Page 149 of Accidentally Under Your Tree

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She reached up and patted him on the shoulder. "You're just as sweet as you seem on your show."

"'Preciate it."

Jerking her head toward my mom and sister and their focus on their task, she added, "Watch out for those two. They're mostly harmless, but they take this very seriously."

One corner of his mouth lifted, making him look more like the man I'd gotten to know. "I understand."

He set two of the cups on the little table pushed into the corner. The hot chocolate he extended toward me smelled sweet. I glanced down at my hands, that had sprouted even more ornaments.

His chuckle set my heart to a different rhythm.

"It's not actually hot. I could hold it for you." There was a golden ring around his pupil. It must have been the lighting that made it seem brighter, and nothing to do with the yearning tug of his gaze on mine.

I glanced from side to side. Mom and Rose had dashed up the stairs to grab something from Mom's van. Tucked into the corner behind the tree, we were mostly hidden. Not that there was anything wrong with him holding a cup for me. If anyone saw us, they probably wouldn't think anything of it.

But I knew.

I wasn't desperate for the taste of chocolate on my tongue. I wasn't thirsty. I didn't need what was in that cup.

It was Will.

His mossy green eyes locked onto my lips pinched between my teeth.

"I could use a drink," I said, and if my voice was a bit breathy, I didn't blame me.

A muscle flexed in his jaw. He took a step closer. Just close enough that I could barely catch the clean scent of his skin. His pulse thrummed against his throat.

Holding the cup a few inches from my face, he directed, "Tilt your head back."

I blinked out of my daze, suddenly aware of my caramel-colored cashmere sweater and the potential of a stain. "You won't spill, right?"

A smile split his face, and I stopped caring if I ended up wearing the whole ten-ounce cup.

Just pour it on me.

"No, I won't spill. Actually, here." He stepped even closer. A shiver ran down my spine as his strong fingers plunged into the hair at the nape of my neck. He placed the cup on my lower lip and eased my head back.

My senses were full of his firm grip, and creamy chocolate, and the focus of his eyes on my mouth.

It was over as quickly as it started.

I swallowed the liquid. Overwhelmed and bereft.

He'd taken steps away. His chest rose and fell with deep breaths. My breathing a match for his. I didn't have to press my hand to his chest to know that our hearts beat at the same pace. We were trapped in the same maze, twists and turns and dead ends separated us. But we were pulled toward the same center.

His eyes raked over me. The way his eyes drew over the curves of my body was as if, instead of a loose-fitting sweater and jeans, I was wearing nothing at all.

When he met my gaze again, the force of his need pushed the air from my lungs. Then he lifted the cup he'd just held to my lips. Without breaking eye contact, he put it to his mouth, tilted his head back, and drank.

A little over an hour later, glitter littered the floor, and they'd announced the winner of the contest. But I struggled to break from the loop of Will and that damn cup of hot chocolate.

Nothing that erotic had happened in the basement of the Methodist Church before.

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