Kissed By Christmas. Jamie Pope

seen a flatiron since.”

      “I like your curls. They’re beautiful.” He lifted his hand to her hair and sunk his fingers deep inside her ringlets. It was not something she normally let anyone do. But she didn’t mind him doing it. She liked his soothing touch and the way his fingers felt as they gently scratched her scalp.

      She closed her eyes again. This was how she had fallen asleep before. He lulled her with his deep voice and calming conversation. She was comfortable around him. “Tell me more about Bambi.”

      “There’s not much to tell. She was a cocktail waitress. Fun, sweet. Someone that was easy to hang out with but not someone you would discuss anything deep with. She was exactly what I was looking for at the time.”

      “How did your mother make her cry?”

      “She asked her a question,” he said evasively.

      “Are you going to tell me what it was?”

      “I don’t think my mother meant it the way it sounded. She’s an academic. She’s from a very conservative family. Her only option in life was to use her brain.”

      “You don’t have to explain your mother to me, Asa. I can tell that she’s a good person.”

      He nodded. “She asked Bambi what her future plans were. She wanted to know what she was going to do when her body stopped being in that kind of shape and she could no longer use her sexuality to get good tips. And then she said something about sagging skin and breasts and that’s the first time I had ever wished for a huge natural disaster.”

      “You could have used a big meteor striking the restaurant.”

      “I think Bambi said something about getting married and raising a family. I’ll never forget what my mother said then. ‘Being a wife and mother are wonderful things, but haven’t you ever considered that you have more to offer the world? Haven’t you ever thought about how you were going to leave your mark?’ Bambi burst into tears then. We broke up after that.”

      “She never wanted to see you again after that meeting?”

      “No. She was looking to get serious and I knew there was no point. I want to be with someone who has more to offer the world than their body. I hate it when my mother is right.”

      Hallie smiled and leaned in to kiss Asa. As soon as she felt her mouth press against his, she realized what she had just done. It was just a simple kiss, just two sets of lips pressing against each other, but as she did it she knew she had felt more kissing him than she had felt kissing Brent for the last five years.

      There was nothing sexual, nothing hot or explosive between them, but she felt a lovely warmth spread throughout her entire body and a very sturdy tug on her heart. Almost like it had been kicked awake.

      “Oh.” She pulled away from him. “I didn’t mean to do that. I shouldn’t have done that.”

      “No. You shouldn’t have,” he said just before he tumbled her backward on the couch and kissed her again.

      She knew that they shouldn’t be doing this, but his heavy body settled on top of hers and it felt right. His kiss was deeper. More sensuous. It was open mouths and tongues sweeping across each other. It was slow and shocking. She knew it was too much for her senses and yet she wanted so much more. She knew without a doubt that this was the best kiss of her life and then he broke it. She lay there with her chest heaving and her eyes closed. It was a beautiful moment.

      “I’m not stopping because I want to, but because I know we shouldn’t go any further.”

      She opened her eyes and looked up into his handsome face. “I know.” She let out a long sigh.

      “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. I wanted to be in the bathtub with you and run a washcloth over your naked back. I wanted to pull you close and keep you there more times than I could count today.”

      Hallie felt another painful tug in her heart again. Why was this happening now? Why did it have to be him who responded to the call yesterday? She was still heartsore from her broken engagement. The last thing she needed was a romantic entanglement, especially if she wasn’t sure if she was going to last much longer in this city. “Asa. Don’t say that to me.”

      “Why? It’s true. I won’t lie to you.”

      “I don’t need sex right now, but I do need a friend.” She surprised herself by saying so. It would be easy for her to go back to her apartment. For her to ignore him, forget about this day and all he had done for her. But she knew that would be too hard. It wouldn’t be easy to just be his friend, but she knew she’d rather have him in her life like that, than to go back to being completely alone in this big scary place. “Can you be my friend?”

      He sat up, pausing for a moment, before he nodded. “I can.”

      “Good. You can start by walking me home.”

      * * *

      Asa got up and walked Hallie down the hall. He could still feel her lips on his, could still feel how her body went pliant beneath his. He could taste the sweetened tea on her lips and when she’d returned his kiss by sweeping her tongue into his mouth he’d felt jolted, a rush that he couldn’t put into words.

      She’d curled his fingers into his shirt. She had wrapped her leg around him. She’d let out a little moan when he broke the kiss. He had wanted to kiss her all day—he just hadn’t expected it to be an experience.

      He’d stopped because he was growing too aroused, far too quickly. She was still suffering from a concussion and as much as he wanted her he knew that he couldn’t take things any further that night.

      And then she’d asked him to be her friend. It was like someone had thrown cold water on him. She had every right to ask him that. He could see things going too quickly with her. The kind of attraction he had for her was dangerous. He barely knew her, but he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman to jump into bed with a man. She was alone in this city and still recovering from a bad breakup.

      It would be foolish to jump into something with him.

      They stopped in front of her door and he watched her as she opened it and stepped inside. She turned to face him. “Good night, Asa.”

      “Good night.”

      “And thank you.” She reached to hug him, pressing that sweet, curvy body against his once again. “For everything.”

      He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back, holding her tightly against him. He would be her friend, but he knew he would kiss her again, too. He wouldn’t be able not to. There was no way to prevent it if she was anywhere near him.

      * * *

      There was a knock at Hallie’s door just before 6:00 p.m. that next evening. It was her second day off work and she was feeling only slightly better. Her body was still stiff and sore, although the constant heavy throbbing in her head had lessened and her dizziness had mostly subsided. She’d thought she was nearly back to normal when she left Asa’s last night and that she would be ready to go back to work again. The pain had been completely gone when she woke up on his chest last evening. There was no dizziness at all, maybe just some headiness. His kiss had kept her floating all night. It had her thinking of him and his soft, firm lips when she went to bed. It had her dreaming of him on top of her, beside her, his hands roaming all over her, his breath tickling her skin. But she hadn’t slept as well in her bed as she had when she was curled up against him. It had been one time, for a few hours, but as she lay in her bed alone, she felt like something was missing, like he was missing.

      Her heart sped up as she walked to the door. It was probably him, coming to see how she was.

      She opened the door to find a woman there. She was short, Hispanic, very pretty with long black hair that had a dramatic gray stripe running down the center of it. She was dressed in some kind of a uniform and holding two large paper bags. “Ms. Roberts?” There was a touch of an accent in her voice.

      “Yes.”