l both ill and excited. “No,” I finally answered, “because I don’t know if I’m okay or not.”
“Fuck, Kin.” His free hand lifted to rest on my hip as he pulled me into his body heat. “Baby, you should have called me. I could have—”
My head snapped up. “Could have what? You can’t make this better for me, Jace. Nothing and no one can make this better.” My voice cracked and I grimaced at how emotional I suddenly felt. Fuck, I didn’t want to be emotional. I hated it.
His blue eyes looked stormy as he stared down at me. “I could have held you, Kin. I could’ve held you and told you it’s all going to be okay in the end.”
A shuddery breath left me at those words.
He could have held me.
That was what I’d wanted when my mother had died—to have those strong arms to hold me while my world fell apart—but he hadn’t been there. Now, he was offering to do just that and I ached for it with everything inside of me, but I had to be strong and not fall into his arms. I was unsure of what I wanted and I couldn’t give in and fuck things up.
“I thought you were going to have company for the holidays,” I said instead. Lucy had told me Jace’s sister was supposed to come out from Virginia for a few days, but I hadn’t had the chance to ask her if Kassa had made it or not.
“Kas couldn’t come at the last minute so Gray flew out to be with her and Alicia.” His fingers tightened on my hip, pulling me that last inch that separated us.
“Oh,” I murmured. “Why didn’t you go with him? Won’t you be alone for Christmas now?” The thought of him alone made me sad for him. No one should be alone for Christmas.
He shrugged. “I knew you would be here tonight and didn’t want to miss out on seeing you. I’ve seen Kassa every year on Christmas morning since she was born. This year I wanted to be with you.”
My pulse started to race, but I lifted a brow like his words hadn’t affected me. The gleam in his eyes told me that he saw through my façade though. “You took a big chance, Jace. What if I’d bailed on this party? Then you would’ve stayed in California for nothing.”
The beginnings of a grin teased at the left side of his mouth. “It was a chance I was willing to take, sweetheart.” He lowered his head and rubbed his nose against mine. The feel of his hot breath skimming over my lips made me shiver and I felt more than heard him chuckle in response. “Besides, if you hadn’t been here I would’ve ditched this penguin suit and gone looking for you. All I wanted for Christmas is five minutes alone with you, Kin, and I was determined to give myself that present.”
I leaned my head back against the wall, grinning up at him. “You’re so cocky, you know that?”
“What’s your point?” He winked and skimmed his nose over mine again. Fuck. Why did that feel more intimate than a kiss? My nipples were diamond-hard in my bra and my panties were soaked from just being that close to him, but having his nose rub so carefully over mine made my heart beat in a way that exhilarated me.
And it scared the hell out of me.
“You look beautiful in that dress, by the way.” I shivered again as he moved his hand off the wall to touch my exposed collarbone from my strapless ball gown. Yeah, a fucking ball gown. I had hated putting the damn thing on, but with Jace touching me so tenderly right then, I was glad I was wearing it. “I’d rather you were in jeans and an old T-shirt, though. That’s my real Kin. Not this made-up, Barbie-doll version,” he murmured. “I mean, you’re hot either way, babe, but I love the other Kin a hell of a lot more.”
Had he just said love? My desire-fogged mind couldn’t hold on to that thought for very long.
“Jace…” My voice came out husky, full of everything I was feeling and trying so hard to fight. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“The problem is that we should have been doing this all along, baby.” His nose skimmed across my cheek to my ear. “I ache from missing you, Kin. I ache so fucking bad and I need you to take the ache away.”
“Jace,” I whimpered when I felt his lips on my earlobe, his teeth sinking into my flesh in a way he had shown me could send me over the edge. “Please…stop. I-I’m not going to…um…oh, that feels good…Jace, stop. I won’t…ease any aches.” His aches were nothing compared to my own right then. I squirmed against him, feeling his ‘ache’ pulse against my stomach, which only made my own ache that much more intense.
“Bitch!”
I jerked at Angie’s high, angry tone. It was like being doused with a bucket of ice water. Turning my head away from Jace, I saw my stepsister standing toe to toe with Jillian in the middle of her flock. The beady eyes of Jillian’s friends were insulting as they accessed Angie like she was a bug to squash under their Louis Vuitton-ed heels. Jace followed my gaze, his body tensing for a reason other than our mutual need for each other all of a sudden.
The look on Angie’s face was wild. The angelic version was gone, replaced with one hundred percent devil, and the devil was ready to take on Jillian—who was more of a minion from Hell than anyone else I’d ever met.
“Sweet Jesus,” Jace muttered. “This isn’t gonna be pretty.”
I ducked under his arm and headed toward where my stepsister was drawing a large crowd. There was pure malice in Jillian’s eyes—with a hint of glee. Fucking hell, she was enjoying whatever was going on, and that told me that it was worse than I could even imagine, more than anything else could have.
“I won’t sit around while you talk about my sister like that,” Angie raged. “You have no right to judge anyone, you sanctimonious cunt.”
“Angie…” Caleb tried to intervene but one glare from his twin had him holding up his hands in surrender as he took a step back.
“I tell it how I see it, little girl.” Jillian’s smile was in place now and I could almost feel the heat as Angie’s rage built. “McKinley is a—”
Whatever she was going to call me was cut off as Angie took a step toward her, hands balled into tight fists at her sides raising to take a swing at Jillian’s expertly made-up face. Before she could hit the step-monster, Carter was there, pulling his daughter away from her intended target.