Page 9 of Snowed in at Santa's Lodge
“Are you about ready to head back and have some dinner?” Ragnar asked, hanging the last of the string lights, which was saying something. This place had a ton of string lights. And someone took very good care of them. Of the over-fifty sets of them, not one broken bulb. Not one tangled mess. Not a flicker out of place. He’d been doting on me all day. Asking if I needed water. A hot drink. To go back to the apartment and sit by the fire. If I was tired. He made me a lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup and I had to admit, the cheese on the inside and the outside of the bread made me fall in love with the big man. Or maybe I already was falling before that.
The decorations were perfect for the lodge. The reindeers were the hard plastic vintage ones and had some paint chipping off, but that gave them character. We set up the family of snowmen which, despite their older plugs that made me fear for Ragnar’s life, lit up beautifully in the area right outside the front door. The lights gave the entrance a glow that made my chest warm. There was something about the Christmas season that gave me hope in humanity again. People giving each other gifts and doling out kindness. The happy songs. The cheer. The smiles. Also, the cookies. Because there was no such thing as Christmas without the cookies.
And the hot chocolate.
And the candy canes. This place was in some dire need of giant candy canes.
I sighed and looked around, proud of our work. The snowflakes hanging from the awning all around the lodge were my absolute favorite.
The nutcrackers weren’t so terrible either. Their mouths still freaked me out though.
“Are you?” I shot back at him. All day had been about me. I wanted some of it to be about him as well.
He smiled at me. Not the bright one from this morning or the one he laughed with but a new one. A soft one and in that moment, I would’ve done just about anything he asked. Passion surged within me, and I decided to act on it before I lost my nerve.
“I will be after this.” I moved forward and kissed him. His lips were full and plump, warm and wanting. He didn’t move at first, and I almost pulled back, thinking I’d made a mistake.
That was, until he dragged me by the hips and sat me in his lap. He threaded his fingers in my hair with one hand and pressed my body against his with the other. He was so damn warm, and I couldn’t help but rock my hips into him. He turned to the side with a low growl, deepening the kiss. He licked at my bottom lip and I gave him what he wanted. I whimpered and wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled back a bit. “Is that a yes to dinner?”
We both laughed and I laid my forehead against his. “A yes to dinner. A yes to more if you want.” A push of my hips gave me the answer I needed. His cock was rigid inside those jeans. I’d also caught him checking me out more than once during the day.
He pulled back and brushed some of my hair off my face. “Let’s go get you fed and yeah, I want more, baby. But my instincts are telling me to make you dinner first. I’m a gentleman after all.”
I sighed. “Maybe I don’t want you to be a gentleman.”
Then my stomach decided to make the choice for us by gurgling loudly. “See? I can’t do all the things I want to do with you while that stomach is fussing at me.” He laughed and, to my surprise, he got off the floor, lifting me with him, and carried meall the way back to the apartment. I kissed his neck along the way, and he slapped my ass, telling me to behave. Not a chance in hell.
We made dinner together, stopping to kiss and giggle together. Tonight was going to be incredible. I was so damned glad to be stranded here with Ragnar.
“Mmm,” I moaned around the first bite of pasta and marinara. We’d skipped the meat since there was none defrosted, but it didn’t matter to me.
“You are too tempting for your own good, Aspen,” he groaned and shook his head. “But there’s something I need to talk to you about before we proceed. Something about me.”
I put my fork done. His tone was too damned serious for all the fun we were having and were about to have. “Are you an axe murderer?” I asked.
“No. What?”
“A serial killer?”
“Also no.”
I chuckled, trying to think of something else that could possibly stop me from having my way with this man. “Do you wear socks with sandals?”
He let out a loud belly laugh. “Not that. Never that.”
“Other than those things, I can’t think of anything that would turn me off.”
That didn’t seem good enough for him. His brow furrowed, and I got the feeling the alpha was conflicted. Strange. Usually I was the one hesitant to have sex with someone, especially someone I just met, but Ragnar was like no one I’d ever met. The way he cared for me made everything okay.
I would bet those snowflakes that he was a more than generous lover.
“I don’t take having sex lightly, omega. I know you’ve only been here one day, but you already mean something to me.”
“You think I’m going to break your heart, Ragnar?”
He shrugged and all of a sudden, this big, huge man looked vulnerable and scared. “I don’t want that for either of us.”
I winked at him, feeling frisky. “I promise not to break your heart, big guy.”
