Page 13 of Miss Christmas

“I don’t see your limousine anywhere.” She gazed up at him with mock reproach.

“I gave the chauffeur the night off. You don’t mind slumming it, do you?” He put out a hand to hail a cab, not waiting for her reply.

“If you were truly brave you’d take me home by train.”

“Call me chicken. I haven’t ridden a streaking sardine can since college.”

“Then I’ll call you a snob. That long ago, eh?”

A cab that didn’t look too disreputable stopped and he opened the door, motioning for her to get in ahead of him. He slid in next to her in the back seat, which was blessedly small and intimate, and he felt the tremor of anticipation rumble through him, causing a wave of excited panic. This was where it got good. How many women had he gotten cozy with in the back of a cab back in the day? It had been too long. But he was too young to even think things like back in the day and it’s been too long.

Sliding as close to her as their winter coats would allow, he put an arm around her and leaned close enough to get dizzy on her scent. Something sophisticated and floral and bold. All her. Scarlet.

“Your parents knew something when they named you Scarlet. Of Gone with the Wind fame.”

“You saying something about my character disguised as a compliment, big man?” She leaned forward and their foreheads touched. Electricity sparked. He resisted squirming in his seat. For the moment. His control was more like tinfoil than iron right now.

“Stating the obvious.”

“Not to me. Spell it out.”

“No need to punish me. I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”

“As interesting as that might be—with perfect gentlemen being such a rare species these days—I’d prefer if you act like yourself. Be the genuine William Regal.”

“And what if the genuine me is a perfect gentleman?”

She scoffed and waved a hand as the cab took a fast turn, jostling her forward so that their mouths almost touched by accident. Fate. Who was he to defy it?

He cupped her cheek and pressed his mouth to hers, quieting the startle immediately with the soft intrusion of his tongue, the lazy exploration of the moist cushiony underside of her lips. The dizziness started, due to his lack of oxygen and the detour of all his blood to a point far south of his head. To the smaller head.

He couldn’t let his passion rule him, not again. Ending the kiss, he pulled back, taking a few gulps of air before speaking.

“I’m sorry—”

“Are you going to insult me again?”

“How?”

“Two ways. First, you think I’m stupid enough or naïve enough to think you’re actually sorry, when you’re clearly not.” With that statement, she slipped her hand into his coat, unerringly found his bulging dick, and clamped down with just enough pressure to prove her point.

He could do no more than suck in a quick breath.

“I can’t wait for the second way,” he said after a beat while she smirked at him. The smirk didn’t lessen the heart-stopping beauty of her face. Her hand on his dick didn’t let up and it took all his concentration not to squirm.

“Second, it would be a monumental waste if you were suddenly to behave as a gentleman. We have such . . . chemistry. I’m already in bed with you, so to speak.” She shrugged. “Why not indulge?”

“Ah,” he said. “The Pandora’s box has been opened. May as well take a peek inside?”

“Sure. No strings, of course. You owe me nothing and I most definitely owe you nothing.”

Confused by her words, he couldn’t think what she meant by most definitely. Truthfully, he couldn’t think at all with her scent in his head and her hand on his dick.

She waited, unflinching, for him to respond when the cab pulled to a stop and she let go of him, slipping her hand from his coat. Saved by the cab.

“Wait here. I’ll only be a minute,” he said to the driver. The driver snorted and Scarlet raised a brow.

He slid out and she followed.