Page 56 of Yule Know It When You See It
I laugh at the site of metallic red boxers. “You weren’t lying.”
“Theo—” He turns to face me, gripping the boxers and dragging them down. “—one thing you need to know about me—” Axel’s on top of me now, pressing a knee into the couch cushion beneath me, and my hands are already ravenously moving toward the two mounds of muscular flesh that make up his perfect ass. “—I’m no liar.”
And I believe him. I truly do.
He helps me out of my dress and makes torturous work of slipping my panties down my legs, grazing his teeth over my thigh, knee, and calf. When he returns, he holds himself above me with one arm gripping the couch’s back, the other firmly placed by my head. He’s between my thighs, and this time, when he pushes into me, it’s slow and sweet and languid. We take our time with this one because we have all night to explore every inch of each other. And in this one instance, I wish the sun would never rise.
The woman in my arms is nothing short of amazing. She’s creative, talented, beautiful, insatiable, and I have her all to myself. And sex with her? It’s beyond anything I conjured in my brain the several times I imaginedherwhile taking care of myself. We’ve only been in my place for two hours and have already christened my desk, the couch, the kitchen counter, and the floor we now lie on. Ironically, we’re sprawled on the puffy comforter from my bed, but have yet actually tousesaid bed. I’d yanked the blanket draped over my couch to cover us, curling Theo to my side and positioning us next to the tree.
Unfortunately, my tree stands too close to the ground for us to fit under it, but she’s still mesmerized by it all the same. I kiss the top of her head, making lazy strokes up and down her arm with my fingers. The soothing old Norse melodies of my favorite bandWardrunalightly play in the background. “I’d like to ask you something, Theo, but you don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to.”
She lets out a blissful sigh before turning to face me, her breasts pushing against my chest. “Is it something to do with why I insisted on avoiding you? Why didn’t I just come out and tell you what I’d overheard?”
I swear this womancanread minds.
Nodding, I let my gaze follow her body’s curves—the roundness of her shoulder, the dip that forms from her ribs to her hip, and the smooth, taut line down the apex of her thigh.
“My ex. The paper I worked for before Celestial Magazine, well, he was my co-worker.” Theo pauses, her eyes pinching shut, and her fingers tap my sternum bone.
I can see where this story’s going before it’s ended and feel that much more of an ass. The knowledge that I triggered this fear in her by going behind her back to talk to Simone has guilt spiraling through me like a blizzard. “Theo, you don’t have to tell me.”
“No. I want to. I do.” Her eyes blast open, and she busies herself by tracing the patterns in my tattoo. “I was assigned a project he wanted, and despite the two years we’d spent together, he let his resentment and jealousy get the better of him.”
I trail a hand to her head, using my fingers to knead her scalp.
“Not only did he steal my story but announced in front of the entire company thathewas the one who’d written it and him alone.” Theo’s petite hand curls into a fist against my chest.
“I’m so sorry, Theo. I had no idea.” A frown pulls at my lips, and I pinch her chin, hoping her eyes would lift to mine. They do.
“How could you have known?” One pale shoulder shrugs, and a fluttery short chuckle follows. “I’m sorry I avoided you. I should’ve immediately approached you about it, but I felt bad for eavesdropping and ashamed of how quickly I feared the worst all because of one freaking man from my past.”
The fireplace crackles, and the orange glint from the flames shadows her skin.
“You don’t need to apologize for being vulnerable, Theo. And as much as we’d all love to think our pasts don’t define us, particularly those times we’ve been hurt, it’s a damn lie.” I press a soft kiss on her forehead. “Do you want your firstJulgift?”
Her head perks up at this. “First? How many are there?”
“Twelve. One for each day.”
Theo scoots closer to me, her hand exploring my stomach. The feather-like touches make goosebumps scatter across my skin, and my length grows hardagain. “Growing up did you only open one present on the twenty-fifth?”
“Nah, we did the whole eve and day of craziness of opening dozens of presents, too. But there was also always one really special gift forJul.” Reaching past her, I remove the small goat ornament from a branch and hand it to her. “HappyJul, Theo.” I kiss the tip of her nose.
Her emerald eyes light up as she takes the goat. “This is adorable. Did you make it?”
“Yeah,” I admit. And it hadn’t been easy. It’s been years since I built aJulgoat from scratch using straw, and the ones I made in the past were triple this size.
“Shut up. Really?” Theo sits up and holds the goat to the light bouncing from the fire. “Thanks so much, Ax. This means the world to me. But also—” Playfully, she swats me on the shoulder, and my gaze darts to how her bare breasts bounce.
“Ouch,” I say through a laugh, rubbing my arm like it hurt. “What was that for?”
“You didn’t tell me we were exchanging presents.” She sticks her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout. “Wait.” Theo leaps to her feet, and, wearing nothing but a smile, she walks to her bag resting on the kitchen counter. After rummaging through it, she yanks a yellow notebook, rips out a page, quickly scribbles something on it, and returns, handing me a piece of paper.
I arch a quizzical brow and take it, snickering at the Viking cartoon I’d caught her doodling days prior.
“You were right. Itisyou.” Theo sits on her heels beside me, curling the blanket halfway around herself.
It’s the drawing, but now the words: “To Axel” are written in one corner, and “From: Theo Happy Yule” in the other corner.
