Free Rekindling Christmas by Yvette Hines Page B

Carson. Leaning
her head against the back of the door, she sighed. She’d thought to escape him
at least until tomorrow, but evidently she wasn’t going to be so fortunate.
    “Rye!” he called out again.
    Pulling the door open, she stared at
the gorgeous man as every sensation she’d felt in his arms in the pool came
raining down on her under the perusal of his gray eyes.
    “Hi, sugar-lips…” He seemed to bump
into the doorjamb more than lean against it as he smiled.
    “Carson, what are you doing here?”
She clutched the edge of the door in her hand.
    “What am I doing here? Ha!” He wagged
a finger at her, as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle. “What are you still doing here?”
    “I didn’t want to be bothered.
Didn’t you get my message?”
    He pushed away from the jamb and
stepped toward her, placing one of his hands on the wall and the other on the
door, caging her in. Nervous butterflies took flight in her stomach. She tried
to ignore the excitement of being near him again and feeling his warm breath
caress her face. The piquant scent of alcohol tainted his breath, intoxicating
her.
    Zeroing in on the alcohol, she said,
“You’re drunk.”
    He lowered his lips to the corner of
her mouth and placed tiny kisses along her cheek toward her ear. The opposite
direction she thought he was going. Desired him to go.
    “Yes. I am.” His chuckle was broken
and slightly off. “You shouldn’t leave me unsupervised around Phillip.”
    She pressed her back firmly against
the wall, trying to keep some distance between them. “Phillip is a bad
influence.”
    “Hey!” He leaned back and squinted
one eye at her. ”We were celebrating. And for the record, Karri was a bad
influence on you, too.”
    Laughing, she had to agree. “That
was only in high school. She’s different now.”
    “Reformed?”
    “Nope. Married.”
    “Ahhhh. That explains why she’s not
here with you.”
    “What were you all celebrating?”
    “Hmm. Who’s got a celebration? Oh,
Phillip! Hmm. Don’t know what.” He squeezed both his eyes tight and tilted his
head back, thinking. “Nope. Can’t recall.”
    She shook her head. “Figures.”
    He dropped his head and buried it in
the side of her neck. “Damn, sugar-lips, you smell so good. Like cotton candy
and cinnamon and…something else…”
    He smelled good too. A clean, sporty
scent with an underlying robust spiciness she loved. She pushed the thought
away. Ignore it.
    He made a loud sniffing sound.
“Something Ryanne.” He wiggled and cheered as if he’d just discovered the
secret to the world’s existence.
    His murmurings sent vibrations along
her skin. Pushing him away, she ducked underneath his arm. “Okay, you’re really
drunk. I think that it’s best you go to bed and sleep this night off.”
    “That’s a great idea.” However,
instead of turning and heading out the door and down the hall as she expected,
he marched further into her suite.
    “Hey, Carson, wrong way.” She let
the door swing closed behind her. Its slam echoed around the room.
    “You have wine!” He grabbed the
bottle from the table and plopped down on the couch.
    “You stay away from that.” She
snatched it from him. “You don’t need any more, trust me.” Walking to the
kitchenette, she placed it on the counter away from his reach, then returned to
the living room.
    “His lips touched my breasts. I
could feel my heart pounding rapidly. He was close to my nipple. Not touching
it yet, but I wanted him to—”
    Racing across the room, she plucked
her romance novel out of his hands.
    He glanced at his hands, turning
them over repeatedly, as if the book had disappeared by magic.
    She aimed a finger and a double-eyed
squint at him. “No touching things that don’t belong to you.”
    “That mean you too, Ryanne?” His
eyes were glazed over from the alcohol he’d consumed, but no less dark and
intense, the color of new steel.
    Yes! her mind screamed. No! her
body countered.
    “I