Page 39 of The Naughty Or Nice Clause
Lyla looked at the table, eager to change the topic, and noticed an e-reader on it.
“Can’t be that long ago,” she said, picking it up. “I have a newer version of this.” When she clicked it on there was still battery left, and a list of classics appeared.Definitely not mine –she thought of the endless romances and crime novels on hers. She handed it to Mason.
“I can’t believe he was actually using it,” he marvelled. “It was a present I got for my dad the last Christmas before I left. I didn’t think he’d even open it. We used to come here before the season began.” He cleared his throat, turned it off, and placed it on the table.
“Seems like he loved it,” Lyla said.
“Not that he would have told me,” he grumbled.
She got up, noticing the photos of a very young Mason on the mantle. She had never seen him smile so honestly before. “Cute kid – wonder what went so wrong,” she joked.
Reaching over her shoulder, he flipped down the picture. “He grew up.” He left for the bedroom, leaving her to examine the photos. She recognised one, recalling the sleigh and the younger Klaus family – it was the same family photo Mason had on his bedside table at home. When she had seen it before, she never would have guessed it had been taken in a secret village.
If I had never taken him home, if I hadn’t left the party, none of this would have happened. I would be with Sam watching too many Christmas movies, not in a cabin with the one person in this world I swore never to like.
“There are some clothes on the bed for you,” Mason told her when he came back, having changed into a new jumper and tracksuit bottoms. She found it hard to look away. The man in the suit she could hate, but seeing him like this did something to her insides she couldn’t ignore.
She went to the bedroom and found a pair of leggings and a knitted jumper. Once she was changed, she joined him on the couch. There was a cup of hot tea waiting for her, and she quickly clasped it in her hands, needing all the heat she could get. It wasn’t enough.
“Keep chattering like that and I’ll throw you to the wolves,” Mason mocked, looking up from the e-reader.
“I’m sorry my hypothermia is bothering you,” she said, moving to the edge of the couch. She tried to pull the blanket onto herself, but Mason was sitting against it. “Can you lean forward? I feel like the cold is eating my bones.”
He shifted, but she pulled the blanket too quickly, causing him to drop the e-reader. He picked it up and placed it on the table.
A tense silence gripped them, and then he surprised her by pulling her onto his lap, straddling him. She gasped at the contact and tried to wriggle away, but he held her tight.
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed. She considered moving way, but the warmth of his body forced her to settle against him, the contours of his body melding to hers.
“Body heat is the best way to warm up,” he said, and she could hear the satisfaction in his voice. She tried to lean back to look at him, but he held her waist so she couldn’t move.
“I think we have to be naked for that to work,” she said breathlessly, her chest pressed tightly against his. He was so warm, and the way his body fitted into hers made her snuggle closer, craving every inch of him, even if her mind told her it was a bad idea.
“That can be arranged.”
“I’m not in the mood to be played with,” she warned, as his hands drifted from her waist to her thighs.
“Who says I’m playing? I’m merely thinking about your health,” he teased, his breath against her neck.
With only the thin leggings separating his fingers from her skin, she resisted the compulsion to lean into his touch. She braced her hands on the back of the couch, sensation stirring between her legs as she felt him beneath her.
“I think I’m warm enough now,” she breathed when his hands slipped beneath the edge of her sweater to brush her ribs. She shivered; his hands were like ice, but they caused her to burn.
“I don’t think so. You’re still shivering,” he said, a smile on his lips.
“It’s the shock,” she lied, feeling his heartbeat quicken against her chest.He isn’t immune to me either.
He took the blanket from beside them and wrapped it over her shoulders, shrouding them both as he leant back against the couch. She listened to the sound of his breathing, the beat of his heart. Slowly, the panic of what had happened in the forest began to subside.
“Thank you for stopping the wolves,” she muttered, though it pained her to admit she needed his help. She was trying not to think about how she was wrapped around her extremely sexy and protective partner – her mortal enemy.
He didn’t respond, only sat back a little, forcing her to look at him. His eyes settled on her lips, and her heart stilled as she realised she was longing for him to kiss her. She watched him swallow, and assumed he was thinking the same thing. His hands gripped her thighs, as if to pull her closer.
She closed her eyes, bringing her lips to his… but instead of meeting her halfway, his grip tightened and he lifted her off his lap, settling her beside him. A lump of mortification settled in her throat.
“You should stay in front of the fire. I’ll take the bedroom,” he said abruptly.
Lyla was too embarrassed to look at him, so she nodded and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, missing the feel of him, the security of his body. Something had shifted inside her, and it pained her to admit what she felt, while he seemed unmoved.
