Trembling, she broke the kiss first. Opening her eyes, she looked up into the heat of his, and her knees almost buckled. She clutched her fists, only to realize she had them pressed against his chest, not pushing him back, but fingers knotting in the excess cloth of his plaid flannel shirt as if she couldn’t help but pull him closer.
“It’s been a long, long time for me too,” he said thickly, the huskiness of his low voice making her knees buckle all over again. “I don’t want to pressure you into anything you don’t want to do.”
Tightening her grip on his shirt, she pulled him down, arching up onto her tiptoes to catch his mouth with hers all over again. This time, the hunger was hers. It was the driving force that she could feel, heating up her belly, melting down through her core until she couldn’t tell what was pounding harder, his heart against her crushed breasts, or the needy throb consuming the flesh between her wobbly legs.
She broke the kiss first. “I’m sorry,” she gasped. “I barely know you—”
Letting go of her face, he grabbed her by the seat of her ass, lifting her up off her feet and spreading her legs wide enough for him to step between as he set her down to sit on the edge of the sink. She was taller than him now, but only just barely, and maybe that was the point. There was no gentleness in either of them now as their mouths met. He drank the breathy moans from her lips, feeding her his hungry breaths in turn.
“I want you,” he groaned, tearing his mouth from hers, his hot breath trailing her skin until he caught the lobe of her ear between gentle teeth. “I want you, baby girl.”
She wanted him too. More than anything else in this moment, she ached to be flesh to flesh and skin to skin with him. Heartbeat to heartbeat, felt in the way of lovers—in the thrusts of his cock as he penetrated her again and again, just like his tongue was thrusting, until the tension in her belly exploded, sending her back arching and the butterflies bursting free between them.
“For god’s sake,” Pops groused, as he passed the kitchen’s side door, heading for the living room. “Take it to the bedroom, you two.” A half second later, his head popped back into view as he snapped, “Afterwe get the damn ice cream!”
Chapter 11
The trip to the grocery store was the longest forty minutes of her life, every second of which was spent trying hard not to make a fool of herself. Every nerve in her body was aware of Brock, sitting behind the steering wheel as he rolled them first up and down main street while Pops and Lily exclaimed over the city’s alternating bell and candle-light decorations up on the lampposts. Brock took them to the town’s best Christmas display—an old man playing Santa in his front shed, every inch of his yard and house done up in garlands, decorations, and thousands upon thousands of sparkling lights. He had a goat dressed up like a reindeer, uniformed elves passed out candy canes and hot chocolate to both children and adults, all of which were lined up down the driveway, just waiting for their turn with ‘Santa’.
“Want to see Santa?” Pops asked Lily, who was far more interested in the ‘reindeer’ as it came wandering down the line, nibbling goat treats from the paper cups being offered to the kids by helpful elves.
Knowing he wasn’t asking her, Stace folded her arms across her tummy, rolled her lips together, and said nothing while hegot out. She watched for a good five minutes in silence while Pops and Lily joined the line. Brock stayed in the car with her.
“Do you want to see Santa?” Brock unexpectedly asked.
She looked at him, wide eyed, surprised that he would ask. “No.”
Actually, she did, kind of. But the thought of being in public, the only adult standing in line to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas, was embarrassing to think about, much less do.
“No?” He arched an eyebrow.
“No one else is doing it,” she pointed out and faced the window again. “Everyone will stare at me and probably think I’m weird.”
“Does Daddy’s little girl want to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him how good she’s been all year?” Brock asked again, a smile tugging at the corner of his handsome mouth. The very smile that set her to burning in his arms when he’d been kissing her. She’d only ever burned hotter when he was spanking her, although the end result eventually became the same.
She squeezed her thighs tight together, trying to kill the languid pulse licking up between them.
“A little,” she confessed, eyeing him uncertainly. “But it’s... don’t you think it’s silly?”
“Maybe some in town might think so,” he reluctantly agreed. “But no, I don’t think it’s silly at all.”
Facing the window, she hugged her arms so she wouldn’t be tempted to get out. The draw to join her daughter in line was more than she could handle, and she really, really didn’t want to make a fool of herself.
“Maybe some other time,” she hedged, wistfully.
The leather of the seat creaked beneath her as she felt him shift, inching closer.
Her heart beat a little hotter, a little faster. Her breathing quickened. It itched at her so badly to turn around, just to see if it was her imagination playing with her, or if that really was hisarm that she could feel settling across her seat back. Or his chest that she could feel brushing against her shoulder.
She jumped when the heat of his hand settled on her knee. Looking down made her bump more solidly into both his back and arm, and when she craned to see him back over her shoulder, once more he was close enough to kiss her. Her lips were tingling already.
“May I ask you a question?” he asked, gazing past her to where the goat was lingering near the line of children, walking nearer to where Pops was standing, unabashedly luring the goat in with Lily balanced in one arm and a cup of treats held out in his other hand.
“Yes?” She had to clear her throat twice before she could produce real sound. “What is it?”
Leaning back slightly, he finally looked at her. “If I were to offer you the job of making sure my dad’s okay while I’m at work, would you be at all interested in accepting it?”
“I’m not... um, really qualified. I mean, I can cook and clean, but I’ve never really worked in the home healthcare field. The closest I came was daily trips across the street when my elderly neighbor got really sick one year. I’d go over and just sit with her, make sure she got enough to eat and drink, and just make sure she was okay.”
