Christmas Ever After by Carla Neggers

Author:Carla Neggers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Crystal knew the moment she walked through the door to Joseph’s penthouse to spend the night that she and her life would change forever. She shifted her bag from one hand to the other in an attempt to stem a sudden flash of nerves, unable to believe she was reacting like a frightened virgin about to embark on her first sexual encounter. Pull it together, girl, she told herself. After all, she was a thirty-year-old, sexually experienced woman who in her early twenties had lived with a man almost twice her age. Even though there hadn’t been anyone since Brian, she still shouldn’t be shaking like a fragile leaf in a storm.

Reaching for her bag, Joseph placed it on the floor. His eyes never left hers as he cradled her face in his hands, and she was certain he could hear and feel the runaway pumping of her heart. “If you don’t want to do this, then I’ll take you back to your place.”

Crystal lifted her chin in a gesture he probably had no problem interpreting as defiance. “If I wasn’t certain, I never would’ve agreed to spend the night with you.”

Lowering his head and hands, taking her into an embrace, Joseph breathed a kiss under her ear. “You’re certain, yet you’re afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” she countered.

“If you’re not afraid, then why are you trembling?”

“Perhaps it comes from the anticipation of sharing your bed,” she half lied.

Crystal knew Joseph had offered her the option of their sharing a bed without making love.

It was just that while her head said no, her body was screaming for a release of sexual tension and frustration building up for longer than she could remember. And she had to remind herself that both were responsible, consenting adults who were aware of where a sexual encounter would lead. There would be no declarations of love or promises of a future together. In other words, they would be friends with benefits.

“Would you feel less apprehensive if we don’t make love tonight?”

Crystal tried making out his features in the muted light in the entryway. “Why are you giving me mixed messages? Didn’t you say nothing’s going to happen that I don’t want to happen?” He nodded. “Then I say we should start with sharing the same bed.” Smiling, Crystal rested a hand on his chest. “Please show me where I can shower and change.”

And it wasn’t for the first time Joseph felt he was falling in love with an enigma. The trembling woman in his arms was nothing like the one who’d stunned him when she broached the subject of men and women masturbating. He pressed a kiss to the soft, fragrant strands covering her head. “Come upstairs with me.”

Like a trusting child, Crystal held Joseph’s hand as he led her up the staircase to the second floor and into his spare bedroom. He set her bag on the padded bench at the foot of the bed, turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.

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