Unholy Nights: A Twisted Christmas Anthology (9 page)

When we finished, Will bowed and I dropped a curtsy. A moment later, Jeff led the whole group in a rousing version of
Jingle Bells
. As Will and I joined in, Julie caught my eye. I was still so enraptured by Will's voice and by the magical feeling of singing with him that I easily could have missed her signal, but she was jerking her chin upwards, giving me such a significant look that I glanced up and understood.

Will and I were standing near the archway where our mistletoe was hanging. We weren't exactly under it, but if we moved a few steps we would be. No point in wasting the opportunity. I gave Will my sexiest smile and pointed upward. He looked up, then back at me. A slow grin came over his face, as he recognized the mistletoe for what it was. He backed up until he was under the archway, caught my wrist and pulled me into his arms.

Warmth. Heat. Fire.

How do you describe the perfect kiss?

What is a kiss really? Who did it first? Who discovered kissing? Did someone think about it, plan it, teach it to others? Did some ancient group of humans see other animals grooming each other and decide to try it, too? Or did we do it instinctively?

I have no clue about these things, but I do know that there is power in a kiss. Magic. A kiss can seal your fate.

When I felt Will's arms slide around me and his face dip to mine, I lost all of awareness of the other people around us, the room, the archway, the piano, the fireplace, the mistletoe hanging over our heads. I don't know if there was enchantment in that sprig of winter greenery, but there was enchantment in Will's kiss.

He held me firmly against him, cradling my head by sliding one hand into the hair at my nape. I tipped back my neck—he was so tall—I could see his eyes shining into mine. The first brush of his lips gentle, teasing. His breath was warm and sweet. As my own lips eagerly parted, his withdrew a fraction of an inch, which made me arch up as high as I could on my tippy heels. This made my breasts and belly slide against him
so
enticingly. I felt him smile as his mouth descended again, fitting itself more firmly to mine. As our mouths met and clung, I dimly heard the people around us cheer the way they often do when a couple embraces in public. Someone said, "Look, there's mistletoe." And someone else, a woman, softly but urgently said, "No." After that, I heard no more beyond the thudding of my heart and the whisper of fabric shifting as our bodies came together.

Desire was a river flowing swift and deep. Our craving was a blaze searing flesh and bone.

It grew so fast that it passed from romantic to insistent to wild. I needed to get as close to him as possible. His fingers found the bare skin on my back, but his shirt hampered my own striving fingers. His other hand slid down to cup my bottom, pressing me even closer. I could feel him hard against my belly. I squirmed, trying to assuage us both. We arched together, straining for union, aching for it. If we could have joined our bodies right there in front of all those people, I think we'd have done it. Fortunately, our clothes got in the way.

Somebody laughed nervously and somebody else yelled, "Get a room!" Will moved his lips to my eyelids, my forehead. With some difficulty, we broke the embrace, but it was like pulling two magnets apart. His arm moved around my waist and he cuddled me against his side. In my ear he whispered, "Come home with me?"

I nodded and murmured, "Yes."

It was a lot like the last time. I thrust my car keys into Julie's hand. I thanked our host, who was smiling. Will helped me into my coat, and we stepped out of the house into the crisp moon-bright night.

My body was burning, but my heart was pulsing slowly and evenly. Despite all my anguish, despite my earlier doubts, after that kiss, I was sure. I needed to be with him tonight. As quickly as possible.

We didn't speak on the drive to his dorm. My hand lay on his thigh, caressing as he drove. Will was a careful driver—precise in that just as he was precise in all his actions—but whenever it was safe to take his eyes off the road, he smiled at me and extended a hand to mine. His profile was so beautiful to me it made me want to cry.

Again, like the first time, we went to his dorm, which was quiet now that most of the students had left. We stumbled up to the third floor, kissing repeatedly on the stairs. Down the hall that I had sneaked along on the day I'd crept to his door. But I didn't think about that. I refused to. I was happy and I wasn't going to worry about the future. This didn't feel furtive or sketchy or wrong. It was as if it was meant to be.

Will's roommate was gone, so no worries about privacy. It was chilly in there, though. The college must have turned the heat down now that so many students had left. They did that during the holidays. People who stayed were not only lonely, but also cold. All the more reason to hurry up and shed our clothing and bundle ourselves under the blankets.

"You look amazing in that dress," he told me as he helped me strip it off. I could feel his hands trembling as he stroked my bare skin. "I can't believe you're finally here."

I didn't say that I would have been there any time during the past two months if he had only asked.

I peeled off his crisp dress shirt, exposing that taut well-defined chest. His muscles were smooth and visible beneath his molded skin—just the way I liked it; not ripped, but fit and strong. When I ran my hands over his chest and belly, he moaned softly. I pinched one of his nipples and I could tell he liked that, too. "Pants. Off," I said, attacking his belt. I could feel his erection thrusting beneath my fingers.

"You're wearing stockings and garters." He swallowed audibly. "And no panties."

That had been Julie's idea. "We'll go without panties," she had decreed. "Nothing makes you feel sexier." She had been right. I wondered, briefly, what had happened under the mistletoe after we had left. Had Julie lured Professor Jeff back under there? Was she, even now, draping her pantyless ass over his bed?

"I'll keep the stockings and garters on," I said, and pushed a now naked Will back on his mattress.

I fell on top of him, claiming him. I knew from our first time together that he liked it when I got aggressive. The reverse was true also; I guess we both liked it rough. Once we were skin to skin, flesh to flesh we needed to shatter the physical borders that separated us. It was almost as if our bodies, sweet and hot though they were, were getting in the way. I needed him inside me, deep, hard, and fierce. I needed him to put his mark on me. I needed to scream.

There was no foreplay. Even the time it took for him to jerk on a condom was an agonizing delay, so I punished him by lowering myself slowly onto his throbbing cock. My plan quickly went awry when he flipped us both over, held me down, and drove into me in one delicious thrust. "I can't make it last," he whispered against my lips.

I was so agonizingly close to coming that it didn't matter. I arched my hips, straining under his weight, trying to get him deeper still. "No need," I breathed and open my mouth for his tongue. As we fell into a furious rhythm the pleasure rocketed through me, flinging me up to that place where there's nowhere to go but over the top. I think we came together, not from perfect timing but from overwhelming lust.

We both started laughing afterward. It was so intense, but also so joyful that we just hugged each other close and laughed.

That was just the beginning. I kept wanting more sex, more hugs, more laughter. No matter how often we slaked our passion in each other, I kept feeling insistent and wet, and he continued to be hard and ready. He joked about going through his box of condoms and having to swipe a few packets from his roommate's stash. "Tomorrow. Pharmacy for a renewed supply."

"Tomorrow I probably won't be able to walk."

"Scoot up here," he ordered. "I want you again."

"Wow, no lie," I said, rubbing my hand along his upthrust cock. "Maybe that mistletoe was enchanted, after all?"

"Enchanted?" Will chuckled. "And this from an almost-science major."

"My roommate is a little superstitious. We bought the mistletoe from some weird Wicca chick who insisted it was bewitched."

"Ha! I wanted to kiss you long before I saw the mistletoe." He pressed his lips against my throat and let me feel his teeth. "I wanted to fuck you. Long and hard."

"So what are you waiting for?"

"I want to hear you beg. Maybe I'll even force you down on your knees."

Swoon. There was some bad boy in him, after all.

*

"W
ill?"

"Umm?" his voice was liquid; half-asleep.

"This time, if you're going to go all radio silent, do you think you could warn me first?"

He turned over and blinked at me.

"Cause that totally sucked."

"I'm sorry." His thumb brushed my cheek. Tender. Sweet. "I'm
really
sorry," he added, but he didn't understand why I laughed.

Adverbs. Gotta love 'em.

"I only go radio silent on hot hookups," he teased. "Not on my girlfriend. No way."

Was I his girlfriend now? The thought sent joy cartwheeling through me.

"I'm glad to hear it," I said, grinning at him. "
Really
glad."

10. Ever After?

I was awakened around noon the next day by the chime of my cell phone. I'd already ignored it once, so this time I rolled over to swat my hand by the side of the bed where my purse was. It was Julie. I groaned, not wanting to talk. Beside me, Will was blinking into wakefulness.

I figured I'd better answer. I'd ditched Julie at the party last night. I needed to make sure she'd gotten home okay.

"Hey," I croaked into the phone.

"Don't let me disturb you," she said with an edge to her voice. "But in case you've forgotten, my sister's picking me up today. Before I go, I wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine," I said, smiling at Will, who looked very sexy in the morning. "It's all good."

"So nothing weird happened to you, right?"

"No, Julie, nothing weird happened." Hearing me say this, Will waggled his eyebrows, trying to look evil, and mouthed, "Yet."

"Because it was freaky watching you and Will under our enchanted mistletoe. Spooky, in fact."

"You're mixing up holidays," I said, laughing. "We did freaky and spooky for Halloween."

"I mean it," she said stubbornly.

"Why? What did everyone do after we left? Did they all attack each other under the mistletoe?"

"No. They didn't."

"Well, what about you? Did you ever get the kiss you wanted?" I was being deliberately vague since Will was listening and I hadn't told him about her crush on Professor Jeff. I'd figured that was Julie's secret.

"Unfortunately, no. Not with Jeff. Didn't you see what happened? It was right after you and Will got all groiny under there."

I explained that I hadn't seen much of anything after our kiss.

"Well, that woman who answered the door, Jeff's friend Kate, you remember her?"

I did. I had noticed her watching us while we were singing, and I'd even briefly wondered why she was staring at us so intently.

"She's psychic. I heard about her when Jeff broke his leg. Her mother is a famous medium. That sort of thing runs in families, you know."

Right. Julie really needed to do something about this weird paranormal phase she was going through.

"She knew," Julie continued. "When you and Will Sexy Pants were swallowing each other's tongues, I was standing next to her. I heard her say to her boyfriend that she could see a jagged aura around you, and that it was flowing down from the mistletoe. He laughed at her and rolled his eyes, but as soon as you and Will staggered off, she made Daniel pull our mistletoe down. When he playfully held the sprig over her head, she snatched it away and tossed it in the fire. It flared up with this bloody crimson glow, and then it hissed and crinkled away to ash. So nobody else even got the chance to kiss under it. Just you and Will."

Even though I totally don't believe in this shit, something about her description gave me a chill. Professor Jeff's friend had burnt our mistletoe? Why? And what was with the bloody crimson glow?

"I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to try it out," I said.

"That's okay, I actually met a guy after you left. He seems nice. No instant fireworks like you and Will, but we had some fun. He's texted me a couple of times this morning, so who knows?"

I smiled. Julie is the resilient type. If she couldn't get her dream guy, she wouldn't have wanted to waste the entire evening.

"Anyway, Merry Christmas and all that." She sounded a little more cheerful now that she'd shared the news of her latest conquest. "I'll see ya after vacation. Text me."

"I will. Have a great holiday. Say hi to your sister from me."

"Magic mistletoe?" said Will after Julie and I had said our goodbyes and hung up. "Sorry, I couldn't help but hear. Your roommate has a loud voice."

"You didn't believe me when I told you it was enchanted," I teased him.

"But Julie did believe it?"

I explained how she had wanted a love charm. Will asked what the supposed spell had said, and I realized I couldn't remember. I found the tag with the words on it, though, stuffed in my purse. I showed it to him, and he read aloud,

Wanting, yearning, merge you must

Your Longest Nights filled with lust

Passion shared and bodies trussed

Each cold solstice til you're dust.

"Atrocious poetry," he noted.

"I know. It seems you and I were the only ones who were ensorcelled."

"Well, that explains a lot," he said, grinning. "You put a spell on me."

"Like you believe that."

"I don't know. Maybe magic would account for this insatiability routine you've got going."

"Me! You're just as bad. I'm getting sore. And I'm not sure I'll ever be able to pee again....I'm beginning to think I'm damaged down there from all the pounding." I leaned over and licked his bare chest. "It feels good, though. Damage me some more."

"Hmmm, I'll consider it if you ask nicely. What's this 'bodies trussed' thing? Does that mean what I think it means?"