Wicked Wonderland Read Online Free PDF Page B

pulled her hand back and pressed her lips together.“Um, I’ll go change into your clothes now. I might as well keep the humiliation rolling right along.”
    “You want me to change into yours to make you feel better?”
    “You’d do that for me?” She clasped her hands to her chest and batted her eyes.
    “Of course,” he replied, playing along.
    “After all, what’s Christmas without a little cross-dressing?”
    “I think you meant a little corn-bread dressing. . . .”
    “Oh.” Claire slapped a hand to her forehead. “My bad. Wow, I’ve gotten that wrong for years.” Claire picked up her drink and headed out of the room but said over her shoulder, “I just hope you like thongs. . . .”

Chapter Four
    A fter Claire left the kitchen, Jesse put his cold glass to his forehead and groaned. “Damn . . .” It might be snowing outside, but he sure as hell was burning up.The more Claire let her guard down, the more attracted he was to her, and that last casual comment about her thong nearly did him in. He shook his head. She was a fascinating combination of shy and bold, making him wonder what she would be like in bed.
    “Don’t even go there,” he reminded himself. He took another healthy swallow of his spiked eggnog and tried to gather his scattered wits, but when he spotted her slinky red sandals sitting on the black granite, he had a sudden vision of Claire lying on his bed wearing nothing but those sexy heels.
    Not going there really wasn’t working out for him. With a deep sigh he absently added some bourbon and a splash of eggnog into his glass. “Okay, that was supposed to be the other way around,” he said under his breath, but then shrugged. He downed half of it while putting away the rest of his groceries and trying without much success not to think about Claire getting naked.At least she was going to be swimming in his big clothes and hiding her sweet curves. That should help matters a little, anyway.
    Maybe.
    “Okay, maybe not,” he mumbled softly when she walked into the kitchen.
    “Excuse me?”
    “I said you look hot,” he answered as if joking, except he wasn’t. His green plaid flannel shirt was an amazing shade on her with her deep red hair and moss-colored eyes. She had used her own belt to cinch it at her waist and wore snug-fitting long johns underneath.
    “Right.” She wrinkled up her nose and looked down at her outfit. “Could I have a teensy bit more of your eggnog?” She held her thumb and index finger an inch apart and then pushed her glass his way. “It was de-lish.”
    “Absolutely,” Jesse answered, and then refreshed her drink. After sliding it her way, he said, “Feel free to explore the cabin or watch television. I’m going to take a cold—I mean hot—shower if you don’t mind.”
    “Oh, no, go right ahead.”
    “Thanks.” He picked up his drink but then paused. “If you get hungry, there are a few snacks.We’ll cook dinner later, okay?”
    She looked at him over the rim of her glass. “ You’ll cook dinner. I’ll just sit here and look . . . pretty in flannel.”
    When she stuck a pose as a joke, Jesse walked over and said softly in her ear, “My shirt never looked so good.” He didn’t look to see her reaction but heard her slight gasp and continued walking. It blew his mind that she didn’t know how hot she was, so he paused in the doorway and said, “Hey, that wasn’t supposed to be a cheap pickup line.”
    Her cheeks were pink, but she gave him a smile. “We’ve already established that you can pick me up, remember?”
    “You are correct,” he replied, but then looked down at her feet. “We will have to do something about shoes. That might be a little tougher.”
    “I’m sure we can come up with something if we put our heads together.”
    “Yeah, we’ll think of something,” Jesse answered, but envisioned a much more physical reason for putting their heads together, like kissing, for instance. “Damn,” Jesse whispered as he