Mistletoe & Kisses Read online

  When we got home, Tanner took his time bringing the tree in, giving me the chance to get everything cleared out of the way. All set up in the corner, it looked beautiful.

  “Let me grab the box of ornaments from the spare room,” I said, walking down the hall.

  “Okay.”

  When I came back into the living room, he was standing in front of the tree. Quietly, I set the box down on the coffee table and wrapped my arms around him from behind. His hand covered mine as he let out a deep contented sigh.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “Just how wonderful this Christmas is going to be, spending it with you and our families.”

  “Of course it’s going to be wonderful.” I still was afraid of something going wrong, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “Why are you looking at the tree like you haven’t seen one before?”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve had one of my own.”

  I moved around to stand in front of him. “You mean you and Greg didn’t have one in your apartment? Not even a small table-top tree?”

  He shook his head and laughed. “No, we’re guys. That would make us seem too girly.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and he wrapped his arms around me, placing his chin on the top of my head. “Plus, there’s not a whole lot of room in those apartments.”

  On that he was right. They were very simple, small places.

  Something about the feel of Tanner’s arms wrapped around me, surrounded by all the Christmas decorations, gave me a sense of peace. Leaning up on my toes, I pressed a brief kiss to his lips.

  “Let’s get this tree decorated. You get the lights,” I said, laughing and handing him the first tangled strand.

  Who knew that Tanner was the master at untangling lights. By the time I’d finished one, he’d finished four of them, and had them wrapped around the tree, lit up. Even without the ornaments, the reflection of the lights in the room was beautiful.

  “How did you do that so fast?”

  He walked over to me with an extra set of lights. “I’m good with my hands,” he said, lifting his brows, daring me to deny it.

  Which I wouldn’t. I’d learned that Tanner was, in fact, very good with his hands. As quickly as my mind had conjured the thought of him using his hands to set my body on fire, he had the lights wrapped around me, pinning my arms to my side, lowering me to the ground.

  “Now, what’s all this about I get to do the lights?”

  His body was hovering over mine. I could feel his heat radiating over every inch of me. The burning desire I had earlier came back with a vengeance. All I wanted was Tanner. That’s when his lips touched right behind my ear, making me shiver with the contact.

  “Please,” I begged.

  But his lips never made it to mine. Instead, they continued their journey down my neck, tasting every inch, my skin feeling like it was on fire. The clothes I was wearing had to go. But with my hands trapped by the lights, there was nothing I could do.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered against the curve of my shoulder.

  His hands joined in the exploration of his lips, lightly grazing down over my jean-covered legs, and up the inside of my thigh. There I was, on the living room floor, wrapped in a set of Christmas lights, squirming as Tanner did everything in his power to drive me crazy without removing a stitch of clothing. By the time his lips returned to mine, I was ready to promise anything as long as he touched me in every place I needed him to.

  The taste and feel of his soft lips as they caressed mine made my head swim. His tongue slid across my lip and into my mouth the moment I parted my lips. The kiss was wildly erotic, especially when he ground his hips into mine. The desire to touch him was almost becoming too much when I felt the button pop on my jeans. Through it all Tanner never lifted his lips from mine as he trailed his fingers lightly across the top of panties, back and forth, back and forth, never going any lower. Turning my head to the side, I broke the connection of our lips. He wasn’t giving up that easily, and began to kiss along the base of my jaw.

  “Tanner, please touch me.”

  “Oh, but I’m having so much fun teasing you. Especially since you like giving me all of the hard jobs,” he smirked.

  The hard erection against my skin told me that, even with his teasing words, he was torturing himself just as much as me. Using it to my advantage, I ground my hips upward, rubbing against him until he threw his head back and groaned.

  “I’ll do anything.”

  Swooping down, he captured my lips in an all too brief kiss, before moving to his knees and lifting me into his arms.

  “Well then, maybe I should take my present to the bedroom and unwrap it early?”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  We reached the bedroom and Tanner slowly lowered me to the ground, kneeling down in front of me and removing my shoes one at a time, before grazing his hands up my legs. Taking hold of both my jeans and panties, he pulled them down my legs. Since my arms were still bound by the lights, he helped me to carefully step out of them. Those baby blues looked up at me from under his lashes, a mischievous smile on his face, and the sight of his tongue slipping out to wet his lower lip did so many indescribable things to my body, there wasn’t a thing I could do. At least until that tongue slid through me, circling around my clit.

  “Oh God.”

  I wasn’t sure whether to tell him to stop or keep going. Sex with Tanner was always amazing, but this was something different altogether. Since Tanner had total control over my body, it brought me to the peak faster than ever before. My legs were trembling, my body burning up as I went crashing over the edge. Stars danced before my eyes as I struggled to stay on my feet. Tanner’s strong arms wrapped around me, holding me up as the breath sawed in and out of my lungs, and when I was finally able to stand on my own two legs, he bent down to whisper in my ear, “I think it’s time I unwrapped my present now.”

  Taking one end of the lights, he slowly pulled the cord from my body, freeing my arms to wrap around his body. The first thing I did was to grab the hem of his shirt and lift it over his head, wanting the feel of his warm skin on mine. He bent his head, freeing me of my shirt, before his lips once again reconnected with mine. Lost in the passion of the kiss, I hadn’t realized he’d backed us up to the bed until I felt the cool sheets on my back as he lay me down. There was no time wasted as his lips moved down my body, stopping to take one hard nipple into his mouth, pleasure coursing through me, making me arch my back of the bed.

  There was still one problem though.

  “You’re still wearing too much clothing,” I said, pulling at the button of his pants.

  “Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” He stood up and removed the rest of what he was wearing and came back to cover his body with mine.

  All of my nerve endings were electrified to his touch. When the palm of his hand skimmed across my breast, I pushed my hips into him, feeling his erection as it slid past my core, telling him exactly what I wanted.

  “Impatient, aren’t we?” he teased.

  I did it again. “Very.”

  “I wouldn’t want to disappoint the best present I’ve gotten in years.”

  He slid his fingers down between my legs, using one finger to test me before he slipped it out and pressed his tip into me. Each powerful thrust of his body pushed me higher and higher, and my whimpers mixed with the grunts and groans from Tanner filled the room. Our bodies moved as one, taking and giving pleasure until Tanner’s body exploded, taking me to the highest peaks of pleasure along with him.

  Doing his best not to crush me he moved to his side, taking me with him.

  “I love you more than life itself,” he whispered as his lips lightly touched my forehead.

  “I love you too.”

  We lay there in silence for a few moments, letting out bodies settle until, eventually, he pulled out of me and rolled onto his back. Using his shoulder as a pillow was my favorite place to rest.
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  “Crap,” Tanner said a few minutes later.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, looking up into his eyes.

  “We never finished decorating the tree.”

  “Oh well. That’s what Sundays are for.”

  His eyes opened wider than a saucer. “What? My neat freak of a fiancée is going to leave the mess in the living room until tomorrow?”

  “You wore me out. I don’t have any energy left to deal with it right now.”

  “If I’d known that tying you up with Christmas lights would wear you out enough to calm you down, I’d have done it a week ago.”

  I smacked him on the chest at the same time I yawned.

  Tanner kissed me on the top of my head. “Sleep, love. We’ll deal with it in the morning.”

  “I like that idea.” I let my eyes slide closed and soon enough I’d drifted off to sleep.

  * * *

  The next morning we finished decorating the tree and got everything else ready for Tanner’s parents to arrive. Their plane was landing on Tuesday night, giving us both the chance to get off work, and me two more days to worry. Those two days flew by faster than I ever thought possible. It seemed like I blinked and suddenly work was done and Tanner was on his way to the airport.

  There was only a week until Christmas and my nerves were at breaking point. Tanner went to collect his parents right after coming home to change, leaving me at the house to get dinner ready. He’d wanted me to go with him, but I figured it would be better if I had time to freak out by myself. They were staying with us for the week. I couldn’t ask them to stay at a hotel. At that moment, though, I was starting to think I’d lost my mind when I suggested it in the first place. Given the pacing I’d done since Tanner had walked out the door, I was surprised there wasn’t a hole in the rug .

  Deciding simple was best, I made a chicken parmesan dish with garlic bread and a Caesar salad. The table was set, the house clean, it was time wait. The airport wasn’t far and I knew they would be back soon.

  The sound of Tanner’s voice outside the door froze me in my tracks.

  Here goes nothing.

  Chapter Three

  Tanner

  ONCE I FINISHED work, I ran home to change my clothes. I didn’t have long because I had to leave for the airport. Danielle was already there, and I could tell she was still nervous. I wanted to stay and comfort her, but there just wasn’t time—besides, the only thing that was going to help was getting the introductions over with. Until then, Danielle was still going worry herself crazy. At least the airport was only a twenty-minute drive away. The sooner I could put her fears at ease the better, my need to protect her rushing to the forefront, as it did every time I thought she needed it.

  * * *

  The traffic at the airport was ridiculous, but I wouldn’t expect any less at this time of year. Finally, after finding a parking space and my parents’ flight number, I was seated outside the terminal gate, waiting for the plane to disembark. With the snow in Pennsylvania, the flight had been delayed about thirty minutes. So much for getting home quickly.

  This would be the first time I’d seen my parents in over a year. Our schedules never worked out. Whenever they could get away from work, it coincided with the times I was deployed. It sucked not seeing them in so long. Thank God for Skype and texting, otherwise we would have missed out on a lot.

  They already knew so much about Danielle. It was hard not to talk about her when she’d become such an important part of my life so quickly. My dad was the one who pointed out to me that I was in love with her. I’d tried to deny it, even to myself, but he’d said he could tell by the way I talked about her. It was the same way he talked about Mom. They were so excited to meet the woman who had finally captured my heart. There was just one thing I hadn’t told them yet.

  Our engagement.

  It’d happened about a month ago but I’d wanted to tell them face-to-face. Maybe it was wrong to wait, but it felt right to me. I hadn’t told Danielle because I knew it would make her freak out even worse than it was, the plan was to tell them before we left the airport. I knew they were going to be thrilled. At almost twenty-eight years old, my parents were worried that I’d never find someone.

  The moment they stepped through the door, I saw my mom’s brown hair streaked with a bit of gray. While I inherited the brown hair from her, my blue eyes were all my father. It didn’t take them long to find me, my mom rushing forward to wrap me in a hug. It was a good thing I was stronger than her otherwise she would have cut off my air supply. My dad followed behind, her bags in his hands.

  “Tanner, I’m so happy to see you.”

  She pulled back, lifting her hands to cup my face. “How are you? Are you sleeping well? Are they feeding you well? Where’s Danielle? When do we get to meet her?”

  Dad started laughing. “If you stop to take a breath, Kathy, I’m sure he’ll answer all of your questions.”

  “Dad.” Mom let go of me long enough for me to give my dad a quick hug.

  “How are you, Tanner?”

  “Good—no great. Everything is really great.”

  He looked expectantly at my mom, like he was waiting for her to start rambling again. When I turned my head to face her, it looked like she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

  “Tanner, just start with the first question, so that she doesn’t lose it.”

  Taking one of the bags from my dad, I steered us toward baggage claim. “Everything is perfect. I sleep just fine, living off-base makes it easy to sleep and eat well. As for Danielle, you get to meet her as soon as we can get out of the airport and home.”

  Mom’s eyes went wide. “Off-base? What do you mean off-base? When did you move out of base housing?”

  The airport wasn’t huge and we made it to the baggage claim in no time, but the bags hadn’t arrived yet.

  “That’s something I wanted to talk to you about when you got here. You’re not staying at Dani’s place this week. You’re staying at our place.”

  “You moved in together!” Mom was practically screeching, clapping her hands together in her excitement. “I can’t believe you took the next step already. I’m so happy for you guys.”

  “Yes, Mom, but there’s more.”

  “More?” Dad asked.

  Now that I had their attention, I plowed ahead. “Danielle and I are getting married.”

  This time my father, with his lighting reflexes, wrapped a hand around Mom’s mouth to contain the shriek. Which was good because otherwise the whole airport would have known my business.

  “Kathy, we are in an airport. If you scream like that, we’re going to get arrested.” Her eyes went wide, still focused on me, even though Dad was still talking to her. “Now if I move my hand, can you contain yourself?”

  The laughter danced through my dad’s eyes. My mom always had a way of attracting attention everywhere they went, this was something he was used to. She nodded slowly and Dad took his hand away. The moment she was loose, she rushed forward and wrapped me in another hug. If I thought breathing was difficult earlier, I’d had no idea what I was talking about.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you. I could tell how much you loved her when you first called to tell us about her. Now I’m even more excited to meet her.” She looked over at the still silent carousel. “They need to hurry up unloading our luggage so I can go meet my future daughter-in-law.”

  Dad shook his head at Mom and came over to clasp me on the shoulder, shaking my other hand before pulling me into a hug. “Congratulations. I’m so happy to hear you finally found her.”

  “Thanks, Dad. She’s absolutely perfect. But I do have to tell you, she’s nervous as hell to meet you guys.”

  Mom turned away from the baggage carousel. “Why would she be nervous?”

  “I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it’s been a long time since she’s ‘met the parents.’” I shrugged.

  Mom walked over and
placed her hand on my arm. “She’s got nothing to worry about. She chose my son, which already means she has impeccable taste.”

  “Thanks, Mom. Anything you guys can do to make her feel more comfortable would be great.”

  “Of course, honey.”

  The buzzer went off on the baggage carousel and Mom’s attention immediately switched to finding her bags. Like a seagull plucking fish out of water, my mom was the first in the group of passengers to have all her bags ready and waiting for my dad and I to carry to the car. All of this was before Dad or I even had the chance to look for them. I had to laugh at her enthusiasm.

  “That was fast.”

  “It was. Now take me to meet my future daughter-in-law.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Giving her a quick nod, I picked up some of her things and led them out to where I’d parked the car.

  After loading the luggage into the trunk of Danielle’s car, we were on our way, Dad in the back, letting Mom have the front seat. “What happened to your truck?”

  “I still have it. This is Dani’s car. I figured it would be easier to put your luggage in the trunk than in the bed of my truck.”

  “How far is Danielle’s apartment from here?”

  “It’s only about twenty minutes. She’s really close to the base and her job.”

  “That’s good,” Mom chimed in. “I still can’t believe you’re finally going to get married.”

  She smacked me in the arm, making me jerk the wheel to the side in surprise.

  “What did you hit me for? I’m trying to drive.”

  “That was for not telling us sooner. Give us the details, since you neglected to tell us until now.”

  Remembering the day brought a smile to my face. “It was only about a month ago. Dani thought I was at work, and her brother Liam brought her to the park. I set up pinwheels for her to find with little notes on each one. When she reached the end and turned around to go back to the car, I was waiting for her one on knee.”