Once she was nak*d, she scooted around so she was lying lengthwise on the bed. Then she reached for one of the packets on the nightstand, and he realized he was just standing there gaping at her when he should be moving this process along.
Taking the packet from her outstretched hand, he put on the condom. If he only had this glorious opportunity to be with her for one night, he was still one lucky cowboy, and he needed to let her know that.
He could do it by slowing the pace and loving her the way she deserved to be loved, instead of behaving like a rutting bull elk. He moved over her carefully, dropping soft kisses on her cheeks, her eyelids, and finally, on her mouth. “Thank you,” he murmured.
Breathing fast, she slid her hands up his chest. “For the condom?”
“That, too.” He nuzzled the tender spot behind her ear. “But mostly for allowing me stay with you tonight.”
“I couldn’t very well let you freeze to death.” Her hands roamed around to his back, stroking, kneading, caressing.
“No, but you didn’t have to let me do this.” He ran his tongue along her collarbone and felt her shiver beneath him. “Or this.” Leaning down, he placed a ring of kisses around her nipple.
“Which I hope is leading to this.” She grasped his c*ck and gave it a quick squeeze.
“Lacey!” Lifting his head, he looked into eyes bright with a combination of lust and laughter. “Damn it, I’m trying to be romantic.”
She resumed massaging his chest. “I appreciate that, Tucker, but you had the RPMs way up there a few seconds ago, and as a consequence I’m still operating full throttle. How about you drop the clutch and peel out?”
“But I want you to know that I cherish this—”
“I know you do. You nearly froze to death digging up a Christmas tree so I could have a real one to decorate. Then you carried me into the bedroom. No man’s ever done that, bodily picked me up and taken me to bed.”
“They haven’t?” He felt good about that.
“Nope. And let me tell you, it makes a girl feel special to be carried into the bedroom like Scarlett O’Hara.”
“Good. I want you to feel special.”
“You know what else makes a girl feel special?”
“What?”
“When a guy is so desperate to have her, he can’t wait another second. She can see that he has this intense need to thrust deep inside her, to join with her in the most basic way that a man and a woman—”
“Got it.” Holding her gaze, he drew back and swiftly buried his c*ck up to the hilt. The sensation of being inside her while he looked into her eyes made him dizzy with joy. He took a shaky breath. “Like that?”
“Exactly like that.” Her blue eyes seemed to mirror the intensity he felt. As she cupped his face in both hands, her words came out in a breathless rush. “If you ask me, this is pretty romantic.”
“Glad you think so.” He drew back and rocked forward again, moving in tight, locking them together. “How about that?”
“Even more romantic.”
“Then, lady, get ready to be romanced out of your mind.” He began a steady, insistent rhythm, thrusting deep each time. He felt triumphant as her eyes darkened and her skin flushed pink. Her hands fluttered from his face to his shoulders, and then to his hips. Her fingers dug in as she rose to meet him and began to whimper with need.
As her cries increased in urgency, he bore down, seeking her cli**x, but also seeking something more, something elusive. He longed to reach the essence of her, to touch that part of her that no other man had ever touched.
Her body moved in perfect time with his as they joined in a race to ecstasy. And then, as if she’d flung open a door, he felt it—her complete and utter surrender. He abandoned the last of his restraint, giving to her as she’d given to him, holding nothing back, driving into her again and again, his cries echoing hers.
Her spasms began a breath before his, and he shouted with the joy of it as they came and came and came…together.
For long moments his body shook as he stayed braced above her. He’d closed his eyes at the very last, the better to focus on the rolling splendor of cli**xing when she did. But now he opened his eyes and looked down at her.
She gasped for breath, obviously unable to speak yet. But her luminous gaze told him more than words that he hadn’t been wrong. Something magical had happened between them.
As her breathing slowed, she reached up and stroked his cheek. “I love how you make me feel,” she murmured.
“That’s good.” He cleared sudden emotion from his throat. “Because I love how you make me feel, too.” He had no idea if this magic between them would last for an hour or a lifetime, but he vowed to be grateful for the gift and not worry about its duration.
He leaned down and kissed her. “Come on,” he murmured. “We need to finish decorating the tree.”
“Slave driver.”
He lifted his head to smile at her. “You know you want to.”
“I do, actually. I want to see how that popcorn garland looks once it’s done.”
“See, I knew it. Besides, I think we have a good system going.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Make love, decorate the tree, make love, decorate the tree.” He punctuated his sentence with more kisses. “That’s working for me.”
“Yeah, but eventually we’ll have the tree all decorated. Then what?”
He gave her a stricken look. “I guess we’ll just have to make love nonstop after that.”
“Wow, that sounds drastic.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “But that’s all we’ll have left. We’ll have to make the best of it.”
6
THE SYSTEM WORKED TO perfection, and as Lacey had predicted, they ran out of decorations and ended up back in bed for the rest of the night. Eventually they even went to sleep in that bed, with Lacey nestled inside the curve of Tucker’s body.
She woke up in the gray light of dawn with a sense of safety, peace and happiness she hadn’t felt in years. Tucker was already up, and the sound of a crackling fire and the scent of evergreen and coffee brewing filled her with memories of waking up as a child on Christmas morning.
Throwing back the covers she shivered in the chilly bedroom as she pulled her blue terry bathrobe and fuzzy blue slippers out of the closet. Of course there would be no presents under the tree, but anticipation bubbled through her anyway. It was Christmas morning and she had someone special to spend it with.
He sat on the couch in front of the fire drinking a mug of coffee, but he put the mug on the end table immediately and stood when she came in the room. His smile flashed. “Merry Christmas.”
He’d lit the emergency candles sitting on the mantel, and light from the fire reflected off the aluminum foil chain and Hershey’s Kisses. Her snowy-white popcorn garland was the perfect touch against the dark green branches. As if that weren’t enough, a foil-wrapped box lay at the base of the tree. It even had a fluffy white bow.
She glanced at Tucker. “A present?”
“It’s not much.”
She approached the tree, marveling at how he could have come up with anything at all under the circumstances. No matter what he’d put in that box, she was touched to the point of feeling her throat close up. It was Christmas morning, and a wonderful man had somehow created a present for her to open.
Sitting on the floor beside the tree, exactly as she used to when she was little, she picked up the box, her eyes moist. Then she laughed softly. The ribbon was toilet paper.
She cleared her throat. “You’re very clever.”
“I used more than I wanted to, because it kept tearing.”
“You did all this while I was asleep?”
He nodded and walked over, mug in hand. “It’s funny, but I never used to be able to sleep on Christmas Eve. I was always too excited. It’s like that feeling sort of came back.”
She gazed up at him. “I know what you mean. When I woke up and smelled the tree and heard the fire, it made me all cozy and warm inside, like I used to feel on Christmas morning. Then I walked in here and discovered a present.” She patted the floor beside her. “Come and sit with me while I open it.”
“Okay, but I hope you’re not expecting too much.” He leaned down and set his coffee mug on the floor before sitting cross-legged beside her.
“The fact that this present even exists is a miracle. I didn’t think about dreaming up a gift for you.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, I was too excited to sleep.”
“Well, I’m very impressed that you did this.” She tried to get the bow off without tearing it, but it came apart despite her careful effort. “Sorry.”
“Hey, it’s just toilet paper. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yes, but you worked so hard to make the bow. I wanted to save it.” She tucked the wad of toilet paper in her bathrobe pocket and took off the aluminum foil wrapper. Underneath was a box of graham crackers, except it felt too light to still have crackers in it.
“I put the packets of crackers in the cupboard so I could use the box.”
“I am amazed at your ingenuity.”