Once Upon a Fiery Christmas (Return to Avalore Book 3) (3 page)

She’d just finished the second row when he came into the backyard. He hadn’t said a word, and she hadn’t turned to see him yet, but he was there. Reaching farther meant going on all fours, and that was fine with her. He gasped behind her, but she pretended not to hear, reaching again several times until he moved forward, his shadow blocking the sun’s light.

Feigning surprise, she jumped up and smiled wide, brushing her hands off in front of her to remove the dirt from her fingers. If it made her breasts jiggle a little for him to see, even better. “Sebastian, thanks for coming.” She absently waved toward the tree. “I was tempted to try to deal with it myself, but I think some birds still have nests in there. I didn’t want them to peck me like they did yesterday.”

Her breath caught at the smoldering look he gave her. He didn’t pretend to look away. His eyes travelled from her face to her breasts, all the way down to her toes before coming up again, just as slowly. “What the hell are you wearing?”

The huskiness in his voice had her heart hammering. “It’s a bikini.” Although the thought of snowflakes falling from the sky set her imagination soaring, in that moment, she was glad they had no snow in Avalore, at least not unless you went to the mountain peaks. She held her arms out innocently, knowing he’d look down again. When his gaze found her breasts, her nipples pebbled. “I wanted to get a bit of sun today while I worked in my garden.”

“In the name of all that is light, I swear, my new favorite color is pink.” He uttered the words so softly, she hardly heard him.

The tiny scraps of pink material barely covered the parts needing covering. She had received it as a joke from Katie, but she was glad she’d chosen to wear it. When he rubbed at his chin, then pulled his gaze away to look at the tree, she couldn’t miss noticing the bulge pressing against the zipper of his jeans. Not willing to lose his attention quite yet, she turned away and bent at the hips. “Let me just get rid of this stuff, and I’ll be ready to help with the tree.”

She bit her lip to keep from grinning as she swayed a little and heard him moan before turning to him again. Yeah, his attention was on her again. “Are you all right?”

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Never better,” he muttered before readjusting his jeans. By the time she set the tools aside, the tense line of muscle in his shoulders loosened a little.

“I’ll just put my hair up and we can get to work.” Grabbing the tie from around her wrist, she lifted both arms and gathered all her hair. She took her time, making sure not a single strand escaped her capture in the soft breeze, and although he tried not to make it obvious, he didn’t miss a thing.

When she came within arm’s reach, he stiffened. “What are you doing, Chantelle?”

She’d hoped he wouldn’t see her seduction for what it was. Heat rushed up her body and into her cheeks. “I… what do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean. You’re playing with fire, beautiful.”

Gooseflesh rose on her skin as his hulking frame blocked the sun’s rays from her again. “And what if I am?” She had been making promises with her body from the moment he had entered her backyard, and she was more than happy to deliver on them.

“Maybe you should go inside and put something else on.” His energy slid over her, testing, savoring hers.

“I don’t think that’s what you want, Sebastian.” She rested her hand at his waist, tugging on his T-shirt, freeing it from his waistband before slipping her fingers under it to the patch of skin that had tormented her all night. His muscles contracted under her touch.

He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. “What I want and what I’ll allow are two very different things, honey.”

She pulled her hand away as if she’d been burned. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make unwanted advances. I’ll go change.”

Turning on her heels, she all but ran to the door. She was such a fool. She made it all the way into the kitchen before Sebastian caught up with her. “Wait, Chantelle, please.”

She didn’t want to look at him, she didn’t want to turn around and have him see the shame sure to be flaming her face, but she wasn’t a coward. Chin held high, she looked him in the eye. “It’s all right. Really, I understand.” And she did. He was attracted to her, she had no doubt, but he didn’t want a relationship.

“What is it you understand, Chantelle?”

She crossed her arms over her chest, desperate to cover at least part of herself up. “I... I really need to get dressed.” Not waiting for his response, she made it to her bedroom before the first tear fell.

Damn it.
None of it had gone as planned. He had intended to come help her with the tree, flirt a little, and then go. He should have known it was doomed from the moment he’d landed in her back yard. Her skin, glistening in the sunlight, had driven him insane, and he’d been powerless to look away.

Sebastian hung his head, and resisted the urge to follow. If the shine in her eyes was to be trusted, she was most likely crying in her bedroom. Part of him wanted to leave. He could gather enough energy to lift the tree into the air and out of her yard in a matter of minutes, but he wouldn’t do that, at least not yet. He’d stay and make sure she was all right, and then make himself scarce. Helping her with the Christmas celebration would be tricky, but he’d find a way to manage without hurting her more than he already had.

As much as he wanted—needed—Chantelle, he couldn’t put himself through the heartache. It was just a matter of time before she asked the Elders to name her mate. He’d heard her say those exact words to Rhia just last week. He’d done all he could to keep her at arm’s length, but she’d gotten under his skin. If the Elders came back from their meditation and named another man as her mate, it would kill him. His feelings for her already ran too deep. Seeing her joined to another man would be the hardest thing he would ever have to do, and there was no escaping it, but at least he wouldn’t have the memory of her body writhing in pleasure beneath his to torture him. While he lay in his bed alone, he wouldn’t have to think of the sounds she’d make while making love to her new mate.

When she finally emerged, she had a long, loose-fitting T-shirt on over modest pants. The look shouldn’t have been sexy, but it was. She could cover herself in tree bark and still make him ache for her. She had washed her face, but nothing could hide the evidence of her tears. Her red, puffy eyes made him want to rush over and wrap her in his arms, but that would only make things worse, and so he stayed where he was, shuffling his feet like an awkward youngster.

“You didn’t have to stick around.” She looked everywhere but at him.

Sighing, he hung his head. “I wanted to. Can we talk?” He couldn’t stand the dark hues of blue and burgundy weighing her energy down.

“If you don’t mind, I’ve developed a bit of a headache. I was going to have a rest.”

More than anything, he wanted to explain, to tell her how much he wanted her, to wipe the uncertainty from her eyes, but he couldn’t. Hurting her was never his intention, and he’d regret it for the rest of his days, but maybe this was for the best. With a deep sigh, he headed for the door. “Sure,” he paused with his hand at the knob before leaving. “I’m sorry, Chantelle.”

Chapter 4

Katie paused, fork halfway to her mouth. “So he just left?”

Chantelle groaned, shoving a big bite of chocolate cake into her mouth and savoring it before answering. “No, he didn’t just leave. He waited for me to change into different clothes and then asked if we could talk.” She stabbed her fork into her cake with enough force to cause her friend to wince. “I’m the one who asked him to leave. I was so embarrassed. I mean, the only way I could have made it worse was to have done my gardening in the nude. I could tell he felt horrible about the whole thing, but what was there left to be said?”

“Oh, honey, you could have let him explain. I’ve seen how he looks at you.”

Katie’s soothing power seeped into Chantelle’s skin, easing the suffocating ache in her chest.

“There’s something more going on here. You can’t tell me that man isn’t head over heels for you. I’d never believe it.” Katie waved her fork around in the air. “There’s probably a really good explanation, or at least a reasonable one.”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” She forced a smile onto her face. “Tell me more about what you found out about Santa Day.”

Just as she knew it would, one mention of the surprise they were preparing for Rhia had Katie’s eyes brightening and excitement pulsing all around her. “First of all, it’s not Santa Day. It’s Christmas Day. Santa is just an old tale told to bring joy to children on that day.” She pulled a notebook out of her bag “On Christmas Eve, they’d get together with family and friends. Most people have their tree up by then, but if not, then they decorate it together. In the past, people would string popcorn and drape it all over the tree. Some people still do, but for the most part, they use these store-bought garlands. They come in all kinds of colors and are made of synthetic materials. The ornaments are fragile little balls of glass that hang on tiny wire hooks from tree limbs. Oh, and string lights. They make these special lights on a string of some sort to go into the tree so it can be lit up. Rhia says it’s very pretty. I wish we could see them.”

Katie kept talking, telling her about a massive tree in a park, and Chantelle tried to concentrate, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Sebastian. Maybe she should have let him say what he needed to say. Of course, at the time she’d been too embarrassed to even look at the man, much less carry on a conversation with him, but sending him on his way hadn’t been right. It wasn’t his fault she’d tried to seduce him and failed. Her heart thudded as horror struck through her. Maybe he hadn’t enjoyed their kiss as much as she’d thought. It wasn’t like she was very experienced with kissing men. The fact that his body had reacted didn’t mean a thing. He could have just been thinking of someone else.
No
. She shook her head at her own thoughts. He’d said he hadn’t kissed her because he was afraid he’d not be able to stop. She might be inexperienced, but she wasn’t an idiot. He’d enjoyed the kiss. She took a deep breath, calming her racing pulse.

When she finally realized the room was quiet, she looked at her friend. Eyebrows raised, Katie looked at her as though she’d sprouted another head. “What?”

“Are you okay? You’ve been lost in your own thoughts for a while. I haven’t said a word in over a minute, and you didn’t even notice.” Katie reached over and pried Chantelle’s fingers from around her fork.

She hadn’t noticed the grip with which she’d held it, until her fingers loosened and the circulation reached her fingertips again. “I’m fine. I think I need to have that talk with Sebastian after all.”

“Eat your cake. You can talk to him after the chocolate infusion is done.” Katie settled back into her seat, continuing their earlier conversation without batting an eye. “I wish we could see the Santa parade. Rhia says it’s quite an event, although I can’t figure out why they do it in November instead of December. Seems to me that if they’re honoring that chubby man in a red suit, they’d do it at Christmas, not a month before the celebration.”

“One would think.” Chantelle shrugged and polished off the rest of her cake. Of all confections, this was her absolute favorite, and she had to restrain herself from licking the sticky frosting from her plate. “All right, so what else can we do to make this thing special for Rhia? I think we have the tree covered. I mean, I don’t actually have one, but now that I know what we need, it’ll be easy to get one.”

Katie tapped her fork on her bottom lip. “We need to find out what kind of food and drink they serve at these get-togethers. Surely, it’s not every day fare.”

“Of course. You’re right. Perhaps some of the men who have been to the lands of humans can give us some insight. I’ll start questioning them tomorrow.”

“And we’ll have to ask Barbara and Clayton Matthews if they would mind if we included Max. We can put a few gifts under the tree for him.” Katie’s excitement vibrated around them both.

“Yes. I’m certain they wouldn’t mind.” Chantelle clapped her hands, her own joy climbing. “We’ll go shopping and wrap the gifts in bright paper and bows.”

A sharp knock rapped at the door. “Are you expecting anyone?”

Katie dashed from the room before Chantelle could respond to her question, unabashed about answering her friend’s door.

The moment the door opened, her heart rate spiked.
Sebastian.
She would recognize his energy anywhere. She couldn’t hear the words, but the low rumble of his voice following Katie’s softer greeting reached for her and was getting louder.

“Hi.” She nibbled on her lower lip and forced herself to keep his gaze.

“If this isn’t a good time, I can come back later, or tomorrow.” Once he entered the kitchen, he didn’t spare Katie a second glance.

“I was just leaving.” Katie snatched her bag from the table. “Let me know if you need another dose of chocolate later.” One tight hug later, she retreated to the front of the house and out the door.

“I didn’t mean to chase your friend away.”

“It’s fine. Can I get you something to drink?” She stacked the plates in the sink to wash later.

“A glass of water would be great.”

The fork she was rinsing slipped from her fingers and made a loud clank in the sink. “Uh, yeah, no problem.”