A Magical Christmas. Elizabeth Rolls

she was swallowed up by sensation. The softness of silk, the slick probe of his tongue. She felt as if she were melting, coming apart, and then he peeled away the last of her protection, leaving her naked and at the mercy of his clever mouth and skilled fingers. She felt her body clamp down on his fingers and lifted her hips, but he withdrew gently and joined her on the bed.

      She was close, so close, and she couldn’t believe he’d stopped right then. It was cruel. It was—

      “Tyler—I want—I need—” She moaned as she felt the brush of his body against hers, and then he drove into her with a single, smooth thrust that made her gasp.

      “What do you need?” His voice was husky, his eyes so dark with passion, they were almost black, and he drove deeper still, so that for a moment they were joined so deeply, she couldn’t breathe or move. “Tell me what you need, sweetheart.”

      She slid her hands down his back, stared into his eyes and fell deeper and deeper. “You already know.”

      And he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her, giving her everything until all she could feel was masculine thickness, silk and intense heat. She clawed at his shoulders, dragged her fingers down his spine, closed her hands over his backside, but he kept up the same rhythm, driving into her again and again, deeper, harder, filling her until she felt her body begin to tighten and ripple around the power of his shaft.

      He muttered something under his breath, and she knew he was trying to hold back, but she had long since lost control and her body fluttered, pulsed, quivered and tightened around his, and he groaned deep in his throat, a primitive animal sound as each spasm dragged him past the limits of his own control. He thrust deep, every movement intensifying her excitement, prolonging the moment of ecstasy.

      Afterward she felt limp. Weak. There was sweat on his skin, and he dropped his forehead to hers, his breathing unsteady, their gazes locked.

      She slid her fingers into his hair. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry or I will knock you unconscious.”

      “I’m not sorry.” He murmured the words against her mouth, dragging his lips over hers, and then rolled onto his back, keeping her in his arms.

      “And if you wake up tomorrow regretting it, I don’t want to hear it.”

      “I may never wake up.” His eyes were closed. “I think you may have killed me, but I don’t want you to feel guilty about that. Just tell me one thing—where the hell did you buy that black, silky man trap?”

      She smiled and pressed her mouth to his shoulder. “You didn’t like it?”

      “I was going to ask if it came in other colors.” With a groan he dragged her hard against his body, and she curled around him.

      The words I love you hovered on the edge of her tongue but this time she held them back, not daring to do anything that might upset this new balance, this new shift in their relationship.

      Through the window she could see snow falling like confetti, and she smiled because the moment was perfect, and she wanted to hold on to it forever.

      “I can’t believe I’m in your bed.”

      “Technically this is your bed.”

      “Have you ever thought about doing this? Honestly?”

      “All the time.”

      She thought of the party they’d had in the summer to celebrate the opening of the Boathouse Café. “You hardly ever looked at me.”

      “I trained myself not to. I trained myself not to think of you that way. Our friendship was more important to me than a few nights of burning up the sheets.”

      That was what this was to him? A night of burning up the sheets?

      She felt a thud of disappointment and then reminded herself that for Tyler, this was a big step.

      He was here with her now. That was all that mattered.

      “There’s going to be powder tomorrow. Jess will have another snow day.” She felt him relax and knew she’d been right to change the subject.

      “We’ll ski—” he tightened his hold on her “—and this time you don’t have to climb out of the window.”

      “It was fun.”

      “It was.” He stared up at the ceiling. “Tell me something about you I don’t know.”

      “I never thought we’d end up here.”

      He turned to look at her. “No?”

      Janet’s words were embedded in her head. “Never thought you’d find me sexy.”

      “Seriously?” He gave a low laugh. “I always knew you’d be hot in bed.”

      “You did?”

      “Of course. You’re athletic, and you have a great body.”

      She glowed with pleasure. “What happens now?”

      He stroked his hand over her hair. “I guess we’re not going to need two bedrooms.”

      “I don’t want to upset Jess.”

      There was a gleam in his eyes. “Why do you think Jess has been spending every night with my mother?”

      Brenna blushed. “They’re not subtle, are they?”

      “Not even a little bit.”

      “Are you worried that our relationship has changed?”

      “Not anymore. I’ve decided this relationship is perfect.”

      “You have?”

      Smiling, he pulled her back into his arms. “Sure, because now as well as being friends, I can screw your brains out, which is a winning combination as far as I’m concerned.”