Kissing Under The Mistletoe: The Sullivans (Contemporary Romance) (21 page)

“Angel.”

Mary looked up into the most beautiful face
she’d ever set eyes on.

“Jack, you’re here! I thought you had a
meeting with Allen.”

His smile as he drew her close was both warm
and filled with desire. “I couldn’t stay away a moment longer.”

He’d been the one to ask for a little more
private time together that morning, but despite the dozens of eager
and interested onlookers, how could she possibly keep from kissing
him?

Mary was just moving to wrap her arms around
his neck when a little girl pushed between them.

“Here are your candles for the ceremony.”

Soon
,
Mary reminded
herself as they moved apart to each take a candle from the girl,
she and Jack would be alone again and then she could kiss him to
her heart’s content with no interruptions.

As their candles were being lit, a young boy
walked onto the small stage beside the tree and began to carefully
recite a Christmas poem he’d written about Rudolph the reindeer and
Santa Claus. In the dark, Jack slid his hand into Mary’s and she
leaned into his warmth, loving how strong and steady he always was.
Just as the boy finished his poem, the Christmas tree came to
colorful, glittering life.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Mary said as she
squeezed Jack’s hand tighter.

“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he
agreed. But he wasn’t looking at the tree.

He only had eyes for her.

A children’s chorus began to sing “Hark! The
Herald Angels Sing,” and when Jack joined in, his voice ringing out
deep and true, Mary’s heart swelled with love.

“I haven’t enjoyed a Christmas celebration
that much since I was a child,” Mary said when they had finished
distributing the Pocket Planners to the crowd. Mary had explained
how the device worked to the mother, the businessman and the
student, and they’d all been thrilled to go home and play with
their unexpected gifts.

A short while ago she’d met Jack in this same
spot in Union Square, and he’d asked her to join him for pie and
ice cream. Now she was the one saying, “I happen to know a great
diner just around the corner from here. Want to join me for some of
the best pie you’ll ever have?”

Strangely, he gave her a slightly nervous
look that confused her. She’d never seen Jack anxious before. Was
he tired from the string of long days getting ready for the big
holiday launch? Or was there something else going on?

Before she could ask him if everything was
all right, he finally gave her one of his beautiful grins. “Great
idea. In fact,” he added as he took her hand and they began walking
toward the diner, “I think pie and ice cream at the diner should
always be part of our new post-Christmas-tree-lighting
tradition.”

Tradition.

Mary had thought she’d left tradition behind
when she left Italy. The idea of starting a new tradition with Jack
was at once terrifying…and wonderful. Because it meant that he
really did intend to keep loving her past this first Christmas,
when everything between them was so fresh and exciting.

She forgot all about his slightly strange
initial reaction as they chatted easily about their busy days while
they walked. They weren’t just lovers, they were friends, too. Best
friends who would do absolutely anything to make the other person
happy.

Despite being fairly empty, the diner was
cozy and warm. This time, they both sat on the same side of the
booth and shared a supersize slice of pie. Her night couldn’t get
any more perfect than this, sitting with the man she loved while he
fed her warm cherries coated in melting vanilla ice cream. They
simply enjoyed being with each other.

She knew her life wasn’t perfect, and there
were things she would always wish she could have done differently,
but for the first time in a very long time, she felt at peace.

“Mary—”

Something in Jack’s voice as he said her name
pulled her from her relaxed reverie. The note of anxiety she’d
sensed earlier was back.

“Jack? What is it?” She’d seen him look
intense before, but never
this
intense.

“I think we should go back to your place
now.”

He put a twenty-dollar bill down on the table
and pulled her to her feet, quickly bundling her up in her coat and
scarf. Moments later, they were out on the sidewalk, and he was all
but dragging her along the street in the direction of her
house.

Panic skittered down her spine. Just when
she’d finally let herself relax, had something gone wrong?

“Jack.” He was much bigger than she, but she
was strong enough to tug him to a stop. “Tell me what’s wrong.
Please just tell me.”

“I’m doing this all wrong.” He cursed once in
a low voice as he ran his free hand through his hair.

She shook her head in confusion. “What are
you doing wrong?”

Before she knew it, he’d dropped to one knee
in front of her.

Her mouth fell open. All the way open, in
fact, as she stared in shock at Jack kneeling before her.

“I was planning to surprise you with rose
petals and champagne and every other romantic thing I could think
of. But I just can’t wait another second to ask you to be my
wife.”

Mary’s head and heart were spinning round and
round so fast that she needed to make sure she’d heard him right.
“You want me to be your wife?”

“I know I don’t have much to give you, and
that you deserve absolutely everything. Riches. Beautiful gifts. I
can’t give you any of those things. Not yet, anyway. All I can give
you is my heart. And every last piece of my soul.”

He reached with a shaky hand into the inner
pocket of his blue blazer and pulled out a small black box wrapped
in velvet. When he flipped the lid open, she gasped at the sparkle
of diamonds in the light of the streetlamp above them.

“And this ring.”

Mary instantly recognized it as a classic
Italian engagement ring. One that symbolized love for all
eternity.

“Marry me, Angel, and make me the happiest
man in the world.”

“Yes.” The word flew out of her mouth before
she could think, before she could process anything more than how
much she loved him. She tugged him back to his feet so that she
could wrap her arms around him, the ring and box crushed between
them. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Their mouths met in a kiss so loving, so
sweet, so passionate that she could hardly believe all of this was
real. It had happened so fast, from meeting Jack to falling in love
with him, to being offered his heart and soul.

When they finally drew back from each other,
he took her left hand in his and slipped the gorgeous engagement
ring onto her fourth finger. Mary stared in wonder at it, thinking
just how much her mother would have loved this moment. If only she
could call her with the wonderful news…

But, suddenly, thinking of her mother brought
more than just a pang of longing for her estranged family. It also
brought Mary’s fears back to the forefront.

“I don’t—” She swallowed hard as she made
herself face Jack. “What if I don’t know how to be a wife? What if
I’m no good at being one half of a whole? I’ve only ever been on my
own as an adult.”

“So have I,” he said in a soft voice, “but
that’s just because I was waiting to kiss the prettiest girl in the
world under the mistletoe. Whatever we have to learn, we’ll learn
together.”

Easy. He made it sound so easy. And because
she badly wanted to believe that it would be, she echoed his, “I
was waiting for you, too.”

* * *

Mary and Jack stopped to kiss at every
corner, so the walk back to her house took twice as long as it
otherwise would have. By the time they made it to her front door,
she was more than ready for a repeat of the wild against-the-door
lovemaking from the night he’d taken her to see
Singin’ in the Rain
.

But instead of tearing her clothes off the
moment they were inside, Jack put his hands on either side of her
face and held her gently.

“Mine.”

He said the word softly, but she heard the
possession—and the wonder—in the simple word as it fell from his
lips.

“Yours.”
Emotion made her voice unsteady.
“Always.”

Slowly, reverently, he ran the tips of his
fingers over her eyebrows, cheekbones, lips and earlobes. By the
time he reached her neck and then the hollows of her collarbones,
she was beyond desperate for more of him.

“Jack,
please.
”

He leaned forward and slid his bristly cheek
against her smooth one. “I know I didn’t do the proposal right,” he
murmured against her earlobe, “but I’ll get this part right. I
promise.”

“Everything you do is exactly right,” she
insisted, just as she had the first night they were together, even
though she knew that when Jack Sullivan made up his mind—especially
when it came to giving her pleasure—nothing could deter him.

After slipping off her scarf and coat and
then his own, he slid his fingers through hers and led her into the
bedroom. For so long her bed had seemed too big, but it was just
the right size for the two of them.

“Undressing you is one of life’s greatest
pleasures.”

He moved behind her to gather her hair up
over one shoulder and began to pull down the zipper that ran from
her neck to the center of her back. She could feel the heat of his
fingertips through the silk chemise she was wearing.

Slowly, so slowly it made her breath catch in
her lungs, he slid the wool off her shoulders and arms so that it
bunched at her waist before he finally gave it an impatient shove
down over her hips. A moment later, she felt the warm press of his
lips against her neck, and then she was arching into his touch as
his large hands slid from her waist up to her ribs to cup her
breasts. She gasped when his thumbs brushed over the taut
peaks.

Turning her head so her mouth could find his,
she might have kept kissing him forever had his roaming hands not
made her so breathless that she had to pull back to drag
much-needed air into her lungs.

Holding her still with one large hand over
her stomach, he slid the other between her thighs, brushing his
fingers over the bare skin at the top of her stockings. In her
girlish dreams of love, and then later, in her adult experience of
real-life passion, she’d never expected to feel this much…or to
want
this much. But every time Jack touched
her, she sparked, lit into flames and then melted for him.

Slowly, seductively, Jack moved his hand
higher to cover the damp material between her legs, then slid his
fingers beneath it as he breathed the sweet endearment,
“Angel.”

She shook, then shattered against him as he
took her even higher with a kiss that rocked through her as deeply
as the caress of his hand just had.

The next thing she knew, she was in his arms
and he was laying her down on the bed. After he quickly unzipped
her boots, he unhooked her garters to roll one stocking down her
leg. Her breath was coming fast by the time he’d bared her other
leg.

He was still wearing his sports coat and
slacks, and she felt deliciously naughty in only her bra and
panties as she rose to her knees to take off his jacket.

“One of life’s great pleasures,” she agreed
as she unbuttoned his shirt. Even the sound of his belt buckle
coming undone excited her, as did the caress of his hands over her
skin as he stripped the final bits of lace from her body.

Need fed need, desire stoked desire, and love
fueled love as they fell back onto the bed into each other’s
arms.

* * *

A long while later, Mary lay on Jack’s chest,
working to catch her breath, while he stroked his hand over her
hair, soothing her even as he inflamed her again.

“I love you.”

She nestled in closer to him, loving the way
his voice rumbled through his chest to hers when they were this
close. “I love you, too.”

The ring glinted in her peripheral vision,
and happiness swelled inside her. Everything was so great, almost
perfect, as long as she didn’t think about…

As if he could read her mind, Jack suddenly
said, “I think you should call your mother and father to tell them
about us. They’ve got to want to know how happy you are.”

Mary was tempted, so tempted to pick up the
phone and share her joy with the two people who had been the center
of her world for nineteen years. Her heart raced just thinking of
it.

“No,” she finally said, shaking her head
against his chest. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

Her parents had always expected her to be the
perfect little girl and to only dream the dreams they’d allowed
her. Clients and photographers had always expected her to be
flawless and poised.

Only Jack, Mary believed, loved her for who
she really was.

“Because if I call and they aren’t happy for
me, it will ruin our perfect night. And I don’t want anything to
touch us tonight.” Mary lifted her head and shifted her weight over
his so that her thighs were on either side of his, her breasts
pressed to the dark hair on his chest. She lowered her mouth to his
and whispered, “Tonight is only for us. Only for love.” And then
she let passion—and the joy of knowing she was with the one person
on earth who loved her for herself—sweep her up all over again.

Mary felt as though she were floating the
next morning as she and Jack got out of the taxi hand in hand in
front of the studio where they were going to shoot the final photos
for the campaign. She thought she’d been in love before, but now
she knew she’d never been anywhere close to it. Just being near
Jack sent her heart racing and every inch of her skin heating up.
And though it had been an hour since they’d made love that morning,
when he took her hand in his and gently rubbed his thumb across her
palm, she felt as if he was still holding her in the warm, strong,
safe circle of arms, naked and sated.