Page 33 of Under The Meh-stletoe

"I said I'm done with grumps." The hand she'd placed on my chest made a fist, wrinkling fabric among her fingers. Pulling me closer. "But I've been told I'm good with them."

"I thought this feeling would last a week at most. It's been more than a month, and it keeps on hanging on."

She stretched her neck and offered me her lips. I leaned closer but didn't kiss her yet.

"I think…" Her voice dropped to a murmur, the air of her words a caress against me. "I think we should test the waters. Take it slow."

I pressed my body against hers and trapped her against the wall. "Give it some time to see if we're wrong…"

"Or if there's a reason grumps—"

I kissed her. I let myself take her mouth like we weren't taking it slow. It didn't even matter that I had no idea where she was going with her sentence; I didn't care. I planned to show her whatthisgrump could do.

My heart beat fast. Blood rushed in my ears. I sought her tongue with mine, learning the way she wanted to kiss me.

She devoured my mouth. I moaned. Her body moved against mine, but I somehow knew she wasn't asking for space. She asked me for more. For touch.

I gave it to her. The hand on her hips explored paths over her body; places safe enough for the community hall. Places that kept me a gentleman, when she'd asked to take it slow.

There wasn't a lot I could do about the speed at which my cock got hard, so I pulled back… for now.

I took a deep breath. "People in Laguna Island won't get that this isn't a big deal. I'd rather we kept it private until we gather more evidence about where this is going."

"People here can be old-fashioned. I don't want them jumping to conclusions when I just moved back. That's fine by me."

We didn't say much more than that. We kissed again, and soon she knew all too well what it did to me. She didn't seem to mind, the way she rubbed against me.

It took some time for the crowd outside to dissipate. We stayed in the privacy of the hall for as long as we could, making truth out of our words.

December 22

Ale

Twodaysafterthecar competition and two days before the big party, the last meeting of the season was all hands on deck. The core six volunteers plus several others gathered at the hall, focused on finalizing every tiny detail.

While I focused on stringing together garlands, Daniel moved from group to group with his clipboard. A serious look on his face, he went about solving problems, keeping people to task, and stealing glances at me. After a while, I lost count of how many times I caught him gazing at me from afar.

It was easy to forget we were keeping it quiet when I held his gaze across the room. My fingers stilled, a forgotten red ribbon bow in my hand. We'd stolen a couple of frenzied moments since our first make out session and had done lots of kissing each time. Some exploring. A few tentative questions about what it all meant.

The memory of his whispered words as his hands wandered more and more weakened my knees. It melded with my reaction to him cutting down that tree, imagining him going at me with that intensity… that power…

"Ahem— We ran out of tape." Janet blinked at me. I wasn't sure whether she simply wanted me to solve the problem for her, or she was letting me know I was being way too obvious.

I stared at her for a few seconds, crossing my fingers my wits would come back online.

"Uhm…what about…" I rummaged on the table. "This! Staple it."

"Sure." She took the stapler from me and smirked. "But we're still going to need tape."

"Mh-hm, mh-hm. Okay. I'll go check—"

"Hey." Daniel interrupted me but, somehow, I didn't mind. "I need to talk to you. In private. Co-chair stuff."

The little smile on Janet's face intensified. I could practically hear the assumptions going off in her mind.

I ignored her and turned to Daniel. "I'm on my way to the storage room to check for extra tape."

"We'll pretend it's our office, then." He placed a hand at the small of my back and guided me out.