I frown. “Only three?”
“I don’t like things I’m bad at.”
“What about wrapping presents while watching porn?”
“Ugh, zero stars.” She makes a face, then purses her lips in thought. “I’d watch porn with you under different circumstances, but we should’ve paired it with another prompt, like baking.”
“Maybe we can try a do-over,” I say, testing the waters, but all she says is, “Maybe! What about you?”
“Me?”
“How would you rate the evening?”
I pause, then blurt out, “Five stars. For wrapping presents while you sing along with the Muppets.”
She smiles. “You charmer.”
As I walk her to the door, I realize that we didn’t even have sex tonight. And despite how absolutely ravenous I am for her, I don’t feel like there was anything missing. It was enough to spend time with her, even if things were sort of awkward, what with the porn and the presents and the discussion of dead parents. Butweweren’t awkward. We got through all of it, together, and I’ll see her tomorrow. And the next day, and the next, and every day until Christmas Eve.
Still, I pull her in for a goodbye kiss before she leaves. I don’t mean to make it sexy, but once we start, I can’t let go. I slant my mouth over hers, changing the angle, and she opens for me. Before I know it, she’s nipping at me with her teeth, and I’m sliding my knee between her thighs.
“Oh, fuck, Gideon,” she rasps, grinding her pussy against my leg. “Damn, that’s good.”
I growl in response, since my mouth is busy trailing sucking kisses down her throat. I’m hard for the first time allnight as I tug her scarf aside and scrape my teeth over her clavicle. Iadorethe sounds she makes when I do this.
I’m reaching for the zipper on her coat when I stop myself.
“Go.” I grip her arms and maneuver her away from me. “Go, before I ...” Fuck, I don’t even know what. Before I beg her to stay? “Text me when you get home.”
Her lips are swollen, her eyes glassy. “Yeah. Okay.”
“I hope your presentation goes well tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Tomorrow.” She nods, still looking dazed. “Thanks.”
I want to walk her home, but if I do, we’ll end up in her bed. So I just open the door and give her a smirk full of all the pent-up desire raging through my system. “Good night, Valencia.”
Her voice has a dreamy quality to it. “Good night, Gideon.”
I close the door behind her and lock it, then drag my hands down my face.
I’m tempted to turn the porn back on and jerk off, but I don’t. The anticipation won’t kill me. And besides, I have a surprise planned for her.
Whistling the finale song from the movie, I head to my bedroom to set up.
Chapter 12
Valencia
Day 6: Role-Play & Window Displays
The department store windows along Fifth Avenue this year feature an odd and probably unintentional commentary on female archetypes—Greek goddesses, women in STEM careers, and Mrs. Claus’s kitchen—but I like walking arm in arm with Gideon, and his sharp wit makes for excellent entertainment.
It’s also a much-needed counterpoint to our conversation last night. I never would’ve thought my archnemesis would be so easy to open up to, and I find myself needing emotional distance. A crowded, outdoor activity and adventures inrole-play are just the thing to get this Naughty and Nice List back on track.
When we get to Gideon’s apartment, he surprises me with a pair of matching, sexy reindeer costumes. He’s also decorated his bedroom to look like the North Pole, with fake snow, a six-foot-tall candy cane pointing the way to Santa’s Workshop, and an inflatable snowman like you’d see on someone’s front lawn.
It’s excessive and kind of ridiculous, but also sweet and thoughtful, and that, as I’m discovering, is Gideon to a T.
