of your family, a lunch that will be ready in a few minutes, and the rest of the holiday to plan.”
He stared, then grunted an unintelligible word but reached for his own boxer briefs. After dressing quickly, she slipped down to the bathroom. When she returned, he was sitting on the couch, fully clothed, phone in hand, with no sign of what had happened moments before.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, joining him.
“We need to order Kendall’s presents,” he said. “I don’t want to go too crazy, that will kind of feel like I’m trying to buy her affection?—”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that, but I see your point. It might be overwhelming.”
