Page 39 of The Christmas Cookie Crush

Shaking my head, I help guide her onto my lap, keeping my hands behind her so she doesn’t bump the steering wheel again.

Once she’s settled, she looks into my eyes, only the dim glow of the dashboard and the moonlight reflecting off the snow lighting us. “That’s better,” she whispers. “Don’t you think?”

Swallowing hard, I nod. It’s been a while since I’ve had a woman in my lap, and as much as I enjoy having Nora here, I’m not really sure how far she plans on this going. I’m also not sure how far I feel comfortable with this going.

But then her mouth is on mine again, and my arms wrap around her, trapping her against me. She shifts closer like she can’t get close enough to me either. And then her hot center is pressed against my growing hard-on, and I lift my hips on instinct.

She lets out a sound that’s almost a purr, and she grinds down onto me, making me gasp.

“Jesus fuck.”

Grinning, she does it again, and my hands slide to her hips, then her ass, fingers clutching convulsively as she moves against me.

When she bends and takes the shell of my ear between her teeth, I almost come in my pants. “Holy fuck,” I breathe, shaking at the sensation.

Her low chuckle is so sexy that it takes all my willpower to close my eyes, breathe deep, and keep myself in check.

God, I want her so bad.

But …

Not here. Not in my car on the side of the road where anyone could come along at any moment.

And also, “I don’t have a condom,” I tell her.

Pulling back a little, her teeth flash white with her smile. “That’s okay. We can fool around without one.” But she must see the hesitation in my face because she scoots back on my legs so she’s not pressed right up against my dick anymore, and that’s a relief as much as it is a terrible tragedy.

“Hey,” she says softly, “we don’t …” She shakes off. “If you’re not into this?—”

“No,” I protest, cutting her off. My arms wrap around her again and pull her close. “God, no. I’m so into this.” I pull her in for a kiss to prove my point, pressing my hips up against her again to show her exactlyhowinto this I am. “I just don’t want our first time to be in my car on the side of the road at the local make-out spot.”

She gives me a lopsided grin and a playful eye roll. “I mean, that’s kinda what the local make-out spot isfor.”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “Okay. And for high school kids, I get why that matters. Butwe’renot in high school. I much prefer a bed to the cramped driver’s seat trying not to bump the horn and wake the neighbors.”

She shakes her head. “This is a forest road. There aren’t any neighbors out here.”

“Right. Still. Someone else might decide they want to take advantage of this place. Some of those high schoolers we mentioned.”

Her face is skeptical, but she nods. “Sure. Okay.”

I pull her in for another kiss. “I want better than this for us,” I murmur against her mouth. “Youdeserve better.”

The skepticism is wiped from her face, and she blinks rapidly a few times and nods. “Do you want to go home, then? Or can we keep kissing for a little longer?”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Nora

After the windows fog up,I climb back into my seat with a giggle as Austin cranks the defrost, grinning at me as we wait. Once the windshield is clear enough to see out of, Austin drives me home, his hand on my leg when he doesn’t need it for driving.

I steal glimpses of his profile the whole way, trying to examine him surreptitiously. I want to figure him out. Every time I think I have him figured out, he surprises me yet again.

I’ve literally never had a guy turn down fooling around in a secluded spot. And his comment that I deserve better?

I’m not sure what to make of that.

Some part of me wants to react to it like I’m being judged. Like he’d think less of me if he knew I’d fooled around just like that plenty of times over the years, both in high school and after. Living at my parents’ house during the summer doesn’t afford me lots of opportunities for that kind of thing. And all the age-appropriate guys in town are just back at their parents’ too, so it’s not like they have a place, either.

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