Page 59 of Christmas with the Cowboy
“Is something wrong?” he asked instead of saying hello. “Did the tree fall over?”
“It did.” Trenna pulled in a breath, and it almost sounded like another woman talking when she said in a low voice, “I’m trapped beneath it. I need a rescue.”
It seemed like minutes stretched on and on, when it was only seconds before he cleared his throat and said, “I just dropped Lex with my mom. I’ll be there soon.”
*
Reed didn’t lethimself think too much on his drive to Trenna’s place. It’d been a while since he’d had a booty call, and he had no illusions about this being just that. But when Trenna answered the door wearing a Santa hat, with a mug in her hand, he wondered if he’d read it wrong and he’d been invited to a tree decorating party.
“I see you got the tree back up,” he said after she’d stepped back to let him come inside.
“It was a struggle, but yes. I managed,” she said as she closed the door after him, then set the mug on the coffee table.
“Do you need help decorating?”
A faint smile curved her lips, and he felt the effect in his jeans.
“Or with something else?”
“Something else.” She reached out to lower the zipper of his coat a few inches.
“Ah.”
“Do you mind?” She gave him a look that had him sucking air in through his teeth.
“I think I can accommodate,” he said.
“Careful not to build expectations.” She lifted her eyebrows.
Something close to a growl rolled out of his throat as he pulled her to him. Her Santa hat hit the floor, and a moment later, so did her shirt. Then his.
For the second time in a row, they undressed as they headed for the bedroom, but Reed wasn’t complaining. At least his shirt remained intact this time.
He wanted to take things slow, to savor being with this amazing woman, to revel in the things she did to him, but they’d barely hit the sheets before he was inside of her.
He needed to feel her like this, holding him, enveloping him. They’d take it slow the next time, and later, much later, he’d think about the unsettling sensation that when they were together like this, he felt whole again like a part of him that had been missing was suddenly, miraculously, back in place.
*
The lights wereon in Reed’s house when he got home, but when he tapped on Lex’s bedroom door, there was no answer. After another tap, he pushed the door open to find her bed empty. One of the guinea pigs gave aneeepas he shut the door and headed into the kitchen to dial the landline. His mom answered on the first ring.
“Lex is here. She’s asleep.”
“Was there any reason that she didn’t come home?” Like her dad being out gallivanting around, perhaps?
“She got a call from her mom, and it wasn’t all good and she didn’t want to be alone.”
“Not good how?”
“Not a huge setback, but Gregg contracted pneumonia there at the hospital, which will in turn affect the timing of the treatments. Candice assured us that everything was under control, but Lex didn’t want to be alone after.”
“Thanks for letting her stay. I didn’t mean to be so late.”
“You’re not that late. It’s only ten thirty.”
He looked at the clock in surprise. Indeed it was. “Did the bake sale go okay?”
“Smashing success. I think it’s a drop in the bucket, but every little bit helps. Lex had fun.”
