It Must Be Christmas Read online

  “You’re seeing him again, though. That’s why he called, right?”

  Somehow, Chloe doubted they’d be discussing business in his hotel room tonight. “Yeah, we’re meeting at eight.”

  “So, put your people skills to work and talk that boy out of his millions!” Hailey exclaimed. “You can’t give up now, Chloe. This foundation means so much to so many people. Just go for it.”

  That was the problem. She’d gone for it and then some. “In case I don’t show up in the morning with a big fat check, can you make a few more cold calls today? I heard that the Blackwell Foundation might be looking to expand their charitable ventures.”

  “Will do.” Hailey pulled out her tablet and scribbled something on the screen with the stylus. “I have a couple more leads I haven’t explored yet, too. None of them are whales, but I bet I could shake them down for ten thousand apiece.”

  “Sure. That’s a good idea.”

  “Hey,” Hailey said at Chloe’s downtrodden tone. “Every little bit helps.”

  “It does.” She gave Hailey her best optimistic smile. “And I appreciate everything you’re doing.”

  “You can thank me when we’re back on our feet,” Hailey said. “I expect a huge gala and a gold trophy.”

  “I don’t know about the gala,” Chloe said. “But you’re so getting that trophy.”

  “With rhinestones,” Hailey added. “Now, stop daydreaming about Nate Christensen and get to work.” She gave Chloe a wink in parting and closed the office door behind her.

  Chloe slumped down in her chair and stared blindly at her computer screen. How could she possibly bring up the foundation with Nate now? Any attempt to plead her case for a sizeable donation would come across as sleazy. She’d never planned to sleep with him. She couldn’t change what had happened, though, and it was going to happen again. Nate was a force of nature. She had no choice but to be caught up in the storm.

  With any luck, Hailey would be able to secure some real, solid funding today and Chloe wouldn’t have to worry about Nate’s money and what it could do for her struggling foundation. She checked the clock on the bottom of her screen. In less than ten hours, she’d be back in his hotel room and too mindless to think straight. Chloe rolled her shoulders and opened the Excel file with her list of possible contributors. Without thinking, she picked a random name from her list, picked up the phone, and dialed.

  “Hi, this is Chloe Benson from the Youth Sports Foundation of Dallas. Is Mr. St. Claire available this morning?”

  Chloe waited as the receptionist put her on hold. Think positive thoughts. With any luck, this wouldn’t be the bitch of a day she expected it to be, fraught with disappointment. Otherwise, she’d be begging Nate for a handout whether she wanted to or not.

  FIVE

  Ten minutes to eight and Nate was about to crawl out of his fucking skin. His day had been every bit as shitty as he’d anticipated with the lawyers, his dad’s stuffy board of directors, and even his own damned brothers making their cases for why Nate needed to stick around and not renounce his inheritance.

  Nate had been given controlling interest in Christensen Petroleum in his father’s will. Talk about a kick in the nuts. His anxiety was beginning to crest—never a good sign—and if he had to sit in this goddamned closet of a room alone with his thoughts for another second, he was going to start smashing the furniture.

  On the plus side, you now have the money to pay for the damages.

  The soft knock at the door five minutes later became his lifeline. Knowing Chloe was on the other side of that door made him instantly hard. He rushed to the door and threw it wide. Before she could even say hello, he grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her against him, kissing her as though his life depended on it. His sanity sure as hell did. The door slammed closed behind them and Nate didn’t waste any time. He gripped the hem of her skirt and jerked it up around her waist. On his way down, he shoved her underwear over her thighs and tossed them to the floor behind him. The buttons on her dress shirt posed a problem; he couldn’t focus on undoing them while his mouth was busy devouring hers, but he eventually got them open and jerked the cup of her bra aside, covering the stiff peak of her breast with his lips as he nibbled at the hardened flesh.

  Words had no place in their frenzy. Chloe tore at the button on his pants and shimmied them off, along with his underwear. Nate cupped her ass in his palms and lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their lips tangled in a slippery dance as they bounced down the narrow corridor from the door toward the bed, pausing only long enough for Nate to grab a condom off the dresser. Chloe slid down the length of his body and planted her feet on the floor, her emerald gaze sparking with passion as she watched Nate roll on the condom. He grabbed her around the neck and pulled her in for a ravenous kiss before hoisting her up again and bracing her body against the wall.

  Her thighs glistened with arousal and Nate let out an impassioned growl as he entered her. She gasped at the intrusion, her gaze liquid as she kept it focused on his. He thrust hard and fast, pounding into her with every ounce of frustration that had built within him over the course of the day. Chloe’s breath came in quick little pants but that wasn’t good enough for Nate. He wanted to hear her. Wanted those sweet cries that he’d missed so much to echo off every wall.

  “I want to hear you, Chloe.” He thrust harder. Her nails dug into his shoulder as she whimpered. God, yes. That was it. “Again.”

  Her lips parted on a moan. God, she was so wet, so tight, so damned responsive. Nate’s fingertips squeezed into the roundness of her ass that fit so well in his palms. Chloe’s head rolled back on her shoulders. She arched into his hips, and his gaze was drawn to her full breasts that bounced with every deep thrust.

  “Nate,” she said on a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, god, Nate. I’m going to come.”

  He slowed his pace but continued to thrust deep. He didn’t want to push her, but rather wanted her to drift gently off the edge. He knew it would make her orgasm more intense and that’s what he needed from her, that intensity that matched his own. That unshakeable focus that kept them locked together in the moment.

  “Faster, Nate. Harder. Please.”

  “No. Trust me, Chloe. I’m going to give you what you need.”

  Her moans bordered on desperate frustration, but Nate continued to pull out and drive home hard with slow precision. Her eyes grew wide as her pussy clenched around him. She cried out, deep, wracking sobs of pleasure that vibrated down Nate’s spine and tightened his sac. Just a few more strokes and he’d be right there with her. Each contraction of her orgasm pulsed against his cock and when Chloe tilted her hips and tightened her thighs around him, it squeezed the head with the perfect amount of pressure. Nate cradled her ass in one hand and braced the other palm against the wall as he came, his hips jerking in time with every intense pulse of his cock. “Ah, fuck, Chloe!” he shouted. “You feel so good. God, that feels so good.”

  As the orgasm ebbed, Nate’s thighs began to quake. He touched his forehead to Chloe’s and let his eyes drift shut. A sense of peace crested over him, a calmness that he hadn’t felt in a long goddamned time. She stroked the back of his neck, the light scrape of her nails on his nape coaxing chills to the surface of his skin. Nate’s gut twisted into a knot. He’d dragged her through the door and fucked her without even a hello. His need for her bordered on desperate and he didn’t even really know Chloe. All it took to lose himself to her was a couple of sexual encounters and a single casual conversation.

  Did Chloe help to fill the empty void that ached like a sucking chest wound, or had he simply traded one dysfunction for another? It’s not like he was in any sort of mental or emotional condition to have a relationship with anyone. So far, the extent of their time together had been spent fucking. Not that he was complaining. Chloe was amazing.

  When Nate felt confident that he could take a step without dropping the precious cargo in his arms, he turned and carried Chloe to the bed.