Page 13 of Just One More Mistletoe

He focused on her and his breath caught in his throat. She’d left her shoes under the table in the other room and Max hadn’t realized how little remained—the shirt, skirt, and belt, all three items she’d discarded while he was upping the ante and making his shots.

She faced him now, his most erotic dream come to life. Her clothes lay in a pile beside her. Her blonde hair, tousled and full, caressed her shoulders. The body he’d glimpsed through the barrier of clothing and imagined in his mind had nothing on reality. A black lace bra cut in a deep V contrasted with and revealed creamy mounds of flesh, while a whisper-light-looking bikini bottom barely covered her sex.

She met his gaze and shrugged, a deep blush staining her cheeks and an embarrassed fidget to her stance. “I forgot to mention that when I lose—no matter how unlikely—I always pay up.”

He edged his finger beneath one delicate bra strap, savoring the feel of her soft flesh beneath his roughened fingertips. “If you consider this a loss, then we have nothing further to—”

“Shh.” She placed one finger over his lips. “That was a figure of speech.”

His tongue darted out and he tasted her, a combination of salty skin and female softness. She sucked in a startled breath but she didn’t remove her hand. Instead, she traced the outline of his mouth with her fingertip, leaving him incredibly aroused by her touch.

“The game’s over, Max, and I’d call it even.”

He grinned. “Win–win.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Taking that as his cue, Max did what he’d been dying to do since he’d laid eyes on her standing beside the Christmas tree—he spanned her bare waist with his hands, curling his fingers around her back and kneading his palms into her skin.

She let out a low, throaty moan. Need, want, and desire collided as her back arched and her breasts reached toward him, almost as if in supplication. Max didn’t want to deny her.

And he could no longer deny himself.

Chapter Four

Max checked outside, happy to find the lights off, only the entrance to his apartment open. He settled Brandy on the table and the lacquer edge felt cool against her hot, fevered skin, making her more aware of her surroundings and what was to come. She spread her thighs and he stepped inside, then bent his head and captured her nipple in his mouth, suckling her through the filmy black lace. His teeth grazed her flesh, then his tongue soothed and white-hot darts of need pulsed inside her. Her reaction was immediate, the pull starting at point of contact and causing intense contractions deep in her core.

“You like that?”

Her answer came out a low, husky growl.

“Is that a yes?” He cradled her tender flesh in one hand and treated her other breast to the same lavish attention as the first.

She squirmed against the hard surface and slick moisture trickled between her legs as warmth and desire exploded inside her. “That’s a yes.”

He lifted his head and met her gaze. “You like to play.”

“When it goes both ways.” She raised her hands, placing both palms not just on his bare chest, but against his nipples.

Slowly, she raked her nails downward, watching, gratified, as his eyes glazed with heated emotion.

He groaned aloud. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

“Oh, I think I can guess.” Because she knew what he did to her. Every nerve ending came to life, raw and exposed, sizzling with live currents of desire.

“No need to guess when I can show you,” he said, bringing his mouth down hard on hers. Frenzied, his kiss expressed an immediate need to be as close as possible.

His tongue swept inside the deep recesses of her mouth, mimicking the ultimate act. His strong hands slid from her waist to her thighs and he grazed the tops of her stockings with his thumbs while his fingertips teased the outer edges of her panties. With his whisper-soft and erotically arousing movements, he let her know what he had in store.

And Brandy wanted more. She arched her back and her hips jerked forward, reflexively, searching for his harder, deeper touch. He didn’t deny her. He broke the kiss and concentrated on her need, cupping her sex in his palm. The heat and weight of his hand against her barely covered flesh stirred long-dormant sensations and when he pushed aside the thin lace and dipped his fingers inside her waiting heat, she thought she’d died and gone to heaven.

She was hot and aroused, on the brink of falling over a precipice, a tumble she had no desire to take alone. She leaned back to catch her breath, intending to make her desire known and she caught a glimpse of their position. She was barely dressed, her legs spread wide, with Max’s lean body settled between them. She was open and vulnerable, physically as well as emotionally. The intimacy they were sharing struck her as strongly as her rampaging emotions. And when he leaned over, covering her body with his so he could rest his cheek against hers, he found a way closer to her heart. How he’d gotten there so fast she had no idea.

She shut her eyes against the wave of emotion she wasn’t ready to deal with now. “Now, Max.”

His deep blue eyes met hers. “Be sure, Brandy.” His breathing was as ragged as her emotions. “Because if we go any further there’s no way I can stop.”

She’d come into this night with a simple seduction in mind and though everything had changed, including the man, there was no way she could walk away from him now. Still, he had to understand her behavior wasn’t normally so wanton. She didn’t know why it mattered so much, but it did.

---