Page 74 of Puppy Christmas

When the last animal was secured, Ford gave up on any pretense of holding himself back. He came up behind Lila and swept her into his arms. As in, literally swept her, scooping her up from the ground and hoisting her against his chest. She was no light burden, but she was a delightful one, all her rounded parts pressing against him in her squirming attempts to get free.

“Ford, what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

“Your sister’s boyfriend taught me this,” he said as he tucked one arm under her ass and lifted her to his shoulder so that she was slung over it, caveman-style. “He knows all kinds of handy tricks about carrying women away from danger.”

“You didn’t ask him how to do this!” she cried, half laughing, half incredulous.

“Oh, yes I did.” He secured his other arm around the back of her thighs and started moving toward the door. “You told me you were attracted to large, manly men. This seemed like the quickest way to get there.”

“Ford!”

“I don’t think I’ll drop you,” he promised. “But you should probably stop moving aroundquitethat much.”

She instantly stilled. “You’re really going to carry me to the bedroom?”

“Every step of the way.”

“Where you’ll have your wicked way with me?”

“As wicked as I can possibly make it.”

She hesitated. “Even though you haven’t done this in almost six years?”

“Especiallybecause I haven’t done this in almost six years.” Making a declaration while Lila’s ass was inches from his face wasn’t the most romantic way to go about this business, but Ford was nothing if not willing to play the game. “I’ve been waiting for the right woman to come along first. Andyou, Lila Vasquez, are that woman.”

He had no way of knowing if it was his admission that caused her to grow silent, or if she was merely allowing him to focus his concentration on opening the door without dropping her to the floor, but she didn’t move until he approached the hallway where the bedrooms were located.

“Should I kick them all open in my passionate attempts to find the right one, or will you direct me where I’m going?” he asked.

“Second door on the right,” she replied. “And you can put me down now. You made your point.”

No, he hadn’t. How could he, when he didn’t even know what his point was? To be sure, sex was one of his primary goals right now, as the rigid state of his cock was all too ready to attest, but there was more to it than that.

He liked having Lila in his arms. He liked knowing he could carry her away from her responsibilities, however temporarily. He liked feeling as though she was really and trulyhis.

Ford made it through the door easily enough, pleased to find a king-size bed awaiting them on the other side. Lila gave a squeal as he tossed her onto the handmade quilt that covered it. He was interested enough in this room—Lila’s private lair, the place where she went to sleep each night—to make a survey of his surroundings, but Lila’s laugh stopped him short.

“No one has ever thrown me ruthlessly to the bed before, so I’d say your lack of practice isn’t holding you back so far. What else have you got up your sleeves?”

He had no interest in lampshades or impressionist art after a comment like that. Especially not when his gaze dropped to where Lila lay, her body in a pose of relaxation and a laugh on her generous lips. He wanted to keep her like that—relaxed and happy, relaxed andlaughing—so he allowed a slow smile to cross his lips. He also began rolling up his sleeves, carefully undoing the button on each cuff and revealing his forearms one fold of fabric at a time. He might have felt silly about it, except that Lila caught sight of what he was doing and pulled in a sharp breath. Her legs also fell open a few inches. Even though she was wearing jeans, the tantalizing vee at the juncture of her thighs and the promise of all that was contained between them caused his cock to twitch. It was all he could do after that to keep from giving up on his damned cuffs entirely and ripping his whole shirt from his body, Hulk-style.

“I didn’t mean that literally,” she said as he finished with his sleeves and strode closer to the bed. “Is this going to be one of those games where you have to do everything I say?”

He was on the verge of agreeing to this plan—one that appealed to both him and his body with rigid interest—when she added, “I’ve never played that game before. Or any games, really. At least, not any that take place in the bedroom.”

“We can play anything you want,” he said, his voice gruff. He circled his fingers around her ankle and gave it a gentle tug. Her whole body scooted down the bed toward him. “But first, I’m going to discover if any parts of you taste like that fruit basket.”

She still had on all her many winter layers, which meant it was Ford’s privilege to strip them off, one by one. Yellow wool socks came first, tugged away to reveal two rows of neatly polished toenails.

“Your toenail polish is perfect,” he said, distracted by the pearly-pink color glinting up at him. He shifted his glance to Lila’s face. “How do you keep it from getting all over your skin? Is there a trick I should know?”

If Lila found anything strange about this detour, she didn’t let it show. “Is this another one of your princess braid obsessions?” She wriggled her toes out of his grasp. “Because I’m not sure I can add playing with my feet all day to our list of acceptable physical contact. I’m having a hard enough time as it is.”

Ford glanced at her toes with renewed interest. He’d never had much of a foot fetish before, but with this woman, he was willing to make an effort. “Why?” he asked as he ran a finger along her foot’s delicate arch. “Does this turn you on?”

“No!” she gasped and gave a convulsive twitch. When her foot missed his face by mere inches, she said, “I’m just very ticklish there. And if you use that against me either now or anytime in the future, I swear to everything—”

“I would never,” he promised, a laugh rumbling through his chest. “But I find these physical weaknesses of yours to be highly intriguing. Are there any other sensitive areas I should know about?” He tugged on her ankle again, pushing the leg of her jeans up to expose as much skin as he could. Pressing a kiss against the curve of her calf, he paused long enough to ask, “There, maybe? There? Or how about…here?”