Blue Christmas (6 page)

Brady nodded. “Thank you, General.”

Tiffany marveled that he was able to respond. She was grateful when Brady eased his arm down and held her around her waist. Although her legs were beginning to steady, she was still shaky.

The General focused on her. “Colonel Schaefer is correct, Captain. You are a supernova. We are fortunate to have you on our team and in the active military. I hope you don’t allow this scoundrel to tempt you into following him and Gardner.”

Confusion rushed over her and she was certain it showed on her face. She murmured, “Um, ah, no Sir. That’s not an issue, Sir.”

The General nodded, “Good. I’m glad to hear that. Bad enough that we lost both Jake and Brady. Sure as hell would hate to lose you.”

He turned to Brady. “Can I bend your ear for a moment, Colonel? Will you excuse us, Captain?”

Brady frowned. “Uh, perhaps we could meet—”

“Hell, man. This’ll just take a minute. Marty told me about the comm equipment you brought into the op. I need to know more about it.”

Grasping Brady’s elbow, he said, “This’ll just take a moment, Brady, and then you can get back to the charming company of the Captain.”

Brady gave him a reluctant nod and released his hold on Tiffany.

He murmured to her as he turned to follow the General, “I’ll be right back.”

Tiffany fled to the ladies room. She was relieved to see that she didn’t look as bad as she’d feared. Oh yes. Her eyes were dark, flashing and her cheeks were definitely pink. Her lips looked swollen, puffy. She concluded that she looked like a woman who was about to be fucked and couldn’t wait.

She closed her eyes and leaned against the stall door until she got her breathing under control and her heart stopped pounding in her chest.

Pulling out her phone, she punched in the number for the valet stand. By the time she captured her wrap and raced to the front door, her car was waiting.

Chapter 8

She hadn’t been inside five minutes when there was a knock at the door. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

Brady’s voice was low, commanding.

“Open the door, Tiffany.”

As if her legs weren’t a part of her, Tiffany walked to the door and opened it.

She’d expected him to be angry but he had a quirky smile on his face.

She stood in the doorway and forced herself not to stammer.

“What do you want?”

“That’s an easy question to answer.” He moved inside and closed the door behind him. “I want you.”

He waited for a moment and then added, “And I want to spend Christmas with someone I care about.”

This time she couldn’t stop the stammer.

“And… and that is… me?”

His lip curled up at the corner but his eyes were dark, serious.

“Oh yeah, darlin’, that most certainly is you.”

He pushed by her and glanced around the room. He smiled at the Christmas tree and the decorations she forced herself to put up in her three-day hiatus from work.

He murmured, “This is nice. It looks like you.”

“How?”

He smiled. “Inviting.”

She tried to hold back her gasp, but it was useless. She was just glad she hadn’t moaned.

Tossing his jacket on the chair, Brady glanced around the room and eyed her disc player. Rifling through a stack of CD’s, he pulled out one of her favorite Marvin Gaye albums.

As he moved toward her, his voice was husky.

“Don’t know about you, darlin’, but I’m about Christmas music’d out for the night.”

At the churning sultry sound of “Let’s Get It On,” Brady grinned.

“Oh yeah, baby. That’s much better.”

He moved toward her and motioned for her to come to him. Holding out his arms, he asked, “May I have this dance.”

He pulled her close to him, and murmured against the soft skin below her ear, his tongue tickling the sensitive area.

“General Thornton interrupted us, Tiffany. And you left before we could finish our dance.”

Her voice was breathy, ragged. “I didn’t think I could stay.”

He ran his tongue across the seam of her lips and nipped at the corner. His voice was low, seductive.

“Because of the way I make you feel?”

She nodded as a rush of intoxicating pleasure bombarded her.

“And because you knew I would come after you?”

She swallowed, and whispered. “Yes.”

His wicked tongue coaxed her mouth open. He sucked her bottom lip into his mouth and bit down.

Clamoring sensations rioted through her and she couldn’t hold back a moan, when he murmured, “Open, darlin’. Open to me.”

He pressed his tongue inside her mouth, at first gentle, exploring, seeking, tasting. But the heat of his breath, his hands holding her firmly in place, ratcheted up the need inside her. She clutched at him, moaning at the electric power of his kiss.

Easing her back, he removed the orchid from her hair and placed it on the table.

“Take your hair down, Tiffany.”

His sultry command sent shards of excitement rioting through her. His expert fingers aided her clumsy ones as he removed the pins, releasing a cascade of shining curls. He buried his nose in the fragrant silkiness and inhaled.

He growled, “God, baby, do you have any idea what your scent, your sexy smell does to me?”

Weaving his hands into her hair, he tugged on it. She whimpered at the bite of pain, then gave into the flames searing through her. He pulled her head back, baring her throat to his tongue and his teeth. The spike of heat that hit her was so intense that she cried out.

He groaned a low male sound of approval. “Oh yeah, darlin’. I’m gonna taste every part of you.”

Holding her head between his hands, he moved to the space below her ear and began to nibble at the tender skin.

She whimpered, “Oh God. Yes.”

As overpowering sensations zinged across her tortured nerve endings, she tried to regain her composure, her control.

She whispered, “How did you find me?”

He nuzzled against her throat, licking the sensitive whorls of her ear then bit down on the lobe. At her tiny shriek, he chuckled.

“Marty didn’t want to stand in the way of true love—and because he knew I’d break his jaw if he didn’t tell me where you lived.”

Rubbing his hands up and down her back, he smiled when she shivered. With one expert hand he undid the top button on the back of her dress.

Tiffany gasped as a fireball of heat streaked to her core. Oh God. He’d barely touched her.

She whispered, “What are you doing, Brady?”

He murmured as he undid the second button, “I’m dancing. With the sexiest, most beautiful woman in the world.”

At her gasp, he crooned, “What are
you
doing, darlin’?”

Tiffany choked out a breathy sigh. “Making a big mistake?”

He chuckled and worked his hand down the back of her dress, slipping open one button after another until he came to her waist where the buttons ended and the zipper began.

“Uh uh, this is as far away from a mistake as we can get. But you may be right about one thing…”

She shivered when she heard the metal slide across the zipper and a stream of cool air hit her heated skin. Grasping his hands, holding them so he couldn’t open the dress any further, she whispered, “What…what am I right about?”

He smiled at her. “I think we can give up the pretense of dancing. We’re done with that. We’re gonna move on—to this.”

Removing her hands from his, he placed them on his hips. His voice was silky soft.

“Keep your hands here, Tiffany.”

He slid open the zipper and eased the front of her dress down to her waist. His eyes widened. He licked his lips and smiled.

“Jesus, Tiffany. How the hell am I gonna do this—slowly? All I want to do is strip you naked and throw you on the floor and fuck the hell out of you.”

She swallowed hard. Her voice quavered.

“What’s stopping you?”

He roared. “Oh, baby. Can’t you see?
You’re
stopping me. I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this and I want to savor every moment.”

He slid the dress over her hips, pushing it to the floor.

Standing back, he surveyed her. Her pushup strapless bra cupped her full breasts—just barely. The bounteous flesh overflowed the satin fabric. A lacy thong covered her mound. And as she had the night of the mission, she was wearing lace topped thigh high stockings.

He nodded. “Thank you, Tiffany. Thank you for wearing what you did the other night. When you took off your dress, I knew I had never seen a more beautiful sight. But I was wrong. You’re even more beautiful tonight.”

Her voice was a shaky whisper. “How?”

He held her face in his hands and tipped her head back, gazing into her eyes. “Because instead of fear, or anger, I see desire in your eyes. You want me as much as I want you. You want me touch you, lick you and suck on you. Until you are screaming, begging me to let you come.”

Tiffany moaned. Even with her bra on, her breasts felt heavy, swollen. She gazed up at him and nodded, her voice was raspy with need.

“Yes. Please. Do that, Brady. Do all of that to me.”

His lips quirked but his eyes were dark, sparkling with lust.

“Count on it.”

With an expert flick of the clasp, he opened her bra and allowed her breasts to spill free. Tiffany moaned, feeling her nipples tighten, peak. She whimpered when he licked around one sensitive tip teasing it with his tongue and teeth, nipping lightly. When he grasped the other nipple between his fingers and his thumb, and rolled it back and forth, she wriggled with excitement. Her nipples felt swollen, hard. Her body was crying out for more. She longed to push the sensitive tips into his mouth. Just when she thought she couldn’t bear any more of his teasing licks and tiny bites, he put his mouth down and sucked hard on the tortured tip. At the same time he pinched the other tender nub—hard.

She shrieked as a torrent of sensation raced through her. But he was merciless, his expert tongue and teeth ratcheting her excitement higher and higher. Crying out at the sensations whipping through her, she begged him not to stop until the tormenting waves broke, and her orgasm flared through her like wildfire.

As the shuddering tremors lightened, allowing her to take a breath, Brady murmured, “Mmm hmm. So good, so responsive. Yeah, darlin.’ I knew you’d scream when you come.”

Tiffany struggled to speak. She was breathless. “How… how did you do that?”

He laughed. “Oh baby, make no mistake. You did it and you’re gonna do it again and again. Only next time, you’re going to scream even louder.”

At his sexy threat, she buried her face against his chest. She was stunned, shaken by her body’s uninhibited response, but knew that she would die if he stopped now.

As if he’d heard her silent plea, he tangled his fingers in her hair and tipped her head back to meet his gaze.

His voice was husky as he trailed his fingers down her belly, inching toward the throbbing place between her legs.

“Tell me, Tiffany, are you wet? Hot for me?”

Oh God. How could he tell? Flushing with embarrassment, she squeezed her legs together. His knowing chuckle made it worse.

She forced herself to ask, “How… how did you know that?

He growled a low vibrating sound. “Because, darlin’, your sexy, musky smell is driving me crazy.”

Stunned at his words and what they implied, she pressed her legs tighter together.

He laughed a soft warning. “Uh, uh. Oh no you don’t. You’re enticing me with the most intoxicating fragrance in the world and you are think that you can pull back? That you want to pull back?”

Knowing that he was right, but still frightened that somehow she wouldn’t measure up, wouldn’t be sexy enough for him, she held back. What he did next made it clear that she needn’t have worried.

Easing his fingers under the fragile strings of her thong, he ripped the fabric and tossed the lacy scrap to the floor—but not before holding it to his nose and inhaling deeply. At the sight of her bare mound, his eyes flared with lust and he groaned in pleasure

“Damn, Tiffany. You’re bare.”

He dropped to his knees in front of her, grasping her thighs in his hands.

She was startled and pulled back, trying to push his hands away.

“No, no, baby. Let me look at you. Oh my God. You are one beautiful woman, Tiffany.”

She didn’t know what to do. No one had ever examined her like this. Seeing his eyes flash with lust and excitement, she felt yet another rush of moisture between her legs.

He chortled. “I guess that answers my question, Tiffany. You
are
wet. Very wet.”

Stroking his fingers across the moist folds, he huffed a low soft moan of pleasure.

“Mmm hmm. Oh yeah. Damn, woman, you smell good. Sweet, spicy, and so fucking sexy.”

He stroked the sensitive folds, spreading the moisture, working his fingers in and out of her while she whimpered in pleasure. Gazing up at her, he licked the moisture off his fingers then held up his hand.

“Suck on my fingers. Suck them, baby. Take them deep in your mouth. Taste what you taste like! Damn, Tiffany, do you see now why I am a crazy man? Why I can’t get enough of you?”

His passionate outburst ignited a wildfire of sensations in her. She was helpless against the agonizing need flooding her. Her voice was raspy, demanding, “Brady, help me. Touch me!” Grabbing his hand, she pressed it between her legs.

“Here, darlin’? Here on this sweet hard nub that is throbbing with excitement? Is that where you want me to touch you?”

At her excited cry, he groaned. “How about I lick you instead, darlin’? Like this!”

Tiffany shrieked wildly as he ran his tongue over and around the tight nub. Excruciating waves of pleasure swamped her, the sensations zinging higher and higher until she couldn’t hold back. When he bit down hard, he said, “Now, Tiffany. Come for me, now.”

Only when Brady eased her down, gently rocking her in his arms, did she realize that the wild screams and sobbing cries of excitement she’d heard, had come from herself.

Too overwhelmed to be embarrassed, she could only lay in his embrace as he soothed her, allowing her passionate shudders to quiet.