“It’s a game Ed and I devised as an adult novelty. Something for a generation already loyal to Penney Candy, yet . . . hungry for a fresh adventure.” Curiosity fired Tess’s lovely blue eyes as he opened a red satin box. Down the hall, Penney’s suite reeked of peppermint—Edgar relived the triumphs of each charity event with his girls, over a hookah—so this tryst would go undetected as long as Tess returned to her room soon afterward.
She picked out a gold-wrapped cube. “What’s the N stand for?” she asked as she held it to her nose. “Oh, my . . . rich, wicked chocolate!”
“Not for the kiddies!” Johnny teased as he joined her on the side of the bed. “‘Naughty or Nice’ is Santa’s way of rewarding adults for being very good—or very, very bad.”
She laughed, thank goodness. He’d overstepped this afternoon and she’d nailed his envy for what it was: distrust of anyone who, like Francine DuPont, could satisfy every whim with money. When Tess paused with her fingernail at the edge of the wrapper, he held his breath.
“And which are you, Johnny? Naughty or nice?”
His lips quirked. “Yes,” he teased. “Whatever you wish me to be, Tess. Open that carefully, read what’s written inside the wrapper, and then we’ll see what comes up.”
“You don’t fool me for a second,” she whispered. “You’ve been up since before I found your room. You got perturbed with Spec Penrose for suggesting—Oh, my stars!”
“Read it to me,” he murmured against the nape of her graceful neck.
Tess cleared her throat as though she’d gotten a chunk of candy caught in it. “It says, ‘face away from your partner, lean over, and . . . and hold yourself open for inspection.’ What kind of game is this?”
Johnny chuckled and kissed her. “If you feel naughty, you may follow through. Or if I feel nice, I can let you enjoy your chocolate while I unwrap a piece. No right or wrong way to play. We make it up as we go along.”
She popped the chocolate into her mouth. Her eyes closed and she sighed languidly. “I don’t know what’s in this—”
“Very potent liqueur. Flavors vary from one piece to the next.”
“But things would get naughty even in a roomful of starchy old church ladies if you passed around that red box.”
“That’s the idea. But we’ve no need for church ladies right now.” Johnny chose a fat candy with a green wrapper and twisted its ends loose. “It’s just you, me, and this nice box of naughty treats. So now that you understand the game, I’ll go first.”
He popped the hard candy into his mouth and cracked the shell, so the buttery rum liqueur oozed over his tongue. As he smoothed the wrapper, he chortled. “Oh, Tess, you’ll like this one: ‘As your partner lies naked, spread-eagle, test for ticklish spots.’”
She laughed, and then clapped her hand over her mouth. “Are you the partner, or am I?”
“You choose. I live to make you happy, my dear.”
Coyly she slipped her green velvet straps over her shoulders. “Do Blythe and Daphne wear these clingy outfits in public or only to the Penney Candy events? The children love to mingle with elves, while the merchants lay down a lot of cash as they ogle these costumes.”
“Edgar wants everyone to have a good time.”
She slid off the bed’s edge, yanked down her striped tights, and then leaned over, as her piece of chocolate had suggested. “I’m not ticklish here,” she informed him as she pointed to her pussy. “So don’t bother sticking your cock up it to find out.” She stuck out her tongue with her face upside down between her lovely legs, looking naughty, indeed.
Johnny stifled a laugh. “That leaves me plenty of other places to test,” he said as he shrugged out of his shirt. “So I’ll leave your hot, needy little cunt to fend for herself. Or . . .”
He quickly inserted a finger to tease the rim of her tight little hole. “You said nothing about what I was doing with my hands.”
“Naughty! You are so bad, Johnny!”
“So here’s where I make things up as we go along.” He reached under her tight shirt to cup her breasts, rubbing her bared bottom against his crotch. He had been ready for her, hours ago, and watching her lean over had taken him over the edge. Tess giggled, provoking him to gyrate and moan. “Change your mind yet, little girl?”
“No, but you will be the one going spread-eagle for inspection.” She pivoted to tug him off the tall bed. “Feet to the floor, you! I’m taking down your pants, and then you’re to spread your legs so all is fully revealed. Understand me?”
What could he say? Tess was pressed against him, her face in his, her voice brooking no argument. And his cock was responding. “You’re speaking my language, loud and clear,” he replied hoarsely. “So if you’ll get out of my fucking way, I’ll do as I’m told.”
“You fucking well better,” she growled back, and then her eyes widened. “I can’t believe I said that word!”
“Must be the candy. Have some more!” Johnny grabbed a red wrapper from the box and deftly twisted off the paper to read its message. “Hop on for a wild ride. Finish what you’ve started, elf.”
“It does not say that!”
“I say it does.” He popped the chocolate into her open mouth. “And I’m saying if you jump my bones, and I grab your ass and hang on for dear life, we’ll both explode.”
She hopped and he caught her. The tights around her knees restricted her movement, and that added to the pleasure, didn’t it? As Tess undulated against his hard cock, he thrilled to the way she responded to this sort of play—as much because she loved it as because the candy was lowering her inhibitions.
Then again, the way she moved so perfectly against him, positioning herself to accept his first thrust, told Johnny she had left any misgivings and disappointments about sex behind—all the way back in Memphis. And what a fine thing, that she allowed him to enjoy the newer, happier Tess Bennett now that she’d shed her widow’s weeds.
“Stick that thing inside me,” she demanded in a raw whisper.
“What thing? Call it a specific name, and tell me precisely where to put it.”
She wrapped herself more tightly around him, her hips wiggling with need. “Fuck my cunt,” she commanded him. “Ram your cock up inside it and don’t stop until I’m calling out your name, bad boy.”
With a groan, he obeyed, thrusting up inside her and holding on tight while she ground herself against him. Tess was rapidly approaching the point of no return. He could feel it in her clenching muscles, could hear the desperation in her moans.
“Hang on,” he rasped. “I’ll slip my arms under your knees, slide those tights up out of the way so you’re hanging suspended, like—”
“Oh, Jesus . . . oh, Johnny, this angle is . . . well, I feel so open! So—” Her head dropped back, and as she arched against him, she was the picture of utter ecstasy.
Johnny slowed his thrusts to prolong the intense pleasure building between their straining, hot bodies. He focused on creating friction inside her, in all the right spots, and her immersion in their play—her body’s response to his—made his heart sing.
“Don’t stop,” she whimpered, hunching and rubbing her clit against him. “I had no idea—have never felt these wild spirals of . . . oh, God . . . ohhh, gawwww—”
Johnny grimaced with his own impending release as Tess stifled her scream against his shoulder. He surged with her, astounded by the way her inner muscles gripped his cock and demanded their due. He lost all track of time and place . . . shot into that hot center of pleasure where his body and hers became one on the deepest, most primal level. He convulsed. Lost himself in her.
When he came back to his senses, he loosened his hold on her. Tess spasmed again, one last little shimmer of sensation, before she went limp in his embrace.
“My God,” he murmured, kissing her neck. “I can’t . . . It’s never, ever been so intense for me, Tess. So gawd-awesome spectacular! I hope you—”
“Shhhh,” she breathed, tickling the hairs on his nape. “Let’s drift a bit. This wonderland we’ve made is a nice place, and I want to live here for a long while . . . with you.”
Johnny closed his eyes with the sweetness of her sentiment. He felt the same, and it scared him to death. What did he know about Tess Bennett, really? She looked cute in her elf suit . . . she gave heart and soul to those underprivileged kids . . . she seemed so fearless.
But what was she running from? Or who?
As she slid from his arms, Johnny hugged her close. “Tess, I—”
“It was the best ever for me, too, Johnny,” she blurted. “I’ve never felt this incredible in my entire life—and I’d better get back to my room before I say things that terrify us both.”
He nodded mutely. Watched her tug her tights over her sweet little backside and then tiptoe out of his room after checking the hallway. Her wiggling finger-wave did funny things to his heart.
He was falling too damned hard, too damned fast. And for the first time ever, he felt deliriously, out-of-his-mind happy about that.
But who was she, really?