Never Christmas Without You Page 8

  She attempted to tug him up by yanking on his hair, drawing him closer to her. “Justin, please, I need you. I can’t—”

  He kissed a path up her body again, pausing momentarily at her breasts. Then he positioned his cock at her entrance. With one stroke, he slid into her to the hilt. She cried out as he groaned.

  “You are so tight.” He withdrew an inch and reseated himself inside her. “And you feel so good.”

  Ecstasy and white-hot bliss exploded in his body. He buried his face in Alex’s neck as he struggled to conquer the blistering need to claim her hard and quick. She felt like heaven. Soft, silken heaven wrapped around his cock. At that moment, a hundred armed men could have come charging through the door and he would have been powerless to leave her.

  “Justin, I need to come. Please make me come.” She dug her nails into his back again.

  Through clenched teeth, he muttered, “Shit, Alex. Stop that. Otherwise, we won’t be here for long.”

  She placed an openmouthed kiss on his shoulder. “I don’t want to stop. I want you hard and fast, Justin. I’m not some delicate flower. I need this.” Her hands slid to his ass, massaged the bunched muscles, then drew his hips forward and tucked him farther inside her.

  That was the moment his body snatched control from his brain. He drove into her with enough power to make her gasp. No matter what happened, he was never leaving Alex Winters if he could help it.

  * * *

  Alex arched her back under Justin as his cock stretched her. As he slid into her again, he rubbed against her G-spot, and she moaned. He felt so good. His cock sliding in and out of her was what she needed. What she’d been craving since she’d first met him.

  With a growl, he shifted their position so she sat astride him and he stared up at her under hooded eyes. “Ride me, baby. It’s your show.”

  And she did. Rising over him again and again, she took what she needed. He clamped his hands on her hips and held on, digging his fingers into her flesh.

  As he drove into her with thrust after thrust, he stared up at her, eyes adoring, full of lust and...something else she couldn’t quite place. Unable to take the intimacy, she closed her eyes, wanting to focus only on the sensations, how he touched her, how the desire and need unfurled within her. But Justin had other plans.

  With his thumb and forefinger, he took hold of her chin. “Look at me, Alex.”

  She stubbornly refused to open her eyes. And he immediately stopped thrusting. She snapped her eyes open. “Justin!”

  “I asked you to look at me.”

  Heat flushed her face. “I... It’s too much.”

  He shook his head and started moving inside her again. “No. It’s perfect.” After pulling her close and levering himself up so they were in a more seated position, he kissed her slow and deep, brooking no argument from her. When he pulled back from the kiss, he resumed the deep thrusts into her. Gently this time, as if they had all the time in the world. “I want you to be well aware of who’s inside you. Who’s making you feel this.”

  Pleasure rode her spine, urging her to go faster, and she rocked against him.

  Justin pumped inside her again. Capturing her nipple, he pinched gently, and her inner walls quickened.

  He repeated the motion. Harder this time. She groaned as bliss chased the initial sting of pain.

  “You like that?” His brown eyes settled on her.

  She nodded. “Y-yes.”

  He repeated it, and she tossed her head back. “Justin, please. I need—”

  With his other hand, he reached between them and stroked her clit.

  “Oh yes!” To allow him better access, she braced her arms behind her on his knees as she enjoyed his deft thumb and his hard strokes.

  Alex’s orgasm crashed into her so fast she lost her balance on his knees and fell back. Shocks rippled through her body, and she groaned.

  With a muffled curse, Justin grabbed her hips and held tight as he increased his pace. With three more thrusts, he jerked and threw his whole body back. Inside her, his dick twitched and she knew he was coming.

  Unable to move on her own, she allowed him to pull her close. He kissed her temple and her forehead and her cheeks before settling the discarded blanket around them. She made to get up, and he stilled her.

  “No. Not yet. I want to hold you for a minute.”

  As sleep snuck in like a thief on her consciousness, Alex prayed she would never have to leave his arms.

  Chapter 14

  “You all right? You’re not feeling seasick at all? The water is choppier than yesterday,” Justin asked as the boat led them around the island. Why had he avoided coming home for so long? He loved this place. Because it hurt too much to come home. Except, it didn’t hurt now to be here with Alex. He didn’t feel so alone.

  “I’m fine. You worry too much.”

  “Well, I wasn’t exactly worried about you. I was trying to find out what my chances were of getting laid.” He winked at her before pulling her in for a quick kiss.

  “Justin Morrison. Your family is on this boat. You realize that, right?”

  He nuzzled her neck. She tasted so good right here. Okay, maybe she tasted that good all over. He had, after all, kissed every inch of her skin. He knew every cranny, every button to push. He knew her body almost as well as his own. He knew what would make her arch her back, would make her sigh, what would make her stick her hands into his hair and tug. He liked the tugging part. How are you ever going to not touch her again?

  As he nuzzled, she sighed, and he smiled against her skin, his hand sneaking under her long-sleeved T-shirt, and his fingers played with the soft skin at the small of her back. He loved that spot. He wanted to lick it. And kiss it and bite it.

  With a frustrated growl, he drew back. She was right, his family was on the boat. Last thing Grandma Lucy needed was to walk in on him making love to Alex against the railing. Although, sex on the deck of this boat was one of his fantasies.

  “Behave yourself,” she said.

  He put up three fingers in scout’s honor. And then as she giggled, he nipped at her neck again. “Okay. I promise. That was the last one.”

  She laughed. “Somehow, I don’t think I should believe you.”

  He did it again, this time sucking hard on the flesh of her neck, tucking his hands over her ass and pulling her hips against him, so that she could feel every inch of the erection pulsing against his jeans. “You know that I would, right? Have you right here? If it wasn’t for my family walking around? I want to enjoy every minute with you.” The unspoken words hung between them. Until this is over.

  “Justin.” But even as she admonished him, she moaned. She was so damned responsive, and he loved every second of it. The truth was, he didn’t want to let her go. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to find a way to keep her. He could find a way not to screw it up with her, right?

  “Hey you, behave. I have to give you your Christmas present.”

  Justin grinned. “I thought my Christmas present was that thing you did with your tongue this morning. Seriously, I’m going to work really hard at not thinking about where you learned that.”

  Alex rolled her eyes. “No. That wasn’t it.”

  He backed off and set her away from him. “Okay, what’s my present? Yours is waiting back at the house. But I must tell you I love presents.”

  “I know you do.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a long envelope and then grinned at him before handing it over.

  He cocked his head as he took the envelope from her and shook it.

  “You’re supposed to open it, silly.”

  “Yeah, but if you handed me a box, I would certainly shake it and trying guessing. This one I can’t guess. Too small for a painting.”

  “That’s
because I broke protocol and decided to get you something different. Something else you’ll love.”

  The little niggling voice in the back of his mind offered up As much as I love you? Where had that come from? He did love her. Of course. This wasn’t like that kind of love. Was it? Would you know if it was? Would she be immune to his track record? Although his conversation with his grandmother the other day went through his mind.

  All these years, he’d thought that his father didn’t love him. That his father didn’t understand. That his father had seen how messed up he was, that his father hadn’t believed in him. That he himself was in some way flawed. And now he realized that might not necessarily have been true. So maybe he and Alex could make a real go of it.

  “Come on. Open it. Don’t stand there.”

  He realized he was staring at her. Way to not be totally whipped. With a flourish, he tore open the top of the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. His eyes scanned them quickly, trying to comprehend what he was seeing, and then he lifted his gaze to hers. “Seriously, you’re sending me race-car driving?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m sending us race-car driving. Formula One, the whole thing. In Vegas. This time I wanted to get you a present present. Normally I give you paintings because, well, it feels like I’m giving myself a piece of you. But this time I figured I’d give us an experience. I mean, this whole place is an experience and us, uh, everything, it’s different. So I thought time to change things up for your present.”

  He laughed and then wrapped his arms around her before picking her up and twirling her around. “It’s awesome. I love it. You better get ready because I’m so going to kick your ass.”

  “And of course neither one of us can resist a competition.” She squeezed him back tight. “You should probably understand that you’re going to lose. You know how competitive I am.”

  “I’m not letting you win this time.”

  She pushed back from him, but he held her closer still. “You never let me win. I always win fair and square.”

  She did. But he wasn’t conceding. “If you say so.”

  She smacked him on the arm. “And just when I was going to say thank you for everything you did for me at the gallery. Cassie let me know about you chewing out the delivery truck guy and threatening his business, all in my name.”

  Someone should’ve done that for her before. Anyone. He shouldn’t have been the first. He shrugged. “You deserve it. And I—” Whoa, had he almost just told her he loved her? “Being here with you reminds me what I’ve always loved about this place. Reminds me of how much I miss it. Because of you I could come back, face this place.”

  “You have a beautiful home,” she said.

  “Seriously, though, no one’s ever done something like this for me. With Grandma and everything.”

  “I love Grandma Lucy. She’s amazing. I can almost make a decent meal now. The woman is magic.” She shifted in his arms. “So how are you going to break everything to her?”

  Yeah, it was inevitable. They needed to tell her. Or rather he needed to tell her. He wanted to get her out of the woods first. “I think in a few weeks after things calm down with her. After she sees the doctor again. I’ll tell her that we split up, but we’re still great friends. And that’ll be the truth.” Except you want more. And in that moment, he knew that was his truth. He wanted so much more with Alex. But knowing how she was about emotions, understanding that she wasn’t one to bear her soul, he kept that piece to himself.

  “There you two love birds are.”

  They both jumped as Justin glowered at his cousin. How long had he been there? Had he heard anything? “Martin, what do you want?”

  “Just came to tell you we’re all heading belowdecks to eat. Wanted to see if your pretty girlfriend cared to sit next to me and have a decent conversation, for once.”

  Alex glowered at Martin. “Okay, Martin, this has been a lovely Christmas so far. Let’s not ruin it by me having to tell you all about yourself, okay?”

  Martin’s face flushed and Justin barked out a laugh. “What can I say, my girl’s got a sharp tongue.”

  When Martin left, Alex winced. “Sorry about that. He’s getting on my nerves. He’s such an ass and I couldn’t take it anymore.”

  “You don’t ever have to apologize for sticking up for me.” What he kept to himself was that she’d sealed their fate. Because in that moment, he’d fallen in love with her.

  Chapter 15

  This is going to hurt. Though, just like that wiggly tooth from when she was six, she couldn’t help but play with it. Play with him. This morning Justin had been all cuddles and nuzzles and woken her up with the most delicious—Well, never mind. Either way, she knew the pain that was coming for her. But she couldn’t seem to make herself stop.

  When she finally escaped out of the house, she told herself that she was going to get some fresh air, head into work for a little bit and give the whole situation some thought. It wasn’t like her to get emotional about things. She could find a way to shut off that feeling piece of her heart, couldn’t she?

  “Hey, you headed to the ferry?” Martin yelled.

  Alex groaned. She’d wanted to get in and out, without anyone seeing her. She had to look at a couple of things at the gallery for placement and take care of a few other last finishing touches. Not that Cassie couldn’t handle it, but it was always better if she did it herself. She turned with a forced smile. “Hi, Martin. Just headed to the ferry to LA real quick.”

  “Me, too.”

  It was clearly a self-invitation. “Okay, I guess.”

  Thankfully, Martin was mostly quiet on the walk down the path that led to the main road to the ferry. He offered to carry her bag, but she declined. Maybe it was petty, for the way he’d been treating Justin all week, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want his help.

  “You have fun this week?”

  “Yeah, it’s been great. I can’t believe it’s taken this long for Justin to come home, and I’m so glad he brought me with him.”

  Martin stopped short, his hand on her forearm. “Come on, you can drop the act with me. I know that there’s no way in hell you would actually be with my cousin. A girl like you? You have marriage material written all over you.”

  She wasn’t sure what to do. This, this was why she didn’t lie. But she forced another smile that probably looked more like a gritting of teeth and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Justin and I’ve been together for a long time.”

  “Look, I heard you out on the boat. There’s no use pretending. You realize Justin doesn’t have access to any of the Morrison funds? So if that’s your plan—pretend to be his girlfriend, he’ll pay you with Morrison funds—then that’s bullshit. He doesn’t have any.”

  She knew what she should do. She knew she should stick to the script. But, thankfully, she didn’t always do what she was supposed to. “Why do you hate him so much? You got what you wanted. You have the Morrison Hotels. Have you ever stopped to think that this is not what Justin wanted? Not what he really wanted anyway?”

  “What do you know about it?”

  “I know he doesn’t need the Morrison Hotels. Justin’s hotel is doing amazing. It’s fully booked through the next six months, and he’s considering building another one just to cover overflow. He’s getting noticed. The hotel was mentioned in Boutique Hotels magazine two months ago. He’s new and edgy, and if you didn’t hate him so much, you’d be able to see that. You being a jerk to him does nothing for you. He’s still a success. I know you can’t stand it, but that’s your problem, not his.”

  “Oh, kitty’s got claws. How do you think Grandma Lucy will take it when I go back and I spill the beans? The stress level could really kill the old bird.”

  “Martin, you are a horrible person. You would put your grandmother�
��s health in jeopardy just to prove something about Justin?”

  “I wouldn’t want to but she deserves to know her favorite grandson is lying to her.”

  Alex shrugged. “She also deserves to know her other grandson is a total ass. Not kind, not gracious. How do you think that will play out for you?”

  He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Justin doesn’t have her undying love and faith anymore.”

  “I swear, if you do anything that would hurt that lady—”

  He started walking again. She had no choice but to follow, because like it or not, she wasn’t going to miss the ferry and be stuck with Martin. “Look, I don’t want Grandma back in the hospital any more than Justin does. You may not think so, but she does have other grandchildren who love her.”

  “You have a funny way of showing it.”

  “I’m not the one who lied to her.”

  The heat of shame flowed through her. He was right. She was a liar. And so was Justin, unfortunately. This was supposed to be harmless. Just go for the holiday, help boost her spirits, but that had become something else. And now Grandma Lucy would be the one hurt by the whole thing. “What is it you want?”

  “It’s simple, really. When you go to LA, just don’t come back. I’ll send your stuff on, or even better, Justin will bring it back when he comes home. You can tell him whatever. That you had to stay, that there was an emergency, but stop with this nonsense. You’re only hurting my grandmother.”

  More shame flowed through her. He was right. The only person who’d be hurt would be Grandma Lucy in the end. Don’t forget about yourself. “You’re not running me off.”

  “Fine. Don’t see it as me running you off—see it as me looking out for my grandmother. And you. I know what he’s like. He’s going to dump you.”

  “You realize I love him, right? Every time you say something bad to me, it makes me want to hurt you.”

  Martin grinned and hung back as she walked ahead. “Yes, maybe, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”