Chapter 14
The last ornament finds its place among the branches. The team photo turned into a tiny snow globe.
We survived. Even found our rhythm, a combination of his precision and my creativity.
“Perfect,” Spence murmurs behind me.
I step back to admire our work, and somehow I end up against his chest. His arms come around me naturally, like they've done this a thousand times before. Like my body was designed to fit exactly here.
His chin settles on top of my head, and everything in me goes quiet.
Not the nervous quiet of waiting for something bad. Not the tense quiet of hyper-vigilance. Just... peace. Deep and bone-settling and utterly foreign.
“You okay?” His voice rumbles through his chest into my back.
“Yeah.” I am. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I'm more than okay.
The tree glows in front of us, twelve feet of magic. Every ornament we hung together tells a story. Some of them we made up, some of them are real. All of them feel like threads in a fabric we wove together.
“It's beautiful,” I whisper as I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday plays overhead through the sound system.
“Very.”
But when I tilt my head to look up at him, he's not watching the tree. He's watching me.
Heat blooms in my chest, spreads through my limbs. I’m being held like I'm precious, like I'm exactly where I belong. The feeling is addictive.
Spencer McCallister is dangerous in the best way.
Justice protected me. Kept me safe when there was no one else. But this is different.
This man isn't just guarding my body.
He's protecting something deeper.
My heart. My hope.
The fragile, newly forming belief that maybe I can have this. That maybe I'm allowed to want it.
I shift in his arms, turning to face him. His hands settle on my hips, keeping me close.
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
“That you're making this really hard.”
One corner of his mouth lifts. “Good.”
“I know, I know. Anticipation.” I step back, biting my lip to hide my smile. “Actually, I have an idea.”
His eyes narrow. “Why does that sound dangerous?”
“The pool. And the hot tub.” I'm already moving toward the hallway. “All that driving today, then decorating. I'm twisted up. A soak would feel amazing.”
He chuckles darkly.
“What?” I glance back innocently. “Seems a shame not to use the facilities.”
I can practically hear him thinking, weighing the tactical disadvantages of this plan. The way his hands clench tells me he knows exactly what I'm doing.
“I don't have swim trunks,” he says finally.
“Your briefs will do just fine, or…”
“You're evil.”
“I'm learning from the best.” I'm already heading toward my bag to find the bikini I packed. “Meet you back here in ten? I'll just go change.”
I don't wait for his answer. I grab my bag and dash for the closest guest room.
Is it normal to feel dizzy all the time around him?
I'm grinning like mad as I dig through my bag until I find the red bikini Rosalie convinced me to buy weeks ago. I'd protested that I'd never wear it, that it was too much, too revealing, too everything.
Thank God I shaved before I left home.
She had smiled, with a calculating look in her eyes. “Trust me. You'll wear it when the time is right.”
Turns out my sister-in-law is a prophet.
After changing quickly, I freeze in front of the mirror.
The bikini leaves very little to the imagination. The top is two triangles of Christmas-red fabric that barely contain me. The bottoms are high-cut, showing off legs I usually keep covered.
For the first time in my adult life, I want to be seen.
My reflection looks like a stranger. Confident. Sexual. Powerful.
I like her.
Grabbing a towel and throwing on a cover-up, I head for where I left Spence.
Will he have some new excuse I'll need to shoot down?
He's almost exactly where I left him. But the cords in his neck seem even more tense.
As I walk closer, he scrubs a hand over his open mouth. “Oh, fuck. Look at you.”
Shivers race up and down my muscles. I feel hot all over, despite being nearly naked. My bare legs and bare feet are exposed to his hot-as-sin stare.
Whew, he's intense. What will he be like when he unleashes?
“Are you ready?” I ask, my voice sounding a little high, a little breathless.
“I've never been more ready in my life.”
My nerves cause me to rock up onto my toes. “Lead the way, sir?”
He adjusts his cock without even bothering to hide the motion. “You like calling me, sir?”
I shrug, grinning as heat pours off my face. “The question is, do you like me calling you sir?”
He grabs my hand, towing me toward the pool. “On second thought, we are not talking about this right now.”
“What are we talking about?”
He grits out, “Swimming.”
It's all I can do to keep up, my shorter strides nothing compared to the way his long, muscular legs eat up the hallway.
In record time, we reach the deep-underground pool.
Underwater lights cast wavering patterns across the stone ceiling. Steam rises from the hot tub behind the waterfall, creating a dreamy haze.
He guides me to a set of chaise lounges and grabs my shoulders.
“What...”
He spins me around, away from him. “Look the other way.”
“Why in the world?” I laugh.
“Because.”
“Anticipation?” I'm giggling, but I'm also alarmed at how hard my internal muscles are clenching at even the thought of Spence unbuckling his pants.
His zipper is insanely loud, making my breath catch.
Then the sound of fabric slipping down his legs is almost as startling.
His boots land with a thunk. A belt buckle follows, clanging against the stone.
My hands are tingling. Every second that passes, my heart rate increases.
When he touches my neck, I jump, gasping loudly.
His finger traces up the side of my throat. “You're squeezing your legs together, sweetheart.”
“Am I?” I choke out.
His touch leaves my neck, then his breath whispers over the same place. Oh god. He's going to put his mouth on me. Yes. Please.
“Want me to help you out of this?”
He’s talking about my cover-up.
I nod as his breathing deepens, goes rough against my ear. “I've been thinking about how you look under your clothes for months.”
Oh god.
He's right there, right next to my ear, whispering as his hands find the hem of my coverup.
I wouldn't consider it sexy; it's just a thigh-length white lacy T-shirt of sorts, but with him so close I can feel his heat, it feels like lingerie.
“I love the way this gave me a tease of your red bikini,” he says thickly, his fingers brushing my hips as he slowly gathers the fabric.
I almost whimper when he continues to talk. “Feels like I'm unwrapping a Christmas present right now.”
Oh, my Lord. I'm definitely lightheaded.
Breathe!
“I'm too dizzy to think of a reply,” I admit, my legs shaking. My God, if he can do this to me with just a brush of his fingers, some hot words whispered in my ear, he's going to absolutely destroy me when he finally gives in.
He growls, nipping at my ear, unleashing a wave of heat in my blood when he pairs that hot nip with his thumb skimming over my navel.
“Fuck, Liberty, you're so sexy, I'm dying to put my mouth all over you.”
“We could...”
He chuckles, tracing his tongue along the pulse point below my ear. “I love teasing you,” he rasps. “You're going to shatter in my arms when I finally have my way with you.”
“Yes, I will.”
His hands move higher, but not enough contact. I want to press my breasts into his palms, but he moves to fast.
With a gentle kiss on my cheek, he guides the fabric higher, completely off, over my head. My hair falls free, brushing my shoulders, giving my skin goosebumps.
“Gorgeous,” he murmurs, his tone raspy.
A tiny moan slips from me.
“In the water,” he orders, chest pressed against my shoulder blades.
“So bossy,” I tease.
“You good with that?”
I move to the edge of the pool, stepping down into the warm water using the wide stairs. “I'm good with everything that has to do with you.”
He doesn't answer, just slices into the water like a missile, diving into the nine-foot-deep end of the pool.
It's impossible to look away as he swims underwater toward me.
He surfaces in the shallow end, water sluicing off shoulders that defy logic.
His eyes track up my body slowly, and I watch his throat work as he swallows.
“You coming in?” His voice sounds strangled. “Or do I need to come get you? Because I will.”
“I'm sure you would.”
By the time I'm waist-deep, Spence looks like he's in actual pain.
“Water nice?” I ask sweetly.
“Yep.”
“You seem tense.”
He grumbles, “Can't imagine why.”
I wade toward him, and he tracks my approach.
My eyes feast on his bare shoulders and chest. And he is a meal.
I saw him without his shirt once before, but this is DIFFERENT.
We're alone for the first time, and I know within the next two days all that hot, hard skin will be pressed against mine.
There's an entire cotton sweater stuck in my throat.
“We're just swimming. Two adults. Enjoying the facilities,” I say, leaning back into the water, gliding my arms back and forth.
I'm close enough now to see water droplets clinging to his skin, sluicing over his tattoos.
“Very innocent,” I add. Only nothing about this man feels innocent. Not from the moment I got into his truck, and definitely not now with only water and thin scraps of fabric between us.
“There is nothing innocent about you in that bikini.”
I lie on my back, letting my peaked nipples behind the red fabric peek above the water. “I almost didn't bring it.”
“Jesus Christ.” He runs a hand through his wet hair. “You're killing me.”
“I could get out—”
“Don't you dare.”
I laugh, diving under the water and swimming away from him. When I surface, he's watching me with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
“Race you to the other end?” I challenge.
“You remember I’m professionally trained in the water, sweetheart. You sure you want to lose that badly?”
“Maybe I enjoy watching you move.”
His eyes flash, and then he's cutting through the water toward me. Long. Lean. Powerful beyond words.
My womb literally contracts.
I shriek and swim for the far end, but he catches me easily, his hands circling my waist, just like he did on the ladder.
Big, strong, capable hands.
“Gotcha,” he says huskily.
And I have to agree. He does have me. In every way.
I'm breathless, laughing, acutely aware of how his hold spans my bare skin. “That was cheating.”
His eyes spark as we tread water, legs brushing against one another. “You had fair warning.”