Forever in Blue Jeans (25 page)

She climbed down the ladder and with each step gave new meaning to the movie line "every time a bell rings."

"My little elf," Cort murmured as he leaned down to steal a kiss from her glittery lips.

"Come on. I have something to show you."

"A surprise?" She liked surprises, good ones, at least. She especially liked
his
surprises, his romanticism. Coffee in bed. Breakfast in bed.
Being
breakfast in bed. His desire to never go to sleep without her in his arms, even if that meant having to drive hours to get back home to her.

"Yes. You'll need a jacket, though. You really should put on shoes and pants, but at the very least, you need a jacket."

"Okay." She grabbed her own winter wool coat from the rack in the hallway and shrugged into it. Hers was a deep red that matched his sweater almost perfectly. One might think they tried to match when they dressed, but they didn't. It just so happened they had the same taste in style.

It was odd the things they were learning about one another as they'd lived and worked together over the last few months.

He took her hand and once in the kitchen turned to look at her over his shoulder. "Close your eyes."

"Oh, it's one of those kinds of surprises." She was excited. Christmas was her favorite time of year, and this year, she had him. She couldn't ask for more. Well, okay, maybe she could. His surprise.

She closed her eyes and he led her forward. At the backdoor, he opened it and a gust of wind rushed in. She stumbled back as the cold bit into her bare legs and feet.

"A few more steps out. There, that's it. Now, just stand there and keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them, all right?"

"All right." If it were possible, she might have frozen on the spot. Her fingers trembled against the lapels of her jacket. She held it closed as tight as possible and shifted her weight from foot to foot. Next time, she'd listen to him when he tells her she might want to put some clothes on. She was only naked now because she'd been hoping for a little naughty elf time before their dinner guests arrived. She'd been hoping to surprise him, but he'd come home later than she'd expected.

"Ready, baby?"

She yelped, not having heard him come up the back steps. "Yes." She would have smiled and giggled, but she was too damned cold, and she was afraid her face would crack if she did. It had to be colder than forty-something. Had. To. Be.

Cort wrapped his arms around her, pulled her back into the warmth of his own coat and body heat and she sagged against him. His coat was slightly longer than hers, coming to her thighs, and she welcomed the additional heat.

"Open your eyes."

She did so, slowly and her breath caught. "Oh God, Cort," she whispered. The sight before her was no less than breathtaking, no less than the most romantic thing anyone could have ever done for anyone else, and he'd done it for her.

Lights sparkled in every pecan tree in the orchard. White lights and multi-colored lights together twinkled against the winter night sky. The gazebo she'd had Buck build in the center also glittered. Cort left nothing untouched and she'd never seen a more beautiful sight.

"Do you like it?"

His question was tentatively asked, and she nodded emphatically. Words escaped her when she tried to speak, so she didn't. She just nodded and cried and laid her head back against his chest.

"Merry Christmas, baby."

Merry Christmas, indeed. He had no idea what it meant to her. "Thank you," she whispered.

She turned and burrowed into his coat, and he turned them both so she could look at the lights.

What a perfect night. Christmas was still a couple of weeks away, but it seemed the right time to give him the gift she'd been hiding from him for months.

A shiver shook her as a gust of wind blew by.

"Let's get you inside. You can look at them all you want from the warmth of the kitchen."

Once inside, she took both his hands and leveraged herself up to kiss him. Her lips lingered against his until his parted, until he wrapped his arms around her, effectively trapping hers behind her back. His tongue slid inside her mouth and she savored the sweetness and spice of the apple cider he'd had earlier.

She still marveled at how her body fit against his, at how he fit inside her, at how his lean strength complimented her full, soft curves.

"I have a surprise for you too," she said softly against his mouth.

"You being naked wasn't my surprise?"

"It was part, but not all. The rest is upstairs."

Buck fixed the back staircase for her, and she led Cort up it now. It wound upward in a very tight spiral, but it was the only way to get to and from the third floor.

"When did you get this repaired?"

"While we were in Texas."

"Where does it lead?"

"Up."

She yelped at the stinging smack to her ass but smiled inwardly. The way they teased, the way they were able to laugh and chat with one another no matter the situation, be it sexual or serious or just casual, was something she'd always wanted. It's what happened in movies, in television, but never in her life with the men she'd dated, but then, she'd never wanted to get that close with anyone. The idea that they could be taken from her was too great, so she'd opted for surface, for fun.

Not anymore. Not since Cort.

At the top of the stairs, she opened a door. There was no landing per se, just a top stair and a door. She tugged him through the opening and pulled his arms around her from behind, letting him take it all in.

"What do you think?" she whispered, laying her head back against his chest.

"I'm not quite sure."

Blue smiled. She had a feeling that that would be his reaction, and she didn't blame him.

Half of the third floor was attic space, and a doorway in the wall to the left led to it, but this half of the floor, she had designed into a private suite away from all the other guest rooms. She'd planned it long ago, long before Cort had arrived, but once he had, she'd known exactly how she'd decorate it.

"It's the Savannah room. A honeymoon suite, I guess you could say." The room was painted a deep purple, like twilight. Neil had taken a trip with his camera to Savannah and brought back some amazing shots. They'd had a few of them blown up to grace the two solid walls in the room.. One was of the river at dusk, and one was of row houses surrounding one of the squares.

The pub where she and Cort first met could be seen in the background of one.

Sconces hung on the walls and a large iron chandelier hung overhead. Blue had thought to use it in the dining room, but it worked better up here.

There wasn't a balcony off this room, only two dormer windows which she'd arranged a seating area around. During daylight hours, one could look out at the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance. The views, especially in spring and autumn were stunning and she wanted to make sure this room would have a comfortable place from which to gaze. A small private bathroom had been installed as well.

The wall to the right boasted a king-size walnut sleigh bed. Most of the wood in the house came from either walnut, oak, or pecan, and she'd wanted to keep with that when she'd had the furniture made for the room.

"There were a lot of antique furniture pieces in storage, but I wanted this room to have something new, something that was different and unique."

Cort kissed the top of her head and removed his arms from around her. He walked toward the chest of drawers and ran his fingers over the edges and top. It was incredibly smooth, she knew, from having done some of the sanding work herself.

"Who made it?"

"An old family friend of Aunt V's. I went to see one of the sons about making the pieces for the room, and though he charged an outrageous amount, he got it done just last week and delivered it while you were in Asheville."

He slanted her a look. "That's why you couldn't come with me."

"Yes."

"Naughty, sneaky girl. I didn't wire this floor, though."

"No. I asked one of your workers to do it. He'd work up here when you were on lunch breaks or on errands."

Cort tsked her again. "You are a
very
naughty, sneaky girl. It's a beautiful room. Guests will love it."

"Well, that's just the thing. It's not for the guests. It's for us. A retreat. A chance to stay in the mansion once in a while. I love this house, and I always took every chance I had to sleep in it.

It's where I ran away to when I felt like running away from home. Now I can run away with you, here."

"You did this for us?" The surprise on his face was clear and for a moment, doubts about her surprise plagued her. She hadn't even shown him the newly installed bathroom with a double claw foot tub, big enough for two.

"Yes. Do you like it? Her words were hesitant, unsure and she wanted to kick herself. She wasn't scared of anything, not anymore, but she'd never done this surprise thing for a lover before. She'd never tried to surprise one or romance one. “I tried to... Is it corny?" She'd done things for her friends before, planned parties and such, but recreating a scene from her past, a scene with pleasure and pain mixed, she wasn't sure she'd pulled it off.

"Corny?" Cort moved across the room and took her face in his hands. "No, baby. It's not corny. It's beautiful. It's sweet."

His lips on her signified sweetness. Just a touch, though lingering. A mingling of breath, of warmth, of connection.

"I am more than willing and happy to run away with you anywhere you want."

"Even now?"

"Most especially now."

She unwound the scarf from his neck. "Do we have time?" As she asked the question, she went to work on the buttons of his coat with slightly trembling fingers. She fumbled with a few, slapping him on the shoulder when he laughed at her.

"You're nervous?"

"No, of course not," she answered softly. "I don't have any reason to be nervous."

"Sure you do. We still have guests coming. It's our first Christmas together. You've given me a wonderful surprise in this amazing room. Nervous is understandable."

"I'm not nervous." And in truth, she wasn't. "I'm excited, happy. We do have dinner guests coming, and it is our first Christmas together, and you really liked my surprise," she repeated his sentiments back to him as she finally finished unbuttoning his coat. "I just still get all fluttery with you, and I shake sometimes."

She curled her fingers under the edges of his sweater after he shrugged out of his jacket and pushed it up until he could pull it off his head. His long sleeve gray shirt came next, and she laughed as he jumped back slightly.

"You're hands are fucking cold."

She took a step toward him and he took one back. "They're not that cold." She rubbed them together trying to warm them.

"They're cold enough. Damn, woman."

Blue sighed. "Well, you're the one who took me outside in nothing but my coat."

"I did tell you that you might want to put on clothes, even though I love it when you're naked. But I thought we'd been inside long enough that your hands wouldn't still be icy."

"They're not. You've just had too many layers on."

"And I need them back before you touch me again."

"Baby," she teased.

She advanced on him, one step at a time until his knees hit the back of the bed and he had nowhere else to go. He inched himself up, and she reached for him. "Not on your life." He grabbed for the blanket and held it against his chest.

Her hand landed on the bulge between his legs. She squeezed. He was as hard as she was wet. She rubbed him through the denim, and after a few defiant moments, he moaned and loosened his hold on the blanket.

He pulled her to him, astride his thighs, and she guessed he was no longer concerned with the temperature of her hands. Her body ached, and as she spread herself over his lap and settled down on him, the first bit of friction teased her clit, and she surged. Wetness would stain the front of his jeans, but his hands on her back, his mouth at her throat, and she didn't care in the least. She didn't think he would either.

His arms around her encouraged her to ride him this way, to take her pleasure from his body.

The very tip of her orgasm was within seconds of crashing over her, and she pressed her nipples to his chest, the little bells singing an erratic melody.

Blue gasped for breath and sucked in another. She had no words for the feelings she felt in that moment with him here, in this place she'd created for them, this little sanctuary away from the rest of the world, this room she--

"What was that?" she whispered, still moving on his fully covered, fully erect cock.

"What?" His hands dropped to grip her ass to aid in her movements.

She heard the sound again and then... "Oh God," she groaned. Car doors. And the next sound she would hear was the chiming of... "The doorbell."

"Menaces. All of them," Cort muttered.

"I'm so close, Cort, please." She bucked forward. "You can...you can go down and distract them while I go get dressed and... Please help me," she pleaded, looking up into his eyes.

"You want
me
to let you come, but have to wait myself until everyone leaves? Oh no, darlin'." He kissed the tip of her nose. "I may love you but not enough to suffer like that alone."

Blue couldn't believe he'd let her hang like that. "You're mean, and I don't like you." She pouted, tried to do it convincingly pretty for him, but he just smiled and shook his head.

"C'mon, up. They'll come barging in the door and up the stairs if I don't go down there."