Getting In the Spirit: a Sapphire Falls novella (15 page)

Kate’s hips arched off the couch and she moaned.

Yes, he wanted lots more of that.

He parted her slick folds, reveling in how wet she was, how ready for him. She wanted him, and the realization of what that really meant grabbed him in the chest. This was more than sex. She could have stayed in San Francisco for sex. She could have any man. She’d come to Sapphire Falls, gone to the bar with high hopes. Hopes for something more than anything she’d had before. She’d taken his arm and walked into that town square with nothing but trust and hope. She’d had no way of knowing what would happen. But she’d trusted him with her Christmas. After a lifetime of disappointing Christmases, she’d let him be a part of this one, this one that she’d so needed to be wonderful.

All of those things were crazy things to be thinking when she was spread out before him like this, but this was more than sex. It was even more than candy cane sex.

This was what he wanted forever.

And he’d known her for a day.

That shot desire so intense through him that he almost tossed the candy cane and plunged into her. He wanted to be a part of her, to get to her like she had gotten to him.

But he also wanted her to get wet whenever she saw the red-and-white-striped mints at the front entrance of every restaurant she went into.

When she saw those mints, he wanted her to turn to him, tell him to grab a handful and take her home.

He really wanted that. He wanted to be the guy with her at every restaurant and the guy who took her home.

He dragged the candy cane through her wetness and circled her clit again before leaning in and licking along the same path. He flicked his tongue over her clit and then sucked, the combined sweetness mind blowing.

“Levi.”

He felt her hand in his hair and he increased his pressure on her clit while sliding the candy cane a little ways into her heat.

“
Levi
.”

The cane was tiny compared to what she was going to be taking in a minute, but he knew it was partly how naughty all of this was that was ratcheting her desire higher. He added a finger alongside the candy stick, stretching her and stroking deeper.

She widened her legs and increased her grip on his hair.

“More. I need more.”

With his thumb circling her clit and his finger deep, he lifted his head to watch her. She was gorgeous. Her neck arched, her hair spilling over the cushion under her, her breasts hard-tipped and perfect. Her stomach muscles quivered and he felt her inner muscles clenching his finger.

“Oh, no, you’re not coming apart like this,” he said with a grin, loving that he could drive her to that point.

“But…I want…”

“I know, baby,” he said softly. “Katie, open your eyes.”

She did, and he made sure she was focused on him as he withdrew his finger and the candy cane and lifted them to his mouth. He slid them onto his tongue and sucked both clean. He didn’t have to fake the groan of satisfaction he gave at the taste.

She sucked in a quick breath and seemed to be holding it.

“Most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.” And it was all her.

He dragged the candy cane through her wetness again and this time lifted it to her mouth.

She parted her lips and his cock hardened further. He slid the candy into her mouth and she closed her lips around it, tasting herself and the peppermint as he drew it back out slowly. Her gaze was locked on his the whole time.

“See what I mean?” he asked gruffly.

“I need you,” she said breathlessly.

Yes, she did. He just hoped it was even half as much as he needed her.

He tossed the candy cane toward the fireplace and moved to kneel between her knees on the couch. She spread her knees, welcoming him into the cradle of her hips. He reached blindly for a condom on the coffee table and managed to knock all three to the floor.

Kate reached for them, grabbed one and ripped the package open with her teeth as she had with the candy cane. She rolled it onto him in a practiced motion he was
not
going to think about. Instead, he slid one hand underneath her ass, tilted her pelvis and braced his other hand on the back of the couch.

He slid home a second later.

They both moaned, and he stopped, buried deep, just breathing for a moment.

Kate wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her hand to one breast, playing with the nipple.

And he had to move.

He pulled out slowly, loving how her muscles tightened, trying to hold on to him. He slid in again, also long and slow, knowing that slow wasn’t going to last much longer.

“Harder,” she begged.

Yeah, slow was over now.

He thrust again, faster and harder this time, pulling out and plunging back in to the sweetest, tightest, hottest body he’d ever had. She seemed to be drawing him deeper each time he moved, and he found himself taking short, fast strokes as she climbed higher and higher.

He felt his orgasm gathering but he needed her to shatter first.

“You feel amazing,” he told her. “I love how you clamp down on me. I could stay buried in you forever. Later, I want you on your hands and knees, spread wide, gorgeous ass in the air so I can take you hard from behind.”

His words definitely got a reaction. She arched closer and he felt the response around his cock.

“I want to take you in the shower and in the kitchen and—”

“You said I could ride you in front of the fireplace,” she broke in.

His whole body clenched hard. “Yes.” He had to clear his throat. “Yes, I did.”

“Now.”

He stopped moving. “Now?”

“I want that now,” she said, nodding.

Her whole body was flushed and he could feel how hot and wet she was. She was close.

And there was nothing he wouldn’t give her.

He surprised even himself when he wrapped his arms around her and managed to stand up from the couch still buried deep in her body.

He took the few steps around the coffee table and slowly lowered them to the carpet in front of the fireplace.

“I kind of imagined having a fire when we did this,” he said wryly.

“I don’t care. I just want on top of you.”

Like he was going to argue with that. He rolled onto his back and nearly lost it when she pushed herself up to sitting. He couldn’t get any deeper and her body clearly loved it as much as his did. Her inner muscles contracted around him hard.

“Oh, yes,” she moaned.

She met his eyes, lifted her hands to her breasts and began to move. She tugged on her nipples as she moved up and down on his length, slowly increasing the speed. She took him deep every time, and Levi had to keep his hands from gripping her thighs too hard as his climax grew steadily closer.

Then she leaned back slightly. Her long hair hung between his legs, brushing over his sac and he was ready to go off.

“Katie, I need you with me,” he said through gritted teeth, his hands going to her hips to slow the pace until she was further along.

“Not slower,” she told him and moved one of her hands from her breast to her clit.

She circled over the sweet spot and Levi could tell she was indeed, right with him.

He replaced her hand on her nipple with his, tugging and squeezing, and she arched her back as her muscles clamped down hard.

“Yes, yes.” And she was there, tumbling over the like-nothing-else peak of her orgasm.

Levi let himself go then, thrusting up into her, fast and hard, long strokes that pulled everything out of him and erupted into a hard orgasm unlike any he could recall.

Chapter Eight

They finished the movie, naked, wrapped in a blanket on the couch. They didn’t lie completely still. They kissed—long and hot and sweet. They stroked hands over every bit of skin they could reach. They talked and teased—some of it dirty, some not. Kate could feel her heart engaging further and further. He was funny and sweet and romantic and truly enamored with her. She’d never had anyone want her like this, and it seemed that he really did want more than her body. He asked about her favorite cities to visit, her favorite color, if she was allergic to anything, her job and her siblings. They talked about surfing, their love of Indian cuisine, the fact that Kate couldn’t cook a bit, the fact that Levi didn’t even know if he could cook, their favorite wineries in California, their least favorite shows in Vegas, their favorite museums in DC and their favorite restaurants in New York.

They discovered they had a lot in common as the glow from the Christmas tree grew as the sun dropped and evening fell. Neither bothered to get up and turn on any lights. Kate more than got her wish to have hot sex by Christmas tree light.

In fact, they had three more orgasms each.

He was insatiable.

She was more so.

Kate had never been this horny in her life. The ripples of her climax had barely faded each time before she was thinking about another position. But she also found her mind filled with questions, things she wanted to know about him and the desire to show him her favorite coffee shop in Chicago and her favorite spot on the California coast.

And every time she had a surge of I’m-falling-for-him, she tamped it down with a reality check.

He lived in Vegas. He was a millionaire playboy who had never actually worked a day in his life. He jetted all over the world at the drop of a hat and probably had a girlfriend in every city they’d been talking about all afternoon. She lived in San Francisco and loved her job.

They’d fallen into a comfortable silence after the last orgasm. Levi was running his hand over her hair and she was listening to his heart beat under her ear—and wishing she’d quit thinking things like
I could do this every day for the rest of my life
.

This was all make-believe. It had been twenty-four hours. It felt like more. She felt like she’d known him for years. But the truth was, it had been mere hours. Magical, crazy, just-what-she-needed hours, but still only hours.

Phoebe and Joe would be home tomorrow and all of this would change with that anyway. Then they’d go to the formal the next night. And then it would be over.

“I’m starving,” Levi suddenly announced.

Kate’s stomach growled in answer.

He laughed. “Let’s fix that.”

He pulled his jeans on and she wrapped up in the blanket and they headed into the kitchen. But they only stood at the center island for about a minute before Kate said, “We’re going to have to go out.”

“Which means getting dressed.” He didn’t seem happy about that idea at all.

Neither was she. “I guess we could go into town and get something at the bar or the diner and bring it back here?” she suggested.

“I have a better idea.” He went back in to the living room.

She followed, the blanket trailing behind her.

He typed into his phone. “The bar is the Come Again, right?” he asked.

“I think so.”

He typed some more and then lifted the phone to his ear. “Hi, I’d like to order some food for delivery.”

He paused, listening.

“Do you think for a thousand-dollar tip you could make an exception?” he asked.

Kate snorted. Just like a millionaire to think he could pay people to do anything he wanted.

“Okay, I appreciate that. I’d like a cheeseburger with everything.” He looked at her. “What do you want?”

“They’ll deliver?” she asked.

He nodded.

Of course he’d gotten his way. She laughed and said, “I’ll have the same.”

They showered, together of course, while they waited for the food and then collapsed on the couch, spent from yet another orgasm.

She was most definitely going to be spoiled when she went home. Orgasms, cookies, a guy who would do anything for her. California might have perfect temperatures and the best wine, but she was thinking Vegas had some attraction for her—and she didn’t mean the neon lights.

But that was crazy. There was no way she was moving to Vegas.

Probably.

That was farther from the ocean, for one thing. For another…she couldn’t come up with a really good
another
except that picking up her life for a guy she’d just met was completely nuts. If any one of her friends were considering the same thing, she would quickly and vehemently talk them out of it.

And besides, Vegas Levi could be a completely different guy from Sapphire Falls Levi. They were both under a little bit of a spell here, no question. The very air in Sapphire Falls seemed to suck a person in and make him or her want to stay, put down roots, have neighborhood potlucks and volunteer for the park-clean-up committee.

Phoebe hadn’t been kidding when she’d said that people came to Sapphire Falls and fell in love—with the town and with their soul mates. Kate knew Phoebe’s friend Adrianne, of the best cookies ever, had come to town from Chicago. Her husband, Mason, who Kate had met twice with Lauren in DC, was from Sapphire Falls but had left for several years. He’d come home for a simple class reunion and…bam, fallen in love. Joe had come to town from DC. He’d already entertained the idea of staying, but it had been about a different woman than Phoebe. That woman, Nadia, had also come to town and fallen in love—which was why Joe had had to chase her to Sapphire Falls and how he’d fallen for Phoebe. And then there was Lauren. Lauren had been so against the idea of settling down in Sapphire Falls, she’d actually hatched a plan to uncover all the reasons she
didn’t
want to stay. It had backfired. Big time. She was now married to a local boy, pregnant with her first child and the head of several committees, including the Christmas in the Country tour of homes.