The Kringle Girls - Collection (18 page)

A creak of the stable door and suddenly a swirl of cold
air and snow blustered inside, along with a hint of warm sugar. Ben closed his
eyes but didn’t turn around. This was torture.

“You shouldn’t be out in this weather, Merry.”

She ignored the warning and stepped inside, shutting
the door behind her. He could hear the click click of her heels as she moved
toward him.

“I thought we should talk.” Her voice was low and
sultry, and Ben was forced to turn around, which only made it worse. She was
still in that dress, with a black velvet cloak protecting her from the cold. There
were still snowflakes in her hair, and more than ever, she looked like a fairy
snow princess who had stepped out of a story book.

God help me.

“I don’t think there’s anything left to say,” he
muttered.

She considered him for a moment, and then picked up
the tangle of rope, absently working the knots free with delicate, capable
fingers. Ben suddenly realized that this was it. He was going to have to leave
the North Pole, because there was no way he could be around her day after day,
feeling something she didn’t feel, longing for her with every fiber of his
being. He might even cave and sleep with her, and the last thing he wanted was
to regret it. Finally having Merry Kringle under him was going to ruin him for
all other women, if it hadn’t already, and he may as well get out while he
still had a shred of sanity left.

“I’m leaving. After tomorrow.” The words were ripped
out of him.

She looked shocked. And her eyes swirled from blue to
violet to pure silver.

“You can’t!”

“I think I have to.”

“Because of me?”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer. She was smoothing
the untangled rope between her fingers now, practically caressing it, and his
eyes helplessly followed the movement.

“Don’t go. Please. I shouldn’t have asked you…what I
asked you.”

Feeling exhausted, Ben sank down into a hard-backed
chair by the workbench.

“You were just being honest. Which is what I should
have been with you from the start. The truth is that I think I want too much
from you, and you’re not able to give me that.”

Her mouth dropped open, and Ben braced himself for the
bite of regret as she fled again, but Merry only watched him, heat rising
delicately in her cheeks. Her eyes were no longer flat silver, but swirled with
blues and purples, and if he wasn’t mistaken…hunger.

“How do you know what I can and can’t give you, Ben
Wilks?”

Impatient, Ben ran his hands through his hair. Why was
she pushing him? Did she want a quickie that badly? Granted, her options up
here were few, but still… This had to stop. He had to drive her away, because
if he didn’t, he was going to do something that would grant him his own page of
indiscretions on the Naughty List, like spreading her wide on that velvet cloak
and stroking her clit with his tongue until she screamed in pleasure.

Ben tried to remind himself that that was
not
the sane course of action.

“Let’s just forget it, okay? I’ll walk you back to the
party.”

He started to get up, but in a blur of movement, found
himself being shoved back into the chair, his wrists captured and trussed
neatly behind him, binding him to the back.

With a smug smile on her face, Merry stepped back
around him as he gaped.

“What the – ”

“Part elf, remember? We can move very quickly when we
want to. Although I’ve always preferred slow.”

She shocked him further by sliding onto his lap.

“I know that the real-life Merry probably isn’t
anywhere as interesting as the fantasy Merry you’ve got in your head,” she
began, and nearly stopped his heart when she leaned forward to taste the skin
of his jaw with a sultry little purr of approval, “but I think if you give me a
chance, I can show you that I can be just as hot and adventurous as any normal
woman who doesn’t happen to be related to Santa Claus. It’ll be our secret, and
you won’t be disappointed, I promise.”

Disappointed? Is that what she thought? If she were
any hotter, he was going to self-combust. He tried to find the right words to
explain that she had it all wrong – he was just greedy, and wanted more than
blindingly hot sex they could both walk away from in the morning – but his
thoughts fractured as she slowly started unbuttoning his shirt.

“I can stop if you really,
really
want me to.”

God, I’m going
to Hell for this one.

“Anything. Anything you want, Merry.” Could he sound
any more desperate?

She wriggled on his lap and his cock jerked in
delight. Merry attacked his buttons, brushing her fingers along every inch of
skin she exposed.

“Wait.”

She stopped, and the uncertainty in her eyes had Ben’s
heart rolling over. So sweet, so unsure of herself. So lovely.

“Kiss me first, sweetheart.”

“Oh.”

Awkwardly at first, she pressed her lips against his.
Ben tilted his head, adjusting the fit, giving her time to back away, and then
opening his mouth to slide his tongue along the seam of her lips.

“Oh,” she murmured again in wonder, into his mouth this
time as his tongue coaxed hers into a soft, wet tangle.

Ben’s head was reeling. She tasted just like the warm
sugar scent that followed her everywhere. He couldn’t get enough, and any
lingering thoughts of pushing her away melted. If she wanted to tie him to the
chair and fuck him until morning, fine with him. He would take what he could
get and be grateful.

Too soon, Merry was pulling back, eyes dark with shy
hunger and new knowledge as she licked his taste from her lips. She blushed and
quickly finished undoing his shirt, spreading the edges back over his
shoulders, and then stroking his chest like a cherished pet.

“I have a confession,” she whispered, “I’ve been very
naughty, Ben.”

MERRY’S HEART WAS RACING. She couldn’t believe she’d shackled
Ben down and was preparing to have her wicked way with him, or that he was
apparently going to let her. At first it had simply been an impulsive move to
keep him from shuffling her off before she’d had a chance to convince him. Sitting
on his lap, however, she couldn’t miss the hard ridge of his cock, and her body
tingled at the thought of everything she wanted to do to him now that she had
him captive. Even kissing him was making her wet. She’d never put much stock in
kissing before – what was the big deal? But Ben’s mouth on hers was a
revelation, and she could easily spend days, weeks, months exploring and
tasting and teasing.

“How naughty?” whispered Ben. His eyes were filled
with heat, his muscled body tight.

“I watched you, at the hot springs.”

His eyes widened and he groaned.

“I probably should apologize,” she murmured, undoing
the clasp of her cloak and letting it fall to the ground.

“Did you like what you saw?” he gritted out, a dark
flush mantling his cheeks.

“Oh yes,” she purred, stroking her fingers down to
tease the buckle of his belt.

She slid off his lap to stand in front of him.

“But turnabout’s fair play. I thought at the very
least I should give you a chance to watch, too.”

Her hands were shaking a little, but the hunger in his
eyes gave her courage, and she slid the side zipper of her dress down, and then
slowly peeled the glittery fabric away and let it drop at her feet.

“Like it?”

“It” was a sheer white, strapless teddy dotted with
artfully placed glittery snowflakes that concealed exactly nothing. Noelle’s
closet was packed with lingerie she bought by the ton, most of it never worn,
and Merry had felt no guilt about ripping the tags off and claiming it as her
own.

If the desire on his face was any indication, Ben
seemed to more than like it, his eyes raking over her breasts, down to her
waist, and then further, to linger on the bare folds between her thighs. Would
he approve that she waxed for him? He licked his lips, and she could almost
feel the little stroke against her clit. Merry stepped out of the dress and
kicked it away, and then did a slow turn, savoring Ben’s groan as he took in
the back of the teddy, what little there was of it. Merry eased back into his
lap, her head on his shoulder, her back against his chest, her ass nestling up
to the hard bulge beneath the denim.

“You make me want things,” she confessed.

“Oh sweetheart,” Ben whispered, lowering his head to
nibble the curve of her neck, “free my hands and I’ll make sure you get
everything you want and more.”

“Not yet. First you watch.”

Merry took a deep breath, amazed at herself. Ben made
her want to be brave, to stop hesitating and just take what she wanted, and the
power of knowing that made her dizzy. Merry arched in his lap, pressing her ass
against his cock as her hands coursed over her body, stroking from her breasts
down to her thighs.

She pinched her nipples and savored his growl of
approval, and then slowly, as slowly as she could manage it, she pulled the
teddy down, down, and off, kicking it over to land with her dress, leaving her
naked on Ben’s lap in just a pair of strappy heels.

“Fuck,” he breathed, awed, “cup your breasts,
sweetheart. Roll those pretty nipples for me.”

Merry did as he asked, crying out as the sensation
speared directly to her clit, completely turned on by the fact that Ben had a
clear view down her body, and was rocking against her ass in tiny, mind-blowing
little strokes.

“Such a plump, delicious pussy, all bare for me, with
that shy little cleft between sweet, pouty lips. I want to see your clit,” he
murmured into her ear, sucking the sensitive pointed tip into his mouth for a
leisurely taste.

Merry moaned, but spread her legs wide for him.

“Use your fingers, Merry. Show me that hot little
nubbin.”

Helplessly, she did as he asked, parting her slick
folds to show off her swollen clit.

“So pretty,” he whispered, “and so hungry. If I were
free I’d suck it into my mouth and lap up all that sweet cream. But a naughty
elf princess tied me to a chair. That definitely deserves a spanking.”

Shock and excitement raced up Merry’s spine, but she
didn’t have a response. Instead, she brought her slick fingers up to his mouth
with a breathy, “Taste.”

He licked her clean, sucking her fingers the way he’d
suck her clit, and Merry nearly came right there.

“Stroke your clit, sweetheart, pretend it’s my tongue
making you so nice and wet.”

Merry whimpered, pressing her ass back against him as
she complied, teasing her most sensitive flesh, the tension building higher and
higher, double because she knew he was watching her, enjoying her show.

“Slide your fingers inside, Merry, and fuck yourself with
them. In a little while I’m going to fill you up with hard cock, which is what
you want, isn’t it?

“Yes,” she wrenched out, two fingers pumping between
her thighs, the tension coiling tighter, unbearable.

“You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, Merry
Kringle,” Ben muttered, his teeth lightly scraping her throat, and just like
that, she came, exploding into white hot fragments as stars glittered behind
her eyes and her whole body spasmed with pleasure that went on and on and on.

BEN GRITTED HIS TEETH and managed to hold it together
and not follow Merry over, though it was close. She was a flame in his arms,
her eyes so purple they were almost black. Having her on him, over him, but not
really being able to touch her was the most erotic, tortuous thing he could
have imagined. Merry was one surprise after another.

He had a few surprises in store for her, too. There
was no way he was letting her go in the morning. If he had to sleep on her
doorstep for the next fifty years to convince her, that’s what he would do. He’d
already been half in love with her for weeks, but now he had hard evidence that
there was the added bonus of a hungry, sensual woman inside Merry Kringle’s
timid outer shell, and the thought of her working out that sexual tension with
anyone but had a snarl building in his chest.

Not going to
happen.

He pressed kisses against her throat until she calmed,
and felt his heart clench as she pulled her fingers free from her own soft
flesh and snuggled up against him, her fingers tracing a path along his
sternum.

“Your turn,” she murmured, and before he could process
it, she was slithering down between his thighs, her incredible, pink-tipped
breasts cuddling his cock as she sank to her knees. Ben’s voice deserted him as
Merry fumbled blindly with his belt buckle, her mouth busy pressing kisses
along the ridge of his erection through his jeans, lightly scraping her teeth
along the head through the cloth. He choked on a groan.

“Wait.”

Merry paused, stroking his shaft. He took a few deep
breaths, and then continued.

“Let me go.”

She pulled back, frowning.

“You want to stop?”

“Hell, no,” Ben growled, struggling to keep it
together, “But this first time I want to be inside you when I come.”

Her expression cleared, and he waited for her to move
to free his wrists, but she just sat there on her knees, her wild hair tumbling
around her, looking like an exotic sex fairy sent to pleasure him.

Which was not
far from the truth.

Suddenly, the ropes gave of their own accord, and he
was free.

He raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a handy little piece of magic.”

“Elf princess, remember?”

Outside, the storm howled, which matched Ben’s mood
perfectly – he felt restless and out of control, desperate to fill her up and
make her scream his name. He grabbed his wallet from his back pocket,
scrabbling for the one and only condom he carried.

Merry laughed.

“You carry a wallet? At the North Pole?”