HOLIDAY MIRACLE
LACY
He loves me. Dalton Ford loves me. Okay, don’t panic. He asked you a question.
“Of course I do.” God, I’m sweating. There’s a tiny layer of freezing cold, but underneath, I’m just a big ball of hot mush, and I’m starting to sweat. I don’t know if it’s the confession or some weird survival mode my body went into when the cold took over, but I’m wishing I could remove a few layers.
Dalton leans down and presses his lips tenderly to mine. It’s sweet and gentle, nothing like the ferocity he’s been showing me to this point. Not that I’m complaining. I like both.
“When did you know?” he asks me, his fingers trailing over my jawline.
“I was a teenage girl when we met and I was infatuated. Somewhere along the way, I realized I never stopped feeling those same things. I don’t think I’ve ever known a time when part of me didn’t love you.”
I swallow hard, the truth of the matter spilling out from me in a way I never thought it would. On some level I never expected to be able to say this or any version of it for my entire life. But here I am, standing in front of the man who’s been on my mind for half my life, and I’m telling him everything I’ve ever wanted.
“Do me a favor?” I say, staring up into his eyes.
“Name it.”
“Next time you rope me into a bet, don’t make me wait so long to pony up,” I say with a laugh.
“I don’t need to make any more bets,” he says. “I already got what I wanted.” His arms tighten around my middle, pulling me tight against his chest.
I lean into him, inhaling his very essence. He’s the best damn thing. I wonder if he knows that. Maybe I should tell him. Or better… maybe I should show him.
“Let’s go,” I say, pulling his arm toward the front porch.
“Go where?”
“To bed.” I get up the steps much faster than we got down them and wonder if motivation is a key factor. Because I’m very motivated.
The moment I hit the door, I start stripping, and I leave a trail of clothing all the way across the living room, into the hallway, and eventually the bedroom. I spin around, pleased to see that Dalton followed suit and is now only wearing his boxer briefs.
“What should we play with?” I ask, tilting my head toward his magic bag of naughty stuff.
“Actually,” he says, stepping toward me. “I’d like it to be a little different this time.”
The delicate muscles in his throat work up and down. He seems nervous, which is weird. I would think there’s nothing left to be nervous about.
Dalton reaches for me, his hands cupping my ribs just under my breasts. I wrap my arms around his neck as he lowers his mouth to mine. His kiss is soft but no less intoxicating than the others have been. His tongue explores my mouth as he runs his hands down over my bare hips. His touch is just as delicate as his fingertips trail over my skin and leave goose bumps in their wake.
Then, it clicks. By different, he means this. He means soft and slow and passionate. He means lovemaking. And that, I can do.
I let my hands explore his body in the same way, fingers trailing over his chest, down his stomach, around to his muscled back.
Dalton shuffles me back to the bed, his lips never leaving mine except for when he’s kissing a different part of me. Gentle pecks over my cheeks, against my jawline, nibbling at my earlobe. But always, he finds his way back to my mouth.
With one fluid motion, he lifts me onto the bed and lays me back onto the pillows. I arch my neck back, exposing my throat to him. He kisses from my chin all the way down to between my tits.
“I love everything about you,” he whispers, his lips still against my skin.
I exhale, drinking in his words. Words I never thought I’d hear. “What do you love most?”
Dalton props himself up onto his elbows, gazing down at me. His eyes are a mix of hooded desire and twinkly excitement.
“It’s hard to choose just one thing.”
“Try.”
His eyes roam from mine down to my mouth, and then my neck, and finally my tits. A grin plays over his features as I begin to roll my eyes at his typical man response.
“I love…” he says before pausing. “As it turns out, Lacy Conrad, I love everything about you. But if I had to choose just one thing”—he lowers his head toward my chest—“it would be this incredible heart of yours.” He places a kiss square between my breasts, his thumbs caressing the underpart.
I close my eyes, inhaling deeply as I allow myself to feel every part of my body that’s currently connected to his.
Dalton’s knee parts my legs, and I open for him as he uses one hand to pull his briefs down and off. His cock glides over me, causing an entirely new kind of sensation. And though we’ve forgone foreplay, I’m still primed for him as he slides himself into me slowly. I exhale as every delicious inch fills me, then drags out of me. He grinds against me as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his chest. I’m in a cocoon beneath him, but I don’t feel trapped at all. He kisses my lips and then my shoulder, one hand palming my tit with the other beneath me, controlling how we fit together and move.
Dalton pumps into me over and over again, his pace steady as I feel the beginnings of my orgasm build in my belly. I press my fingertips into his biceps, clinging to him.
“Say it,” he says.
For a moment, I don’t know what he means. And then it hits me all at once.
“I love you,” I whisper, his ear very near my mouth now as he thrusts into me.
“Say it again,” he says, his voice deeper.
“I love you, Dalton Ford,” I say a bit louder this time.
“I love you, too,” he says as his body stiffens. Dalton spills into me as his words tumble from him.
It would be easy to dismiss this weekend as nothing but fun. To rewind back to before the confession and part ways with no one the wiser. But I have a feeling nothing will ever be the same again. I don’t think we’ll walk away from this the same people we were.
Love changes you. Not secret love, not the way we’d been carrying it with us. But confessed, real, out-in-the-open, living-it-daily love? Well, that has a tendency to change you in ways you didn’t even know were possible.
Maybe I don’t have it all figured out. Maybe my life isn’t where I thought it would be all those years ago. Maybe there’s a lot I still want to figure out and achieve. But I know one thing. Dalton Ford loves me.
And that’s one Christmas present that will stay with me forever.