That Mistletoe Moment Read online

  For the first time she noticed he held two cups in his hands. “Um, sure. That would be great.”

  Now that the shock was starting to wane, reality set in, and what a reality it was. The guy she’d been texting, the one she’d connected with so strongly, wasn’t a Build-A-Boyfriend employee at all. He was real and he was here, not to mention gorgeous.

  She knocked herself out of her spinning thoughts and realized he was standing just inside the doorway, coat on, cups in hand, waiting for her to do or say something.

  “Um, take off your coat and come sit down.” She gestured in the general direction of the sofa and the Christmas tree, plainly visible from where they stood by the door.

  “Okay. Thanks.” He put the cups down on the kitchen counter and pulled off a thick dark blue jacket that said NAVY on it in yellow.

  Noelle’s focus moved from the insignia on his jacket to his face, realizing she didn’t know all that much about this guy. “Are you in the Navy?”

  “Yes, ma’am. For over twelve years now.” He grinned and glanced around him, his jacket in one hand.

  “Oh, let me hang that up for you.” She stepped forward.

  When he handed the jacket to her, she felt how it was warm from his body. That realization did something to her, making her want him to warm her the way he had the lucky jacket.

  She hung it on the hook by the door on top of her own and turned back. “Are you at the submarine base in New London?”

  “No. I’m stationed down in Virginia, but I grew up here and my parents still live in Connecticut.”

  “Which is why you were here for Thanksgiving and now for Christmas.”

  “Exactly. I come home for holidays when I can. I lucked out this year to get two in a row.” He grinned.

  She’d been the one to luck out this year.

  Holy moly, what luck she’d had. Running into Mr. Hunky and Handsome at the store and then accidentally texting him.

  Wow. It was all so much to take in she was happy to lead him to the sofa and be able to sit down herself.

  He glanced at the evergreen that took up the whole corner of the room. “I like your tree.”

  She looked at the tree herself and cringed, remembering how she and Nikki had had to squash the living room furniture together to make it all fit. “I know it’s too big for the apartment, but it was so pretty.”

  “I’ve been living in the barracks for over a decade, so I’ve never had a tree of my own. Besides, no Christmas tree can ever be too big, in my opinion. Well, unless it’s taller than the ceiling, but then a few strokes of a saw can fix that problem.” Nathan grinned.

  “I agree.” Her heart fluttered as his gaze settled upon her. Feeling self-conscious, she raised the paper cup to her lips and took a sip of the hot cocoa. Rich, chocolaty goodness filled her mouth. “This is really good. Where’d you get it?”

  “There’s a little shop on the outskirts of town. I was lucky it wasn’t closed for the night, but I guess since it’s almost Christmas, they stay open late. Anyway, it’s the strangest place. They sell everything from antiques to gifts to chicken feed to homemade pies. They make the cocoa themselves from scratch. Real milk and chocolate. None of the powdered stuff.”

  “I know that store. I went in and looked around once.” She’d wanted to check out the antiques. George had been with her so she’d rushed through and didn’t get to see everything. “I can’t believe I never knew they sold hot chocolate.”

  “Only during the holidays. I always make sure to go in when I’m lucky enough to be home.”

  “Thank you for sharing it with me.”

  “My pleasure. Thank you for sharing your tree with me.” His eyes met and held hers.

  “You’re welcome.” Noelle felt overwhelmed and broke the eye contact, instead glancing at the tree, rather than into the soulful eyes of the man sitting at the opposite end of the sofa.

  “I have to tell you, I was pretty surprised when I got your first text. I mean, I knew you had my number because of the recipe—which was great, by the way—but after a couple of weeks had passed, getting your text was a surprise. A good one, but unexpected.”

  Guilt overwhelmed her. She liked him too much not to tell him the truth. “Nathan, I have to confess something.”

  She raised her gaze in time to see him lift his brows as he said, “Okay.”

  “I, um . . .” She blew out a breath. “Wow, this is really hard.”

  A frown creased his brow. He put his cup down on the coffee table. “Just say it, Noelle. I’m a big boy. I can handle anything you have to say. I like you, but believe me, I’d rather know now if you’re not interested, before I get in any deeper.”

  Her emotions were like a roller coaster as she soared at his words, and then dropped low as she tried to make her own confession.

  She’d never wanted him to think she wasn’t interested. Quite the opposite. Her interest in him was the one thing she was completely sure of in this whole mess.

  “No, Nathan, I am interested.” Noelle sighed. “It’s not that. I just don’t know how to tell you the reason I texted. . . .”

  Usually she could babble with the best of them, but right now her words failed her—and at the worst possible time.

  He reached out and took the cup out of her hand. After placing it on the table next to his, he held both of her hands. His were warm and slightly rough as he held her in a firm grasp. “Just take your time.”

  She nodded. “Okay. But it’s a long story.”

  One corner of his mouth tipped up in a crooked smile. “That’s okay. I’ve got all night.”

  Noelle swallowed hard. “Okay. It all started on Thanksgiving. The day I first met you . . .”

  CHAPTER 8

  Nathan remained quiet as he sat and listened to Noelle’s odd tale. The cast of characters was vast enough that he had to pay extra attention just to keep them all straight. There were George and Aunt Anna and a sister named Nikki, her parents, her ex’s parents, and some assorted brothers thrown in.

  Then came the part about the fake boyfriend phone app and the story took a turn for the surreal.

  Even so, he held her hand and let her talk as she explained how she’d set up a contact in her phone for the app so she could pretend to get texts from this Build-A-Boyfriend in front of her ex at her parents’ party.

  “So when Nikki told me I had to pick a name for my fake boyfriend and create a contact in my phone, I somehow set it up using your phone number instead of the app phone number. So when I sent that first text to Nathan in my contact list, it was supposed to go to the Build-A-Boyfriend app, but it went to you instead.”

  At that point he held up one hand to stop her. “Wait. Hang on a second.”

  Drawing in a breath, she nodded. “Yes?”

  “I got lost at the part about how the app contact got saved under my name.”

  She pursed her lips together. Her gaze dropped before she brought it up to meet his. “I named him Nathan.”

  His eyes widened. “You named your Build-A-Boyfriend after me?”

  Noelle cringed. “Yes. That’s weird, right? I’m sorry. Nikki was pressuring me and I couldn’t think of any other name.” Her cheeks flooded with color.

  She couldn’t think of any other man’s name except for his? That had to be a good sign. He’d made an impression. At least enough that his name had been on her mind.

  He couldn’t help his smile. “Noelle, don’t apologize. I’m flattered.”

  “You are?”

  “Hell yeah, I am.” He couldn’t be happier, but still, why did this woman have to fake a boyfriend? He shook his head. “But seriously, Noelle, why in the world would you think you needed to hire some rent-a-boyfriend service? Guys must be knocking down your door.”

  “Um, no. Not so much. Of course, that could be because I spent the past five years off the market in a dead-end relationship.”

  The fact remained, what the hell was wrong with the men in this town that they’d let a girl li
ke Noelle slip by now that she was available?

  Their loss was his gain. It didn’t matter how or why she’d come to text him that night. What mattered was what had happened afterward.

  All those texts where they’d laughed together while watching the same movie meant something, even if they had been a thousand miles apart. And then the phone conversation the following day—that had been all him and her. No app involved.

  He squeezed her hands, happy to be here with her now. “I’m not going to complain. I’m glad you signed up for that app since it led you to me. And I’m glad the men around here are idiots and didn’t scoop you up the minute you dumped George because that left the path clear for me.” He narrowed his eyes. “It is clear, right? No feelings left for your ex?”

  Not that he’d let that stand in his way. He just needed to know what sort of battle was in front of him.

  “For George? Oh, no. None.” She shook her head, looking adamant. “We might be able to be friends again. That would be easiest since our parents are friends. But as far as me and him? No. That was never right. I guess I just wanted it to be, so I couldn’t see that it actually wasn’t.”

  He watched her face for a moment, evaluating whether she was being completely honest with herself. When it came to love and life, people would sometimes lie to themselves, maybe even more often than they lied to others.

  Finally, he asked, “And this, between us. Does this feel right?”

  “Yes.” She hesitated before going on.

  Compelled to get her to elaborate, he prompted, “But?”

  “I’m afraid to trust my feelings after the last time. How could I be so colossally wrong about me and George for so long, but still rely on my instincts now?”

  “I’m not afraid of instincts. In fact, I live by mine. They’ve saved my life more than a few times. I’ve learned to trust them. To depend on them.”

  “And what are your instincts telling you now?” She watched him, waiting.

  He didn’t make her wait long for his answer. He knew exactly how he felt about the two of them. The only question was, did she feel the same?

  Nathan leaned in a couple of inches. “They’re telling me I should risk getting slapped and kiss you.”

  She drew in a breath and met his gaze. “Your instincts are wrong.”

  He lifted a brow. “They are?”

  “Yes, because I’m not going to slap you if you kiss me.”

  Nathan smiled. “Good to know.”

  He abandoned holding her hands in favor of cradling her face in his palms.

  As he closed the small distance between them, he had to think that fate worked in strange ways, but who was he to question it?

  Little did he know all those weeks ago that doing his mother the favor of running out for cranberries when he’d always hated homemade cranberry sauce would lead to this moment.

  He made contact with her soft, yielding lips and there was no way in hell he was going to complain about whatever force larger than himself had brought them together.

  Moving one hand to her back, he brought her in tighter against him while he tangled the fingers of his other hand in her hair.

  Tilting his head, he kissed her deeper. Harder. He’d been working a lot, which meant he’d also denied himself pleasures such as kissing a woman.

  That was as good an excuse as any for why he took their first kiss from casual to explosive in thirty seconds or less.

  Before he knew what had happened, he had the fabric of her sweater in a death grip in his fist and his tongue was engaged in an erotic tango with hers that had him breathless.

  Noelle made a small sound and he realized he’d fisted her hair, as well, and was tugging her head back as her body bowed beneath the force of his kiss.

  Nathan pulled back and, smothering a curse at his own behavior, dropped his hold on her.

  For over a decade he’d given his all to the military at the expense of himself. Normally that wasn’t a problem. Tonight, it had him ready to devour Noelle like a starving man did a juicy steak.

  He drew in a breath and let it out. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

  That wasn’t exactly true. He knew. Very bad, but oh, so beautiful thoughts about him and her together were what had gotten into him, invading his brain until the fantasy had melded with reality.

  He’d spun a bit out of control for a moment, but he was back on an even keel now. Both feet were on the ground and his hands were safely planted on his thighs as he sat with a safe distance between them.

  “Don’t be sorry.”

  Before he could respond to her, she was on the move. The next thing he knew, Noelle was sitting astride his lap facing him.

  While she straddled him and he tried to absorb what had just happened, he realized he had his hands braced on each of her hips. He wasn’t sure whether he’d put them there to keep her away or close. Either way, it was obvious she had plans of her own, regardless of his.

  She ran both of her palms up his chest. Green eyes narrowed, she followed the path of her hands as they roamed over the shirt that covered him.

  He couldn’t fault her for focusing on his chest when he was doing the same with hers.

  Her deep breaths had her breasts rising and falling beneath the white sweater that was made of the softest material he’d ever laid his hands on. It was all he could do not to lean in, lift that sweater, and take her into his mouth.

  He was breathing pretty heavily himself as his body, in a very obvious way, expressed his appreciation of how good it felt to have her pressed against him. There was no fighting or hiding his reaction to her, so he figured he might as well roll with it and enjoy the moment.

  As she leaned in, he tipped his head back to accept her kiss. It was a whole lot more civil than his had been, but no less needy. He felt the desire inside her, held in check by more willpower than he’d shown.

  Since she most likely hadn’t spent this summer and fall deployed and celibate, he decided to give himself a break for getting too enthusiastic.

  With her lips pressed to his, memories of that hellish deployment were fading fast. With his hands on her hips as she pressed tighter against him, all those months spent training foreign fighters to defeat terrorism disappeared.

  Noelle working his mouth with lips and tongue alone would have been enough to have his pulse pounding, but when she set her hips in motion and began making small circles against his cock, his blood rushed fast enough to make him light-headed.

  Cupping his face in her hands, she broke away from the kiss. She asked, “Is this bad?”

  “No. This is very good.” He kept his hands firmly on her hips, torn between holding her tighter against him and fearing he’d embarrass himself by coming in his pants if he did.

  She smiled. “I mean because we hardly know each other.”

  “Not true. I’ve known you for almost a whole month. We’ve even exchanged recipes. That has to count for something, right?”

  “That’s right. You know, I’d never given that recipe out to anyone else before that day. Not even my sister.”

  He lifted a brow, feeling extra guilty he’d only been in possession of her secret recipe for a few weeks and he’d already shared it with his mother and one of his teammates. “Really? I’m honored. Thank you.”

  Nathan rested his head against the back cushion and waited, very happily enjoying her weight on him.

  The next move was hers. She could call a halt to this unexpected make-out session. That would suck, but he’d be fine with whatever she decided.

  Noelle let out a breath and looked torn by indecision. “I just don’t want you to think I make a habit of doing this.”

  “Noelle, I don’t think that at all.”

  “Really?” she asked.

  She’d spent five years with one guy and he could tell just from what he knew of her that she hadn’t been running around while she’d been with him. He had no problem reassuring her of that.

  “Really.�
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  She bit her lip. “Can we stay here?”

  Stay in her apartment, where she was sitting in his lap? Or go out and be surrounded by strangers while they sat in separate chairs? Yeah, no choice to be made there.

  “Sure.” He nodded. “I’m happy to stay in.”

  “I meant here on the sofa.” She looked embarrassed at the request.

  He liked this woman and he’d happily take any time he could get with her and be grateful for it. If that time wasn’t in the bedroom, that was fine.

  Nathan ran a hand over her cheek, brushing away a stray piece of hair. “Okay.”

  When she reached for the bottom of her sweater and pulled it over and off, he paused, thoroughly confused now that she was straddling him while wearing nothing but a bra and jeans.

  “Oh no. Why are you frowning?” She pressed her sweater toward her chest, looking horrified and making him fear she was going to put it back on.

  Nathan shook his head to alleviate her concern. “No. I’m fine. This is most definitely fine. I just thought when you asked if we could stay here on the sofa, that was because you wanted our clothes to stay on. But believe me, I am perfectly on board with this plan, too.”

  She dropped her gaze away from his. She was obviously holding something in.

  They had a chance for a good thing between them, and not just tonight but for the long term. He was not going to let shyness or insecurity or whatever this breakup had done to her mess this up.

  Nathan ran his hands up and down her bare arms. “Noelle. Talk.”

  “It’s just that I really love Christmas and I’ve always wanted to—you know—in front of the tree.” She glanced at the glowing tree in the corner and then back to him. “But some people have said that I was crazy for that.”

  He controlled his smile. “I really love Christmas, too. And I don’t think it’s crazy at all. In fact, I would have no problem with that.”

  Hell, he’d do it under the tree while dressed in a Santa suit and singing Christmas carols if it made her happy. It would definitely make him happy, that was for sure.