Tic-Tac-Mistletoe - N.R. Walker Page 0,67

pulled at his lips. “You’re sure?”

She all but rolled her eyes. “Ren, my sweet boy. This is a one-time offer.”

He put his hands up. “Okay, okay.”

I laughed and handed Chutney back to Ren. “I’ll see you at your place.”

“You drove your new car up?”

“I did! Very slowly, and I screamed and panicked more than I’d care to admit, but I did.”

He planted a smiley kiss on my lips. “I’ll follow you.”

“Hope your truck likes second gear.” He laughed but I wasn’t kidding. I turned to Mrs Barton. “It was very nice to meet you.”

She gave me that grandmotherly smile and threatened Ren to bring me over for dinner one night before all but ushering us away.

I drove out of town and Ren’s truck was soon behind me. I could see him smiling in my rear vision mirror and I tried not to get too excited . . . The last thing I wanted to do was run off the road again. But my belly was in knots by the time I pulled up at his house. I grabbed my bag and Ren and Chutney met me on the porch. “Nice car,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Ren was still grinning when he unlocked the door, and I only got as far as putting my bag down by the couch when he was on me. His hands cupped my face, his lips found mine, and he pushed me against the back of the couch as he pushed his tongue into my mouth.

Oh, hell fucking yes . . .

I could feel how hard he was already. I could feel the emotions in his touch, in his kiss.

And then he stopped, as if he’d just realised what he’d done. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to attack you,” he mumbled, heavy-lidded and swollen lipped. “I know we said we’d take it slow.”

I licked the corner of my mouth, my breath was ragged, and every part of me was aching with need. I picked up my bag and took his hand, leading him to the room I’d stayed in. The bed was remade and I upended my bag, the contents spilling onto the covers. Noticeably there was a box of condoms and a large tube of lube. “I thought I’d be prepared, given slow has many variables.”

He laughed, low and rumbly, so I pulled him by his shirt so I could kiss him again, and he laid me down on that bed and made short, short work of me. Before long, he was on top of me, inside me, thrusting deep and sure, kissing me, holding me. I felt every shudder of his restraint, every murmur of lips at my throat, my ear. Every pulse, every heartbeat. I felt it all.

He made love to me until every inch of me was wrung out, adored, and boneless. He was tender and gentle and so very thorough. He was everything I knew he would be, and more.

“I never want to leave,” I mumbled some hours later. We hadn’t moved from the bed, or were unable to move was more like it. We’d probably need to think about food at some point, and maybe some water. But God, his arms, his body against mine, his mouth . . .

“Then don’t leave,” he replied. “After New Year’s, stay here. Don’t go back to Mossley. Don’t find your own place. Stay here with me and Chutney.”

I lifted my head up so I could see his face. He was dead serious.

“This house felt empty without you,” he added softly. “And now you’re here again . . . we could have this.” He gestured to us both. “We could have this all the time.”

“Ren . . .”

“I know it’s more complicated than that,” he said, more conviction in his voice now, like he knew what he was saying was the truth. “But what we have is special. When I saw you in my store today, I knew . . .”

“You knew what?”

“That I want to make this work. That I need you in my life. That I’m falling in love with you.”

I gasped. My heart skidded to a stop in my chest. “Ren . . .”

He rolled on top of me, his body a delicious weight on mine, and kissed me softly. “I think I knew that the day I met you.”

I put my hand to his cheek and scanned the depths of blue in his eyes. “I think I knew too. Well, I questioned my sanity on the matter, but there were definite moments of clarity.”

He