Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I’m staring out at the gorgeous view when the guys come back from their cigar.
Grace is sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine while she talks to her mom and dad.
They called a while ago and they’re known to be long winded, so I’ve been enjoying the view and about a million different scenarios where Stetson asks me to feed him candy or ride a reindeer naked.
At one point someone started singing Christmas carols while Stetson did a strip tease with stockings.
So it’s been super fun. Where’s a valium when you need it?
Devon joins her and Jayson leaves the room.
Stetson walks right up to me, drink in hand.
His blue eyes smolder.
My breath catches. Okay so maybe I’d be down for the naked stocking dance.
His stare is so intense that I’m pretty sure the rest of the crew can feel the sexual tension swirling between us. It’s heady. Why the hell does it smell like sugar? Stetson towers over me, his eyes linger on my mouth before reaching my eyes like he’s trying to read me.
I make the mistake of looking over at Grace who mouths the word:
Rudolph.
Asshole!
I focus on the gorgeous man in front of me who even though does have a rather strange obsession with Christmas is still the hottest man I’ve ever encountered, and I’m one thousand percent drawn to him.
Make a million.
So what if he has a reindeer?
Tons of rich people have exotic pets! She wouldn’t bat one flipping eye at a tiger! Great, now I have Eye of the Tiger playing on repeat in my head with Stetson as my target.
“Do you have more than one?” I blurt out.
With a wolfish smile, Stetson cocks his brow. “Trust me, one is plenty enough.”
My face burns, from my cheeks to my forehead all the way down my neck. I probably look like Rudolph now.
“I me-meant,” oh jeez stop freaking stammering! “A reindeer? Rudolph?”
He laughs in my face and bites down on his lower lip chuckling even harder. “See? As established. Very cute.” His eyes go from alert to lazy in seconds, grazing over my still hot cheeks and mouth. “I think it’s time you and I had a talk.”
“About the clause you made me sign?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. “That… and other exciting things, we’ve entertained the reindeer enough.”
I can feel a firestorm start in my body.
“Other things?” I repeat
His gaze drops to my lips for the fourth time, at least we have the same thing on our minds. I think.
“Can I give you a private tour?” He asks, jolting my attention from kissing to the yacht.
I can barely manage a slight nod, my head’s a mess.
Stetson takes my hand in his and electric bolts shoot up my arm. I somehow forgot how intimate this act is. Fingers entwined. Naked skin touching. It’s familiar. It’s nice and dangerous all at once.
Even though I’m on fire inside, holding Stetson’s hand feels like the most natural thing in the world to do like we’ve done it before and will continue doing it again.
I’ve never really felt a beginning with anyone.
I like it.
Grace clears her throat. She and Devon are watching us like hawks. Devon looks between us.
“Jayson will be right back and show you guys to the orca watching deck. Charlie and I will join you… after I show her around.” Stetson announces.
I can barely bring myself to breathe, let alone look at Grace.
“Of course,” Devon says quickly with a giant smile. “Take your time.”
Grace stays suspiciously quiet, her eyes narrow.
Thankfully Stetson doesn’t linger. We move quickly, his grip firm as he leads me down another impossibly beautiful hallway straight into the waiting elevator. The doors slide shut with a soft chime, and the instant we’re alone, he releases my hand.
That’s all the warning I get.
His gaze smolders—before he pins me against the wall and his mouth claims mine with a brutal, intoxicating kiss.
And that’s when I lose the ability to think.
Ho. Ho. Ho. Is right, because I’m feeling like one. What is happening?
My mind, my breath, my sense of balance vanish as his tongue sweeps into my mouth. He lifts my wrists high above my head, locking me in place, his rock-hard body grinding against mine until I feel the sharp edge of his need.
I gasp when he tears his mouth away, only to trail scorching kisses down my throat. His teeth graze my skin, and the sound he makes… the promise in it… vibrates straight through me.
When he finally frees my hands, it’s only so his own can roam. One powerful palm slides down the curve of my back, gripping my ass and yanking me up against him, making it impossible to ignore just how much he craves me.
“You’re a witch,” he practically growls as his tongue flicks over the pulse at my neck as if to taste the spell I’ve cast on him.
I can barely breathe.
“We’re in an elevator,” I pant, feeling the need to remind him just in case he forgot.
“I own it. No one will disturb us.”
That’s hot as hell. He owns it.
His mouth moves to my ear, he tugs a bit. Okay… okay…
And then I’m done because his hands are moving all over my body, and I can’t think of anything else.
Ding!
The elevator hits its allotted floor.
Shit! Why? For the first time in my life I would have been okay with the elevator getting stuck.
He cups my face in his hands and kisses me deeply again before pulling back to stare into my face.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says against my lips. “But I need to explain things to you first which is going to take self-control I’m beginning to realize I lack when it comes to you.”
He pulls away from me and grabs hold of my hand again and practically drags me out of the elevator.
“Wait,” I whisper trying to get a grip and a grasp on the whirlwind of emotions swirling through my body.
My legs… can I even feel them right now?
I can’t think about anything but his hands on my body.
Or his mouth on my lips.
Or what it’s going to feel like when…
“Charlie Horse?” Stetson gives me a half smile and stares at me curiously. “You okay, there?”
I stare at him all deer in the headlights and in shock and in all the things I probably shouldn’t be thinking this soon… this fast. And… what?
Fine.
Rudolph, Charlie! My mind shouts the word out at me like it’s an obscenity.
He has a reindeer named, Rudolph!
That’s a red flag!
That’s a major red flag!
As if Stetson can read my mind he smiles sensually at me and cocks his head to the side before rubbing his gorgeous beard.
“You look worried.”
“Rudolph.” The word comes out like verbal diarrhea. “You have a Rudolph and elves, it’s weird, Stetson.”
Stetson has the audacity to smile like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
“Would you like to meet Rudolph’s entourage then? To set you at ease?”