Forever His This Christmas

Chapter 1

“T here is no way I’m going home this year,” Lisa said as she slipped onto the stool beside Jackie, continuing the conversation they started over text while she was heading to the bar. “There’s absolutely no way possible for me to go there and not do something stupid.”

“Don’t tell me this is about Colin,” Jackie said motioning for a refill from the bartender having gotten there before her.

“No, you know I love spending the holidays in nice, warm, sunny California over the freezing snowcapped mountains of Colorado, especially with the rest of my family and that town. Besides, if I go home with all of their urgings, Colin will think I’m here for him. That there’s no way that I can be happy without him after all this time staying away.”

“Okay, but what can he really do about it?” Jackie asked as she downed her drink. “Other than just telling you that he was right there’s nothing he can really do to you?”

“Nothing I know but if he keeps I up, I’ll probably lose my cool. Then I’ll do something stupid like telling him sarcastically he was right, but he won’t buy I don’t really mean it, was being flippant about it. Or else let my temper do the one thing that will really get me in trouble—hit him.”

“Now that I’d like to see,” Jackie laughed with a grin.

“Come home with me and you’re likely to,” Lisa grumbled with a huff as Jackie smiled at her brightly, perhaps a bit drunk already making Lisa lift a brow her way curiously.

“That’s it…you just have to take someone home with you.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Lisa countered. Not in this lifetime or next was she taking anyone home with her to meet her crazy family. “It’s not like there’s a line of guys just begging to come home with me.”

“There would be if you’d stop running them all off. I swear three-fourths of this bar is interested in you but you’re oblivious to it.”

“I’m not looking for someone to sleep with; I don’t need a man in my life, Jackie.”

“Then why are you so worried about going home?” her friend returned staring her down.

“Because it’s not just the Colin crap out there that annoys me,” she admitted to her best friend in the city. “My mother thinks I’m never going to get married or be the proper little daughter she raised me to be, so if I took a man home, she’d be expecting a wedding announcement pronto and become her. I don’t want to be her. I moved almost two thousand miles away to make sure I didn’t become her. I refuse to let them think they were right.”

“Okay, so you think that by staying away you’ll be able to convince them that they’re not. Won’t that make them think you’re simply hiding from them?” Jackie asked and she shrugged, not caring if they thought that about her at all. Being a coward was one of the nicer things her brothers would likely imagine of her.

“Better than going home alone and not having anything or anyone to scream at because of it…maybe I should just pretend to be gay, that’d certainly shut them up,” she added over the rim of her glass as she motioned for the bartender to bring another. She’d had a long day, and she needed some added courage to get through the phone call back to her mother.

“Come on you’re not a runner, and I highly doubt your ex whom you had very public encounters with would buy that you’ve suddenly turned to women,” Jackie countered.

“I was seventeen. What seventeen-year-old doesn’t go at it with their boyfriends under the bleachers at a football game?” she said taking the drink from the bartender.

“Oh, I don’t know maybe the kind that was the head cheerleader who was supposed to be at the top of the pyramid.”

“I made it…I just was a bit sweaty,” she mused at the knowing look from her friend.

“Yeah, well, maybe you should be asking yourself why you’ve suddenly decided to run off every man in sight. They’re all over you yet you blow them off.”

“No, I don’t, I run them off,” she argued with a grin Jackie knew well.

“Well alright I’ll give you that one because seriously how long has it been since you blew a guy or had someone blow your mind?”

“Probably that football game,” she admitted before nearly swallowing her tongue at just how close to the truth that was. No one needed to know the last time she had sex was over a decade ago. Her friend would definitely have questions about that. Questions she wasn’t about to answer truthfully because it’d cause even more problems—a lot more she didn’t need, especially right now with her mother breathing down her neck wanting her to come home. “Most men are just looking for a cheap thrill and I’m not that seventeen-year-old anymore. I used to be the girl who had to have a boyfriend, now I’m simply me and I like it that way.”

“Well, what about mind blowing sex huh? Don’t you miss it?”

“Who says a few batteries don’t make it mind blowing?” she argued pulling a laugh from Jackie.

“Because there are some things only a man can do and if you’ve forgotten that then you’re really in trouble because I can’t help you. Look around us Lisa, there’s an entire bar praying you turn and look their way. Give someone a shot because who knows…maybe the man of your dreams is right around the corner,” Jackie suggested as her boyfriend reached them.

“Go…keep her occupied Dan. I don’t need another person lecturing me about finding a man. I do just fine on my own,” she said pushing them out towards the dance floor. She watched their happiness of being together until she couldn’t take it anymore and turned back towards the bar to finish her drink.

She motioned for another knowing she should cut herself off at two as she had for the most part the last seven years, but it was Friday night, and she didn’t have to work the next day. After everything she’d put up with at work this week not to mention her mother’s phone calls, she might as well have a bit of fun.

A couple guys slid over beside her, and she ignored them wishing she’d moved to another spot when each took a stool on either side of her. Great just what she needed, more meatheads who thought she should fall all over them.

“I’m cutting you off after this one,” the bartender stated when he put it in front of her with a smile. She lifted an eyebrow towards him but only saw his laughing reply in his eyes. “Can’t have you passing out on me again after all, beautiful. I promise I’ll find another backup, so you’re not always stuck sitting here while the others have fun.”

She was about to say something when the two guys moved away from her, and she tilted her head to the side studying the guy. “Want to explain that one?”

“Looked like the last thing you wanted was for them or any other guy in this place to hit on you.”

“You were listening in on my conversation with my friend, weren’t you?” she asked, fighting against a slight smile as his eyes slid over her. She could read the interest in them but for once, she wasn’t annoyed with it. Far from it in fact which was a bit shocking all on its own.

“I might have overheard a bit of it,” he replied leaning towards her on the bar. “I’m Corey by the way.”

“Lisa,” she offered in return. “You know when they see you serving me another drink, they’ll know you were lying.”

“Who says I’m going to serve you another drink? This one’s likely to knock you over.”

“Trust me it won’t,” she said with a laugh because while she might not drink while out at the bars, at home with just her friends, she still liked to have a good time. “You are looking at the party girl herself. I used to drive my mother crazy; still do I guess.”

“I don’t know many moms who’d be happy with their daughters having sex at a football game,” he stated with a smirk she found incredibly sexy.

“You were listening,” she mused, not caring one bit about it. Her past sexual exploits weren’t even close to being embarrassing to her. Most were armor—protection against what others were saying to and about her. “I bet you weren’t much better when you were seventeen.”

“No, not really,” he said with a shrug of his wide shoulder, “only I was the QB on the field so I couldn’t experience the other side of the equation during the game.”

“Then obviously your defense was better than our team’s was,” she said with a grin that had him laughing.

“Maybe I just wasn’t that fast…” he suggested with a wink that sent her body flaring with heat and hunger.

“True, but there’s times when fast is good.”

“Oh, there is, but some nights you want to go so slow that the other person is screaming in the best sort of agony possible,” he countered giving her a look that made her pulse quicken. That was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, but it was dangerous. She should not be giving in like this. It wasn’t likely to end well. None of her relationships had ever ended well.

“Are you hitting on me too?” she questioned trying to keep herself under control. The heat sizzling between them was about to engulf her, but she liked it—a lot.

“If I were hitting on you, we’d be in the back room already, baby.”

“Pour me that fourth drink and we’ll see about it,” she suggested watching as he made it.

“A kiss for it,” he said holding it back when she reached for it.

“I should warn you it’s possible for you to drop dead from one,” she teased even as she leaned forward and touched her lips to his. It was all she needed to know, and she saw the flare in his eyes match hers when she pulled back, her body urging her for more. For something real tonight.

“You certainly need a warning label,” he agreed as another guy came out into the area behind the bar. “About time you showed…”

“Sorry boss got held up,” the newcomer stated looking between them with interest Corey ignored, his attention remaining on her.

“Feel like a fifth?” Corey asked with a smile that left her wanting more than just a drink. “Somewhere a bit more private?”

“Make it a double and you’ve got me,” she admitted knowing not to fight this. It’d been so long since she’d felt need like this—maybe never to quite this depth but that might simply be because of how long it’d really been. She finished her drink as he came around the bar and took her hand, leading her through the back towards the stairs.

Corey knew it was insane, but she was beautiful and the first person he’d felt an interest in since his divorce was finalized two months ago. The marriage itself had been over for nearly two years but Donna drug it out wanting everything she could get.

Apparently, she hadn’t killed everything about him as he’d feared when a chance encounter with an old girlfriend ended disappointingly several months ago. Despite wanting it to happen and an initial surge of need, nothing further had happened to have the evening progressing. His body was against it then, unlike now. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her, he’d felt an urge of desire unlike anything before, and it’d only grown deeper since talking to her.

Now, his body was desperate and aching. He pulled Lisa around to him as they moved up the steps towards the room over the bar. Settling a kiss on her, lifting her against him when they reached the top.

She pushed at his shirt the second they walked through the door, their lips parting only long enough for him to remove it before wrenching hers over her head. His lips trailed down her neck and she gripped his shoulders making him need more. Need all of her spread out under him before he lost it.

“What about that drink?” he asked, moving her hair aside.

“Later,” she stated when he found a spot that made her shudder.

“Good,” he replied lifting her, enjoying the way her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her to the bed. He laid her down across it as they started to discard the rest of their clothes without a care. She was incredible and everything made him want more.

“Please tell me you have…” she started but he kissed the rest of it away as he reached their tangled hand to pick one up out of the nightstand. “I don’t even want to know how many times you do this.”

“I never do this, baby,” he promised as she took the packet and opened it. When she slid it down him, he thought he was going to keel over and when she moved onto him, he knew he was in major trouble. Donna had never enjoyed sex. She’d never wanted to take the lead in anything but this—Lisa—was incredible, and he gladly let her begin the ride.

“Oh shit,” she gasped when he rolled her over as she started to reach the end and faltered.

“Such a dirty mouth on such a beautiful woman,” he laughed silencing them both until she crashed pulling him over with her. His hands tightened around her hips, their breathing hard as stars danced in his vision. He laid there trying to remember a time that was even close to this but all he could think of was doing it again.

That got him up from the bed to discard the condom, and he took a moment to get himself together rather than rushing back to her side to have her again like a maniac. On his way back from the bathroom, he poured them some drinks, his eyes roaming over her as she rested on the bed handing it over watching her.

She downed it with a single gulp and set it on the table before pulling him back down to her. A bit of his splashed onto her skin and he licked it off then purposely trailed it down her body until he couldn’t stop himself from having her again.

“Warning label should be smacked right across here,” he teased cupping her ass as she rode him again.

“What should it say?” she asked, her pussy tightening around his hard length.

“Addictive and destructive, tempt at your own risk,” he returned, and she showed him just how right he was until they passed out in the early hours of the morning.

***

Lisa quietly slipped out of the bed as she searched for her things. She found her clothes scattered all around the room and sighed silently when she saw the tear in her shirt. There was no way she could go out wearing that. She grabbed her skirt and slid it on then noticed his shirt nearby. She could always return it later.

Yeah, that’s what she’d do in order to avoid the whole morning after excuses. She never did things this impulsively but last night had certainly been worth it.

She left her hair down instead of wasting time looking for her hair pins as she moved over to the door and slipped out heading down the stairs in silence. A million thoughts ran through her mind but none of them were appropriate to say out loud at this time of the morning. She eased through the now deserted bar and took the back exit she’d seen last night in order to avoid the front walk before hurrying home.

There was no question about what to do and she knocked on the door beside her own with a smile. A short walk over to the couch, when Jackie opened it studying her intently, had her sighing with the memories of her incredible night.

“Well, I was going to ask where you disappeared to last night but from the looks of it I’d say you just did the walk of shame,” Jackie teased as she kicked off her shoes and curled up on the couch.

“Don’t really know how it can be a walk of shame when it was that incredible but if you say so,” she replied with a little shrug.

“I take it you finally let one of the guys talk you into having a little fun. Which one was it?”

“Remember the bartender?”

“The guy who certainly fit the tall, dark, and handsome tag that disappeared when the other guy got there?”

“Yup…” she said, grinning fully as she popped the p at her friend’s wiggling eyebrows.

“Dish because that guy was hot. How was it?”

“Incredible…all night long incredible. If the man were any better, I wouldn’t be walking right now. As it is I had to wait until I could feel my legs before I could leave after the last time,” she admitted, completely thrilled with that bit.

“Are you seeing him again?”

A sigh fell from her lips, not wanting to think about anything but just how incredible last night was. She just wanted the sweet little aches to send her into an all-day nap after some food.

“I don’t think it’d be wise…the guy’s a bartender Jackie,” she reminded her when her friend looked shocked. “It’s not as if it’s likely to turn into anything. He probably sleeps with anyone he can who’s tired of being hit on by the regular crowd. He swoops in with those chocolate eyes of his and it’s over.”

“Chocolate eyes huh?” Jackie mused, smiling at her more. “You like the guy.”

“The sex was probably the best that I’ve ever had, and the man definitely knew what he was doing, that’s what I liked. I just can’t see it going anywhere with him on a personal level,” she said, hoping her friend assumed it was simply because the guy was a bartender and potential sleaze than that she wouldn’t let anyone close enough to hurt her.

“Because you won’t let it, girl. This is what you do. You finally give a guy a chance on a date and then come up with something stupid to explain why you won’t give them a chance for a second one. The fact that you actually slept with this guy already puts you like twenty steps ahead of any of those and you know it,” Jackie said staring her down. “Come on think what Colin would say if you showed up with…wait, what’s his name?”

“Corey, and you don’t even have to say the obvious, Colin—Corey, I know.”

“Not to mention Chris, Carter, Cole, and Casey…you really like C’s, huh?” she teased.

“Only when it comes to starting guys’ names. I was a straight A student.”

“Yeah, how you managed that one I’ll never know because you said you were never studying.”

“High school, college, and even my first couple years after that were certainly parties,” she said, only giving her half of the truth as she always had whenever telling the friend she’d made when she moved here about her past.

“Exactly, so, why’d you stop?” Jackie asked.

“It got old. I could only find so many things to enjoy and the guys all thought that I should just fall into bed with them. Despite everything I did with guys in the past, I don’t just sleep with just anyone, which is why last night shouldn’t happen again.”

“Because the guy talked you into his bed the same night you met him, you can’t sleep with him again?”

Lisa nodded, making Jackie shake her head her way with a groan. “It can’t go anywhere…and there was no need for talking me into his bed. The way he looked at me was enough to get me there and his skills kept me there all night.”

“Then you might as well go back for another round, come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Falling for him when he’s nothing but a playboy? He talked me into his bed with a kiss. I mean, how many others has he done the same with, huh?” Lisa mused really not liking the thought of him with dozens of other women. Sure, he said he never did it, but that was likely just a line to try and calm her, keep her in the moment with him.

“You’ll never know unless you go back.”

“Not likely, I have enough to deal with right now. I had two messages from my mother wanting to know when I’ll be there for Thanksgiving next week,” she added, wanting off the why she wasn’t going back for seconds.

“Ouch, you’re sure you don’t want to go?”

“Not a chance…especially after last night. I am not going to stand around letting the others ask what I’ve been up to, when I know I’ll be thinking of last night for a long time to come.”

“You know you could always go back and talk him into going with you. That would certainly shut them all up,” Jackie suggested with a grin.

“Oh yeah and this is how well that conversation would go:

‘Mom, Dad, guys this is Corey he’s a bartender.’

‘How’d you meet?’

‘Oh, you know, at the bar…’

‘How long have you been together?’

‘Less than two weeks but the sex is great.’

“Yeah, they’d be so happy to have him there with us after that,” she said with a scoff, knowing exactly how her brothers would react to any of that information.

“Alright so it might not work to take him home for Thanksgiving, but you could tell them you’re seeing someone, get his number and call him while you’re there where they’d overhear.”

“No, I’ll just stay here and make sure my work’s caught up because rumor mill has it, we’re being bought out,” she explained, not about to tell her friend what she was really doing for Thanksgiving. It was far better she keep it to herself, and not just for her sake. “I can’t deal with my parents and Colin while wondering what’s going to happen there. None of us know if we’re even going to have a job at Christmas. I really don’t need to add them to the mix with all of that right now.”

“Well at least you had one night of pure fun. It’s better than nothing when it comes to you,” Jackie said, and Lisa smiled thinking about last night.

If he wasn’t a bartender and likely womanizer, she’d probably call him or take his shirt back herself, but he likely was, and she didn’t need that sort of person in her life. Not now, not ever. Especially not combined with her mother’s issues and constant reminders of her teenage years.