Elkin Brothers Christmas: The Complete Series Page 19

  His grasp tightened on her hips, and he brought her close, so close, and then let go. In the dim light from the hall she could see the fire in his eyes.

  That wasn’t for show. None of this was for show.

  It had been for the two of them, and only the two of them.

  The line between acting and reality blurred, becoming hard to see. What was she going to do about the thudding in her heart and the desire burning hot in her belly? Because there was nothing acted about her reaction.

  Gabe took her hand. “I had to.” It sounded like a confession. “Let’s go to dinner.”

  8

  When dinner was over, Gabe’s grandmother led them to the sitting room and pulled a familiar book from the shelves. A photo album—a scrapbook really, one that she’d been keeping for years. She patted the sofa next to her. “Whenever someone new comes to the family, we go through the old memories.” That was his cue, along with Anna, to sit with her so they could have the best view.

  Anna tucked in next to him, and he put an arm around her. It was getting harder to resist stroking her skin or playing with her hair or planting quick kisses on her cheeks. A lot harder. And yes, he’d given in to the desire to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless—but he hadn’t known how to get through dinner otherwise. His reward was the satisfied smile she wore for the entire meal.

  Just enough to help him stay in control.

  Everything was different with Anna. Gabe had never had to focus on keeping his hands off a woman before. And he’d never craved the softness of a woman’s skin or the sensation of her curves under his palms like he did with her.

  “Now,” his grandmother began, “this is Chase and Gabe.” The two boys had carefree smiles in the photographs as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

  “It was a little before my parents were killed in a car accident.”

  Anna took his hand and squeezed. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. She turned her head and kissed his cheek.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Gabe caught his grandmother watching.

  “You’re good for him,” she told Anna. “Much more demonstrative than some of the others.” She cleared her throat, letting out a little laugh. “Not that everyone needs to be demonstrative every minute, but...it’s lovely to see.”

  Pride and guilt rushed through him, but he pushed them down in favor of pulling Anna close. “You’re right,” he said, smiling at his grandmother. “She is good for me.”

  “But how?” Jonas chimed in. “How did you learn to be good for our high-powered businessman of a brother? Does your family move in the same circles?”

  Anna tensed in his arms. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, no.”

  “Ah. What do your parents do, Anna? I don’t think you’ve mentioned it.”

  Gabe wouldn’t have noticed the stiffness in her shoulders if he didn’t know her—if he wasn’t sitting so close. “Chase, I’d rather hear about your plans. You’re definitely going to stick around, right?” he said, hoping to divert the conversation.

  “Oh, yeah.” Chase beamed. “I’m going to work with my friend’s company from the Elk Lodge and direct the athletic program. It’ll be the best of both worlds.”

  Anna relaxed as the conversation turned to work plans and stories from their childhood, and Gabe let out a breath. He’d done it. He’d protected her. Of all his achievements in life, this ranked pretty high.

  The conversation rose and fell around them. It settled into a rhythm Gabe recognized from his younger days—Chase telling an old story about learning to ski, and Jonas telling one about the first night managing the hotel on his own. The evening reached the end of its cycle when his grandmother stood. “Time for bed,” she said. “I’ll see all of you tomorrow.” Everyone responded with a chorus of goodbyes.

  Anna stuck tight to his side on the way to their room. “You’re quiet,” he said, as she kicked off her shoes and put away their coats. “I hope—I hope we’re all right.”

  She looked at him, an instant of warning before she was on him, backing him up against the wall for a change and kissing him with desperate, hungry little noises. “Thank you,” she murmured against his mouth. “I didn’t want to talk about my family, and you... you... thank you.” Her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt and then lower, lower. Anna sank to her knees on the carpet in front of him, and he gripped the waist-high chair rail. Every inch of him came alive, the feeling made even more intense by the sound of his belt coming undone in her hands and his zipper slipping down.

  Gabe was already hard, and it was the sweetest relief when Anna unleashed him from the cage of his boxers and pants, her hand wrapped around him. She kissed the tip of him, and it was so unbearably sexy that he let his head fall back against the wall.

  And when she took him into her mouth...

  Heaven. A wet, warm heaven with a rhythm he settled into, his body arching toward her with every long pull of her tongue. The rest of the world fell away. All the acting, all the stolen kisses, they were elsewhere. Gabe only existed here, at this moment.

  He ran his fingers through Anna’s hair, feeling them catch and tangle, and allowed himself a few more moments of pleasure so intense it was almost pain. Then he coaxed her up with his hands and with urgent whispers. “Here.”

  Gabe took her to the bedroom and went for her clothes. Her pants came off first, then panties, leaving her shirt intact. Anna was ready in seconds, and he perched her on the edge of the bed and spread her legs. It wasn’t enough to have her mouth on him—he needed his mouth on her delicate folds. Now.

  The first gentle kiss of his lips made her shiver. The first lick made her shudder, and suddenly she was gripping the covers and moaning as he devoured her. Delicious. Soft. Pink. Wet. He licked along her core with a full-on fantasy in his mind.

  This, repeatedly, for the rest of his life. Anna coming home to him each night so he could please her. She writhed a little, and his tongue contacted new, undiscovered places between her legs. Oh, he needed this. It wasn’t until now that he realized how much he’d been aching for it. His need for her crept over every inch of his skin and suffused him down to his bones. More. More.

  “I have to have you.” He’d pulled his face from between her legs, and Anna pulled him up onto the bed, her shirt tangled, and her face flushed. “I can’t wait another minute.”

  “Don’t wait.” Those two words were the sexiest he’d ever heard.

  Gabe fumbled in a drawer for a condom—thank God he’d had the foresight to put them there—while Anna repeated them in his ear, her arm thrown around his neck. He should get undressed, he knew, but that would take time, and he wasn’t going to spend time on that. Gabe settled for shoving his own pants out of the way and crawling between her legs, desperate for contact.

  Anna opened for him, hooking her feet around the back of his thighs, and his crown nudged into her slick entrance. “Good,” she murmured, almost feverishly. “So good.”

  He pushed himself into her with a powerful stroke, and Anna bit down on his shoulder. There. That was it. She was so tight and ready as he put a hand under her chin and tipped her head up to kiss her while she squeezed and rocked around him. Harder, harder. He let himself fall into a steady pace, taking her again and again.

  She came up for air a minute later and pushed on his chest, enough to get the momentum she needed to turn them both over. Oh, God, it was a sight—her neck exposed to him, her back arched, the shirt barely hanging on. Anna planted her hands on his chest and rode him, rocking her hips in a sensuous pattern that had desire sparking all the way up and down every nerve.

  He gripped her hips and pulled her down with more force, needing to bury himself deep inside her.

  Yes.

  The pad of his thumb brushed against her clit, and she clenched around his thickness, pulling him close to the edge of release. He drew slow circles around her sensitive nub until she gasped and fell forward onto his neck.

  “Gabe, I’m—”

 
“Come for me,” he hissed in her ear, and then followed her over when she let go.

  Anna pushed herself up and rode him through his orgasm, collapsing to the pillow afterward—her breath fast and labored.

  For once, he didn’t have to live with an expanse of empty mattress between them. Gabe curled himself up around her and waited for his racing heart to settle. He didn’t know how long it had been when he finally had the urge to speak. “I was wrong,” he told her. “Last night, I was wrong.”

  “You’re never wrong.” She felt languid and sleepy underneath him. He would have given any amount of money to make the moment last forever.

  “I should have been more...caring about how stressed you looked last night. Is everything all right with your friend?”

  Anna shifted against him and gave a little sigh. “My best friend Elena—that’s who I was talking to. We usually spend time together at Christmas.”

  Gabe waited, saying nothing, but continued to stroke his hand over her hip.

  “She was worried,” Anna continued, “because my last relationship was with a pretty-boy socialite from LA. Not that you’re a pretty-boy socialite. Just—he had a lot of money and influence, but I only ever saw him when he came to Vegas. He never invited me out to LA. When it came down to it, I wasn’t good enough for him, and he let me know that.”

  For the life of him, Gabe couldn’t understand how any man could think Anna wasn’t good enough for anything. She was gorgeous, brilliant, and accomplished. It was why he’d asked her to come to the resort with him in the first place. The jerk had been dating her, and getting to do all the things that Gabe wanted—

  Bitter jealousy sliced through him, and Gabe fought to tamp it down. At least the man was gone now. But none of this explained the tension at dinner when Jonas asked about her family.

  “You are good enough. No matter what might have happened in your past.”

  Anna stiffened for a fraction of a second, and if she hadn’t been wrapped up in his arms, he might have missed it. “You know I’m not close with my family,” she offered by way of explanation. “There are certain things about them I’d rather not talk about.”

  It was vague enough to make him curious, but at the same moment, he felt it—the hurt behind her words. Certain things could mean a lot. It wasn’t up to him to pry or press. Gabe cuddled her closer, hoping to soothe her. Hopefully, he would be enough.

  Whatever this was, he’d protect her from that, too.

  The longer he kept his body close to hers, the more she relaxed. “Let me get you some water.”

  “I’d rather you stay and hold me some more.” Anna’s tone was light, but it had a layer of longing that called to him.

  “I like the sound of that even better.” It was something, how they fit together—so right, like they’d been made to do this. Gabe wanted to stay like this all night. He wanted to stand between Anna and whatever it was that made her shoulders tight and her voice thin.

  “Are you sure?”

  Was he? It wasn’t often that he felt this fierce protective instinct. It was confusing. “I’m very sure.” He kissed her hair. “Now go to sleep. I’ll be here all night.”

  9

  Gabe’s phone rang in the hazy light of morning, and Anna stretched out the pleasant ache in her limbs while he rolled over to grab his phone.

  “We’re not up yet if you’re calling to invite us somewhere.” His voice had a gravelly, sleepy quality that made her body respond—nipples peaking, desire curling low.

  Anna rolled over on her side to watch him.

  He pushed a hand through his hair, eyes still closed. Seconds later, they shot open. “Okay. I’ll tell Anna. When?” A pause. “All right. Thanks, Jonas.” He hung up and let the phone fall to the covers. “Grandmother isn’t feeling well. No big lunch or dinner today.” His lips had turned down at the corners, a good indication of his fear for his grandmother.

  Sympathy squeezed at her chest. “What else?”

  Gabe glanced at her, a wry smile suddenly tugging at his lips. “Jonas has arranged a gift for my grandmother. He’s got a photographer coming for Christmas to do family portraits for a couple of days.” He eyes grew distant. “Which means I need to think of something better for my grandmother.”

  His determination would have made her laugh if she didn’t feel deeply for the man lying next to her. Resentment of his brother’s one-upmanship was written plain as day on his face. “You know, if you really want to impress your grandmother, you should bake something. It always adds a special touch.”

  Gray-green eyes met hers, the full force of his gaze making her blush. “It might if I knew how to bake—which I don’t.”

  “Lucky for you, I’m an excellent baker. Come on, get up. Let’s go.”

  “Go where?” Gabe’s expression took on an open, hopeful cast that made her heart beat faster. He scrambled out of bed behind her and followed her into the bathroom.

  “If we’re going to bake, we need supplies. You don’t want to go down to the lodge kitchen, do you?”

  “No,” he said quickly. “Let’s go into town.”

  An hour later, they carried bags back into the suite and set them out in the kitchen. It was a well-appointed place, if a bit small, with marble countertops and stainless-steel appliances that looked brand new. Like everything at the Elk Lodge, it was top of the line. Perfect. And the man standing in it with her—

  He looked pretty perfect, too.

  “Peanut-butter chunk cookies,” Anna announced. “They’re my favorite, and everybody loves them. Roll up your sleeves so we can get started.”

  Anna might have had practice baking, but Gabe was clueless. They mixed the first ingredients, then added the flour, baking soda, and vanilla extract.

  Twenty minutes later, the whole endeavor resounded of failure. At first, she’d thought they bought too much at the grocery store—way more than they could possibly need. But with the first batch lopsided, there was no choice but to try again. They couldn’t possibly serve these to Gabe’s grandmother.

  Gabe shook his head and reached for the mixing bowl again. This time she took control of the flour while he added the brown sugar and other ingredients. Anna felt her shoulders relaxing as she enjoyed the easy camaraderie between them.

  Here, in the small kitchen, it seemed safe enough to talk. To let some of the heaviness from last night go. “My parents really hated each other,” she said, watching as Gabe stirred the mixture. “It made everything in my childhood...very tense.”

  The set of Gabe’s jaw told her he was listening intently, and she was grateful for his silence, allowing her to maintain the courage to continue. “My father was always getting into trouble, my mother was always angry, and none of it was idyllic. Not like this place.” Anna took a deep breath. “Baking always made me feel better.”

  “My parents loved each other when they were still alive. And my grandmother did her best to make a happy home for us. We were lucky.” Gabe shook his head. “But I never felt like I measured up to a family like this one. It was always so perfect here, and I don’t know—maybe I just wanted something else out of life. I didn’t think I could do what Jonas did. And Chase took off chasing his dream. So, when it was my turn, I did the same. I left the family business to start out on my own. It’s been a success, but then I was never with the right girl, never happy enough...not to please Grandmother, anyway.” He slid the next batch of cookies into the oven and closed the door, setting the timer on the microwave.

  When he straightened up, Anna met him with a kiss. Empathy squeezed at her heart, and she already hummed with desire from standing so close to him. Gabe didn’t seem surprised at her arms on his shirt or her lips on his—he seemed hungry. Like a man looking for a port in a storm.

  He groaned, low and soft, and the sound made her move closer. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all morning.”

  “I’m kissing you now,” she said.

  Gabe took her in his arms, letting his hands work over her dr
ess, caressing the soft red material. He pushed it up to her hips like he was opening a present, and then dropped to his knees.

  She sucked in a breath at the sight of his blond head below her, leaning in to press kisses to the line where her panties met her thighs. He tugged them down like he was undoing a ribbon and she stepped out of them, suddenly finding herself backed against the counter. Gabe kissed her core, sending a hot wave of desire through her body.

  His tongue stole between her folds, and she put a knuckle between her teeth, trying to stifle the moans that escaped. It felt like she was falling. Like he’d opened a door into his heart and soul. It was then she knew the truth. She’d fallen for Gabe. And for the pleasure that wound tight between her legs.

  Gabe brought her to a slow, sensuous release. Before she knew it, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom while the aftershocks still echoed through her body. He opened the nightstand drawer and grabbed a condom, quickly returning to the task. Unfurling the protection, he slid it onto his length, sheathing him tightly. He was strong enough to hold her up with her back against the wall, wrapped around him as he thrust into her.

  Oh, it was good. It was better than chocolate, better than cookies, and better than Christmas. The slow roll of his hips against hers and the way he dropped his head against her shoulder while he pushed in and pulled out made her dizzy with desire.

  Gabe repositioned her hips, rolling her close against him. Anna gave in to the orgasm as it climbed higher and higher, crashing in waves as it broke over them. She could feel him coming, feel the tension in his lean body while he came. When it was over, he held her up, thumbs tracing a path on the flesh of her hips while their breathing slowed.

  I hope he feels the same. The thought unfolded itself and dissolved like sugar on her tongue.