Tic-Tac-Mistletoe - N.R. Walker Page 0,56

He got up and walked over to where I’d stopped, thinking I’d done something wrong. He smirked and pointed upward, to the mistletoe. “Rules are rules.”

I laughed and he planted a kiss on my lips, careful not to touch the tray between us. “I like this rule.”

We cleared away the table and I washed up while Ren dried. “Hope you didn’t mind me putting you on wash-up duty with me,” I said.

“Not at all,” he replied. “It’s the least we could do, really.”

He put the last plate on the counter while I wiped down the sink, and when I was done, he handed me the tea towel to dry my hands. Then he took it from me, real slow like, and stepped in closer, pushing me gently back against the sink. “This okay?” he murmured against my lips.

I could barely nod. Sure, he’d kissed me before, but he’d never pressed himself against me like this. My heart was in my throat, every nerve ending was alight. He felt so good against me, every part of him, his body, his strength, his warmth . . . his kiss.

My God, this man could kiss.

And this was no PG-rated kiss. It was open mouths, tongues, and hands, deep and consuming.

I’d been kissed a lot, but I’d never ever been kissed like that.

My eyes rolled back in my head; my knees went weak. I would have fallen over if he wasn’t pressing me against the counter. When he broke the kiss, I was left breathless and wanting, drunk on him, his touch, his taste.

His lips were wet and red, his cheeks were pink, and his eyes were a sparkling blue. And he was looking at me with wonder and desire . . . I was certain I was looking at him much the same. But dammit, this man was truly something.

“Merry Christmas to me,” I whispered.

Ren chuckled, warm and throaty. “And me.” He sighed contentedly. “Should we offer to serve dessert?”

I gave a nod. “Yeah. Unless you just want to skip to the sharing-a-bed part.”

Ren barked out a laugh and took a step back, his eyes bright with promise. “Dessert first.”

I nodded, not even disappointed. We were sharing a bed later, after all. Now was the time to be with Liv and Josh, eat far too much sugar, and watch the sappiest Christmas movie we could find.

Which is exactly what we did.

We sat on the couches, me with Ren, Liv with Josh, and plates of pavlova and ice cream on our laps, and we watched Liv’s choice of It’s a Beautiful Life. We had eggnog and more Christmas cookies when the film was nearly over, and sitting all cosy with Ren, in my sister’s living room, all toasty and warm while snow fell outside was a feeling I couldn’t have dreamt of.

But Liv yawned, and after another hug, she and Josh went to bed. I was pretty sure she was giving Ren and me some alone time. Her subtlety could use some work, not gonna lie. Ren took Chutney out for one last bathroom break and he came back in, cheeks flush and a dusting of snow on his hair. He was grinning though, and by the time I’d washed up our dessert plates and cups, Ren had Chutney’s shoes and coat off.

And there was only one thing left to do.

“So,” I began, trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. “One bed, huh?”

Ren nodded slowly. “I can take the couch if you’d prefer.”

“I would not prefer that,” I said quickly. “At all.” Then I wondered if he wasn’t too keen on the idea. “Hey, um, if it’s . . . we, uh, we don’t have to do anything. That’s not . . . I’m okay with just sleeping. There’s no pressure on either of us to do anything we’re not comfortable with.”

He swiped his thumb across my cheek, then scratched my beard a little. “No pressure at all. And I don’t think some things would be appropriate,” he whispered. “Given we’re guests in your sister’s house and all. But there are some things we could do . . . going straight to sleep is one of them.”

“We could,” I hedged. “Orrrrrr perhaps we could take the mistletoe down from the kitchen doorway and stick it to the headboard?”

Ren’s grin was heart-stopping. “Then it would be a rule, right? We’d have to make out in bed.”

“Exactly.”

“And if that leads to something else . . . ?”

“Well, I do believe in equal