Unwrapped (8 page)

Obviously she felt the same way, because he was barely in her and Blue was coming, her lips parted, eyes wide in shocked ecstasy, her orgasm the result of all that teasing she had done with his cock. It had the same reaction on him. Christian gave one last thrust then gave in and exploded with her.

Being there together increased his intensity, both of them shuddering and pulsating together, sexy and intimate and exciting.

They stared at each other, gazes locked, and Christian saw something in Blue’s eyes that he knew was in his, a hope, a surprise, a depth of emotion that was illogical but was there.

He wanted to say something brilliant and poetic that would sweep her off her feet and make her certain that she wanted to be with him.

But he didn’t have those words, didn’t know how to be that guy.

So he just said, “I’m having a Blue Christmas and damn, it’s good.”

She laughed softly. “Don’t start singing.”

He cupped her cheeks with his hands and kissed her slowly, savoring the taste of her. “No singing, I promise.”

Blue gave a satisfied sigh and extracted herself from him, untangling her legs from his and crawling up the bed.

“Where are you going?” Christian couldn’t resist running his hand over her bare ass since it was presented so enticingly in front of him.

“To lay down under the covers. You wore me out.”

He grinned. “You did do a lot of work this time, all that using my—”

She cut him off with a fake prime expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And if you don’t stop, I’m not going to let you cuddle with me.”

“Oh, cuddling was on the table?” He’d already figured out Blue wasn’t much of a cuddler, so if she was offering, he was going to take it. Hopefully he could convince her to sleep naked too. “Then I’m on it. I’ll shut up.”

He could move fast when he wanted to and he was up next to her, settled under the covers, in a blink. Hauling her onto his chest, he sighed in contentment. “Don’t let me fall asleep.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” she murmured, her own voice lazy and slumberous.

“Talk to me.”

But she didn’t, just gave a yawn, her fingers tracing a pattern over his chest in a soothing manner that had Christian’s eyes drifting closed.

He fell asleep in less than two minutes, comfortable and content with Blue in his arms.

Blue woke up warm and cozy, momentarily disoriented as to why her bed was so comfortable and the bedding so soft on her skin, until she remembered she was in a motel room with Christian. Sometime during the night she had slid off of him, but her leg was still over his and her hand was on his chest. His naked, very hard chest.

The muscles were nice. She was amazed at how nice they really were.

And how nice Christian was.

So nice it scared her. She was waiting for the minute it turned and his asshole nature finally revealed itself. For the moment he proved he was as selfish as the next person.

His hand covered hers and he yawned. “Merry Christmas, Blue.”

Her heart squeezed in a way she both liked and was terrified by. His voice was scratchy and still sleepy.

“Merry Christmas,” she managed, even though she had the sudden urge to bolt out of bed, get dressed, and run as far from him as she possibly could.

This man had the power to hurt her when he finally disappointed her and that was scarier than any snowstorm.

“Mmm,” he said, turning and kissing her forehead. “I would give anything for bacon and eggs and some big old pancakes.”

“Maybe Roy can hook you up.”

“Maybe. But that would mean I have to get up and I’m comfortable just laying here forever.”

She was too, which was precisely what had her unfurling herself from him and throwing back the covers.

“Ahh,” Christian said. “It’s cold out there. Where are you going?”

“The bathroom.” Without looking at him, knowing if she did, she might just embarrass herself and wrap her arms around him, or worse, get weepy, Blue picked up her discarded pajama pants and pulled them on, along with her T-shirt.

A peek out the window showed that it had stopped snowing and it looked like the plow had made at least one pass on the main road, though the parking lot was buried. With any luck, she could get a tow arranged and then . . . do what?

She wasn’t sure. Getting a rental car on Christmas was bound to be dicey, but if Christian could take her to the airport in Lexington, she would have options. Fly south, rent a car, get a hotel. She could do something.

Which would be better than staying here feeling like she might hyperventilate from emotions she didn’t altogether understand.

Rummaging through her suitcase, she found a pair of jeans and the only shirt she’d packed that had sleeves. Along with undergarments and her toiletries bag, she headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

Well aware of Christian’s eyes following her, she didn’t dare look at him.

“Is there a fire?” he asked.

Yes. “What do you mean?” she asked nonchalantly.

“What’s the hurry? I doubt we’re going to able to find a tow truck this morning and the longer we linger, the easier our drive to Lexington will be. Give them time to clear the roads. We don’t even know if the highway has been reopened.”

“Well, we’re not going to know if we stay in bed, are we?”

She dared a glance at him and he was sitting up, studying her carefully. “Is something wrong?”

“No, of course not. I just can’t fix the problem and get to Miami if I don’t get out of bed.”

He threw back the covers and revealed his naked body, his penis partially erect in what she hoped was just a sleep erection. She couldn’t handle another round of amazing sex without saying something stupid or needy or vulnerable. She’d already blathered on too much last night, telling him about her family.

“What are you doing?” she asked, fighting the urge to back up. That much muscular man was more than she could resist if he came on to her.

“I’m getting out of bed so we can see what’s going on out there. Fix the problem. Get you out of here.”

He didn’t sound belligerent or upset. He looked calm, like he always did. But there was something in his expression that told her he wasn’t entirely pleased with the situation. Neither was she.

“I figure at least if I miss the cruise I can hang out for a few days in the sunshine, right?” Not that she could afford either a plane ticket to Miami or a hotel, but that’s what a credit card was for. She just couldn’t face driving back to Cincinnati in a rental car and spending the night alone in her empty apartment.

“Or you could spend the night in Lexington with me. Have dinner with my family. Then tomorrow you can go to Miami. You don’t want to spend Christmas at the airport.”

No, she didn’t. But it didn’t matter. Why should Christmas be any different now than it had been her whole life? Part of her wanted to say yes, she’d love to spend the night with Christian and his family, but it would be like playing house. He wasn’t hers and his family was going to think it was weird as hell for her to be there.

And she didn’t think she could sit there in that kind of family togetherness knowing she wasn’t part of it, knowing that she didn’t belong. “I seriously doubt your family wants a total stranger invading their Christmas.”

He scoffed, standing up. “Please. They’re always telling me to bring someone, and there are so many people there, one more will hardly be noticed.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

There was a long pause where he stared at her so intently she wanted to squirm, but she stood her ground, head up.

Then he just said, “Alright.”

Part of her was relieved. Part of her was disappointed. Maybe in some way she had wanted him to try a little harder to coax her. Not that there was anything fair about that. He had offered, it had been a generous offer, and she had refused. Why would he twist her arm?

Because he wanted to be with her, that’s why. That’s what she wanted him to say. But that was a stupid expectation. Christian had a family to go to and he had just met her.

Blue beat a path to the bathroom before she said anything else and before he offered to join her in the shower. Any more intimacy would undo her.

She locked the door and turned on the water. She would shower alone. Be alone.

Just like she was every day.

Chapter Eight

C
hristian watched Blue across the table in Roy’s kitchen, wondering what was going through her head. She was animated enough with their host, smiling and laughing as he told her stories, but she was not meeting Christian’s eyes, and she seemed nervous.

Maybe not nervous. Remote. She had retreated from him. That was obvious. He didn’t know why.

Or maybe he did. He just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

He was too much of a goofball for Blue. She was a cool chick, into cool guys. He was a toy engineer who got off on family dinners, playing with kids, and singing off-key while doing the sprinkler. Not her style.

How could he expect her to prefer coming to his sister’s house for dinner when she could be on the beach in Florida? He couldn’t.

“So I got out of the navy in ’51 and settled down here and took over this place,” Roy was saying. “Ain’t exactly the Ritz but I did alright. Thought about changing the name, but it always gave me a chuckle and people around here knew the No Tell.”

“We were so glad to find you and this place last night,” Blue told him, piling egg on her fork. “I don’t what we would have done without you, Roy.”

If Christian wasn’t mistaken, the old guy blushed a little. “Hope it was comfortable enough for you all.”

“
Very
comfortable,” Christian interjected, willing Blue to look at him and remember what had passed between them.

She did, but her look was definitely one of disapproval. Oh, so now not only was she not coming to dinner with him, she was going to pretend that the night before hadn’t happened? The hell with that.

His goddamn world had been rocked by this woman, and she was going to have to hear about it.

“You can call on my house phone to get your tow, though I don’t know how soon they’re going to be able to dig your car out.” Roy said. “I checked on the Internet and it looks like the highway is reopened so you can get south if you want in your good car. If I were you, I’d just book a tow truck and go on and enjoy your Christmas and worry about getting your car from the garage in a few days.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Blue said with a nod.

Christian was still stuck on the fact that Roy had checked road conditions online.

“That is, if Christian doesn’t mind me hitching a ride with him to Lexington.”

That was the stupidest thing she’d ever said and he was actually a little bit offended. “Of course not. I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

His bed would be preferable but if that weren’t an option he would make sure she was safely wherever she wanted to be.

Suddenly feeling gloomy, Christian bit off a piece of his bacon and chewed it hard, watching Roy stare at Blue with no small amount of admiration as she smiled at him. Is that what he looked like? Moony? He felt kind of moony and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

After another twenty minutes of eating and small talk Blue indicated they should be heading out. “If that’s okay with you?” she asked politely.

What was with the sudden solicitous manners? It didn’t suit her. He liked it better when she just said what she was really thinking, not this tea party attitude.

“Sure,” he said easily, reaching down to get the second unopened bottle of tequila he had bought at the gas station. He handed it to Roy. “Just a little thank you for putting us up.”

Roy’s eyes lit up. “Tequila. Alright, sir. Haven’t had a worm since I don’t know when.” He got up and shuffled over to a kitchen cabinet where he stowed it away. “I won’t be sharing that with the grandsons. They can get their own liquor.”

After handshakes and Blue giving Roy what seemed like a spontaneous hug, they headed out into the parking lot. Christian had already loaded up the car with all their stuff.

Blue started walking in the direction of their room.

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom if you need to know,” she said testily. “And no, I don’t need help.”

That was it. He didn’t deserve the cold shoulder. Bending over, Christian packed some snow together. As Blue stomped off, back to him, he launched a snowball at her. It smacked right between the shoulder blades, bursting on the velvet of her jacket. She came to a grinding halt and whirled around, face furious.

“Did you just throw a snowball at me?”

“Well, I doubt it was Roy,” he said, fighting the urge to grin. She looked so outraged.

“You’re a jerk.”

“Come on, lighten up. It’s Christmas. Throw one back at me, you’ll be amazed at how good it feels.” Christian held his arms out. “I won’t even duck.”

Blue hesitated but then she bent over and scooped some snow up, packing it quickly. She hurled it at him and he took it right in the face. Fortunately her packing skills sucked so he didn’t break a tooth or his nose, but it was damn cold when it burst in powdery wetness all over his face.

“Lucky shot,” he told her.

She was laughing, wiping her hands off on her jeans. “You’re right, I do feel better.”

That was more like it. He hated seeing her so aloof. “Run, Farrow, or it’s on.”

When he launched another snowball at her she shrieked and ducked.

Then they were engaged in full-out combat, Christian landing five snowballs to every one she managed. She was having trouble getting them to stick together and half of hers fell apart in the air, but they were both laughing, snow falling off their coats, hands red and raw, snow kicked up all around them as they dodged each other’s missiles.

He stalked towards her, a ball in each hand ready to launch as she frantically tried to scoop up more snow, her cheeks pink, eyes bright. When he was two feet away, she slipped and went down on her ass, laughing, hands up.

“Ack, shit! I give up. Don’t hit me.”