Warmth in Ice (Find You in the Dark #2.5)(19)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, shaking my head, completely undone by this moment.

Maggie raised her eyebrows and gave me a look. “Wow, you sure know what to say to the gal who traveled over a thousand miles on Christmas Eve to see your sorry ass,” she teased, pinching my side.

I cupped her face in my hands. “I am so blown away right now, sorry if I suck and can’t put into words what I’m feeling. I just can’t believe you’re here,” I said softly.

Maggie’s face softened and her lips stretch into a smile that tore me apart in the best way possible.

She wrapped her arms around my neck, her fingers slide into the hair at the base of my skull. She leaned up on her tiptoes so that her lips were just touching mine. Our noses brushed together. Her eyes sparkled as they looked into mine.

“Merry Christmas, Clay,” she whispered.

“Merry Christmas, Maggie,” I whisper back and then I tightened my arms around her waist and pulled her forward, pressing my mouth to hers. I groaned deep in my throat at the moment of impact. Her lips parted and my tongue danced inside.

Touching. Tasting. Devouring.

And just like that, I was home.

My hands swept up her back as I fit her body to mine. She tasted like peppermint and that indefinable thing that was all Maggie and made my gut twist and my dick instantly harden.

This thing between us had always been so much more than physical. It was emotional and spiritual. Passionate and f**king overwhelming. But the attraction that surged between us hadn’t waned in the months we had been a part. If anything, it burned hotter and stronger than ever before.

Maggie tugged my shirt out of my shorts and pushed her hands up my stomach, scraping her nails along my skin. She moaned loud into my mouth and I had a faint recollection that we should probably slow down. There were reasons that this was not a good idea right now, but hell if I could remember why.

I pulled my mouth away from Maggie’s and she tilted her head back as I ran my tongue along the column of her throat, dragging my teeth as I nipped at her skin. Maggie started to frantically unbutton my shirt, tugging it off my shoulders.

My fingers were on the button of her jeans when I heard a door slam downstairs and I instantly stilled. Shit. Shit. Shit.

I grabbed a hold of Maggie’s hands as they started on the zipper of my shorts. “Baby, please. Just stop a second,” I pleaded, sounding like I had run a damn mile.

Maggie pushed my hands away and resumed trying to get my zipper down. Her heated eyes met mine and she kissed me…hard. “We have waited seven months for this, Clay. How can you ask me to stop? Why would you want me to?” she asked and I hated to see the doubt and insecurity start to take the place of the desire on her face.

I grabbed her hands and brought them up to my mouth. I kissed her knuckles and then turned them over to kiss the soft skin of her open palms. I skimmed my nose along the wild heartbeat in her wrist, just below the dark ink of her tattoo.

“I want this, so much. But there are rules here. I can’t…I can’t do this here. Mags, I’m so sorry, but I could get thrown out. We’re not allowed overnight guests. But maybe I can call Roberta…tell her what’s going on. Fuck, maybe she’ll have half a heart and give me some slack,” I rambled.

Maggie was here. Finally. After all this time and I would be damned if she would sleep anywhere but next to me.

Maggie squeezed my hands. “Stop stressing, Clay. You know me, I plan everything. I’ve got a room for us. We’re spending Christmas together, I promise,” she said, grinning.

I grinned back, wrapping my arms back around her waist and lifted her up, swinging her around. “I love you so f**king much, Maggie May Young,” I declared, kissing her soundly before setting her feet back down on the floor.

And then a thought hit me. “Wait, Ruby’s coming into town tonight. She’s coming here and we’re going out to dinner. I can’t ditch her,” I explained, feeling my bubble burst a bit. It’s not that I didn’t want to see my aunt, but the thought of sharing my time with Maggie with anyone, even Ruby, was intolerable.

Maggie laid her check against my chest, right over my heart. “I’ve spoken with Ruby already. She’s planning to come up the day after Christmas. She wanted to give us time to be together. Just us. So it’s you and me, baby. Our first Christmas together.”

I couldn’t help it, I started crying. No, not in a bitch way. It was silent and understated, but yeah, I was crying.

I couldn’t help but think about last Christmas. That had been one of the bleakest times of my life. I was in lockdown at Grayson’s. I had only been away from Maggie for a few weeks after trying to kill myself. I was angry and depressed and hadn’t been able to see a way out of the hell I had created.

I had ended up on a twenty-four hour suicide watch that Christmas Eve after slicing open my wrist with a fork during breakfast. I remembered all too well the way it had felt to dig the tine into my skin.

But cutting didn’t hold the appeal it used to. It had been months since I had felt the compulsion to hurt myself. And now, holding my girl in my arms, the need was non-existent.

I was healing. Just as I had promised her I would.

Maggie pulled away and ran her fingers down my cheek. “Pack a bag, let’s get out of here,” she urged.

I did as I was asked, grinning like a fool the entire time.

“Did your parents give you money for all this?” I asked Maggie after we had checked in and brought our bags to the room. She had gone for the king suite, which was pretty nice.

Maggie was already digging through her suitcase, pulling bags and boxes out. She shook her head. “I took a job at a restaurant by school. I’ve been saving up for months,” she said offhandedly and I was floored. She had been planning this for a while.

As if reading my mind, Maggie looked over her shoulder, her hair, which had grown out and now hung to the middle of her back, fell around her face. “It was really hard not to tell you what I was planning. You know I suck at keeping secrets.”

I snorted. “Yeah, you are. I have to say I’m impressed,” I teased. Maggie rolled her eyes and started to pull things out of bags. I came up behind her and pressed my front against her back. Now that we were alone, I was going into full guy mode.

I leaned down and kissed the back of her neck and was satisfied by the way she shivered. I looked down at what she was doing and chuckled.

“How in the hell did you get all that in your suitcase? It looks like you packed half of Target in there.” And it was true. Maggie had brought with her a tiny decorated Christmas Tree, two stockings, a snowman that lit up with fiber optic lights, two boxes of candy canes, and a canister of cookies.