“HOW AGGRESSIVE IS THE SNOWBALL FIGHT?” I ask Shawn on Christmas morning. I jump into my ski pants, the only clothing I brought that will keep me warm while we roll around in the freshly fallen snow. Flakes started to come down when we climbed off the roof last night, and it was the perfect ending to a perfect day. “Like, Fight Club level? Or something you’d let Maven participate in?”
“Fuck, no. There’s a reason none of my nieces are allowed to join,” he says, and he grabs his beanie from his suitcase. “Last year, someone needed three stitches on their forehead because they ran into a tree.”
“For heaven’s sake.” I zip up my jacket and sigh. “If something happens to me, tell my parents I love them. Tell Maggie, too. She can have all my books.”
“Normally I’d offer to keep you safe, but not today. Today you’re on your own, sweetheart.” Shawn rubs a smudge of black paint under each of his eyes. “And I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Wow. I’m finally seeing that athlete mentality from you.” I grin and wiggle my fingers into my gloves. “Is there a trophy?”
“Of course there’s a trophy. What kind of athletic event would it be if there wasn’t a trophy?”
“I don’t know. Still a made up one, probably. And one that doesn’t land someone in the hospital.” I put my hands on my hips and level him with a look. “I’m very competitive, Shawn. There’s a reason Maggie and I can’t be partners when we play charades; I yell at her too much. Just know that whatever I say out there doesn’t represent how I really feel about you.”
“You’re cute when you think you’re being a badass.” Shawn taps my nose, and I narrow my eyes. “Let’s see if you can back it up out there, Daniels. I’m not sure you can.”
“Oh, I’ll back it up. I’ll make you wish I was on your team, Holmes, because I’m going to mop the floor with you,” I say, and I press my finger into the center of his chest. “You better watch over your shoulder.”
He grabs my hand and presses a kiss to the middle of my palm. “I really wish the guys in the league shit talked like you do. Would’ve kept my temper in check when I was playing.”
“I can’t imagine you getting into any fights. You’re always calm on the sidelines.”
“It was different when I was a player. I had all this pressure on me to perform to a certain standard. There were milestones I was expected to hit. Once I passed one, I was given another, then another and another. It was fucking exhausting. I was never mean, but I had a short fuse when it came to certain things. When people questioned if I worked hard. When people said something and I interpreted it as a personal attack when really, they were just talking shit to rile anyone up. The older I got, the more I cooled off. The more I understand that if I lost a game, it wasn’t the end of the world.” Shawn shrugs. “There was always going to be another chance to play. Just don’t say anything about my mom, and I won’t have to totally knock you over.”
I laugh and clutch my heart. “I would never talk poorly about Kelly. She’s a ray of sunshine, and she raised a fantastic man. Even if his taste in backyard games is questionable and borderline violent.”
“She likes you, too. She told me she hasn’t seen me this happy in years.” He pauses, and his eyes meet mine. I see shyness behind the gray, like he’s not a man who whispered filthy things in my ear last night. “I told her she was right.”
“She said the same thing to me.” I reach up and touch his cheek. Run my fingers down the sharp lines of his jaw and commit every one of his beautiful angles to memory. “Moms know best, don’t they?”
“Yeah.” He brushes his lips against mine, and I lean into the kiss. “They certainly do.”
I wonder if I can convince him to stay up here all morning.
It’s our last day before we head home, and I’m afraid I’m going to spend it concussed when there is still so much I want to do with him.
I could drag him back to bed and strip off his clothes. I could get him to lead another singalong of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” laughing as he acts out each gift with theatrical flair for his delighted nieces. I could sit with him by the fire, stuffing toys and candy into stockings and just being.
“Shawn,” Amanda bellows up the stairs. “Quit hiding and get your ass down here. It’s time to go.”
“Looks like we’ve been summoned.” He pulls on my hair and tilts back my head so he can kiss me again. “Good luck out there, Daniels. Don’t get hurt. I’d miss you too much if something happened to you.”
“Watch yourself, Holmes. Don’t think I won’t do everything in my power to throw you off your game.”
“Sweetheart, I’ve been to the Super Bowl six times. I’ve won five of those times. I don’t get distracted.”
I stand up on my tiptoes and nip his ear with my teeth. “Famous last words,” I whisper, and I run my hand down his chest. My fingers trail down the front of his jeans, and his hips jerk forward under my touch. “I’m going to make this very, very difficult for you.”
I drop to my knees and undo his zipper with my teeth. His breathing stutters and hitches, and his hands weave through my hair. “Lacey,” he murmurs, and I like how my name sounds. It almost makes me feel bad for what I’m about to do.
“Yeah?” I blink up at him as I shimmy his jeans down to his knees and reach into his briefs. “Is this okay?” I ask as I wrap my hand around his shaft.
“Fuck. Of course it’s okay. God, that feels good. I like you on your knees.”
I move my hand up and down his length, leaning forward and taking his cock in my mouth. I swirl my tongue around the tip, and he moans. When I hollow out my cheeks and let him thrust down my throat, he yanks on my hair so tight, my eyes flood with tears.
I give him two more tugs, my hand following the path of my mouth, before I slip him back in his underwear and stand up.
“Better get going,” I say, and I pat his shoulder.
His eyes fly open and he stares at me with his jaw unhitched and his mouth wide.
“You are such a deviant shit,” he says, and his hand squeezes into a fist at his side. “A little menace. I think you’re going to kill me.”
“All’s fair in love and war, right?” I ask. I kiss his neck, and he groans as I give him one more stroke over his briefs. “I’ll see you out there, hot shot.”
Point, me.
WHEN SHAWN TOLD me there would be a snowball fight, I was expecting a small game in the backyard, not a man hunt through the forest next to his house.
My lungs burn as I run to duck behind a tree and the snow crunches under my feet. I clutch my chest and curse myself for not doing any physical exercise ever. I’m getting my ass handed to me.
I’ve been hit twice, once by Katelin’s husband and the other by Amanda’s spouse. I’ve barely seen Shawn the whole time we’ve been out here, and I’ve spent two hours frantically looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to pop out from behind a bush and throw a snowball in my face.
He doesn’t though.
I hear the snap of a stick and I crouch to the ground. I gather a ball of snow in my hand and jump out from my hiding spot, expecting to find someone right in front of me. There’s no one there, and when large arms wrap around my middle, I almost scream.
“It’s just me,” Shawn says softly. He’s lost the gloves he had on earlier, and his hands are as cold as ice as they slide under my sweater and rest on my stomach. “You’re way out of bounds right now.”
“I am?” I glance around, and I don’t recognize my surroundings. I can’t even see the smoke coming from the chimney back at his house. “Shit. No wonder I couldn’t find you.”
“Looking for me, Daniels?” he asks. He sets me down and spins me to face him.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I say, and I fan my face. It’s freezing out here, but the sudden rush of adrenaline makes me warm. Sweat prickles my back, and I take a deep breath. “Aren’t you going to throw a snowball at me and end the game?”
“That’s not fair. Technically we’re not playing the game right now since we’re outside the boundaries.”
“Oh.” I let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Should we head back, then?”
“In a minute.” Shawn kisses me, and I hum against his mouth. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve been too quick. How did you even know where I was?”
“I followed your footsteps in the snow. Figured you probably went off the path a little bit, and I was right. You aren’t too cold, are you?” he asks, and he rests his hand against my throat, at the top of my chest.
“No,” I say, and I swallow. “I’m just right.”
“Good. That’s good.”
I slide my hands up to his neck, and his skin is warm under the collar of his sweater. “I’m sorry about earlier. That wasn’t fair of me to touch you then leave.”
“That’s okay, Lacey girl. You were in the moment. Ready to kick my ass and charge into battle.” Shawn unzips my jacket. “Can I touch you now?”
“Won’t someone see?” I ask, but my thighs clench together.
“Come here.” He leads me to a thicket of small trees, a circle that’s protected from the rest of the woods. I haven’t seen anyone else out here in twenty minutes, and I doubt someone is going to pass by now. “Better?”
“Yeah.” I shrug my jacket off and it falls to the snow. “Touch me, Shawn.”
“Buy me dinner first, Daniels,” he says, laughing as he pulls me flush against his chest and eases us onto the ground. He sits on my jacket and spins me so I’m between his parted legs.
“If you won’t, I will.”
“That’s not the taunt you think it is. Unzip your jeans and spread your legs. I want to watch you finger yourself.”
Fuck.
The people I’ve been with before have been boys, because this man knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows exactly what to say to make my blood sing and my body heat. He makes me want to do everything he says and not give a damn about the repercussions.
I fumble with the button at the top of my jeans, unfastening it and working the zipper down. Shawn helps me ease the pants off my waist, and the denim slides halfway down my hips. I lean back against his chest, my knees opening and my hand low on my stomach.
I drag my fingers down and slip them inside my underwear. Behind me, Shawn goes as still as a statue, but I can feel his breath on my skin. He reaches out and covers my hand with his larger one, guiding me, and I close my eyes when I slide the first finger inside.
“Yes,” I whisper. I drop my head against his shoulder and wiggle my hips, too constrained by my jeans. “That feels good.”
His free hand yanks down my pants until they’re sitting around my ankles, and I hiss at the cold bite of air against my bare legs.
“Pull your underwear to the side,” Shawn rasps, and my free hand moves the lace out of the way. “God, that’s hot.”
“You like watching me, don’t you?” I arch my back as I add a second finger. “I think you might have been watching me for years, Shawn.”
“You’re a gorgeous woman, Lacey,” he says, and he sucks on my earlobe. “I’d be out of my mind to not look at you. Wanting to run my hand up your leg and taste your pussy are recent fascinations, but now that I’ve had a bite, I don’t ever want to stop. Open your legs wider. You can add a third, sweetheart. Let’s get you ready for later tonight when I fuck you nice and hard. You’ll have to be quiet, though. We can’t have my family knowing what a slut you are, can we?”
I squeeze my eyes tight and moan. The third finger takes a second to get adjusted to, and I heave out a ragged breath as I start to relax enough for it to feel so fucking good. “Shawn,” I whisper. “Can you—will you—”
“Anything, sweetheart. Anything. What do you need?” he asks, and his touch dances up my thigh. He circles my clit to the same pattern as the slick slide of my fingers, and I see bursts of color behind my eyes. “Is that good?”
“So good. You’re the best I’ve ever had,” I admit in a moment of weakness. “I don’t want anyone else.”
“Because you’re mine, aren’t you? I’m going to keep taking care of you, Lacey.” He pulls my fingers out and exchanges them with his own. I choke out a sob as he turns his wrist half a degree to the left, hitting a spot I’ve never found myself. “I’m going to take care of your heart. I’m going to take care of your brilliant fucking mind. Lift up your shirt. I want to see your tits bounce when you come.”
My hand scrambles with the hem of my sweater, and I’m on fire. Burning from the inside out. I pull it up to my neck, and he yanks down the cups of my bra. I’m nearly naked in the middle of a forest, and I’ve never been more turned on in my life.
“I’m close, Shawn,” I say, and I squeeze his forearm. I dig my fingers into his skin, and he hisses at the contact. “Don’t stop. Please.”
“I’m never going to stop,” he whispers in my ear. “You’re going to be mine until the end of time, Lacey girl. Now come on my fingers, beautiful, so I can taste you.”
I freefall from a cliff with his command. I tremble and shake and cry out as he coaxes me through wave after wave of pleasure. It doesn’t seem to stop, a second round hitting me until tears fall down my cheeks and I can’t remember my own name.
“Fuck,” I groan. I gulp down a lungful of frigid air, and the cold awakens me. It forces me to sit up and adjust my underwear. To pull my shirt down and rub my legs, my muscles utterly exhausted.
“Hey.” Shawn kisses my forehead, and he brushes loose pieces of hair out of my face. “Come here. Let me hold you.”
I nod, and he lifts me into a sitting position on top of his legs. Wordlessly, I bury my face in his shirt and try to get my breathing under control. When I finally remember how to speak, I giggle.
“I really, really hate how good you are in bed,” I say. “You had to go and be the whole package, didn’t you?”
“Would you like to file a complaint?” he asks, and my giggles turn into full-fledged laughter.
“No. No. Please never stop using your fingers like that. They could end world wars.”
“Now that’s going to be my platform if I run for president. Forget healthcare; I have miracle hands.”
“You really do.” I sigh and stare at my jeans. “I guess we should head back.”
“Probably. My mom might think someone got seriously hurt,” Shawn says, and he drags my pants up my legs. He buttons them and gives my hip a tap. “This was fun.”
“We should definitely do it again sometime.”
“I can be persuaded.” He kisses me, and I melt into his chest. “But I’m afraid you’re going to be mad at me.”
“What?” I pull back and stare at him. “Why?”
Before I can blink, a snowball crashes on my head, and Shawn grins.
“Because you’re out, Lacey girl.”
“But you said we were out of bounds,” I exclaim, and I scramble off his lap.
He stands too and brings his fingers to his mouth. His tongue sneaks out and licks up the mess I left on his hand. I’ve never been so angry and turned on at the same time.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he murmurs, and he brushes his mouth against mine. I can taste myself, and I hate that I grab him by his sweater and pull him closer. “All’s fair in love and war. And payback is a bitch.”
