Christmas Ever After (Puffin Island 3)

Warmth closed around him and his mind blanked.

“Alec—” She breathed his name against his lips and met each driving thrust with subtle movements of her own.

Behind them the wind lashed at the window, but neither of them noticed and if they’d noticed they wouldn’t have cared.

There was nothing for either of them but this.

She matched him kiss for kiss, her body moving with an erotic rhythm, her fingers hard in his shoulders as she urged him on. His thoughts blended together until his mind ceased to function and all his responses became physical.

He felt the first contractions of her body ripple along his shaft and groaned, trying to hold back, trying to still the writhing of her hips, but she couldn’t keep still and every subtle movement ripped more layers from his self-control until release barreled down on him. They came together in a mind-blurring, dizzying climax that froze time and thought.

As his brain finally cleared, he realized that her breathing was unsteady and that her nails were digging into his back.

It bothered him that he’d been so out of control that for a few moments he hadn’t known where he was. He could have been in the middle of Main Street for all the attention he’d paid to his surroundings.

Shaken by the intensity of it, he eased away from her and she gave a little whimper and clutched at him. “Thank you.”

He didn’t know whether to laugh or kiss her again. “Are you seriously thanking me?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was husky. “I didn’t think anything could make me feel better but you managed it.”

There was a tightening in his chest.

Throughout his marriage he’d felt inadequate. He’d failed to meet almost all the demands made of him, fallen short of almost every expectation, until he’d convinced himself that he wasn’t capable of making any woman happy.

And then Sky had come along, and made him feel as essential as sunlight.

“Sex has tremendous healing properties.” Because she was still pressed against him intimately he felt the slight ripple of tension, a change in her that he knew he probably didn’t want to question.

“Yes,” she said. “It does.”

He held her, breathed in the scent of her, felt the contrasts of soft against hard, revealing nothing of his own thoughts.

They’d promised honesty, but right at that moment he knew neither of them were being honest. Maybe sex did have healing properties but what they’d just shared, this new dangerous intimacy, felt a long way from “just sex.”

A COUPLE OF hours later, the soup finally made and eaten, Skylar lay in the dark in Alec’s bedroom, listening to the sound of the wind.

Snow fell beyond the window and an iridescent winter light sent a silver glow over their naked bodies.

She felt as if her bones had melted into the bed.

“Have I told you that you’re good at sex?” It didn’t begin to describe her feelings but it was the only sentiment she felt she could express. She knew he wouldn’t want to hear anything else.

He stirred and pulled her closer. “So are you.”

“We’re good together.” She realized how that sounded and felt a flash of panic that her thoughtless words might damage this new intimacy. “I didn’t mean—”

“I know what you meant.”

“When I picked up that message from my mother I didn’t think it was going to be possible to enjoy my evening, but I did. Lately you seem to always be there at my lowest moments.”

“Tell me more about the message. I want to know what upset you.”

She hesitated, but after everything they’d shared, not sharing this felt ridiculous. “She booked the church.” She felt him shift onto his elbow.

“Who?”

“My mother. She put a reservation on a venue for a June wedding. Can you believe that? She actually booked somewhere.” Sky still couldn’t believe it herself. The frustration burned inside her, refusing to die.