CHAPTER THIRTEEN Danny
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Danny
“Cider?” the old man asked. I couldn’t tell if he was dressed up as Santa or if that was his everyday look. The beard was real. And so amazing.
“Sure!” I said with a smile. “Thank you!”
He handed us small cups of steaming hot cider. Killjoy grunted as he took his.
“What is it y’all are lookin’ for tonight?” Santa-Not-Santa asked us.
“A tree,” Killjoy answered flatly, and I rolled my eyes.
“Well, that works out since you came to my tree farm.” The old man hooted out a laugh and slapped his knee.
“Something small,” I said.
“But not too small,” Killjoy added. “Needs to be able to hold things. Lights and shit.”
“And maybe one that’s been looked over…” I added. I didn’t want the prettiest tree, I wanted the perfect tree. And perfect to me was one that fit with… us.
Ugh, that sounded weird to say. We weren’t a couple, and I wasn’t trying to turn this into some creepy couple-y thing. Really, I wasn’t. It would be going up in his house, so I wanted it to be his tree too.
“I’ve got just the one,” he said with a wink in my direction. His bushy brow seemed to exaggerate the move.
I downed my cider and tossed my cup. Killjoy handed me his cup, and I shot that one back too.
I was going to get that man in the holiday spirit one way or another. Thoughts of making hot chocolate and curling up in front of the fire floated through my mind. Eh, that was probably a little too cozy for Killjoy.
We followed the old man back to a shed. Killjoy took the lead once he realized where we were headed.
I didn’t mind how he got all protective, but I wondered if he was aware that he’d done it.
Inside was the cutest tree. It was the same height as me.
The top was sad looking, but baby was thicc on the bottom.
Wide hips and ass. So disproportioned it almost looked like someone had pasted two parts of two different trees together.
The trunk was cut a little too short, making it barely sit up off the ground.
It was perfect.
“I’ll throw in a stand for you,” the old man said as if that would be the selling point.
I hoped it would, but looking at Killjoy’s furrowed brow, it was so hard to tell how this was going to go.
I turned back to the old man before I could pull out my puppy dogs eyes and beg Killjoy for just this one thing.
“We’ll take it,” Killjoy said, and when I turned to face him, I found his gaze on me, an almost soft expression in his eyes.
Somehow, he just knew that I wanted it from looking at my face.
And if that wasn’t romantic and sweet, I didn’t know what the hell was.
I swore I wasn’t going to cry. No one had ever…
Smiling through the moisture building up in my eyes, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Killjoy grunted as he blinked and turned his attention to Santa-Not-Santa. He handed the man a wad of cash that I thought was more than enough to cover the tree, but I wasn’t about to call him out. Then he tipped the tree on its side and started dragging it across the gravel lot.
“Hold on,” I said as I attempted to find a good place to grab it at the other end. I didn’t want our tree getting all banged up.
We got it into the bed of the truck after moving the packages Killjoy had picked up before dinner—which I had learned were parts for a motorcycle he was working on fixing up—and with some grunting and struggling, of course.
I didn’t feel like I was much help. At least Killjoy didn’t huff at me like I was in the way.
Santa-Not-Santa shuffled up just in time to hand Killjoy a pretty basic and heavy-looking, red base that was chipped in a few places. And somehow, that was perfect, too.
I hopped into the truck. Killjoy cranked it up, and I was thrilled it was still holding heat from before. Without thinking too much, I scooted over on the bench seat until my thigh was pressed right up against his.
He turned his head, a look of shock and surprise on his face.
“I want that kiss now,” I said. My lips kicked up into a crooked smile.
Even in the darkened cab of the truck, I could tell his eyes had dropped down to look at my mouth. After a second, he dragged his gaze back up to meet mine.
“Then, I suppose you should take it,” he shot back.
God, why was that so hot?
So many things went through my head.
I was so ready to attack him. To climb onto his lap and mash my lips against his. To plunge my greedy tongue into his mouth and taste every inch of him. To strip him naked and bury my face in his balls.
Yeah, maybe I needed to slow down.
It wasn’t always about sex with me. I swear it wasn’t.
Honestly, I’d never wanted someone the way I wanted him.
Which was insane, and some of the thoughts zipping through my head kind of scared me a little.
I wasn’t possessive by nature, but I did have this weird primal need to mark him as mine.
You know, put my cum-scented stamp all over him.
See, I was starting to sound creepy.
No, in all honesty, I wanted a kiss. A slow, meaningful, sweet kiss with Killjoy.
The kind that made you nervous because it was the first time you were kissing that person, but it also came with tingles of excitement.
A first kiss could tell of so much. One, whether you were compatible or not.
But there were other things you could get from it too, and I was dying to find out every single thing I could learn about the man.
My gaze flitted from his eyes to his lips.
I couldn’t tell which I wanted to look at.
Okay, so what I really wanted to do was shut my eyes and kiss his lips, but I was suddenly feeling…
butterflies? What was this? Sure, I’d gotten tummy butterflies over a man before.
This was nothing new. But it had been a loooong fucking time since I’d felt them.
Okay. I could do this. I wanted to do this. It was kissing. Which was no big deal… right?
My lips brushed against his. Since mine were half numb, I wondered if I had really felt anything.
But then I pressed my mouth against his, and a fire lit me up inside.
Starting with my mouth, and slowly, like hot molasses, it worked its way down my body.
Not like sex tingles, which, okay fine, they were there too, but this was so much more.
I parted my mouth slightly just to see what he would do.
He mimicked me, but didn’t push it further.
My tongue darted out, and I got my first taste of him. It was divine.
The tingles ramped up, overtaking my whole body, making me feel like I was buzzing.
Like I was alive. My fingers threaded through his hair, and I kissed him with everything I had in me.
Slow and deep. The cab filled with the hot pants of two people desperately needing air between each kiss, but we didn’t take long to catch our breath before we were back on each other.
I pressed right up against him. There were too many obstacles. Clothes and truck things and… ugh! Why didn’t I wait until we were back at the cabin and I could have us both naked in under two minutes?
“Danny,” he whispered, his hands coming to land on my cheeks, holding me in place as he pulled away.
When I opened my eyes, I was instantly met with his. His pupils blown wide, and I knew he’d been affected by the kiss the same way I had.
“Hmmm?” I tried to go back in for more, but he gently held me in place.
Had I been wrong? Did he not feel it too? Was I a bad kisser? I’d never had any complaints, but you never knew.
“We should get back before…” He left it hanging, and I wasn’t sure if he was going for “before we freeze to death” or “before I do something crazy like fuck you right in front of Santa-Not-Santa.” That last part might have been my spin on it, but that was the basic idea.
“Yeah, sure,” I said, moving to slide over. I froze when his big hand landed on my thigh. I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading wide on my face.
“Buckle up,” he told me as he began to reverse.
Oh, my.
Was it stupid that more flutters filled up my tummy?
This was every boy’s hot cowboy date dream.
Fine, he wasn’t a cowboy, but he was all cute and Southern.
And we were driving back from our date, with me sitting right next to him on the bench seat of his truck, my thigh right against his, the two of us sharing warmth.
It was seriously a big belt buckle and a cowboy hat away from being ‘giddy-up, baby.’