Page 27 of Santa Baby

After lunch, we all pile outside so we can play in the snow. Watching Noelle experience snow for the first time is…probably one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in my life. It literally brought back all the magic of playing in the snow from my childhood that I hadn’t thought about in…a really long time.

My favorite part of the whole day was when I got to chase Talia around and finally caught her, both of us falling in the snow. Her dark hair fanning out on the snow in stark contrast as her wintergreen eyes smiled laughingly up at me from the wet, cold white will be an image I tuck away in my heart forever.

Now Mom is watching Noelle while we take a few hours to ourselves before our late dinner. I immediately stuck Talia in a warm bath and have been making plans the entire time she’s spent soaking. I plan to woo her so that when we marry on Christmas Eve it will be for real, and not the act she thinks this all is. She will really love me, and I can admit to her that I want her to be mine. Forever.

But first I have to make her fall in love with me. To help set the mood I start a fire in the hearth and leave the curtains open so we can look at the snow falling while I show Talia love and attention. When she comes out, she’s wrapped in one of my early Christmas gifts to her, a red silk robe that drapes across her body lovingly. The way it follows the curves of her body leaves very little to the imagination and my eyes hone in on the peaks of her pebbled nipples as they become more and more pronounced the longer I look.

“You look…stunning.”

She holds out her silk-clad arms, “Yeah? It’s beautiful, thank you for getting it for me. I’ve never felt anything as soft and silky.”

I move closer to her and reach for her, not the robe, “I have.” I run my thumb over her bottom lip before bending my head so I can take her mouth with my own as I engulf her in my arms. Hers come up around my waist holding on to me too. Our tongues explore one another for a while before we pull apart.

“Is it still snowing?”

“Off and on. I thought you might want to watch it come down for a few minutes before we go back downstairs.”

She looks at me with suspicion before speaking, “I thought I would check on Noelle.”

I take her by the hand and walk her over to a chaise so we can sit down together. Steering her away from the bed will hopefully make her more comfortable. I lean against the back of the lounge and pull her down on top of me. Her hands come down on my shoulders to try to hold herself apart from me.

“Nic, I’m not wearing anything under the robe.”

“So?” I rearrange her so she’s straddling my lap, her legs tucked on either side of my hips. “Listen, there’s something I want to talk to you about?”

I distract her -or at least I hope I distract her- and bring up a topic I was going to bring up anyway.

“And you have to do it with me sprawled naked across your lap? It must be bad.”

I laugh as I settle her more firmly in my lap and wrap my arms around her waist. I can feel the warmth coming off the junction of her legs.

“Okay, you can say no if you want but hear me out first.” Her face scrunches up in the cutest frown ever as she waits for me to tell her what I want to talk to her about. I can’t help but drop a kiss on her lips and bury my face in the crook of her neck before going on. “Will you redecorate the penthouse?”

Chapter Twenty-One

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Talia

I sit quietly for some time since he’s kind of thrown me off balance. In more ways than one. He said he wanted to talk about something important. I thought he was going to tell me he couldn’t do this anymore; he couldn’t keep up the lie, he couldn’t handle the stress that this whole court case is bringing into his life. Something about not wanting to marry me and looking for another way to offer help. Not redecorating his home. That was the last thing I thought he was going to talk about.

“I realize it’s a big ask, I do. What with the wedding planning and I don’t want you to worry about it right away, but I thought after the wedding you could maybe start helping me redecorate and refurbish the place.”

“Why would you want to redecorate your home? It’s perfect.”

“Because it’s not been changed in forever and it doesn’t really…feel like a home. I only really used it to sleep so I didn’t necessarily care about its everyday functionality so much as just having someplace to go. But I want something different now.”

His hands drop to my hips, and he makes little circles with his thumbs that have my skin jumping under the silk of the robe. I try to act like it isn’t affecting me, that this is normal and not something that drives me crazy and makes me wet.

“Different?” Is this code for something? Does he want to do something different with more than just his home? “What do you want now?”

“I want comfort and peace. I want you and Noelle to be comfortable being there and when I come home to you two, I want the time to be…more relaxed and family-oriented than just functional and business-like.”

“You…want me to make your apartment…a home? For us?”

He gives me a wide smile and nods like what I said is exactly what he was thinking but couldn’t put words to. “Yes! Exactly! I want you to help me make it more homey, more comfortable, and more of a place to rest and relax in than just sleep. A place to live.”

His touch drops lower until his hands are on my lower back and running down over the swell of my ass. Each rub, each dip, brings me closer to him. To the warmth coming from him. “Why are you touching my ass?”

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