Chapter 12
Dale
We stood on the wide, center walkway with dozens of other guests in front of the main attraction. A forty-foot pine tree that doubled as the Winter Wonderland greeter.
Someone had a microphone and was making a pretty, Christmas-y speech, but I couldn’t focus. All my awareness was on Aspen. All because of our afternoon conversation.
Aspen leaned toward me. “If we’re dating, does that mean I get to hold your hand?”
I grinned beneath my scarf, which was wrapped over my mouth. It was that cold. “Sure.” Then, not sure if he heard me correctly, I held out my mittened hand to him. He clasped it in his own thickly cover hand.
Electrical currents ran through me at that touch despite the knitted thickness between our palms.
I breathed in the cold air, but everything felt warm. That’s what Aspen did for me. Heated me up from the inside out.
The manager finished his speech. “Light the tree,” he shouted.
The tree flickered. Suddenly it exploded with color. Rainbows lines chased each other over the curves of the pine. White lights like giant pieces of glitter blazed. Big silver ornaments reflected the light back on itself. It was blinding. And gorgeous.
Canned music began. It was Deck the Halls. Just then, large snowflakes began to fall slowly from the sky.
The crowd murmured. Some people shouted, “Merry Christmas!”
Aspen and I looked at each other. “That was totally worth it,” he said.
“It’s magical.”
“’Tis the season of miracles.”
I already had one. Aspen himself. His hand in mine.
The festivities moved to the warmth of the hotel’s main lobby. Music played. There was a small band on a stage. The bar was overflowing; the restaurant had a forty-five-minute wait.
We checked our parkas, scarves, caps and mittens with the bell-hop and put our name on the dinner list. Then we grabbed ciders from the bar and hung out by the indoor Christmas tree watching people laugh and dance.
“Do you dance?” I asked.
“Not since college,” he replied.
I held out my hand to him and bowed. “Come on.”
“How’s your back?”
“It’s just fine.” In truth, I had a little tenderness. Nothing to complain about.
Aspen didn’t hesitate to touch his fingers to mine. I led him a few feet away from the tree and we swayed. The music was upbeat, our hands dropped, and we bounced around for a while. I wasn’t great at it but for once in my life I didn’t care. What mattered was Aspen moving in front of me. Smiling.
The band played a slower tune. We froze, looked at each other, and I held out my arms. Aspen walked right into them.
I put my arms around his shoulders, lightly. At the same time, hands rested on either side of my waist. I tested my boundaries by pulling him a little closer. He went with it until our chests touched.
He was light on his feet as we swayed. His head came closer to mine until his hair almost touched my cheek. My body thrilled at the closeness. I wanted the song to never end.
I moved my palm down one shoulder to the center of his back. Touching him through his sweater at that spot began to arouse me. I held pure, sweet omega. I wanted to whirl him about the lobby and all the way back to the cabin.
When my phone buzzed in my back pocket, I ignored it. The song ended and I finally looked. I saw we’d been summoned early for our table in the restaurant. As hungry as I was, I couldn’t help but be disappointed.
“Our table’s ready. Thank you for the dance.” I bowed at Aspen.
He laughed. “Thank you.”
If I walked funny, it wasn’t because of my back. Not anymore.
With Christmas decorations gleaming in our eyes, we ate slowly, talking a lot about every subject we could think of.
On our walk back to the cabin, we held hands under frozen starlight.
Back in the cabin I built a fire. Before it, we toasted the holiday together with a fresh, cold bottle of wine. If miracles happened more this time of year, I couldn’t have asked for a better one: spending this season with my new dear friend, Aspen.
I’d bought caramel popcorn balls from the lodge store, and we ate those sitting on the floor on the rug in front of the fire.
It was Aspen who made the first move. He leaned in, palms on the rug, and gave me a peck on the lips, then sat back looking at me.
My hand went to my mouth to keep the feeling from dissipating. My eyes warmed. Hell, my entire body grew hot.
“That’s a thank you for our date. I loved it.”
“It’s still going on,” I reminded him.
His brown reindeer eyes sparkled.
I read that look. It was hard to realize we would be sleeping in the same bed, again tonight, and not anticipate other sorts of things.
Later, I took care getting ready for bed, making sure everything about me was fresh and clean and groomed. I noted that Aspen also took his time when it was his turn.
I pulled back the bedcovers and neatened everything up. Then hid the clean towel and lube I’d brought under the bed. I placed a condom like a mint on top. Just in case I got lucky.
It had been a long time. With no serious relationships under my belt, I didn’t want to start this one off too fast. I didn’t want to be that alpha who puffed up and thought he deserved everything just because an omega looked at him with starry eyes.
Yet, it seemed like that was exactly what I was doing.
I punched up the pillows. I pressed the wrinkles from the sheets. I laid out the fleece blanket so it would be easy to grab.
The fire happily popped and crackled with enough logs to keep it lively for a couple of hours.
I turned the lighting low but not off.
I couldn’t help but look up when Aspen came out of the bathroom. The tiny garland lights around the windows glittered behind him. He didn’t have on his usual heavy flannel pajamas. Instead, he wore blue boxers, and a thin, short college sweatshirt cut off at the sleeves. He was beautiful.
He came to his side of the bed and slid in, still sitting up. The shirt rode up, revealing his flat stomach.
I’d placed a pillow in the middle, one of our usual dividers. He stared at it, then picked it up and waved it about.
“Won’t this be in our way?”
“Will it? You have your side. I have mine.”
“Oh yeah?” His finger drew an invisible line from the pillows to about halfway down the mattress. “What happens if one of us crosses this line?”
“I don’t know.”
“Better to not find out, then,” he said.
“Oh, really?” I looked down and saw the indentation on the sheet still showed where his finger had drawn it. “Like, if I did this?” I tapped my own finger over the line.
“Hey! First warning.”
“How many warnings do I get?”
“Three.”
Again, I popped my finger over the line.
“That’s your second warning, mister.” He met my gaze, brows narrowed.
I made a face. “I’m sooo scared.”
“You should be. You’re right on the cliff now. You know that.”
My eyebrows rose. Among other things. I wanted this awesome omega under me right now.
I lurched forward and climbed over his legs without touching him. I crouched over him, looking down at his sweet face.
“What about now? Am I on the cliff now?”
He didn’t move a muscle. “You’re already falling.”
“I guess I am.” I leaned down and kissed him. Beneath my lips his mouth curved into a smile. I pulled back. “Are you going to catch me?”
Aspen raised his hand and placed it gently alongside my cheek. “I already have.”
I bent down and kissed him again. His other arm circled my waist. My body sank into his until we were touching chests, hips and crotches. An obvious hardness pressed my own erection.
We’d been on the same page since we met. Why be surprised we were on the same page about this?
Aspen spread his legs, and I knelt between them. His mouth opened to me. He tasted of mint and something deeper. Sweetness. Omega sweetness. Our tongues met and sharp zings of pleasure shot through me.
We broke apart, gasping.
“Hell. Damn,” Aspen whispered harshly.
“You’re the one who warned me not to cross the line,” I whispered back. “What are you doing?”
“Shit.” He reached between us and grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back down.
Our mouths crashed together. Tongues danced. My mind reeled. It was Christmas Eve. A night of magic. This was certainly magic, and then some.
Kissing was one of my favorite things to do. I could be patient. I enjoyed that intimacy. That foreplay. But Aspen was driving me nuts. He brought out all my alpha instincts. All of them. I wanted to grab, tear, spread, plunge. Rub my scent all over him. Take him. Breed him. Make him mine.
I pulled back again and said roughly, “You’re making me lose all my senses.”
“Good.”
“Just so you know.”
Aspen’s hands went between us again, up my shirt. He pressed them against my pecs, skin to skin, fingers moving as if to assess the muscles there. It nearly sent me into delirium.
He pulled hard, yanking my t-shirt up and toward my face.
I moved my arms so he could pull it straight off and toss it.
I rose up on my knees as his palms skimmed up and down my body from neck to waistband.
They were like warm silk on my skin. I had a little bit of hair above my pecs.
Except for a line of hair all the way down my middle to my cock, the rest of me was smooth.
His gaze followed his hands as he explored ribs, stomach, sides. He placed his hands on my hips and gripped the lose material of my boxers. Then tugged.
I moved up a little more and he slowly pulled them down.
I wasn’t shy. Not normally. But Aspen made my breath catch. I wanted everything to be right and perfect for him. I started to clench my muscles as the shorts went lower, catching my hard cock with them.
The waistband rubbed over my aching tip.
“Sorry,” Aspen murmured, catching the front and stretching it so my cock popped free. “Better?”
I couldn’t breathe. My cock jutted upward, a drop of wetness dripping down the head.
Aspen pushed my boxers all the way to my knees, forcing me to roll and take them the rest of the way off. I kicked them to the foot of the bed, then settled again on my knees between his legs.
His hands went to my hips as if to frame me for his perusal. His gaze on me had my balls drawing up heavy and tight, making my cock bounce.
“Thank you, Dale.”
“What?” My brain was no longer working.
“For letting me do that. You’re stunning.”
I tried to remember if anyone had called me stunning before. Nope. This was a first. Granted, I did try to keep in shape.
Aspen’s hands moved slowly behind me, caressing my ass, then came forward again.
“Can I touch?”
I didn’t know what would happen. I was more aroused than ever. I didn’t want to embarrass myself and come before we’d even started.
I gulped, looking at his rapt face. How could I say no?