“I love it,” Arden said. “Let’s do that.”
Kyle set up the garland and strung it with lights while Arden finished making dinner. She got the salad mixed and the steak and potatoes plated when Kyle came to the table, pretending to drool. “Both steaks for me while you eat salad? Awesome.”
“I will fight you to the death for a steak,” Arden replied sweetly.
They finished eating and saw to the animals for the night. Then it was time to decorate. Arden put on some Christmas carols and handed ornaments up to Kyle on the ladder while she decorated the mantel and the lower half of the garland. Each time, she couldn’t help but steal a look at his gorgeous ass. Damn, but it should have been illegal to carry around an ass like that. Every now and then Kyle climbed down, saying he needed a break. But Arden knew the real reason—he checked the laptop windows every time, nodding to himself when he saw nothing to be alarmed about on the cameras. Twice he took a walk around the property.
When the last glass bauble was hung by the chimney with care, Arden announced it was time for pie and ’nog. She cut them slices, poured the rum generously, and they sat on the couch to admire their work.
“Mission accomplished, I’d say.” Arden took a sip of eggnog. She felt warm and peaceful. Safe. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that way.
Kyle looked at her, his ice-blues melting into warm pools. “Are you happy, Arden?”
“I am very happy, Kyle.”
“Then it is mission accomplished.”
When he moved his arm along the back of the couch toward her, she didn’t hesitate to snuggle in next to him. He pulled her tight against his side and she wrapped her arm around him, feeling his rock-hard abs under his shirt. She let her fingers roam over their rounded peaks and into their valleys. His body felt like sculpted perfection. She couldn’t help but wonder how good he’d look naked in the firelight. She’d already caught a glimpse of one of his tattoos poking out below his sleeve—the skeletal toes of a frog—and she wondered what others he had…and if she’d ever see them.
As her fingers danced across his abs, he bent and started nuzzling in her hair.
“So surprising,” he murmured, sending tingles throughout her.
“What?”
“In the middle of winter, you smell like summer.”
“I don’t know why that should surprise you. Colorado isn’t Narnia—we do have four seasons here.”And I wish you wanted to stay and see them all, she caught herself thinking. But it was true. She wanted Kyle to wake up tomorrow morning and declare that he was done with California. That he wanted to stay in Colorado. With her. Instead, he’d start checking flights and mounting an argument to take Camo with him.
But that was tomorrow. Tonight, he was holding her.
She moved her fingers faster until she heard the sound she craved—his soft groan against her ear. She met it with her own excited gasp.
“Arden,” he murmured. “If you keep doing that, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
“Then don’t stop yourself.” She turned her head and caught his lips. Now she was playing for keeps. He’d pulled away before, but this time she’d make him want to stay. Arden nibbled at his lips until he ran his tongue along the seam of hers. She gladly opened for him and welcomed his tongue into her mouth. He pulled her onto his lap, his long hard erection straining against his jeans as he pressed her down against him. He pushed his tongue in deeper, claiming her mouth as his fingers wound their way through her hair. He pulled and she gasped again, liking the roughness of his play. She laid her hands against his cheeks and ran her thumbs over the black velvet of his beard. To feel that velvet between her breasts, across her belly, against her inner thighs, between her legs…
He pulled again until their mouths parted. His eyes were wild as his gaze roamed her face—from her forehead, across her cheeks, lingering on her lips, then to her eyes. So intense, she didn’t know how long she could hold his gaze. She leaned in to kiss him but he clasped her cheeks and stopped her.
“What’s wrong?” Arden asked.
“Muir was right. You have no idea who I am,” he said.
The fire that had been burning in her belly a moment before turned to ice.So that’s why he was so moody earlier? It’s not the restraining order; he’s worried about what Rick the Dick said?
“What do you mean? I know exactly who you are. You’re a man who meets a complete stranger, someone who is at odds with him, and you give her the best Christmas Eve ever. I don’t care about anything else. That’s all I need to know.”
“No it isn’t,” Kyle said, shaking his head. “We just met. There are things I don’t know about you. And there are things you need to know about me.”
“Kyle. If you’re worried that Muir got into my head, he didn’t. You can’t let Rick the Dick get in your head either. I know he was just trying to make me doubt you, but it didn’t work. Look, I know you have nightmares. I know you had a horrible experience somewhere in your life. You’re a SEAL, so that’s kind of a given. You’ve seen terrible things—”
“I’vedoneterrible things.”
“Kyle. Knowing you, you did those things for good reasons. You’re a protector. You’re a SEAL—”
Kyle shook his head, anguish in his eyes. “No. That’s just it. I’m not a SEAL.”
Fourteen
