Under the Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online

forever.
    Nick pulled a condom from his wallet and Mia freed his essentials—and oh how she loved his essentials—and then he lifted her up. “Wrap your legs around me,” he said, and when she did, he slid home.
    And in that moment at least, her world was complete.
    *  *  *
    He was going too fast with her, Nick knew it. But the pent-up lust and longing had drawn them into this explosion of deep, wet kisses and slick, needy bodies, and he couldn’t slow himself down. When she came, shuddering in pleasure, his name on her lips, she took him right over the edge with her.
    They ended up on the floor of the houseboat flat on their backs, staring up at the sky through the skylight, panting for breath, trying to recover. He wasn’t even sure he could move, but somehow he managed to pull her into him, holding her to his side, gliding a hand up and down her satiny, still-damp skin. She shivered at his touch and arched into him as if needing more, and he discovered he could move plenty. Catching her hands in his, he rolled, tucking her beneath him.
    She stared up at him, her eyes two fathomless pools, and he felt his heart give a hard kick to his ribs.
    She was it for him.
    “Mia,” he said quietly, brushing her hair from her face, breathing deeply of her scent—part shampoo, part satisfied woman. “I love you.” He kissed her before she could respond because he wanted her to absorb the words and believe. He kissed her as if he could breathe the truth into her lungs.
    But she eventually pulled back. “I don’t need promises, Nick. I never did. I just wanted you here with me. For now.”
    For now. A guy’s dream, those two words. But he’d come to realize that he wanted more, so much more. He wanted her heart.

Chapter 8

    B y the time they got back to the B&B, Mia had received no less than ten calls from her mom and aunts, and Nick could feel her pulling away.
    On the porch of the B&B, she turned to him, face solemn. “Today was wonderful, Nick.”
    There was an unsettling finality to her words, like she was saying good-bye. Did she think he would just go home now that he’d gotten laid?
    “I’ll never forget it,” she said.
    Yeah, she did. She expected him to go. “I want to stay, Mia.” He ran his hands up her arms and felt her tremble at his touch. She closed her eyes and he cupped her face, running the pads of his thumbs over her cheekbones. “I know you don’t quite believe in us right now,” he said, “but I believe enough for the both of us.”
    “Nick—”
    Maddie burst out of the B&B. “Thank God,” she said at the sight of Mia. “Someone I can boss around.”
    “What do you need?” Mia asked.
    “Everything. A builder, a gopher, an errand runner…No offense, honey, but your mama’s gone off the deep end. Her elevator isn’t hitting the top floor, she’s a few fries short of a Big Mac Meal, she—”
    “I can hear you!” Tara yelled from the open window.
    Maddie winced, then leaned in and lowered her voice. “Help me. Chloe’s this close to killing her, and if she goes to prison, I’ll be the only one left to deal with her.”
    “Sure,” Mia said. “Whatever you need.”
    “Me too,” Nick said.
    Both women stared at him in surprise.
    “But you’re leaving,” Mia said.
    Nick shook his head.
    “Either way, you’re a guest,” Maddie told him. “And guests don’t help.”
    He’d spent much of his life telling himself he didn’t need a family, but right then, for the first time ever, he’d have loved to have been included as a family member and not a guest. “I want to help.”
    Maddie stared at him for a long beat, but apparently she decided to take him at his word because she put him to work. Hours later, he and Jax had assembled a big white tent and outside heaters to keep the guests warm, set up all the tables, including hanging mistletoe at each one, assisted Tara in the kitchen, and run around town picking up more Christmas trees and decorations by demand of Chloe