The Christmas Set-Up Read online

  “I know.” She pulled back and covered her face with her hands. “God. I’m sorry.” She dropped her hands and pointed at him. “But this is all your fault.”

  He laughed again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to strangle a woman at the same moment he’d wanted to strip her naked and bury himself inside her. “My fault?”

  “Yes! I mean, you’re lying there, hurt and in pain, and I…I can’t stand it when someone’s hurting or in pain. And then there’s the chips. The irresistible barbecue chips, Jason. I mean, why couldn’t it have been plain chips? Plain, I could have resisted—” She started to get up, but he managed to snake his fingers around her wrist.

  One little tug and she was back on the bed. Another tug and he put her off balance so that she fell over him.

  He threaded his fingers in her hair, tilted her head so he didn’t have to tilt his and kissed her, long and slow and deep. He knew she was right there with him when she moaned low in her throat and pressed up against him, her hands running restlessly over whatever she could reach, making a sound of frustration when she was thwarted by the blanket between them. She tugged, reminding him he was bare-ass naked beneath it. “Zoe,” he said in warning.

  “Not done tasting the chips,” she murmured, and brought his mouth back to hers.

  Not one to argue with a woman—not when her hands were on the move southward and heading toward home base—Jason gave in, nipping her jaw, running his tongue over the hollow of her throat.

  “This is crazy,” she gasped, even as she arched against him, moaning with pleasure. Her suit jacket was in his way, so he nudged it from her shoulders. She never took her mouth off him as she shimmied out of it.

  “Crazy,” he agreed, pulling her so that she was now straddling his hips.

  “I mean, I could totally resist you if I wanted.”

  “Good.” His hands went straight to her blouse, flicking the buttons open as she wriggled on him and made his eyes cross with lust. Her skirt had risen up past her thighs so that the only thing separating them was the thin blanket and what looked like a very sexy pair of silky pale blue panties.

  She got busy sucking on his tongue. Not wanting to disturb that, Jason spread her blouse wide and tugged the cups of her bra down.

  Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, slid quickly down his chest to his abs and back up, as if she couldn’t get enough of him. He urged her even closer so that he could suck her nipple between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. The sweet sounds she made in response wreaked havoc on any control he had left. She was writhing on him, her eyes closed, mouth open, skin dewy and flushed.

  She was his every fantasy.

  “I want you,” he said hoarsely. “Zoe, I want—”

  “Yes. God, yes,” she said with a shudder as he lifted her enough to rip away the blanket and then the towel from between them.

  “Oh,” she murmured huskily in soft pleasure as she stared down at the part of him that was the most happy to be there. She wrapped her fingers around him, making him thrust up into her hand. But the movement jarred his neck and he sucked in a breath as the pain slapped him.

  “Oh, God,” she said shakily, still holding him in her hands. “Are you okay? Should we stop?”

  “Only if you want to see a grown man cry,” he managed to say, gripping her ass in one hand, rolling her nipple between his fingers with his other. He hadn’t chosen to be here, certainly hadn’t planned on this, but now there was nowhere else he wanted to be. He wanted to stay like this, exactly like this, with her. And even though he told himself there was no sense in craving things he couldn’t have, he continued to tease and coax her body into needing his.

  “Don’t move,” she demanded. “You hear me? I’ll do it.”

  He’d never been much for following directions, and he’d certainly never lay pliant in bed before, but there was something about letting her be in control, letting her have her way with him that excited him.

  “Condom?” she whispered.

  He stared at her, gobsmacked. Never in his life had he forgotten a condom. “I don’t—” Shit. “I didn’t expect—”

  “I’m on the pill,” she murmured. “And I haven’t had sex in two years.”

  “Two years—”

  “You?”

  “I’ve never had sex without a condom. But—”

  The words backed up in his throat when she scraped her panties to one side and guided him home.

  Oh, God. The feel of her silky wet heat… She’d told him not to move, but he couldn’t help it. He reached down and rubbed his thumb over her until she gasped.

  “There.” Her fingers dug into his biceps. “Oh, God, Jason. There.”

  Which he took to mean “don’t stop.” He didn’t, and she gasped again, and then she cried out and came. Watching her, hearing her, did him in. He wasn’t going to last. He gripped her hips, desperate to hold it together.

  “Jason. God, Jason.”

  “I know.” He wanted to slow down, wanted to build the pleasure for her again, but the way she was looking down at him, the bewildered arousal, the tight need, how she’d given herself to him after not being with anyone in so long, was seriously testing his control. “Come here,” he whispered. She leaned over him, sucking his lower lip into her mouth.

  His control slipped yet another notch and he rocked his hips into hers, holding there, sucking in air as she grinded on him. He closed his eyes. “Zoe.”

  “Mmm,” was all she seemed to be able to get out. He slid a hand between their bodies and stroked, watching as she quivered, loving the way her head fell back on her shoulders, how she cried out and shuddered and came all over him. It was the most erotic, gorgeous sight he’d ever seen, and far too much for his already shaky control. Unable to hold back, he followed her over.

  CHAPTER SIX

  WHEN ZOE CAUGHT HER BREATH, she realized she was plastered up against Jason, arms and legs wrapped around him like a monkey, her face pressed hard to his throat.

  Way to resist him, Zoe. She pulled free and got off the bed.

  “Zoe?” His voice was low, husky. One hundred percent sated male.

  Because just the sound of him softened her resistance, she turned her back to him so she could straighten her panties and fix the cups of her bra. She was bending for her jacket when she heard the low groan.

  It wasn’t a pleasure-filled groan, either. And she now knew the difference. Grimacing at her weakness, she whirled around to find him struggling to his feet. And he was struggling, pain etched in every line of his face.

  With a sigh, she moved back to the bed, putting her hands on his bare chest. “Stop. You’re going to make it worse.”

  Ignoring her, he slowly and cautiously straightened.

  “Jason, stop. Stay in bed.”

  Swearing, he started to reach for the blanket and went pale. She grabbed the thing and wrapped it around him, her fingers brushing his perfect torso as much as possible.

  “Say the word and the blanket is gone,” he said.

  Her gaze flew to his. “You’re hurting. How could you possibly want round two?”

  “Testosterone,” he said simply. “Testosterone would follow a woman with an ass as sweet as yours straight into the depths of hell.” He paused. “And you should talk. You just totally felt me up while you were wrapping the blanket around me. You want round two just as bad as me.”

  “Two years,” she repeated.

  “Why so long?” he asked softly.

  Since that was a question that she didn’t want to face, she bent and searched for her heels, locating them just under the bed. Jamming her feet into them, she headed out of the bedroom. “We aren’t going to speak of this to anyone.”

  He was following her, but said nothing. She decided to take his silence as agreement but made the fatal mistake of looking back at him.

  His hair was more rumpled than ever, and still dead sexy. He hadn’t shaved this morning, maybe not yesterday, either. And she knew firstha