Merry Christmas, Baby(20)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

She lit the candles and killed the bedside lamp, casting the room in flickering light.

Jared pulled the edge of his shirt tails free of his jeans and up and over his head. He wore an undershirt beneath. “Layering,” he said with a rakish grin. He left on the undershirt, reaching for his belt. Within seconds he’d unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, as well. He pulled off his socks along with the jeans, leaving him standing before her in an undershirt and briefs.

His arms looked as good as they’d felt last night. There was no mistaking he managed to get in gym time. His quads and calves were muscular. Dark hair sexily sprinkled his forearms and legs. Teddy rather inanely noted he had nicely shaped feet.

She reached for the hem of her sweater and he shook his head, a slow sensual smile curving his lips. “Let me.”

She dropped her arms to her sides. Jared grasped the bottom edge, one hand on each side of her, and tugged it up. His hiss of indrawn breath was extremely gratifying when he pulled it up past her bra. Then it was over her head and tossed aside. He moved with surety to the button of her jeans, the backs of his fingers brushing against the skin of her belly as he worked the button free and then slowly tugged down the zipper.

He squatted as he slid the denim over her h*ps and down her legs. She stepped out of the jeans and he worked her socks down and off as if they were the finest, sexiest silk hosiery rather than thick, practical wool.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, looking up at her from his position at her feet.

“You don’t have to say that.”

“I know I don’t. I’m saying it because I mean it.” He stood and faced her, hesitating. “I was married for three years. After my wife and I split I was tested because she’d been seeing someone else. I haven’t been with anyone else. I’m clean.”

That was blunt and frank, but Teddy appreciated him bringing the issue up and out. “I…uh…I’m fine, too.” It had been over a year since she’d been intimate and she’d gotten a clean bill of health afterward. There was, however, another awkward issue. “I don’t have any protection.”

“Years ago, my father told me to never leave home without it.” His smile held a hard edge. “It was probably the only good advice he ever gave me. I’ve made it a practice to always carry a spare.”

Teddy figured it was a good thing she’d lit candles otherwise the mood might’ve been totally killed by the practicalities of modern sex.

Jared smoothed his hands over her shoulders. His touch ignited something sweet and hot inside her. Together they lay down on the rumpled, unmade bed. Jared kissed her, a mix of tenderness and eagerness. They were still both in their underwear and Teddy was thankful he seemed to have tuned in to the fact that once they’d trekked to the bedroom, they needed to re-kindle the heat they’d found last night in the den and this morning in the kitchen.

It wasn’t hard to do. They shared long hot kisses. His hair-roughened thighs pressed against her while he stroked her waist and the curve of her back. The feel of him beneath her fingertips and his scent—fresh and clean, with a hint of tangy aftershave—intoxicated her.

She worked his T-shirt up and over his head, dropping back to the mattress to fully appreciate his physique. He had a nicely muscled, hair-scattered chest. Jared wasn’t beefy like some of the guys who worked out too much and he wasn’t skinny—Jared’s chest was just right, a mix of lean muscle with only a hint of bulk. The trail of hair leading down his belly and disappearing beneath the edge of his briefs added to his sexiness quotient.

“The briefs, too,” she said, her voice low and husky, her mouth dry with anticipation while other parts of her were very much wet.

He stood by the side of the bed and did as she’d requested. Teddy didn’t have much experience with nak*d men but what she saw, she liked. His equipment was definitely larger than any she’d seen before but it wasn’t grotesquely or even intimidatingly big. Once again, she’d vote for just right.

He knelt on the edge of the bed and slid one bra strap, then the other down her shoulders. He reached beneath her and unhooked her bra. Slowly, as if he were unwrapping a present and wanted to savor the experience rather than ripping into it, he pulled her bra away. His eyes glittered in the candlelight.

He bent his head and languidly licked one nipple and then the other. Teddy felt as if she was coming undone at the stroke of his tongue against her tips. With a groan he took one pink nubbin into his mouth and sucked. Sweet, sweet heaven. He alternated from one breast to the other, leaving her writhing, the area between her thighs drenched, her br**sts heavy with need.

Jared kissed his way down her chest and the slight rise of her belly to nuzzle at her panty-covered mound. He licked the inside of one thigh and then the other. Using his teeth, he tugged her panties down past her hips. He hooked his fingers in to finish the material’s journey down her legs.

He bent his head, parting her thighs and did what no man had ever done before. He leaned in and kissed her intimately, his mouth and tongue warm and wet and she thought she might just expire on the spot at how good it felt. He kissed, licked and sucked over and over until she was nearly mindless. Finally, when she was clutching the sheets in her fists and thought she couldn’t stand it any longer, he raised his head.

“So sweet,” he murmured. He slowly slid up her body and kissed her. Teddy tasted herself on his lips. She found it intensely erotic.

He rolled on a condom and spooned behind her. She’d never had sex in this position but instinctively she raised her top leg to grant him access.

She gasped as he slowly entered her, filling her. He felt good. And then it just got better as he worked in and out. Teddy found her own rhythm, thrusting back against him. He reached around and caught her breast in his hand, squeezing, toying with her nipple.

“Oh, oh, oh,” she said in sync with the rhythm they’d both set.

“Here, roll onto your back,” he said. At this rate she’d do pretty much anything he requested if it all felt as good as what they’d done so far.

When she was on her back, he positioned himself between her knees and pulled her to him. There was something very arousing about the slide of sheets beneath her, and the strength in his hands and arms. He entered her again and once again she gasped at just how good he felt inside her. Leaning forward on his arms, he was deep into her, her face buried against his neck, even as he buried his face into her neck. His breath was warm and wonderful against her. And then he caught her sensitive skin between his lips and sucked as he ground into her and Teddy’s world shattered into a million fragments of light.

6

JARED DIDN’T KNOW WHAT had hit him. He’d never felt like this before. Sex had never been like this, not even with Trish. Not only had it been good, it had been somewhere beyond that. He couldn’t even say exactly what it was, but it was out there. And then it struck him—he was content for the first time ever. It had taken him a moment to figure it out, to recognize the feeling, because it was foreign to him. And he’d never really been aware of his discontent before now.

He’d been sated before, sex was good for that. But there was a marked difference in satiation and contentment.

He pulled Teddy closer, her hair against his cheek, her buttocks nestled against his thigh and hip. “How are you?” he asked.

She practically purred. “I’m wonderful,” she said, echoing his sentiments. She stretched, shifting against him, and smiled. “I guess we should get up. I’m supposed to be at Jenna’s spa—” she glanced at the clock “—in half an hour.”

Somehow he found that disappointing. She hadn’t struck him as a spa kind of woman—not that there was anything wrong with women who went to the spa, it was just so common in Manhattan. It seemed so many of the women he knew prided themselves on having a high-maintenance reputation. “Got a spa appointment set up?”

She shot him a look that was part amusement and part disbelief. “I’ve been helping out part-time during Chrismoose when we’re swamped with visitors. She was supposed to have her new spa open but a fire delayed that, so now she’s working temporarily in part of the community center. She’s booked up.”

Jared noted Teddy’s generosity. She’d signed on to help Lucky transition the restaurant, plus she’d pitched in to help during Chrismoose. And now she was giving Jenna a hand.

“What do you do there? Massage? You certainly have the touch. Not that I’ve ever had a massage, but if I was going to have one, well, I liked the way your hands felt on me.”

She smiled, the smile that seemed to be hers alone, unlike any other. “Hmm, thanks. I like the way yours felt on me as well. But no, I’m not qualified as a massage therapist or any of the other high-brow positions there. I’ve been covering the reception area and cleaning and setting up the rooms afterward.”

Okay, that fit more with the woman he’d just met but already felt as if he knew. She was a mix of earthiness, energy and a slight dreamer quality that showed in her acting aspirations.

Call him uncharitable, but he couldn’t help but think that Trish would’ve been mortified to admit she worked in the capacity of cleaning or setting up anything. Hell, most of the women he knew inflated what they did to make themselves and their jobs sound more important than they were. Hyperbole came with the territory as far as he could tell.