Home for the Holidays Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Lying there like that.” 
    Her eyes fluttered open.  “So do you,” she said, reaching up to trace the side of his face with one finger, brushing lightly over his beard and trailing her finger down his neck to the v of his long t-shirt. And it was true.  His face was so dark and layered, all the planes and dips of an interesting life.  His lashes threw shadows on his cheeks in the firelight and she wanted to close his eyes and kiss them.  James Canning.  Here, with her, on her mother’s shag rug.  She peeped up at her father’s portrait.
    Avert your gaze, Daddy, you’re not going to like this one little bit.
    Jim’s mouth moved down, very slowly, to meet hers.  He tasted like whiskey and wantonness and she wanted more, more, more.
    His stubble scratched her cheeks, lighting them up and making them tender.  He rolled his body half onto hers, and the press of him accentuated the sensation of his lips.  As his tongue pushed into her mouth, he pushed one thigh between her legs, opening them as he rammed his hips against hers. The twin sensations of his tongue and his thigh almost undid her. 
    Oh boy.  Jimmy Canning sure knew how to kiss.  She tried not to think about how many girls and women he’d practised that particular skill on.  It didn’t matter. 
    She remembered his words.  Only one Lizzie Gibson.
    He wanted her .
    He pressed his thigh between her legs again, up towards her sex, and she bit down hard on his lip to stop herself from crying out with the tummy-dissolving thrill of it.
    Then he reached up slowly and began to undo the buttons of the loose white blouse she was wearing.  She didn’t know what manner of premonition had made her discard the bra she had been going to wear underneath it – a solid, functional t-shirt bra – in favour of the delicate wispy slip of creamy lace she had opted for instead.  But right now she was glad of that premonition, because as he undid another button, the beautiful lingerie revealed itself and Beth wriggled happily at his sharp intake of breath.
    “Oh Beth,” he said, running his fingertips over her breasts where they peeked out of the bra.  “You are so fuckin’ hot.”
    Beth’s tummy bungee-jumped towards her toes at his words and the gravelly silk they were wrapped in.
    She swallowed, tugging at his shirt.  “Your turn, big boy,” she croaked, wanting the shirt gone now.
    “Patience, honey,” he scolded, capturing her hand and bringing it to his lips.  “You first.”
    This didn’t seem very fair to Beth, but she was pretty sure Jim wasn’t raised on equity.  She looked hard into his green eyes and saw sheer determination.  A shiver ran, sweet and delicious, down her spine as she took in that look.  This was a man who was used to being in control. And right now he wanted to be in control of her. 
    She considered pressing the issue, wanting very much to touch the skin of his chest.  She could see from the v of his t-shirt that it was brown and hard, sprinkled with a light smattering of golden brown hair.
    On the other hand, she could just lie here and let him do what he wanted.  Her city girl principles objected, but that damn Lizzie, who had always wanted the boy who had become this beautiful man, overrruled her.  And Beth had a sneaking suspicion Lizzie had a point.
    So she lay back, stretching like a cat on the shag, under his smoky gaze. He leaned forward and pushed a hand under her shoulders, lifting her just enough to remove the white shirt completely.  Once he liberated it, he screwed it up into a small, tight ball, and threw it hard over the back of the couch.  “Begone, evil thing,” he whispered, looking hard at Beth.  “That bloody shirt has been driving me mad all night. With all those cheeky buttons.”
    Beth’s heart lifted at his words.  It felt so good to have this effect on him.  For the last twenty four hours he had been driving her demented, with that big, hard body of his moving around the house like