A Christmas Affair (16 page)

“The first time we made love?” he asked.

Their waiter appeared and asked for their drink orders.

Despite hating the guy’s timing, Lyfe quickly selected them a cabernet sauvignon and tried to return to their discussion. “Does that night hold fond memories for you?” he asked.

Corona’s cheeks darkened. “You know it does.”

He smiled. “Well, it’s not like we had much discussion about it. The next day, we were engaged and then—”

“Yes. Yes. I remember,” she said, reaching for her water glass again.

“Why did you leave?” he asked, before he could stop himself. He’d prepped himself not to ask that question, and even told himself in the mirror that he no longer cared and that he just wanted to leave it in the past and start anew. But, at the heart of it, he still needed and wanted an answer.

Corona tugged in a deep breath and then met his steady gaze. “I thought … to prevent us from making a big mistake.”

Lyfe blinked. Her answer hurt more than he thought it would. “A mistake?”

She nodded. “We were just kids. Too young to be strapped down by some archaic ideology that dictated that what we had done—what we had shared—had somehow brought shame to the family name. You get married because you’re in love.”

“We were in love,” he said. “At least I was in love.”

Her smile returned. “So was I … but at seventeen it’s just not enough. We hadn’t finished high school, or gone to college, or even discovered who we really were. I couldn’t get my father to listen, and my mother didn’t seem like she wanted to intercede so … “

“You just left. Without even a note?” Lyfe tried to keep the hurt out of his voice, but he was failing miserably.

Tears glistened in Corona’s eyes. “If I left a note at that time, you would’ve come after me. You would’ve tried to convince me that life with you working on the farm and me in my mother’s hair salon would’ve been just fine.”

“It would’ve been.”

“For a while, yes. But that wasn’t who we were or even what we wanted to be—and it wasn’t up to my father to make that decision for us. I love him and we still have a ways to go to heal that hurt, but … he was wrong.”

Lyfe nodded while he let her words sink in. So far, he couldn’t disagree with anything she’d said. He would’ve settled for the life of a farmer instead of trying his luck and making it as an architect; and she would’ve never had an opportunity to become a hotshot agent in New York.

“I see your point,” he finally said. “Don’t mean that it doesn’t still hurt like hell.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and again reached for her water.
Tell him now!
She almost choked when the voice in the back of her head screamed for her to act. It was a great opening for her bring up his daughter, but she hadn’t decided on the right wording to tell him that he had a thirteen-year-old daughter. It wasn’t something that you just blurted out before you even had a chance to order dinner.

The waiter returned with their wine. While he and Lyfe went through the whole ritual of showing the label and taste testing, she was mentally having a minor heart attack.

“Are you ready to place your order?”

“May I?” Lyfe asked.

“Sure. Go ahead.”

“I think we’d like to start off with your signature Pearls and Oysters … “

Corona tuned out the ordering and returned to strategizing how to drop the incredible bombshell on him. And when was the right moment for that sort of thing, during dinner or dessert? Or maybe it was when they took a leisurely stroll around Rockefeller Center? Would he yell, scream, tell her how much he hated her?

“Corona, are you all right?”

She jerked herself out of her private thoughts again. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

He thanked the waiter and sent him away. “I still can’t get over the fact that we’re actually doing this. I think our first date when we were kids was at the Hollywood Roller Rink. You remember that?”

“Do I remember? You spent half the night making me fall because you didn’t know how to balance yourself
on wheels. I had more bruises that night than if I’d played in a yearlong dodge ball competition.”

Lyfe rocked back with a hearty laugh. “You? I broke my tailbone that night. I had to sit on a rubber donut for six months. You have no idea the kind of hell my brothers put me through for that one. They’d bring me rubber duckies and pacifiers, as if I was some kind of baby.”

“Your brothers are a riot.”

“They’re something.”

“Any of them married?”

“Can’t think of a woman crazy enough to take one of them.”

“Do they still have that same three-month rule?”

“I plead the fifth,” he said, shaking his head.

“You didn’t take up that rule, did you?”

“Who me? Nah. I could never find another woman who could … “

Take your place.

He didn’t say it, but they both heard it nonetheless.

By the time their meal arrived, they had relaxed and were chitchatting about old times. After a while, it even started to feel like old times.

Corona melted each time his dimple winked at her or his intense gaze turned up the heat in the restaurant by several degrees. Before they knew it, their meals were finished and they had agreed to share a dessert. It felt wonderful to have her best friend back and to hear about his days in college and his years building a solid career.

“I have to tell you that I think the boys at the office are getting nervous. I’ve been in New York for a while. They’re not believing that I’m not being poached by one the big firms here.”

“You could probably do well here,” she said.

“Would you like having me here in New York?”

The question caught her off guard. “I’d want you to do whatever would make you happy.”

“And what if I told you that you would make me very happy?”

“Lyfe—”

“Corona, I’m serious.” He reached across the table and claimed her hand. “Why are we playing games here? I can look at you and tell that we’re both feeling the same thing. It’s in your eyes and your body language. You want me as much as I want you. I don’t know how long you’ve been dating this … actor—but I know that it can’t possibly have the same depth and fire that has
always
existed between the two of us.”

It was true, but as she fixed her mouth to deny it, he gave her a look that said
“don’t even try it.”

“Corona Mae, look me in my eyes and tell me that we don’t belong together.”

She tried, she honestly did; but she couldn’t get the words out.

“I knew it.”

“It’s just not about us anymore.”

“Your fiancé,” he said.

“There’s him and—”

“You just told me not too long ago that you only get married because you love someone.”

“I know, but—”

“Well, do you love him?” He squeezed her hand. “As much as you love me?”

“I—I—”

“Look. Don’t answer that right now. I have something else planned for us.”

“I’m not going back to your hotel.”

Lyfe twisted up his face. “I don’t recall inviting you.”

Corona jerked back and blinked in surprise. “Oh. Well. I thought—”

“Please. Get your mind out of the gutter.” He shook his head and signaled the waiter for the check while Corona’s face blazed with embarrassment. Thirty minutes later, Lyfe was shelling out for two tickets at the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink.

“You really want to try your hand at skating again?” Corona laughed.

“Hey, a few things have changed over the years,” he said, puffing up his chest. “I can do this.”

“Uhm, no. Mountains don’t skate and that’s exactly what you’re going to look like if you put those damn things on.”

“Aw. Is this concern for my well-being? Does that mean that you still have feelings for your old boyfriend after all?”

“I’m concerned about all these innocent bystanders who have no idea what’s coming.”

He waved off her comments. “You’ll see.”

“All right. A hard head makes a soft ass,” she warned. A half second later, he stepped out on the ice and hit the ice hard.

“Oooh.” Corona winced, shaking her head. “That looks like it hurt.”

“Oh, damn. I think I broke my tailbone again.”

Corona roared with laughter.

“Hey, Melody. Isn’t that your mother over there?” Amanda asked, pointing across the ice rink.

Melody turned her head and saw her mother standing
over some mountain of a guy, laughing her head off. “Yeah. I think so.”

“I thought you said that she had some all-night business thing she had to do?” Carrie added, folding her arms. “Doesn’t that guy look familiar?”

Melody took a second look at the man who was struggling to get back onto his feet, only to slam back down onto the ice. The three of them jumped and winced at the hard fall.

“Ouch.”

“Damn,” Amanda said, shaking her head again. “I don’t think I’ve seen anybody that awful out here. Either he’s going to need a doctor in a few minutes or he’s going to crack the entire ice rink. Ooooh.”

He fell again.

Her mother’s laughter rang out so clear that it was infectious. “I wonder who that guy is,” Melody said to herself more than her friends.

“I don’t know, but he definitely doesn’t look like your future stepfather. Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your mother look that happy around Rowan.”

“Me either,” Melody said.

“Hey, we better go if we’re going to catch that show,” Carrie reminded them.

“All right. I’m coming,” Melody said, but didn’t move.

“C’mon,” Amanda grabbed her best friend by the arm. “I’m sure your mother doesn’t need a chaperone.”

“I’m not too sure about that,” Melody said, but allowed herself to be dragged along.

After forty minutes of strenuous work, Corona had finally achieved the singular goal of getting Lyfe to stand
perfectly balanced on the ice. Standing, not skating. And to be honest about her handiwork, it still looked like a good stiff wind would blow him back over.

“I got it. I got it,” Lyfe boasted as if he was four years old.

“Now just think of your skates like a pair of skis. You want to keep them parallel.”

“Skis. All right. Got it.”

Corona took a deep breath while weighing whether he was really ready for the next step. “All right. Now I want you to use your dominant foot and gently push yourself forward.”

“Just … push,” he repeated several times before he actually attempted it. The next thing she knew, he was wobbling, his hands were doing the whole helicopter thing, and he was going down.

And she was going down with him.

“Oooof!” Lyfe’s eyes bulged as she landed on top of him, knocking what little air he had left out of his body.

Once they were able to catch their breath again, they were laughing. When they stopped, their faces and lips were just inches apart. From there, gravity took care of the rest.

Corona’s head spun until she was dizzy with desire. His touch. His taste. She simply couldn’t get enough. He tasted like hope and promise and a destiny unfulfilled. When their lips pulled apart, Lyfe stared lovingly into her eyes.

“Come back to my hotel.”

This is wrong.

But despite that realization, Corona couldn’t stop herself from touching and kissing Lyfe as they stumbled into the elevator of the Four Seasons. On one hand, she was being completely driven by an unquenchable lust and, on the other, she felt more love radiating from this man than she had known in her entire lifetime. His spirit and essence infused her own and had her feeling like she was floating on clouds of ecstasy.

Stop. It’s not too late to stop.

But it
was
too late. She wouldn’t have been able to pull herself away from this man even if her soul was on the line. She heard a bell and they tumbled out onto his floor, still caressing and clawing at each other’s clothes. There could’ve been other people in the hallway, but neither of them cared. Their concentration was only on
each other, except for the two seconds it took for Lyfe to inject his card key into the lock.

They spilled into the room, where the only light came from the winter’s moon cascading through the sheer curtains. Shoes were kicked off and sent flying into the air as hands tried to re-familiarize themselves with each other’s body.

With one quick pull to the ties on her wrap dress, Lyfe was treated to the sight of her dangerous curves encased in black lace. One look at her in the silvery moonlight and Lyfe’s heart went into overdrive. He was certain that there was no more beautiful sight on earth.

He quickly stilled Corona’s hands, which had been jerking open his pants, and lifted them and pinned them over her head. “Whoa, whoa, sweetheart,” he whispered against her ear. “Let’s slow down. I want us to take our time.” Lyfe brushed a long kiss across her jawline. “Like we did our first time.”

Corona squirmed beneath him as if she couldn’t take a slower pace. It was like she was on fire and would be reduced to ashes if he didn’t give her what she needed. And though he liked the seductive sight of her moaning and writhing, he refused to be deterred from his plans for her tonight.

“Trust me, baby. You’re going to love this.” He continued sweeping kisses down her long neck and then down the center of her body. He was certain that she would remember this move from their first time together; but, tonight, he wouldn’t get distracted by suckling on her nipples. Instead, he and his roaming tongue continued to sink lower down her body with a different destination.

Corona sighed and quivered when she felt Lyfe’s large
hands peel down her La Perla panties. At the feel of the delicate fabric sliding off her hips and then gliding down her legs, she held her breath in anxious anticipation.

“Oh! Nice.” He chuckled lightly and then brushed a kiss against her hairless pussy.

Her quivering increased at the touch of his lips; but as she felt his tongue sliding inside and stealing her honey, the air in her lungs escaped in a long, winding hiss.

“Hmmm,” Lyfe moaned, urging her legs to open east and west. From there, he opened her brown lips and revealed her glistening pink pearl. “Baby, you’re so damn beautiful,” he whispered before leaning in and gulping her clit.