Free Christmas Showdown by MacKenzie McKade Page A

his legs. “Would
you like another beer?”
    “No. I think two is enough for tonight.”
    “Afraid I might take advantage of you?”
    That’s exactly what she was thinking, judging
by the wariness in her eyes. Moving before her, he extended her a
hand.
    “Dance with me.”
    “Trey?”
    She went quiet again, continuing to stare up
at him. Her innocent beauty was like a beacon calling out to him.
He let his gaze slip lower to the rest of her body, one he had held
close and made love to, but which seemed so utterly different
tonight.
    Kelly was the mother of his child, not just a
woman he picked up one wintery night.
    What would she think if she knew that he’d
foolishly stopped in Denver on his way to Atlanta last year on the
way to another conference? He’d flown in early. Like an idiot he’d
haunted the honky-tonk where they had met for two nights, hoping to
run into her again, but she never showed. Now he knew why she
hadn’t been there. She’d been home taking care of their child.
    “It’s one dance, Kelly. What can it hurt?
It’s Christmas Eve. We should be celebrating.”
    His timing was right. When she reached for
his hand, the song switched to a slow, sultry tune. She hesitated,
but he pulled her up and into his arms. The second their bodies
touched, something rolled through him with an impact that stunned
him. His pulse raced, his heart beating out a staccato.
    The need for this woman had to be unnatural.
Trey barely knew her, but damn if his feelings didn’t go beyond
anything he’d ever felt for another.
    Burying his face into her hair and inhaling
her soft feminine scent, he slid his hand down her back, resting it
in the small hollow and urging her closer. She fit perfectly
against him as they moved together, like they’d danced a million
times before.
    The way her svelte figure glided against his
was fire to tinder, sparking the flame inside him. He smoothed his
cheek across hers until he nibbled on her earlobe, blowing a warm
breath into the shell.
    Kelly moaned his name. He answered by raining
butterfly kisses down her neck, pleased when she arched into him,
making his mouth dry and his chest constrict so that his breathing
took on a whole different rhythm—taut and labored.
    As her body said one thing, her mouth said
another. “We shouldn’t—”
    Trey stole her objection with a gentle kiss,
one that cajoled her lips apart as he slipped inside to convince
her he knew what both of them needed. Her mouth was warm, sweet
like honey as he tasted her tentatively. He didn’t want to move too
fast—to scare her.
    Taking his time was heaven and hell.
    While he stroked her back and smoothed his
palms up and down her arms, allowing her time to get used to his
touch again, he burned for her with a fire that threatened to
consume him. Each kiss set off a series of tingles in his groin
that tightened and tugged at his balls while a roar started in his
head. He pressed his growing erection to her belly because he had
to. He knew the moment she surrendered, her body relaxing into his,
her tongue seeking. His heart thudded against his chest with
anticipation.
    “Darlin’,” he whispered before he angled his
head and deepened the kiss.
    Another low moan eased from her throat. Her
fingers clutched his t-shirt, her hold growing firmer around
him.
    Somewhere along the way his hands had slid
beneath her shirt, the silky skin of her back making his mind spin.
When he moved to cup a breast, she gasped, breaking their
caress.
    “Trey, please.”
    “Please what, darlin’? Stop?” His fingertips
breached the barrier of her cotton bra, finding a needy nipple that
reacted to his touch, hardening. “Or please more of this?” He
squeezed the bud lightly. “Or maybe this?” He shoved her shirt
upward, leaning down to replace his fingers with his mouth.
    Kelly made a small choking sound before she
grasped his head. For a moment he thought she’d push him away.
Instead, she pulled him closer, crying out his