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A YEAR LATER, ON ANOTHER Christmas morning, Ruth woke up in bed next to Carter again.
She knew immediately it was Christmas. She always did. Even in that groggy state when sleep hadn’t yet pulled back its tentacles.
She giggled out loud, exactly as she had the year before.
“Seriously?” Carter grumbled from the other side of the bed. “You’re making a habit of waking me up before the crack of dawn on Christmas by laughing over nothing?”
Laughing even more, she tugged on his shoulder until he rolled over. “It’s not over nothing. And I can’t help it. I’m happy.”
There wasn’t much light in the room, but she could see him smile as he cupped her cheek. “I know you are. You have no idea what it means to me to know that.”
She snuggled up beside him. “You could say you’re happy too, you know.”
“You already know that I am. This past year has been the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Nothing even comes close.”
She kissed his bare chest. “Same for me.”
They lay in silence for several minutes. Carter might have even drifted off, if his slow, deep breathing was any indication.
Ruth didn’t mind. They had plenty of time. It wasn’t even six yet. She wanted to enjoy the indulgence of lying in bed beside her husband on Christmas morning and doing absolutely nothing.
She was surprised when Carter pulled away from her abruptly about fifteen minutes later so he could get out of bed.
“What are you doing?” she demanded indignantly.
“I’m awake now. I can’t go back to sleep.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, and make a cup of coffee before I get back into bed.” He flashed her a quick grin. “If that’s all right with you.”
Relieved that he wasn’t going to do something like sit at his desk downstairs to work on email (although he’d gotten better about working constantly, he did occasionally do that at ungodly hours of the morning), she sprawled out on his warm side of the bed. “I guess that’s acceptable.”
When he finished in the bathroom, she went to use it too, and she was out right when he had her cup of coffee ready from the maker in their bedroom.
They both returned to the bed to drink and check their phones, but Ruth put hers down after just a few minutes.
It was Christmas morning. There was nothing in the world happening that needed her attention.
“Lincoln says that he, Summer, and the twins will be coming over here around ten,” Carter said, glancing up from his phone.
Summer had had twins in the summer. A boy and a girl. Carter joked about how Lincoln could never do anything predictable or in moderation, and the twins were one more example. Ruth had been having a grand time with her little niece and nephew, and she couldn’t wait to see them again today.
“That’s perfect. That’s when Kayla said she’d get here too.”
Kayla could drive now, which made things a lot more convenient. She, Brent, and the boys did presents first thing in the morning. By ten Kayla would have nothing fun to do so she was coming over to the house to spend the middle of the day with them.
“Mom’s planning breakfast for about ten thirty. She’s been talking about it for weeks now, so whatever they’re fixing should be good.”
After saying that, he returned to going through email on his phone.
She waited until Carter had finished his cup of coffee before she pulled the phone out of his hand and crawled on top of him.
He gazed up at her warmly. “You in the mood for something?”
“What do you think?”
“I can probably accommodate any wishes you might have.”
“And what about your wishes?” Her hair was hanging down messily as she leaned over him, and he pushed it back so it wasn’t blocking her face.
“Every wish I’ve ever had has already come true,” he murmured.
“Shit,” she breathed. “You meant that, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. You know that, right?” He palmed her face gently.
Swallowing over a lump in her throat, she said, “Okay. That might have been the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me, and you’ve said a lot of sweet stuff since I met you last year. So you’re going to get something really special right now.”
His eyes smoldered. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah.”
She kissed him. He tasted like coffee and toothpaste. Then she trailed her mouth slowly down his body, kissing and nibbling the spots he liked best. He was tense and hard when she reached the waistband of his pajama pants. She could see the outline of a full erection beneath the fabric.
“Is this what you mean by special?” he asked hoarsely.
“I think so. That good with you?”
“That’s just about the best Christmas morning I can imagine.”
She smiled as she teased him some more. Until he was visibly shaking. When she glanced up at his face, he hissed, “Please.”
Her body jerking with a rush of pleasure, she slid him fully into her mouth.
It didn’t take him very long to come. It never did when she took him like that. He reached climax with a long, low, helpless moan that filled her with both pride and pleasure.
When she finally let him slip out of her mouth, she kissed her way back up to his lips. He rolled them over with a groan so that he was on top, and he took control of the kiss.
She had no complaints about that arrangement. She was hot and pulsing and needy and emotional beneath him.
He kissed her for a long time. Then he caressed her for just as long. Finally he moved down her body and made her come over and over with his fingers and mouth. By the time he was finished, he was hard again, so she pushed him over onto his back so she could straddle him.
His hands moved over her body lovingly as she rode him until they finally held her face as she neared another orgasm. “I love you,” he murmured thickly, his eyes full of heat and trust and devotion. “I love you.”
She tried to say it back, but she was too close to climax. She made a little sobbing sound and came. He came right after her, and she didn’t find her voice again until she’d collapsed on top of him.
“I love you too,” she whispered. “So much.”
He stroked her hair. “Good.”
It didn’t seem to matter that they were hot and sweaty now and the bed and their bodies were wet with their fluids. They lay tangled together until they both drifted off to sleep.
Ruth didn’t sleep long. Barely half an hour. She was relaxed and sated and just as happy as before when she woke up again.
She giggled in the quiet room.
Carter laughed. “You’re never going to stop doing that, are you?”
“No. Probably not. Do you want me to?” She lifted her head to check his face.
There was no way not to see the adoration in his eyes. “Never stop.”
She promised him she wouldn’t, and that was a promise she never broke.
***
AUTHOR’S NOTE: If you haven’t yet read them, be sure to check out A Wedded Arrangement (about Lance and Savannah) and Wrong Wedding (about Lincoln and Summer). My next release will be another fake marriage/relationship romance, Purchased Husband. You can read an excerpt from it on the following pages.
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