Rekindling Christmas (8 page)

“That’s great. You’ve always been
good with systems and software. You work downtown?”

“Nope, at the Speedway.”

“That must be amazing.” She was
nibbling at the side of her cake cone now.

“It would be if I was a race fan.
But contact sports are more my type. I can’t really see driving fast around a
track and hoping I don’t end up in a cloud of smoke against a concrete wall with
an asphalt burial service.”

“True.”

They were moving up the main path
back to the resort when they stopped so they could toss their napkins in the
trashcan.

She turned and faced him with a
joyful smile as she tucked her gloved hands into her jacket pockets. “That was
great. Thanks.”

He noticed a smudge of cream on her
cheek by her mouth. He couldn’t help but smile, thinking how much she reminded
him of the nine-year-old girl he used to sit beside on the curb eating Popsicles
after the ice cream truck had come through. “You have ice cream on your face.”

“I do? Where?” She wiped her nose.

“No. On your cheek.”

She brushed her gloved hand across
the wrong cheek.

“The other one,” he directed.

“Here?” She swiped the right cheek,
but the wrong spot.

“I’ll get it.” On impulse he stepped
forward, leaned in, and licked the cream droplet from her cheek. He dragged his
tongue past the corner of her mouth and collected the small cone crumb that
rested on her bottom lip as well. He wanted to kiss her, but he stopped
himself. “There, it’s all gone now.”

Ice-crystal clouds formed between
them as they stood there breathing and staring at each other. Ryanne’s eyes had
become so dark that they looked black-on-black, their chocolate-brown color
almost gone.

She licked her lips, starting with
the same corner he’d tasted. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”  He didn’t know if
she had any other plans for the day, but he knew he wasn’t ready to let her get
away from him after he’d just found her. “You wouldn’t happen to have brought a
bathing suit with you, by chance?”

“Weren’t you just complaining about
a summertime activity?”

“Ice cream in the snow. Besides,
don’t think I didn’t hear your teeth chattering once or twice during the walk.”

“It was worth it.” Her radiant smile
gave credence to her words. “I don’t have a suit. Why?”

“There’s an indoor pool here that
has a water slide and all. You still like swimming?” He took her hand, glad
when she didn’t pull away, and led her to the entrance of the resort.

“I love swimming.” She was silent
for a moment then said, “Wait, they may have suits in the shop. I didn’t pay
attention this morning because I was looking for warm gear, but I can check.”

“Great.”

They entered the resort and made a
beeline to the other wing, where the boutique was located.

“Hmm, a granny-style bathing suit,
but it will work.” Ryanne held up the one-piece suit with big bold green and
blue flowers on it and a high neckline. There were no other decorations or high
hip arches; instead it came down almost like a mini dress in the front.

“It will.” He would have preferred
to see her in something skimpy and revealing, but he also knew that something
sexy would make it hard for him—in more ways than one—to keep himself under
control.

The small taste of her he’d gotten
outside had him on edge. It had been several months since he’d had sex, but
even if he’d had sex with Lanie last night, he still would desire Ryanne to the
point of madness.

“I’m going to pay for this and I’ll
meet you at the pool in, let’s say, thirty minutes?”

“Deal.” Carson leaned in, kissed her
on the temple, and left.

Chapter
Six

Fuck
. Why had Carson thought for one
moment that a matronly swimsuit would keep his mind off wanting to see Ryanne
naked? Even if she wore a burka she would have still been alluring to him. The
suit didn’t cover up her long, golden-brown legs, giving him erotic thoughts of
having her thighs spread wide for him. The way the suit clung to her curves,
even dry, showed him a perfect view of her breasts. Man, had her breasts always
been so full? He wanted to pull the thick straps down and reveal them and feast
his greedy mouth on them. He was just grateful he was in the deep end so she
couldn’t see his erection.

“Why are you staring at me like
that?” Ryanne moved closer to the edge of the deep end. “Do I look that silly?”

Treading water, he looked at the
woman before him from her head to her red-painted toenails that she curled over
the edge of the pool. “Not silly at all. Matter of fact, with those two
cornrows down the sides you remind me of you at ten when we used to swim in my
backyard. I keep expecting to look behind you and see your mother and mine
supervising from the porch.”

“There weren’t any swimming caps.”
She patted her head, fingering the ropes of the braids.

“Don’t worry, you look adorable.” He
pretended as if he were speaking to a little child.

She placed her fists on her hips.
“See, that’s exactly why it’s best to stay away from childhood friends. They
have too many bad images of you in their minds.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Ryanne.
I don’t have
any
bad memories of you.” Nope. All his memories were good,
even those that were teenage-boy erotic ones, which were still fond to him.

She gave him a smile and yelled out,
“Race ya!” then dove into the water past his head.

“You cheater,” he accused, even
though he knew she couldn’t hear him below the water. Plunging beneath the
surface, he swam after her. He could only see her shadow ahead of him with the
pool only being lit by the daylight coming in from the domed skylight. He
finally caught up to her, but she still won from her large head start.

“I won! I won!” She was doing some
silly dance in the water.

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Does a
cheater really win?”

“Yes,” she declared. “Now the last
one down the slide is a rotten egg.” This time she shoved him and dashed away
to the stairs.

When he fell back into the water, he
watched her saucy ass sway as she hustled up the steps. He couldn’t be mad at
being behind her, not when he got a view like that. Getting out of the water,
he followed her up the ladder to the slide, tickling her with each step she
took.

Laughing and squirming, she called
out, “Stop, you know I’m ticklish.”

“Hey, cheating is cheating. Don’t
try and set rules now.” He danced his fingers up her calves to the backs of her
knees just as she reached the top.

Still laughing, she twisted to get
away and ended up going doing the slide backward. She stuck her tongue out at
him as she descended. Not waiting for her to get to the bottom, he lay on his
stomach and went down after her.

Splashing into the water seconds
after her in the deep end, he reached out and pulled her into his arms. They
both sprang from the concrete bottom together and kicked until their heads
popped out. He didn’t let go of her waist.

Wet and beautiful, she cried out,
“Hey, you’re supposed to wait until the person before you gets into the water
before you come down.”

He shook his head as they kicked
their feet together, keeping them afloat. “I don’t recall seeing any rules that
said that.”

She moved one hand in the water as
she pointed to a plaque on the side of the pool with instructions.

He didn’t even turn to look at the
sign. “Sorry, can’t see it without my glasses.”

“You don’t wear glasses.”

“Contacts?” He was enjoying holding
her.

She frowned. “Do you?”

“No.”

Placing both her hands on his
shoulders, she used her weight to shove him under the water. He allowed it.
Under the water, he watched her flip onto her back.

He came back up and followed her
with a breaststroke. When she stopped midway, where the water lapped at their
chests, he asked a question that had been plaguing him. “Tell me, Ryanne. How
is it that a hot black woman like you is on a singles holiday vacation?”

Lifting her hands, she made a point
of wringing the water out of the ends of her braids. She took a long moment to
answer him and he became slightly apprehensive about hearing it, thinking maybe
there was a hurtful break-up story behind her reason.

“Remember I told you I made junior
manager?”

“Yes.” He tried not to look at how
the water lapped at her breasts and how the impressions of her nipples were
visible through her suit.

“Well, I got a great opportunity to
go to a conference.”

“When?”

She bent her knees and lowered into
the water until it was at her chin. “This week.”

Was she leaving already? “Where?”

“Denver, but it got canceled.” She
looked down into the water then stood again. “I didn’t want to go to my parents’
home in Florida yet, so I came here instead.”

“Why?”

“You know my mom. All my sisters and
my brother are spoused and babyed-up. I just didn’t want the drama. Besides, I
was just home on Thanksgiving, so they’re not missing me.”

She stared out the side window to
the snow-covered outside pool.

He didn’t believe that for a moment.
He knew Ryanne loved her family. As the oldest, she’d let any of her siblings
tag along with her wherever she went. Which meant their marital and child
status was only part of it. The next question was even harder for him to ask.

Lifting his hand, he grabbed one of
her braids and gave her a slight tug until she turned and looked at him. “Okay,
that sort of answers my question. Isn’t there some guy in your life that you
could have taken home to meet your family?”

Fuck, what are you thinking, Carson? What if she says yes?

“No.” The one word came out soft,
like a caress.

Stepping closer, he asked, “Does
that mean there’s no man in your life?”

“No.” There it was again.

“No heartbreak you’re trying to mend
or get over?” Using her braids, he pulled her closer until her breasts were pressed
against his chest.

“Nothing like that for me, Carson,
but what about you? Is there some woman pining away for you?”

“Not at all. My last relationship
ended about a year ago, and I doubt if she’s weeping over me.”

“Sounds like a heartbreak story.” Her
gaze searched his.

“There’s only one thing that would
break my heart.”

She inhaled deeply; her nipples
grazed his chest. “What’s that?”

Wrapping an arm around her, he
pressed her flush against him, lifting her feet from the bottom of the pool.
“Not kissing you.”

He didn’t wait for her to approve or
give her permission; all day her mouth had been teasing him. It had teased him
all his life, if he was honest, and at this moment he was going to take what
he’d wanted for so long. He seized her mouth. Not in a sweet and tender kiss like
he would have given her the summer following their freshmen year. No, this was
a kiss from a man to a woman. Pure desire and aching need.

Holy North Pole!
Ryanne had never been bowled over
by a kiss, but that was what Carson’s mouth was doing to her. She’d known he
was going to kiss her. The tension around them had been building all day.
However, she was expecting him to give her a gentle kiss, maybe coax her mouth
open and allow her to ease into this new territory with him. But, hell and
firecrackers, that was not what he was doing.

No, Carson was taking her mouth by
storm. Kissing her deeply as if he had been a starved man before this and her
mouth was his sustenance. His tongue swept from one side to the other, circling
her tongue and demanding she join him in the passionate kiss.

She did. Without hesitation. She may
not have been expecting a kiss that would curl her toes and cream-coat the seat
of her matronly bathing suit, but that was what she got. One of his hands
palmed the back of her head, keeping her from moving away from him—not that she
even considered it—while the other hand stayed under the water and slipped
lower to palm her ass.

Oh, hell, he was grinding his cock
against her. Hard and urgent through his swim trunks, he was pressing firmly
between her legs and grinding his shaft over her clit.

If the floor had been under her
feet, she would have felt it shift, but instead her world tilted at an
unbelievable angle. All of her senses now pointed due north, aiming directly at
her center of gravity: Carson Rodman. In one kiss, he was becoming her
everything, the commander of her desire. She could feel her orgasm building.
Could feel it tighten her core, causing her body to tremble. And yet he never
stopped kissing her.

Needing more, hungering for the
climax just out of reach, she lifted one of her legs high up on his hip.
Parting her thighs and giving him better access, she didn’t care how wanton it
made her appear. She wanted and needed what he could give her at the moment.