friends today. I’m not going to lie to you, Kathryn. I’m feeling pretty damn pleased with myself right now. Christmas came early.”
He was such a goofball. I loved how much this all mattered to him. I loved the effort he put in and the genuine worry he had that things wouldn’t work out. It showed me how important I was in his life.
“Miriam thinks we’re a good fit for each other,” I said.
“Because she’s a smart woman.”
I turned the element under the kettle off.
Ethan arched an eyebrow. “I said I did want tea. What are you doing?”
I moved around the kitchen island to stand behind him and massage his shoulders. “I decided I wanted something else instead.”
He reached up and closed his hands over mine. He guided them down and I wrapped my arms around his chest so I could press my cheek to his. “And what might that be?” he asked.
I kissed his neck, his ear, his jaw. “You. In the bedroom. Now.”
Ethan tightened his grip on my arms as he slid off the stool to keep me in place. A giggle and a shriek left me when he crouched, grabbed me behind the knees, and hoisted me onto his back. He piggybacked me out of the kitchen and leaned toward the light switch so I could flick it off. We made our wayward procession down the hall toward the bedroom, where he spun his back to the bed and promptly threw me off of him.
I landed in the middle of the mattress, all breathless giggles and laughter, and he started to strip as he turned back around.
I began working to remove my clothes. My sparkly Christmas shirt came off first, followed by my black pants and undershirt. I lay on the bed before him in a matching lingerie set. I felt sexy in the red lace and stretched my arms over my head and arched my back.
Ethan shed the rest of his clothes and ran a hand up my ankle, over my calf, and up my thigh. I shivered as he nudged my panties aside with one hand and squeezed my hip with the other. I loved to feel his strength as he rubbed my pussy in slow circles.
I’d been dreaming about this touch all night. Even at the dinner table when I knew I shouldn’t be thinking of such things, I’d been fantasizing about this moment, about revealing my lingerie and seeing this very look in his eyes. A look of lust and love.
A look I hoped to see for the rest of my life.
I reached across to one side to open his nightstand drawer. I retrieved a condom and showed it to him. He took it from me and rolled it on. I pulled him down to me. He braced himself on his elbows as we kissed like our souls could become one entity if we tried hard enough.
The rest of the world melted away. All there was in my life was Ethan. He was all I could touch, see, smell, taste, and hear. Every inch of my body craved him. I ran my fingers down his back and pressed my nails in hard enough to silently tell him what I needed.
Ethan settled between my thighs, dropped his hips, and answered my call.
I gasped as he stretched me.
He shuddered above me and I clung to his forearms as he rocked inside me. He ran a hand over my head, smoothing my hair back and holding me in place so he could smother me in kisses. Soon it became hard for me to return them. I was breathless. The craving was being satiated and my insides were tightening around him. My release was just around the corner. Every nerve ending sang with the promise of exquisite euphoria.
I raked my fingers through his hair.
“Please,” I whimpered.
He fucked me harder. Deeper.
I moaned, he growled, and suddenly everything caught fire. The air in my lungs burned hot as I came. My toes curled and my spine arched and everything I knew burned away into nothing. Ethan ground against me as his climax followed. I held him close and kissed him fiercely and begged him to come for me.
He did.
When we were done, we lay curled up together. He gently removed my lingerie and pulled me up against him. We shared the warmth of our naked bodies, and as I lay there in his arms, I wondered what the morning would bring.
“I’ve never looked forward to Christmas morning before,” I whispered.
He