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When he’d told Jonathan the other day that Emma was lugging a mountain called Everest, he’d never expected that mountain to come to him, but he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to try and make things right between them.
Once she was inside, he gently brushed the snow off her hat, hair, and then off her coat. It settled on the hardwood floor by his entry and immediately melted thanks to the warmth of his house.
“I’m so sorry. I’m making a mess,” she said as she slipped off her jacket.
He took her coat and gestured with his head toward the living room. “Make yourself at home. I was just making myself some hot chocolate.”
“Your famous hot chocolate with Bailey’s and whipped cream?” she said and rubbed her hands together to warm them.
“The same. Sit down while I whip some up for us,” he said and couldn’t believe that after over a week apart and all that had happened, they were calmly standing there basically talking about nothing. It wasn’t how he’d pictured it, but it was better than nothing since he’d been missing her terribly. Christmas Eve without her beside him had only reinforced that it was time to find a way to have her in his life in a forever kind of way.
With a dip of her head, she did as he asked and sat, pulled a throw from the arm of the sofa, and wrapped it around herself to get warm. That combined with the snow made him question just how long she’d been standing on his doorstep deciding whether to knock or not.
Determined to settle any uneasiness she might still be feeling, he chatted her up as he heated the milk and Baileys before adding sugar and the cubes he snapped off a bar of Mexican chocolate. “Did you spend Christmas Eve with your friends?” he asked.
She nodded and added, “And with my mom. Connie had all her family down too and so did Jon, Owen, and Maggie.”
He stirred the liquid as the chocolate began to melt and turned down the heat, not wanting to scorch the mixture. “That must have been quite a lot of people and a lot of fun.”
“It was really nice and the food was great. A mix of American and Cuban. Did you have a nice time with your family?” she asked.
He wanted to be honest and admit that he hadn’t had a nice time without her but thought it too soon to move onto that dangerous ground. “It was okay,” he said as with another few stirs the chocolate, milk, and Bailey’s blended into a creamy smooth liquid.
Lowering the heat to a slow simmer, he quickly pulled down two large mugs from the cabinet and whipped cream from the fridge. He finished prepping the hot chocolates and strode to the sofa, where Emma was sitting cross-legged on the comfy cushions. She had slipped off her shoes and made herself at home which gave him hope.
He handed her the mug and sat beside her. Silence reigned for long moments as they both sipped their drinks and Emma murmured an appreciative, “Delicious.”
“Thanks.” He faltered, unsure of what to say next and glanced at Emma. She held the mug with both hands as she sipped. Bright pink color from the cold still painted her cheeks but slowly faded from the warmth in the house and the drink. A bit of cream clung to her upper lip until she licked it off. The action had his gut clenching with need and he couldn’t just keep on sitting there, politely waiting for whatever she had to say.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad we can act like two civilized human beings around each other, but the last thing I feel around you is civilized,” he said, wanting her to understand just how much she affected him.
Her hands shook as she set her mug down on the coffee table and then twined her fingers together tightly in her lap. She looked down at her hands and did a little shrug before risking a quick glance at him. “I . . . I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know I haven’t been fair to you and I hope you can forgive me.”
His own hands were unsteady as he laid his drink down, turned, and cupped her cheeks. “Of course I forgive you, Emma,” he said and laid his forehead against hers. “This past week . . . Christmas Eve without you. I want you in my life, Emma, and I hope you want to be there. I love you, Emma.”
She cradled his head in her hands and met his gaze directly. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she said, “I didn’t dare hope you’d still want that because . . . it’s what I want, Carlo. My life without you has been empty and I can’t imagine not having you in my life.”
Joy filled his heart and he grabbed her hands in his. “Marry me, Emma. Be my partner in life.”
“And in business, Carlo. I trust you and I love you,” she said and kissed him, her mouth mobile on his. Demanding and he answered the demand, opening his mouth to hers. He pressed her down onto the sofa and hugged her body to his, loving the feel of her softness against him.
He broke apart from her only long enough to ask, “Say it again, Emma. Please, meu amor.”
She smiled and her green eyes glittered with happiness. “I love you, Carlo Aleixo da Costa. Love, love, love you!”
“Oh, God, Emma. I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas gift than to hear that,” he said and kissed her again. But soon, kissing alone wasn’t enough and he had to touch her. Smooth his hand across her breast where the hard tip pressed into his palm and he took it between thumb and forefinger to caress it.
She moaned into his mouth as he did so and she broke away and breathlessly said, “I think I know what I want from you for Christmas.”
He propped one arm on the sofa to rake his gaze across her flushed face with her kiss-plumped lips and eyes blazing emerald fire. “Really? And what would that be?” he said, his tone teasing but with barely contained need.
“Make love with me, Carlo. I want to be with you tonight. Every night,” she said and threaded her fingers through his hair to urge him back down so she could kiss him again. Take hold of his hand and lay it against her heart so he could feel the heavy uneven thud of hers beneath his palm.
***
IN A POWERFUL SURGE, Carlo wrapped her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest.
She grabbed hold of his shoulders and kept on kissing him as he marched across the space and down the hall to his bedroom where they fell onto the bed together, laughing and kissing. Jerking and yanking at their clothes in their haste to be together.
They scrambled into the center of his huge bed and he was on her, caressing and tasting her breasts with his mouth and hands. Dipping one hand down to find her center, kindling her passion until her body was shaking and on the edge. But as much as she wanted him inside her, stretching and filling her, she needed to pleasure him also.
With a forceful shove on his shoulder and a roll, she had him on his back and straddled him. At his questioning glance, she smiled and cupped his pecs. Brushed her thumbs across his hard nipples and then bent and tongued them. Beneath her center, his erection jerked and he groaned and held her head to him.
“You like?” she whispered.
“Yes, a lot,” he answered and she kissed her way down his center to take him into her mouth, loving and sucking on him until he was trembling and tangled his fingers through her hair to urge her up. She met his gaze which was so dark it was almost black.
He laid his hands on her hips and shifted her over him. She raised her hips and guided him to her center, slowly sank down onto him until he filled her so snugly she almost came from the pressure of him inside her.
She bit back her moan of pleasure, but he said, “I love to hear you when we make love. To watch the color sweep over your body.” As if to prove it, he drew the back of his hand up her body to run it across her breasts. Her nipples tightened into even harder nubs with the tender caress and a flush of color stained her skin.
“You are so beautiful, Emma. I’ll never get tired of looking at you. Being inside you,” he said with a subtle shift of his hips that dragged her eyes closed with the need it built.
“Open your eyes, Emma. I want to see you go over with me. I want you to see me lose myself in you,” he said and brought his hands back to her hips.
She did as he asked, opening her eyes to lock her gaze on his. Watch his face as she rode him, rocking her hips and meeting the thrust of his hips driving her ever closer to the edge until with one final push, her climax exploded across her body.
She called out his name and ground down onto him, wanting him so deep she wouldn’t know where either of them began or ended. “I love you, Carlo,” she whispered.
“I love you, Emma. Forever,” he said and cradled her to him, his erection still deep and hard inside her as her climax ebbed. But then he was rolling her beneath him and awakening need again. His strong powerful thrusts driving her toward another release that washed over them as they gazed at one another.
He dropped onto her, his big beautiful body pressing her into the mattress. His weight comforting and filling her with peace and contentment such as she’d never known. When he shifted to lie on his side with her tucked against him, his thigh across hers, she stroked her hand along the thick muscle there. Her touch tender and soothing. Her heart filled with so many emotions, expectant as she said, “Will you marry me?”
His body did a little jump, as if he was in disbelief, but then he said, “On one condition.”
She sat up and propped her head on her hand so she could see his face to hear his one condition. “Which is?”
“You plan the most epic wedding for us at the Sea Kiss Convention Center.”
She grinned and ran her hand across his chest to lay it over his heart. “Meu amor, I think that’s technically two conditions. But yes, I will.”
He covered her body with his again and playfully teased, “Will what?”
“Will love you and marry you. Will plan an epic wedding at our place,” she said and gave herself over to his loving again.
