Filthy Scrooge

He barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I had a few darker slanted words for her. In the end, it was better that she left before I was attached to a baby.”

I burrowed under his arm until I could snuggle up to his chest. “You were already attached to the baby.” Only losing someone or something he loved could have done as much damage to a man like Lincoln Murdock. Pride was one thing, but pain kept a wound festering.

He swallowed and stared out on the lake, but didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Everything made sense after that. Christmas was all about children and wonder.

He was reminded of all the things he lost every single day of the holiday season. And then I’d come along with the worst possible problem, but he’d put himself through the pain to make children happy for his office party.

I shimmied in front of him at the rail and for the first time tonight, I didn’t curse the five-inch heel of my boots. I cupped his face and dragged him down to me.

It was like kissing an immovable statue for a moment before he crushed me to him and the kiss turned heated. The kind he’d given me that first night when his control had flown out the window.

His hands fisted into the back of my sweater and our bodies lined up in that perfect way that I knew I’d never find with another man. He pushed me up against the rail, his fingers racing over my ass and my hips as he dragged my skirt higher.

There was a difference between getting naked wherever the mood struck us at the cabin and a pier with a wind chill of seven. ?

?Home, Linc.”

His eyes were hooded in the shadows of the overhead string lights. “Home,” he agreed.

My phone buzzed along my hip. It was the first time I’d had a signal since we arrived. I’d almost left the stupid thing at home.

Wow. My breath caught. Not home, the cabin.

“Everything okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I just need to…is it okay if I call Mel?” I peeked at the text. “I’m pretty sure she’s at DEFCON 2 right now.” I turned my phone toward him.

“Call me or I’m sending the National Guard.” His eyebrow rose. “A bit dramatic.”

I laughed. “That’s Mel for you. I did tell her I’d check in yesterday to make sure she knew I wasn’t being kidnapped and sold into slavery.”

He moved into my space. “I’ll have you on your knees tonight, Miss Kane, but of your own volition.”

My heart pounded and my nipples instantly hardened. Good grief, what was it about this man?

He slid his fingers under the cowl neck of my scarf and dragged me up onto my toes. His kiss was wild and as tempestuous as the mood between us tonight. Such a heady taste. I should have known every flavor of him by now, but I had a feeling I was just scratching the surface in many ways.

I curled my fingers around his wrist and arched back under his greedy mouth. I tried to push back, to let him know I was just as greedy, but all I could do was hang on. His other arm went around my waist.

He pressed his cock against my lower belly. “Don’t be long. I’m not sure how easy I can be tonight. Maybe not easy at all.”

“I don’t want easy. I never did.” I dug my fingers into the thick knit of his sweater. “I don’t want you to hold back. I want everything.”

“I don’t know if I can give anyone that again.”

My heart broke for him. I didn’t blame him for feeling that way—not after I knew the reasons. I just hated knowing he was locked into the pain, unable to get past it.

“Give me everything tonight,” I said against his mouth.

He nodded and slowly pulled away from me—after he palmed my ass in his caveman style, the jerk. “Make your call. I’ll grab us some food to take back up to the house.”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

He strode up the dock, then turned around. The wind off the lake threw his wavy hair into disarray and his eyes were lit with determination instead of sadness. “Allergic to anything?”

My heart tumbled and fell right out of my damn chest. Dammit, why? Why did it have to be this complicated man who made everything wake up inside me? Including my stupid heart.

I’d managed to live a long time without falling head over tits for someone. Puppy love, yes, but nothing like this. And not in just a few days.