Chapter 19 #2
“Maybe,” she said, her arms braced on his shoulders and her hands in his hair. She kept running her fingers through it, letting the strands slide through them. The touch sent waves of pleasure through him.
She liked to tease him and this wasn’t the first time she’d done it. Unable to wait any longer, he undid her pants and yanked them down her legs, pushing his hand into her panties and cupping her butt as she nudged her center with the tip of his erection.
Moving against him, almost as if she was caressing him with her entire body, he realized she was working her pants down her legs. Sitting up, he pushed them off for her, then she hopped to her feet and pushed her underwear down too.
He fell back on the couch. She shifted her hips from one side to the other. “This is me.”
All he wanted was Cora. Every bit of her. Her nervy confidence, sense of fun, and those long legs wrapped around him.
She held her arms out to her side so he could admire each curve of her body, which he very much did, and then she was straddling him again.
She grasped his cock in her hands and ran her finger around the tip until a bit of moisture appeared.
She smeared it down the side of his shaft as she shifted around, positioning it at the entrance of her body.
He grabbed her hips and held her steady as he thrust up into her. She was so tight. So hot. He had to clench his teeth to stop himself from coming the moment he entered her.
She took him all the way inside her, her hands on his thighs as she rode him, the way she had in her kitchen when they’d been dry humping.
This was so much more. So much hotter. He couldn’t have predicted how perfectly she would fit around him nor how deeply she would take him.
But watching her enjoyment gave him the strength to hold on, to make it last. Watching her face as she took him into and out of her body was something he knew he would never forget for as long as he lived.
He wanted her to climax before he did. He wanted this to be the beginning not the end of the night.
He parted her with his fingers, finding her clit and rubbing it while her own hand was pinching her nipple.
He pulled her down to him so he could taste her passion, their lips meeting and her tongue sliding over his until she gasped, her muscles clenching in waves around his dick.
It took all his self-control to keep from coming. She rode him until she collapsed against his chest, her pussy still throbbing around him. Her exhalations stirred the hair on his chest, and he stroked his hand down her back to give her a moment to recover before he rolled her underneath him.
Pushing her legs up toward her chest and linking their fingers together, he started thrusting into her with a steady rhythm, building the tension all over again.
She licked her lips as she arched underneath him, her nipples rubbing against his chest until he felt sensations spreading down his spine.
She cupped his butt and pulled him harder into her as she made little mewling noises.
He rocked harder and harder until stars burst behind his eyes.
She whispered into his ear. “Fuck me harder. Don’t leave me hanging.”
He continued driving into her, milking his own orgasm until he felt her shudder underneath him, her body clenching around his again.
They both rocked until they were empty. He braced his weight on his arms and laid his head on her breasts.
One of her hands was in his hair, the other lightly stroking his side.
“Finally.”
He laughed against her breast. “What’s that supposed to mean?
“I just wondered if I’d ever know what it felt like to have you on top of me like this. It’s good.”
“Good? Is that all?”
“More than good. Amazing.”
Rolling to his side, he kept her tucked against him. He was able to snag the blanket off the back of the couch and draw it over them both. Gazing down at her, he noticed she was relaxed, smiling. There was no hint of anything in her expression other than contentment.
He searched his own emotions, realizing it was the same for him. At long last, he wasn’t worried about the Naughty List, finding a wife or Lumen levels, though as soon as that thought entered his head they stirred.
He shoved those thoughts away. This hadn’t solved any of the problems he was facing, but he didn’t care about that right now. He’d had a glimpse into the woman that Cora Quill was.
Tonight was about him and Cora. He couldn’t let the fate of the Yearweave or even Christmas play into it.
If he was going to find a way to convince Cora to take a chance on him—to marry him—it had to be for them.
It had to be because they belonged together.
That the two of them with each other would make Christmas and, by extension, the entire world, a better place.
The kind of place where Gold Lumen dominated and happiness and good deeds drove actions.
Everything seemed clearer with Cora by his side. And he wanted more. “So you’ll do just about anything to get out of watching a Christmas movie, I see.”
“Not true. You were sitting next to me pushing out the pheromones. If anything, I’d wager you didn’t want to watch it.”
“So it’s my fault?”
“That’s my story,” she said. “And I’m sticking with it.”
He hugged her close to his chest so she wouldn’t be able to read the emotion in his eyes. Most people around him treated him like he was the boss of everything—the king of his realm, which, technically, he was. But not Cora.
And he liked it. He liked her.
He began to wriggle himself and Cora to the edge of the sofa and stood up, lifting her into his arms. Startled, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you to my bed.”
He carried her through the short hallway to his bedroom, and when he set her down, she immediately started exploring.
Nick leaned back against the door, watching her with quiet amusement.
He didn’t bring many people into his private space.
Part of him wasn’t sure what he expected from her.
She moved through his room with curiosity, touching things as if the space might reveal secrets.
She ran her finger over the motifs carved into the side of his dresser.
Interlocking snowflakes and stars—work done by elves centuries ago.
It was a piece that had graced the rooms of every Santa Claus since the original Nichoals Bari.
Time and tradition he thought. It always surrounded him, making it impossible to separate duty and responsibility from his life.
Then she picked up one of the books he had stacked on a side table.
“You read middle grade fantasy?” she asked, flipping it over to examine the cover.
“I do,” he said. “Quality control.”
Her eyebrow lifted.
He shrugged.
He tried to stay current with all the books that ended up on wish lists this time of year.
She set the book down and moved on to the vanity tray that Ana had made for him.
She’d painted a scene from the workshop when their father had been working at his bench.
Nick felt a familiar warmth looking at it.
“You have an artist in the family?” she asked.
“Several.”
She leaned closer, studying the tiny details. The tray had three individual areas on it, and Nick kept the ring he used on Christmas Eve in one of them.
Her hand hovered over it.
Nick’s breath caught.
The ring was imbued with Gold Lumen to make it easy for him to jump back and forth between rooftops and portal back to the workshop when the sleigh was empty and he needed to reload.
That ring was a big part of how he made those deliveries all in one night.
With it he could manipulate time, always returning to the mortal realm by 10 pm local time.
Without it, delivering every gift in one night would be impossible.
“This ring is heavy. I can see why you don’t wear it all the time,” she said. “Is it old?”
“Yes. It’s got the Bari seal on it. I inherited it when I took over Bari Toys.”
“Like the tattoo that marks the line of succession. Nice.”
Moving away from the dresser she crossed over the handwoven rug that was under his sleigh bed.
Thick and woven with the same motifs used in the Yearweave, it was soft underfoot.
He realized she was headed toward the Yuleglass in the corner.
To her it would seem like any other full-length mirror, but the moment she thought of a mortal, she’d get a glimpse of what they were doing.
The Gold Lumen in the Yuleglass wasn’t coded to him.
Anyone could peek into the mortal realm from here, which was why he kept it in his bedroom.
He rushed to her side, consciously clearing his mind so he didn’t think of a single person. The last thing he wanted was to have explain at this moment that he was actually Santa Claus.
But when? When was he going to explain it to her? Because if she was the one, then sooner would be better than later…