Totally Smitten (A Cozy AF Christmas 3)

The noise starts again, and Baker’s gruff voice is right next to my ear. “That’s my phone.”

“Do you want to get it?” I ask him.

His hand tightens on my breast, and he sighs heavily. “No, there would have to be a bomb to get me to move right now.”

“Baker…” I start nervously. I know I should move. We reached for each other in the middle of the night obviously and just stayed to share each other’s heat. We should move. Why isn’t he moving?

“I’m sorry, Tara. I said I could handle sleeping in the bed next to you, but obviously I should have told my body that.” He shifts his hips, and I feel his hard manhood pressed against my buttocks. He’s hard… for me.

“Uh…” I stammer, unsure what to say. He starts to move away from me, but I know that even though I don’t know what to say, I do know that I don’t want him to move away. “No. Stay.”

He groans and rests his forehead on the top of my head. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

I move my lower body just an inch, wanting him to be close to me again, and he groans. “Tara, I’m not playing. I’m trying to do right by you, and feeling your curvy body in my arms, fuck in my hands”—he squeezes my breasts—“well, I’m about to put my good intentions aside.”

I almost tell him that’s okay with me when his phone goes off again.

“Ugh, I’m going to have to get it.”

Deflated, I tell him, “Okay.” I don’t want him to move either.

“Unless you want to grab it and read the text for me,” he says against my ear.

“You want me to read it? What if it’s a girlfriend or something?”

His lips touch the shell of my ear. “I told you I don’t have a girlfriend.” He laughs a little. “Well, now I do. But I don’t think you’re texting me.” He kisses my ear. “You can read my phone. I don’t hide anything from you.”

I reach for the phone, but Baker holds on to me and moves with me as I go across the bed to reach the phone. I lie back down, and he moves his head so he can read it over my shoulder. I try to calm my breath and not reveal how I’m panicking right now. I’m in bed with Baker, and I’m sort of freaking out about it. “It’s from my brother,” he says.

And I know I’ve heard about his foster brother Dawson. He’s the only family that Baker has, and he’s been serving in the army since the day he turned eighteen.

He starts to read the text.

Bro, I’m in Mistletoe. I got in yesterday.

The next text says, I had a visitor show up this morning. Cassie is here.

Text me.

“Yes!” Baker says over my shoulder excitedly.

“What is it?” I ask, turning in his arms.

“Cassie is someone that Dawson’s been talking to for a while. He wasn’t going to see her when he got out, but something must have happened.”

His arms are still around me, and I’m holding the phone between us. “Do you want to reply?”

“Yeah. Uh, good to hear. Don’t mess it up. I’m in Juniper Junction with Tara. I’ll see you after Christmas. Love you, bro. Merry Christmas.”

I type it into the phone and hit send.

Almost as soon as I do, there’s a text back and I read it to Baker. “It’s about fuckin’ time. Merry Christmas Bro! love you too.”

I look at the phone and read the words again. “What does he mean it’s about freakin’ time?” I ask him with my face heated. I barely ever cuss, but I have to know the answer to this.

“It means it’s about time that I made a move on you.”

“Wait. What?” I ask him, wanting him to clarify.

But as soon as he starts to speak, there’s a knock on the door. “C’mon, you lovebirds. Breakfast is ready, and Mom’s freaking out that we’re going to be late to skate.”

“Coming!” I holler to my little brother through the door.

Baker jumps from the bed and leans over and kisses me. “Saved by the knock. I’ll be quick,” he tells me as he goes into the bathroom, leaving me to figure out if what he said was true or not. Could this be real?6BakerAll morning, I work on getting my mind right. Back home, I had convinced myself that I needed to take this slow, but now, having Tara by my side every minute is wreaking havoc on all of my good intentions.

“How you holding up?” she asks me as another ice skater flies by.

I’m lacing up my skates, but I stop to reach out to her and tug her into my lap. “I’m good. You weren’t lying when you said Juniper Junction is Christmassy.”

She laughs. “I told you so. None of my family is watching, ya’ know.” She tries to take her weight off of me. “Plus, I’m too big to be in your lap.” Her arms are around my neck, and I want to stand up and take her out of here with me. How have I resisted her this long? At the office, she’s uptight and serious. Seeing her smiling and with her family she’s so laid back.