Page 23 of Mountain Man Santa

He looks at me ambivalently, nodding his head, all of the toughness drained from his face.

Emotion brims beneath Jerry’s tough outer surface, and the mood feels heavy. To lighten it, I focus on his wonderfully muscular chest, twirling my fingertips lightly over his flesh and tracing his firm planes until he shivers at my touch.

“You want a naughty list, which means me being more vulnerable, trusting, and giving than I’ve been with anyone in my entire life. And I want to know what it feels like to actually be loved by a man rather than tolerated by a fool like Elliott. It’s a fair trade, don’t you think?”

His big hands come up, palming my cheeks, and he nods begrudgingly, resting his forehead on mine and breathing me in. “It may be a fair trade, but things are never gonna be the same between us.”

I nod. “I believe that happened back at your office tonight.”

“You have a point,” he says, letting his hands fall from my cheeks to my waist, caressing every inch of skin in betweenslowly and seductively. “Love comes with loyalty, Shortie. You think you can give me that?’

Palming his cheeks and staring into his face, I can see where hurt still lingers deep down inside of him. “I couldn’t be more different than your ex-girlfriend. If anything, I’m loyal to a fault, and once I make up my mind, nothing can change it. Not my dad. Not my brothers. Not your past. Nobody and nothing.”

His hands grip my waist, pulling me against his erect cock. This guy’s tireless when it comes to sexy matters, and it takes my breath away. “If you’re gonna love me, it’s gotta be every part of me…even the gross stuff.”

“The gross stuff? You mean, worse than the smell of cooking sauerkraut?”

He laughs. “Not gross like smells or anything like that. I think you’ll find that I keep an impeccable house and have good hygiene. Nothing like that. I mean, a gross past.”

“Part of loving is trust, right?” I ask, gazing into his big, dark eyes. “You can trust me with your gross past, too.”

He nods hesitantly. “Trust. That’s not an easy one for me, Stace. All I can do is offer my best.”

“The same for me, Jerr.”

Letting my hips go, he raises a finger between us. “Hold that thought, then. We need to make this official.”

I watch curiously as he strides from the dimly lit living room into the large kitchen, flipping the switch and flooding it with bright light. Various casserole dishes filled with pierogis and sausages cool on the stove, along with a plate of homemade black rye bread, crock pots with the stinky stuff, and condiments like sour cream, mustard, and butter.

But he’s searching for something. He finally finds it on top of the refrigerator, striding back into the living room.

“Here,” he says, handing me a Sharpie. “You get one, and I get one. We’re gonna write what we want from each other in permanent marker. To seal the deal.”

My brows lift. “In permanent marker?”

He nods, grabbing my hand and leading me back to the couch. Taking a seat, he bids me to snuggle between his legs, ordering, “Take off the hoodie. I’m writing our naughty list on your back.”

“On my back?”

He nods. “You’re not gonna be running around naked with anybody but me for the next few days, right?”

I nod.

“I’ll make sure I write it low enough so nobody sees it above your collar line. You good with that?”

“Okay, but what am I writing on you?”

He shrugs. “Whatever you want from me, Stace.”

I swallow the thick lump his words form in my throat.Is he ready for that?

I pull off the hoodie, leaning forward a little so that he can write on my back while still keeping my ass pressed firmly against his rod. His big, hot palm rests on my shoulder blade as I hear him remove the pen cap, and I shudder at the feel of the cold ink on my bare skin.

Removing the cap from my pen, I pull the leg of his pajama pants up, revealing his thick, muscular calf. He’s got the perfect amount of hair to make him uber-sexy while still allowing me to write visible words.

As he writes, he reads the list to me, “Sensual kissing. Spanking. Oral. Balancing act. Permission. You on top. Doggy style. Quickie. Sixty-nine. Shower. Handcuffs. Blow job. Sexy strip. Go deep. Reverse cowgirl. Film it. Washing machine… Baby girl, what have I missed?”

I’m so absorbed in what I’m writing on his leg that I have to stop and think for a moment. “Mmm…sexy lingerie…although that’s definitely not happening with this storm raging. Sex toys?”

---