“Welcome to Kew Gardens, Ms. McCulloch.” I gestured as we entered a Christmas wonderland.
Sarah’s mouth parted as she took in all the lights.
“This is nothing,” I promised in her ear.
It had been years since I’d visited Kew Gardens, but Christmastime was quite the spectacle. Trees and hedges wrapped in fairy lights, others aglow in rainbow hues cast by light shows, and archways made entirely of light. The illuminations were a little magical, and Sarah needed a little magic this year.
She took in the sights with wonderment in her eyes, clinging to my arm, gasping, smiling up at me like a girl seeing Santa for the first time. It amazed me she could have reached this age and still be filled with awe by things I’d grown used to overlooking. I was somewhat jealous. But my overarching emotion was protectiveness. For the first time in years, I wanted to protect someone else. I didn’t want anyone to break her or take that wonder from her.
And I especially didn’t want that person to be me.
Under a cathedral of lights, uncaring of the people walking through it with us, I halted and pulled Sarah up onto her tiptoes to reach my lips. I kissed her like it would save me.
Like it might save her from me.
A voice in the back of my head told me I needed to let her go.
But I couldn’t.
Why couldn’t I?
My grip on her tightened, my kisses hard and hungry, and I might have stayed there with her forever if someone hadn’t wolf-whistled.
I reluctantly released her and she stared up at me, lips swollen, dazed, the twinkle lights reflected in those spectacular eyes of hers.
“There are children here,” a woman practically spat at us as she passed.
“Are there?” I drawled, tucking Sarah into my side. “I thought they were poorly dressed elves.”
Sarah muffled a snort, and I grinned harder.
The woman huffed and strode off.
“That there is a woman in desperate need of good sex.”
“Theo!” Sarah slapped my chest, hushing me even as her lips trembled around a smile.
“I only speak the truth.” I shrugged. “Fancy some hot mini doughnuts?”
She shook her head at me like I was a naughty schoolboy.
“No to hot doughnuts?” I gasped in teasing outrage.
“No to your nonsense.” She tugged on my hand with a roll of her eyes. “But aye to doughnuts.”
For the next hour, I led Sarah around the gardens, taking pictures, watching her as she contemplated one light display after another.
“Believe it or not,” she said after swallowing a bite of hot, sugary pastry, “this is giving me a great idea for a scene in the next book. I could take Juno to London at Christmastime. Can you imagine her being stalked through Kew Gardens by her latest suspect?”
I chuckled. “Only you, sweet Sarah, could think of a thriller scene amid a Christmas wonderland.”
She laughed, and I couldn’t help myself. I bent down to kiss her, licking at the sugar on her lips. The way her breath hitched caused an immediate tightening in my balls. “Fuck,” I murmured. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
Understanding flushed her cheeks and she nodded.
It was a tense cab ride back to my flat. I held her hand between mine, stroking my fingertips over her palm. She shivered and the blood thundered in my ears.
I barely remembered the ride or paying the driver. My sole focus was on getting privacy with Sarah. My desperation for her was such that I couldn’t even take a few more steps into the bedroom. Instead, as soon as we stepped inside the flat, I used our bodies to close the door and I pressed her into it. She gasped into my kisses as I undulated against her, fumbling frantically for the zipper on her coat. Past that barricade, next were her jeans and mine.
