A Wrong Bed Christmas: Ignited\Where There's Smoke - Page 43

“You were always nice to me.”

He wanted to be nice to her now. Really nice. The fire cast a glow onto her golden hair, and her cheeks were flushed from the wine and heat. She’d abandoned her wool coat and the long sweater she wore molded to her high breasts. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Some of my other friends’ brothers were so nasty to their sisters. You and Alexis always had such a good relationship.”

He shrugged. “My parents gave us no leeway for anything else.”

For a few minutes they fell silent, sipping wine and squinting at the somewhat warped puzzle pieces. Every so often she shifted a certain way and he got a whiff of her perfume. Something about her sexy subtleness revved his blood.

He’d been single for half a year. His last girlfriend had been unwilling to move past anything casual. Not that Erik was jonesing to move toward the altar. He’d just wanted something more than casual sex and halfhearted dating.

“Are you seeing someone?” he asked.

Emma jerked her head up at his question. “As in dating?”

“Just wondering if you had someone significant.”

She shook her head and something inside him did a tap dance. “I haven’t had time to meet anyone since I moved to Greeley. I had been seeing a guy in Colorado Springs, but it wasn’t serious. We agreed to end it when I made the move north.”

“Oh.”

“Why?”

“Just wondering. Casual conversation. Uh, so what are your plans for Christmas?”

“I was planning on staying with my parents until after Christmas then heading back to Greeley. I’m staying in a friend’s duplex but need to find another place. He’s in Italy and will return in the spring.”

“It’s just me and Alexis this Christmas. Mom and Dad went to Scotland for the holiday. That was their big dream—to visit my father’s family.”

“Good for them,” Emma said, capturing her tongue between her teeth. She scrutinized the 982 remaining pieces. “I’m going to be honest, this makes me glad I have Netflix.”

Erik chuckled, trying like hell to keep her from seeing just how much he was attracted to her. After all, she’d never given him cause to think she was interested in him in any other way than being Alexis’s brother. “Yeah, peace and quiet sounds nice until there’s no TV or Wi-Fi.”

For the next few minutes while they completed the outline of the puzzle, they chatted about their favorite movies, TV series and the upcoming NFL playoffs. It amazed him that smarty-pants Emma loved the Broncos so much. All the while, he kept sneaking peeks at the way the firelight danced on her hair, at the way her plump lips teased him, at the way her breasts rose and fell when she laughed.

After an hour, they had a fourth of the puzzle completed.

“I need a break,” Emma said, stretching her arms overhead and yawning.

“It’s only seven thirty,” he said after looking at his watch. Because that was safer than staring at the swell of her breasts jutting out as she arched back.

Damn.

He needed a cold shower.

Instead, he rose and walked over to the window, pulling back the dusty curtains. “Man, it’s really coming down out there.”

And then she was behind him, looking over his shoulder. “Thank goodness we found this place. It might not be the Ritz, but at least we won’t die.”

“There’s that,” he said, turning back toward the room. She didn’t move and only a foot stood between them. The air grew heavy with something he’d denied up one side of the room and down the other...but wasn’t going away.

Emma raised her beautiful green eyes, her gaze meeting his.

For a moment he merely watched her. At the way her breathing increased, at those sweet, sweet lips. They were made for kissing and other things he couldn’t allow himself to dwell on. When she licked them, it was nearly his undoing.

Almost family be damned.

A faint pinking of her cheeks gave her away. She stepped back. “Want another cookie?”

Inhaling quickly, he stepped around her. “Sure. I always liked dessert before dinner. Um, except I guess we’re not having dinner.”

4

WANT ANOTHER COOKIE?

Jesus, who said something like that to keep a guy from kissing her?

Because, if Emma were a betting woman, she’d lay a cool hundred down that Erik had almost kissed her.

And she’d allowed her cold feet to ruin it.

Tags: Kimberly Van Meter Billionaire Romance
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