The Cinderella Deal Read online

  She twisted against him, needing to be naked against him. “Rip it,” she told him through her teeth. “Rip it off.” He slid his fingers into the neck of her dress, and she felt his fist against her breasts, felt his fingers slide into her cleavage, and she shuddered with bone-deep pleasure. Then he yanked hard on the old velvet and it split all the way down to her thighs, and the rush of cool air on her naked body was wonderful. Then his mouth was on her breast, and his hand stroked down her stomach and between her legs, sliding into her effortlessly because she needed him so much, and she screamed her relief as she clutched him to her and came.

  Then he was kissing her again, and she bit his lip and said, “Inside me,” and tried to find the zipper to his pants with shaking hands. He rolled away from her, capturing both her hands in his. “Upstairs,” he said, and his voice was thick and hoarse. He stood and yanked her to her feet, and she let her arms fall so that her sleeves slipped off her arms, and her dress fell heavily around her hips, and she stood naked to the waist under the mistletoe.

  Linc closed his eyes, and Daisy moved close against him, resting her cheek on his chest, letting her hands slide down his back so she could pull his hips to hers. He was so hard, and he felt so good against her. He pulled her dress and underwear down over her hips, his hands stroking hot down her waist until the weight of the velvet dropped everything to the floor. Then he picked her up and carried her up the stairs while she kissed and bit his neck and dug her fingernails into his arm, wanting him so much, she was mindless with it.

  He tipped her back onto his bed and slid his fingers inside her again, and she struggled against his hand as the pressure rose in her. “Inside me,” she said again, and he stopped. She clutched at him, loving the heat and the hardness of his body, and he rolled against her, reaching over her to the bedside table. She barely had time to register that she really was in his bed with him—this time she really would have it all—before he had the condom on and had pulled her to him again.

  Daisy looked up into Linc’s eyes, so dark with need for her that they were almost black. “I thought I’d never have you like this,” she told him. She eased herself under him, and he arched to let her, and when she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him to her, he closed his eyes and put his forehead on hers. “I’ve never wanted anyone like this,” he told her. “Not like this.” While she was savoring his words and his weight, he lifted his hips and moved into her, thick and hard, and Daisy lost everything in the heat as he thrust inside her, rolling so that she was on top, pulling her tighter to him. She clutched at him, licking her tongue into his mouth and he moaned her name, and his fingers dug into her back and arms while he moved like a madman inside her. He wasn’t what she’d expected, wasn’t the smooth, polished, controlled lover she’d thought he’d be, and knowing that he was going crazy in her arms because he was in her arms, knowing that it was Linc who was surging against her, whispering her name brokenly, telling her he loved her, knowing that it was Linc saying those mad, passionate things to her, all that made her crazy too. Her body went wild because Linc was so big and rough and hard inside her, but her mind pushed her over the edge because she knew it was Linc in her arms, inside her, and because she loved him so. He was so much, then too much, and the pressure built until it all exploded inside and she cried his name, and he rolled again and pinned her beneath him, stroking over and over as she writhed and sobbed mindlessly. Then he shuddered in her arms and dropped his head on her shoulder, whispering her name again and again.

  “Stay with me,” she whispered finally when all the shocks were gone and she was soft with satisfaction. “I want to sleep with you all night. I want to wrap myself around you all night.”

  “I couldn’t ever leave you,” he said into her hair. “I couldn’t ever let you go.” And she fell asleep holding on to him and to his promise.

  Daisy woke the next morning in the wrong bed with the right man. Linc pressed against her back, warm and naked, his hand still curved around her breast, and she closed her eyes for a moment because he felt so good. Then she put her hand over his and pressed it against her breast, and he stirred and kissed her hair.

  “It’s Christmas,” she said, and he laughed and said, “It sure is.” He rolled away a little and pulled her onto her back, and he was beautiful in the morning sunlight. He ran his hand up to her neck to cradle her face, and then he kissed her. “Merry Christmas, Daisy Blaise.”

  Daisy snuggled against him, resting her cheek on his chest, still amazed that she finally had him naked in bed with her. “It’s so warm with you,” she said, and he said, “That’s you. It’s always warm wherever you are.”

  “No.” Daisy raised herself up a little on one elbow so she was nose to nose with him. “I was really cold without you. You heat things up considerably.” She kissed him on the nose, and then on the lips, and then started down his neck. After months of wanting him, she wasn’t going to waste a minute.

  “Your Christmas present’s under the tree,” Linc said, and his voice was breathless but happy. “You keep this up, you won’t get it for hours.”

  Daisy stopped and grinned up at him, her chin resting on his stomach. “You’re right.” She rolled out of bed and headed for the stairs. I’ll ambush him under the tree.

  “Hey,” he said and reached for her, but she grabbed her lace robe and ran downstairs.

  Linc grabbed a condom from the bedside table and went downstairs to seduce his wife. He found her cross-legged in front of the tree. Her warm skin showed through the lace of her robe and he wanted her; it was a very familiar, frustrating ache, and he’d automatically begun to fight it when he realized that he didn’t have to, that he had her, she was his, and if he went up and put his arms around her, she’d melt into him and they’d make love, and he’d never be cold again. He felt amazed and relieved and terrified and turned on all at the same time, and when he started to go dizzy, he took a deep breath and sat down beside her.

  She was trying to rattle a very small package, but when he sat beside her, she stopped and tore off the wrappings. Inside were earrings he’d sent for from the jewelry store in Pennsylvania, pearl and sapphire daisy earrings quivering on almost invisible gold wires, and he watched her face light up, and thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  “Oh, Linc, they match my ring,” she said, and turned to smile at him and took his breath away.

  “I thought they’d be pretty against your hair.” He touched one of her springy curls where it lay against her robe, and then let his hand do what it had wanted to do a thousand times since he’d met her, thread itself through her hair and pull her head back. Her lips parted as she felt the tug, and she let her head fall back against his hand and gave herself up to him, and he kissed her, slipping his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth and letting himself melt into her.

  “Thank you,” she whispered against his mouth, and then she smiled. “Wait, I have to try these on.” She stood and went to the hall mirror and put the earrings on, and he felt bereft, watching her touch them with her fingertip to see them sparkle as they moved, so far away from him. “They’re the most beautiful things I’ve ever owned,” she called back to him, “next to my ring, of course.”

  He followed her and put his arms around her from behind, feeling his throat catch as she relaxed into him. He looked at her in the mirror; she was fresh and glowing, her eyes huge and dark. “You’re so beautiful.”

  “That’s contentment.” Daisy laughed, and Linc felt her laughter against his body. “Hey,” she said, and tried to move away. “There was another box under there for me in your writing. Let go.”

  “That’s nothing.” He felt embarrassed and held her tighter. “Really nothing.”

  “Ha.” She squirmed out of his arms and went back to the tree, and he followed her again, feeling stupid because of the second present.

  It was just a salt dough angel, except not very well made because he’d had to do it himself, clumsily topping it with curly