Page 41 of The Holidays with Mr. Mitchell
“God, Avery…” I groaned against her throat, tasting her skin, breathing her in. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
Her lips brushed mine, eyes wild through the mist. “Then show me.”
I lifted her higher, her legs locking around my waist, her soft moan breaking against my lips. The sound tore through the last of my restraint. I pressed her back against the glass, the heat of her body melding with mine until I couldn’t tell where she ended and I began.
“Avery,” I groaned, my forehead pressed to hers, water streaming between us. “God, I’ve needed you.”
Her nails scraped through my wet hair, down my shoulders, tugging me closer, harder. Her eyes found mine, dark and wild, and she whispered, “Then don’t stop.”
I kissed her throat, her jaw, the corner of her mouth, every inch I’d missed, until she tilted her chin up and gave me all of her. Her body arched against me, her breath coming fast, broken, as if she’d been holding it for days, waiting for me to come home.
The water pounded down, a steady roar that couldn’t drown the sound of her moans as I drove deeper, every thrust a releaseof tension I hadn’t even realized I’d been carrying. She clung to me, her body taking me, matching me, her gasps turning into urgent cries that had me losing myself inside her.
“Look at me, Av,” I begged, lifting her chin with my hand, needing those blue eyes on me. “I need to see you.”
Her gaze locked on mine, glassy and burning, her lips parting with a gasp. “Harder,” she whispered, the word breaking into a moan. “I need all of you.”
“Hell yes,” I growled, giving her everything. And when she shattered, her body tightening around me, pulling me straight into her release, I let go too, a rough groan torn from my chest as I followed her into the fall.
For a long moment, we stayed there, the world narrowed to steam, water, and the sound of our breathing syncing back into rhythm. My grip loosened as I lowered her gently to the floor, her legs unsteady beneath her. She leaned into me, laughing breathlessly.
“Shit,” she murmured, her forehead against my chest. “I’m about to pass out.”
I smiled, brushing a kiss over her damp hair as I steadied her. “I’ve missed this,” I said quietly, reaching for the soap and working it over her back in slow, gentle circles.
“Shower sex?” she teased, her laugh muffled against me.
“All of it,” I murmured, kissing the tip of her nose. “Especially you. It’s so damn good to be home.”
Her hands slid across me, lathering soap along my chest and arms before trailing lower, her touch sparking life back into me. She looked up with that same wicked smile she’d worn when she first stepped in, her voice low and teasing.
“Good thing you’re home, and I took a long nap today.”
“You should sleep,” I said, though my voice was already betraying me, rough and unsteady as her hands moved lower.
“I will,” she murmured, eyes lifting to mine, mischief sparking even through the haze of steam. “But not before I get what I’ve been waiting four days for.”
Her touch tightened, stroking me back to life, her smile wicked as the water streamed down around us.
“Av…” I groaned, my head tipping back against the glass. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Maybe,” she teased, pressing her body against mine, her mouth brushing my chest. “But you’ll die happy.”
Every ounce of exhaustion I’d carried from Madrid gave way under her hands, under the heat of her body, and the way she looked at me like I was the only man who had ever mattered. The tension I thought I’d poured out of myself came rushing back, but this time it wasn’t contracts or signatures—it was her. Only her.
I caught her wrists gently, pulling her up, kissing her with everything she’d stirred back to life. Her laugh melted into a moan, her hands threading back into my hair as she whispered against my mouth, “Take me again, Jim.”
I answered her by lifting her into my arms once more, the shower pounding around us, steam curling in thick clouds as round two began with even more urgency than the first.
Even though I was jet-lagged, another round of what Avery and I had started would make me sleep like a baby tonight. Goddamn, it was good to be home.
SEVENTEEN
Avery
The morningafter Jim came home, I should’ve been dead tired, but I wasn’t. I was feeling alive and excited for the day ahead. We’d planned to enjoy family time, just us and the kids, the tree here at our home in the Hills before heading to the beach house in Malibu to start decorating there.
I know it might’ve been a bit over the top to have both houses decorated for the holidays, especially with this goofy planning war that Jim and I had gotten into, but this was one of the more exciting holiday seasons I’d had with my family in quite some time, so I wanted to live it up.
