Rekindling Christmas (13 page)

Breathless, she moved back. “Come
in. I’ll be ready in a minute. I just need to put my boots on.”

He entered and she sat on the small
sofa and stepped into her heavy boots.

“So, where are we headed? You never
did say.”

“You will have to wait and see.” He
stood beside the couch with a lopsided grin on his face.

Rising, she grabbed her coat. He
helped her put it on, then she pulled her cap out of the pocket and slipped it
on. “Then let’s go, mister secret man.”

“Lead the way.” He waved his arm before
her, letting her go out the door first.

*           *           *

“It’s beautiful, Carson.” Ryanne
climbed off the back of the snowmobile and walked to the edge of the trail
where the trees broke.

As he shut off the machine, he sat
for a moment just admiring the purple and golden light of the setting sun reflecting
off her. She was beautiful. Not just on the outside, but in everything she did—laughing,
smiling, being silly, discussing her family or her job, especially in the throes
of passion.

“How did you know about this place?”
She looked back at him over her shoulder.

The snow crunched under his feet as
he moved toward her. When he stood behind her, he wrapped his arms around her
waist and wished they both weren’t wearing bulky jackets so he could feel her
warmth.

“I asked the clerk about the trails
and which ones were the best to travel. He led me to this path and told me that
if we made it just in time, we could see the sun set over the mountains.”

She rubbed her gloved hands along
the backs of his. “Thank you. It is amazing.”

Burying his nose against the side of
her neck, he inhaled her scent. “You’re amazing.”

The urge to tell her how he felt
about her weighed on him, but he held his tongue. When they left the resort and
got back to Charlotte, he would have ample time to talk.

He was happy to be away from the
noise and crowds around the main part of the resort and village. Out there in
the open it was just Ryanne and him in the world, content in each other’s arms.

Even touching the small patch of her
skin was driving him crazy. Hours ago he had wanted to follow her up to her
room and just hold her while she slept. However, he knew it was a strong
possibility he would not have been able to be that honorable.

“Tell me something, Carson.” She
spoke softly.

“What’s that, sugar-lips?” He began
to place small kisses along the side of her neck, up behind her ear, and felt
her shiver. “Are you cold?”

“No.”

He dragged his lips back down to the
curve of her neck, pushing her collar aside for better access. “Then what is
it?”

“Why is it that whenever you touch
me I get so turned on I feel like ripping my clothes off and getting you inside
me? Can a person go insane from desire?”

Oh, shit.
He froze. He didn’t move an inch as
he took in her words and his cock stretched and hardened behind the zipper of
his jeans.

“Carson?” Her voice was edged with
concern.

Lowering his hands to the front tops
of her thighs, he pressed her back against him, allowing her to feel what her
nearness did to him.

She shivered again, adding a moan
with it as she rolled her head back onto his shoulder.

“If you’re insane, I’m there with
you.” Turning her around, he pulled her against him and kissed her, deep and
hard. He gave her his passion and consumed what she gave him in return.

As the kiss went on, he cupped her
ass in both hands, gripping her cheeks tight, and he ground his stiff cock to
the apex of her thighs. She wrapped her legs around his hips and rotated her
hips against him.

He groaned, feeling the heat of her
sex searing him between two pairs of jeans. The small corner of his brain that
was still functioning on the small amount of blood that was left there tried to
convince him that the middle of a mountain in the early hours of night was not
the time to consider all the ways he wanted to be inside Ryanne. He fought hard
to listen, to hold on to that tiny nugget of sanity as his tongue fucked her
mouth, thrusting between her lips forcefully as she tried to capture and suck
it.

Breaking her mouth away, she looked
around, her features strained with passion. “Damn it, snow is everywhere!”

He would have laughed at her
revelation, since they were in the Colorado Mountains in December, but there
wasn’t anything remotely funny when he felt just as sexually overwrought as she
was.

“Wait, I have an idea.” Dragging her
back to the mobile, he bit the tip of one of his gloves and yanked it off his
hand, then the other. “Undo your pants.”

“What?”

He snatched her gloves off her hands
and chucked them in the direction of his. “Now, baby, we only have so much
time.”

Apprehension was evident in the
lines on her forehead, but he was happy to see that didn’t stop her from
releasing the fastenings of her pants. He released his button and zipper too,
allowing the sides to hang open, giving his cock room.

Once she was done, he stepped toward
her and grabbed two fistfuls of denim and dragged her pants down her legs to
the tops of her calves, taking her panties with them.

“I think you just became mayor of
crazy town.”

“Yup.” Lifting her by the waist, he
took two steps forward until he had her back pressed against the wide trunk of
a tree. She gripped his shoulders. He leaned his chest against her, keeping her
in place. Shoving his pants past his hips just enough to free his throbbing
cock, he lowered one hand to grab the back of her knee, then the other.

Once he had her legs hooked over his
arms, with her pants bunched between their chests, he said, “Thank goodness you’re
on the pill, because I think that a condom would freeze on my dick out here.”

She laughed.

He winked at her, then thrust his
hips forward and warmed his member in her wet heat.

She gasped. “Oh my God, you’re cold!”

“That’s okay. Your tight pussy is
like liquid fire. It will thaw in a second.”

Putting her hands behind his neck,
she kissed him.

Breaking the kiss for a moment, he
said, “This is going to be a rough, quick ride. Can you take it?”

“Oh, ye-s-s…” She screamed as he
slammed into her until the base of his cock was kissed by the mouth of her sex.

*           *           *

She had ice melting down the crack
of her ass. Ryanne couldn’t believe that she was letting Carson bang her up
against a snow-covered tree and loving every second of it. She squeezed her sex
around his shaft, not wanting to miss one ounce of pleasure he gave her. Their
breaths mingled like wispy clouds around their faces.

“Harder!” She could feel her orgasm
coiling in her stomach, making her sex feel achy all over as it throbbed in
time with his thrusts.

“God, you feel so good. I’m not
going to last much longer. Come with me, baby,” he growled against her neck,
where he was suckling her skin fiercely.

“Fuck me! Don’t stop!” she pleaded,
needing to climax so bad she shook with it.

Leaning his body back just a little,
he pistoned his hard dick into her. The deep impact hit just the right angle and
stroked the sensitive flesh inside her walls behind her clit, pushing her over
the cliff of ecstasy.

One breath later, Carson joined her
in paradise as his hot seed bathed her inner walls.

They remained in that position for a
moment, gulping in cold night air as they waited for their bodies and minds to
return to some semblance of sanity.

“Shit, I think I have frostbite on
my ass.” He chuckled as he pulled out and let her feet return to the ground.

“Well, at least your ass wasn’t
being fucked into a frozen tree.” She pulled up her pants.

He jerked his up, hissing at the
sting on his wind-chapped backside. “When we get back to the room, I’ll put you
in a hot bath, then lick it dry until it’s all better.”

“Animal.” She reached up on her
tiptoes and kissed his nose.

“What can I say, you bring out the
beast in me.” He went to the snowmobile, grabbed her gloves and helped her put
them on her hands, then slipped into his.

“I try.” She smiled at him. She was
telling the truth; she liked him wild and out of control. Maybe not in freezing
temperatures next time, but she’d deal with anything to be in his arms.

Straddling the seat, he turned on
the ignition. “Come on, so I can take you walking in the village to see the
Christmas lights.”

Climbing on behind him, she
encircled his waist with her arms and asked, “Can we get hot cocoa, too?”

“Whatever you desire, sugar-lips, I
got you.” Flicking on the lights, he drove them back up the path toward the
resort and village.

Chapter
Nine

Christmas Eve

“Shit, man, are you sprung or what?
I haven’t seen your ass in days,” Phillip said when he entered their double
suite and saw Carson sitting on the sofa putting on his boots.

Carson
couldn’t hide the broad smile that
pulled at his mouth as he thought of the reason for his absence from his best
friend: Ryanne. In almost a week, she had completed his life, walking in with
her sassy nature and capturing his heart once again. Closing time as if the
eight years apart never existed.

“Yeah, I’ve been a little busy.” He
laced up one heavy boot.

“I’ll say. I’m surprised you even
came up for air.” Phillip sat on the arm of one of the single chairs.

His friend was right. Carson and
Ryanne had stayed to themselves today, not venturing out to do any group
activities. They’d both agreed to some alone time of board games and sex, with
an occasional meal thrown in. If it wasn’t for the fact he needed to shower and
don warmer clothing for their outing tonight, he’d never have left. “What can I
say? My woman loves lights, so we’re going on the sleigh ride and to see the
tree lighting in the village.”

He finished the second boot.

“Your woman?” Folding his arms over
his chest, Phillip assessed him. “It’s like that, huh? Is it that serious?”

Leaning back in the chair for a
moment, Carson met his best friend’s gaze so the other man would read how he
felt about Ryanne. “It is. I’ve always cared for her, a lot, and thought about
being with her. The only difference is now I’m acting on it, not just sitting
back and hoping that I’m going to have a future with her. I’m going to do everything
I can to live it with her.”

“Damn. That’s some deep shit. I
remember you liked her back when we were going up, but I just thought it was
because she was fine as hell. Shit, all the McCall girls were erection-worthy,
but I guess it was something more.” There was an emotion that looked like
regret on Phillip’s face.

Carson
wondered if seeing him with Ryanne
had caused his best friend to hope for something more than the empty sexual
conquests Phillip had always gorged himself on. Deciding to leave that
conversation for another day, not wanting to miss getting him and Ryanne a
place on the sleigh, Carson didn’t call Phillip on it.

“Well, I need to get downstairs.
They said it was first come, first served.” He pushed up from the seat and
grabbed his coat.

Phillip stood as well. “I’ll be down
in a sec. A group of us were planning to take the ride and hang out in the
village. I need to layer up.”

“No caroling?” Carson joked as he
pulled on his coat and checked his pockets to make sure his gloves were inside.

Chuckling, Phillip shook his head.
“Fuck no. I plan to leave that for the sappy lovers.”

Patting his friend on the back, Carson said, “I’ll take that title.” Turning, Carson headed for the door.

“Oh, Car, I forgot. Ashley has been
calling the shit out of me wanting to speak with you. Asking when you would be
home. Saying it was urgent.”

Tunneling his fingers through his
hair, Carson stopped and faced Phillip. “Didn’t know that. She’s called me a
few times since we’ve been here. I deleted her name from my contacts so it
shows up unknown, thank goodness, because Ryanne saw it a few times. I blocked
the number. That must have been when she started bugging you.”

“What does she want? It’s been over
a year now, and didn’t she marry that old coot?”

“Yes, she did. Shortly after she
returned from Paris. She had the nerve to invite me to the wedding.” Carson shook
his head. “She’s been leaving messages, but I haven’t bothered to listen to
them. Whatever she wants, I don’t want to hear it. She walked away. It’s over.”

“I hear that. Besides, you got a
good thing with Ryanne. Don’t let that go.”

“I’m not.”

Carson
left the room and rode the elevator
down to the first floor. Crossing the lobby, he headed for the activities desk.