Read Mistletoe & Hollywood for Free Online Page A

flattened grass, headed down a gently sloping hill along one side of the low stone wall and then curved to cut diagonally across a corner to another stile set midway through the far side. Infinitely closer to the bull.
    “Relax,” said Jack and cupped my cold cheeks with his gloved hands. His long lashes came to rest on his cheekbones as his face came down to meet my mouth with his. I tilted my face up, holding his wrists and welcomed his lips on mine.
    His lips and nose were cold, but as his mouth opened, I drank in the heady heat of his tongue. Heat that poured down into me and pooled low.
    “Mmm. You taste good,” I murmured against his mouth. Sweet coffee and cinnamon. “Like Christmas.”
    He laughed. “Maybe that’s your actual Christmas gift. Me, naked with just a red bow tied on my—”
    “Jack!” I punched him on the shoulder, and we started walking down the hill. “What would your mother say?” But, too late I already had a vision of naked Jack in my head. “Anyway, I believe you already gave me that gift yesterday, your presence, remember?”
    “But not my naked presence.” With your cheeks red from the cold, I can’t tell if you’re blushing or not.” He took my hand. “You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”
    “No.”
    “Yes, you are.”
    “No, I’m not.” I grinned stupidly.
    “Me. Naked. Go on, admit it.”
    “Actually, I was thinking of me naked, with just this delicate soft red scarf draped strategically—”
    Jack growled and yanked me to a stop. His lips came down hard, his hot tongue sliding inside, and my body instantly went from a slow simmer to full roar. I found the stone wall at my back, and Jack pressed hard against me, one hand tangled in my hair and the other lifting my leg against his thigh. Wow .
    He kissed desperately, and I matched him, my gloved hands grabbing on to him, trying to get closer. Impossible with all our layers. “God,” Jack groaned, wrenching his mouth away like it was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve been inside you?”
    My stomach flipped as it always did when he spoke so plainly. I inhaled sharply as his hard thigh hit the right spot between my legs. Dull with all our clothes but perfect. Perfectly not enough. “Yeah,” I gasped. “Three and a half weeks.”
    “Twenty six days. To be precise. Not that I’m counting. Except, yeah, I’m totally counting.” His mouth nuzzled the spot under my ear, and my skin prickled.
    “I’m so sorry I passed out last night.” We’d had an early dinner, and I’d gone upstairs to get the hostess gift I’d brought for Charlotte and Jeff. I hadn’t been able to resist stretching out on the bed for just a moment, and that was the last thing I remembered until I’d woken this morning wrapped in a cocoon of bedding. I was undressed to my underwear, but there was no sign of Jack. He’d gotten up early to spend some time with his mom.
    “Well, surely you’ve, uh, relieved some of the pressure over the last—” The sight behind Jack stopped my words mid sentence. “Shit,” I whispered in horror at the large black bull ambling in our direction over the deep green field. “Uh, Jack, it’s a pretty big bull with rather large horns, and he’s heading straight for us.”
    Jack turned his head, his body unmoving, just as the bull seemed to zone in on us and picked up his pace to a trot. I could see the condensation blowing from its nostrils. Or was it steam? Shit. I was frozen in panic. Any minute and it would stop, drop its head, and start pawing the ground ready to charge.
    “Oh, fuck,” said Jack.

 
     
     
    JACK SPRANG INTO action. His hands went around my waist and lifted me up onto the wall and out of the way. The stones were cold and loose under my butt, and I wobbled.
    “Quick, see if you can get down the other side,” Jack said urgently. The bull snorted loudly.
    I glanced behind me, a drop, but not terrible. “But what about you,