Page 87 of Screwged for Christmas

“Sleep, angel, there’s time for that. I don’t want you to do anything you will regret.”

He pulls a soft blanket over my pleasured, naked body. Tired, spent, and more relaxed than I’ve felt in forever, my eyes begin to drift closed.

“How could I ever regret the best night of my life?”

* * *

Mason

Idon’t know how much time passed as I sit holding her close to my chest. A light snowfall begins and a silent night of peace overcomes the library. No outside disturbances or invasions of Christmases past.

Just her and myself.

Innocent and so young. I’m a bastard to tie her to me. I was so close tonight and only a fucking miracle kept me from taking her on my desk. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. When I take her I want her to be sure it’s what she wants and I’m not some quick fix to a current problem.

Her face softens with sleep and it’s hard to think of her as anything but genuine.

She deserves better than to be treated like some trinket.

The idea of taking the choice from her when so many already have in her short life is the only thing keeping me from stirring her awake and claiming her sweet virginity and giving her my seed.

Morning will be here soon and when the light peels back the darkness and she’s had a chance to rethink her actions, then we’ll see. I’ve never allowed my fate to rest in another’s hands like this since I was a child, but this delicate woman does just that. Kind of fucking sobering. I cut checks and make deals handling more money than most people make in a lifetime. I also hold those same people’s futures in my hands with the delicate balance of my company and several smaller companies I own. Tens of hundreds of people depend on my fair hand. One mistake could cost me their trust, and Allison’s uncle is one mistake I’ll have to handle. But how to do that without hurting her in the process leaves me sleepless.

I’ll admit, the thought of her regretting me and going back with her uncle tears a hole in my chest. Hell, it makes my blood run cold.

I scrub a hand down my face before I stand, holding my sleeping angel tight to my chest, and make my way to my room.

I cover her in my blankets and feel a sense of pride to know I’ve provided the peace she must feel right now to sleep so soundly and press a soft kiss to her forehead. “Merry Christmas, angel,” I whisper.

Before I slip from the room, I place another log on the fire and leave her to a peaceful sleep.

Back in the library I step over the mess of papers on the floor and pour a healthy amount of whiskey in a tumbler instead. Like most Christmas Eves I wait for the ghosts of my Christmas past to haunt my thoughts, and almost like damn clockwork, the last memories of my mom before she walked out on my father and me on a night just like this twenty-five years ago try to push out all the good of the evening.

I slam back the whiskey and hope the fire of the liquid will burn away the bad memories, but no such luck. Nothing is ever that easy.

The guests left hours ago and the grounds beyond my window are still. Only the flurries of snow are moving. But the quiet won’t last long.

I shove aside all the negativity and focus on the one good thing in my life. Allison. She’s the single best thing that has happened for a long time and I know it’s going to cost me to keep her.

CHAPTER 5

ALLISON

Iwake to find myself alone in a strange room. Embers glow from the hearth across the room and I immediately smell the masculine scent of Mason surrounding me. I take a moment and let the comfort of that truth settle over me and I pull the blankets to my nose and inhale.

Mason must have carried me here so I could sleep. Snow glides against the windowpanes and I’m tempted to let the night drift by like a fantastic dream in the comfort of his bed, but I can’t get the thought of him out of my head all alone somewhere in this big mansion with no one to love him. Maybe cold. Flickering light from the fire illuminates the massive room that swallows the small room my uncle allotted me in his home.

Again, like some dream I take in everything.

But I know this isn’t a dream. I push aside the blankets and the delicate tissue between my legs is pleasantly sore. I can’t help but smile. My body aches in ways it never ached before and I’m starting to think I’m partially insane listening to the ideas in my head to search him out and find out what a real man feels like between my legs. I feel like I’m playing with fire, but with Mason, I know I won’t get burned. Or maybe I will and I’ll like it too much.

On the foot of the bed I find an oversized cotton robe and pull the dark blue material over my sensitive skin and tie the sash snuggly around my waist. It smells like him and I’m suddenly hit with a need to find him. To wrap my body around him and tell him what I think of his last words to me.

I step out of the bedroom and find myself a level above the library. Light pours from the door I recognize just below and I soundlessly make my way down the ample curved stairs, marble cold against my feet.

Shivers run through my body as I push the door open a bit and lock it behind me once I’m inside. My heart hammers against my chest when I see him sitting in front of the fire. I still when I hear masculine groans come from his direction.

“Oh, fuck, angel.”

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