Page 77 of Holiday Love
Tonight, I let it happen.
I let this handsome man lavish me with compliments and kisses under the shifting lights. I let him move his body against me, slow and sensual, in a way that feels less like dancing and more like foreplay. I let myself forget about tomorrow, about my mom, about the fact that I’m about to leave this city and move across the country. All of that can wait.
Tonight I’m young, and alive, and free, anddamnif it isn’t the best feeling in the world.
One song melts into the next and the next, until suddenly the floodlights blaze on, harsh and blinding.
The DJ’s voice cuts through the haze of music and heat. “That’s it, folks. Time to go home.”
“What?” I blink, disoriented. The dance floor is still full, but at the edges the crowd starts to drift away. “How is it already four a.m.?”
“No idea. It feels like we just got here.”
We follow the wave of people toward the elevators, slipping into the back of a long, shuffling line.
“This gives a whole new meaning to time flies when you’re having fun.”
Teddy looks down at me, eyes crinkled with that smile I’m starting to crave. “You’re having fun?”
“You couldn’t tell from the dancing and laughing and smiling?” I tease, bumping his shoulder.
“What about the kissing? Don’t forget about the kissing,” he jokes back, his tone light but his eyes darkening.
Those words hit harder than they should, a jolt straight to my chest. I think about how much we’ve touched tonight, how often his mouth has found mine, how his hands have roamed my body like he already owns me, and still, I’m not satiated. I haven’t had my fill of him yet. It’s crazy, reckless. I barely know him, but I’ve never had this much fun, never wanted a man as badly as I do right now.
Teddy must be thinking the same thing because he grabs my hand, threading our fingers together, his thumb brushing over my knuckles. “Ask me again.”
“What?”
“Ask me to take you to my hotel room. Is that still...,” he swallows thickly, “something you want to do?”
God yes.
It’s all I want to do.
“Take me home with you. Back to your hotel.” I kiss him, deep and sure. My tongue finds his, stroking the metal bar I can’t stop thinking about. I like the feeling of it. The taste. “I want to be with you.”
Chapter thirty-four
Helen
Something’s changed since the day Jamie took me surfing. A subtle shift in Teddy. He’s lighter. More confident. Focused in a way he wasn’t before. That charming, cocky little brother of Gwen, the one who flirted with me like it was breathing, is back in full force, and now he’severywhere.
Walking out of the shower with water sliding down his muscled, tattooed chest.
Lounging on my couch, idly toying with his nipple ring.
Leaning in doorways with his biceps flexed like he’s the goddamn cover model from one of my favorite romance books.
Add in Jamie, who’s become a daily fixture in my living room and likes to show up shirtless, dripping, surfboard in tow, and I’m about to lose my mind.
I am surrounded. Swamped. Testosterone practically swirls in the air. Everywhere I look, it’s naked male body parts. It’s distracting in the most erotic, unfair way. I practically walk around my house with my hands over my eyes just to get anything done.
The worst part? I’m pretty sure Teddy knows exactly what he’s doing. His eyes track me, slow and heated. He sits closer on the couch now. Takes up more space in the hallway, so I’m forced to brush against him when I pass. That tiny contact sends heat rippling across my skin like he’s a blowtorch set on high.
My breath hitches.
He smirks, all smug and satisfied. Like he’s accomplished his goal.
