His Christmas Cookie

I still question my decisions because of him, and I hate that. Or maybe I should be thankful. I’ve learned to protect myself and that the world isn’t all fairy tales like some girls dream of. Sometimes you get burned, though I think being burned by Frost might make it worth it.

The problem is I can’t have my fun and be done. Now that his brother and my sister are married, he’ll always be around. Then I really would get hurt. Hell, right now thinking about him with another woman eats me up inside. What would happen to me when we were done? I’m not sure I could come back from that.* * *“I know everything when it comes to you, Cookie.” His head drops, and I think he’s going to kiss me.

I even prepare myself for the impact even though I hope it doesn’t happen. I should be pushing him away as his nose runs along my neck. He takes a deep breath and inhales me before placing a kiss on my throat.

When he raises his head, he locks eyes with mine. “Tick tock.”

He leaves the room and takes his warmth with him. That’s when I truly feel the frost.Chapter 2FrostDinner is how it always is when I’m with Miller’s family. I sit at the table next to Cookie while she pretends to ignore me. And while I pretend to ignore my brother touching his wife under the table.

After the meal, I help with the washing up. “You don’t have to help, Frost, I can do that,” Pumpkin says as she dries the dishes I’ve placed in the drain.

“You cooked. I don’t mind cleaning.” I shrug, but it’s also a way to linger until Cookie leaves.

“Any progress?” she whispers as she looks around for her sister.

I grunt and shake my head. “Nyet.”

“Just be patient with her. She’ll come around.”

“She was hurt very badly,” I say, and Pumpkin nods.

“If you ask me, I think it’s mostly in her head. But she’s convinced herself that in order to protect herself, she’s got to put up walls to everyone else.”

“She isn’t the only one.”

“Just don’t give up on her.”

I nod as Miller comes into the kitchen with the last of the dishes and pushes me out of the way. “Go get your own wife,” he says to me in Russian, and I throw a towel at him.

“I’m doing my best.”

As I walk out of the kitchen, I glance back at the two of them. He moves behind Pumpkin like they’ve done this a thousand times, and she smiles up at him as he kisses her. I turn away because even the simple gesture is too intimate for outsiders.

When I walk into the living room, I don’t see Cookie, so I go in search of her. I check the library where sometimes she will sit and read, but she’s not there either. After I walk down the long hall to the back of the house, I see light spilling out from under the bathroom door. When I get close, I hear water running, and I grab the handle.

I walk into the bathroom and close the door behind me as Cookie turns to me in shock.

“Get out, you can’t be in here!”

“It seems I have to steal these moments for you to speak to me.”

“I said get out,” she hisses. Her face turns bright red as she quickly tries to wash the soap off her hands. It’s then I glance over to the counter and see a tampon wrapper lying there.

“Oh, kiska,” I say softly as I walk over to her. “Are you bleeding?” She won’t look at me as she vigorously rubs her hands under the hot water. I move in behind her and wrap my arm around her waist, resting my palm on her lower belly. “Do you ache?”

“That’s private.” She reaches for the towel and dries her hands vigorously.

“It is natural,” I offer, and she makes a sound of annoyance.

“It’s none of your business.”

I move in close and use my other hand to pull her back against me. I look at her in the mirror and wait for a long moment until she looks up, and her eyes lock with mine. I hold her there in my arms just feeling her warmth until I see the anger dissipate.

“There is nothing your body does that I would not enjoy.” Slowly I reach my hand lower until I cup her sex over her jeans. I squeeze her there and watch as her eyelids lower. “Let me ease you.” I place a kiss on her neck and her eyes close. “Are you tender?”

She nods ever so slightly as I trace my other hand across her breasts. Her nipples pucker against the thin material of her sweater, and my mouth waters. I pinch them gently, and she responds by pushing them against my palm. They’re swollen slightly, and I feel the weight of them in my hand.