Page 62 of Holiday Surprise

“I know, that sounds cheesy,” she said.

“No, I love that. I’m going to try to remember it from now on, but I too, have a bit of a stubborn streak in me.”

She laughed. “Yeah, stubborn pride.” She sighed. “I wish we had thought to rescue the dampener.”

In a house full of wolves everyone heard it all.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I tried not to be irritated by it. It was important to be present with the Pack right now and not abandon them in this time of high stress and need, but really, I wanted nothing more than to go back to Sydney’s and make love to my mate.

I pulled on my boxers and walked over to the door as Syd pulled the covers up around her. It’s not like the entire Pack hadn’t just seen her naked tonight, but this was our space and there was a vulnerability to seeing her naked in bed. I didn’t think my wolf or I, would tolerate others seeing her like that and I think she knew it.

Opening the door, I found Oliver standing there.

“Hey, is everything okay?” I asked him.

He gave me a sheepish grin. “Yeah, great. Peyton heard you two talking and insisted I bring you this.”

He handed me a dampener. I laughed. “You have a dampener,” I said.

“We do. Enjoy.” He gave me a wink as I closed the door and locked it.

Sydney’s face was ten shades of red as I proudly showed her the machine. I plugged it into the wall, stripped out of my boxers, and climbed back into bed.

I leaned down to kiss her as my hand found the curve of her waist.

She giggled. “No way. Everyone will know now,” she whispered.

“Why are you whispering? The dampener is on. No one can hear us.”

“But they’ll all know,” she argued.

“They’re going to think it regardless of whether we do it or not,” I argued. I needed to feel her, to be with her in an intimate way. I’d been so busy trying to push her away that it only made me crave her even more.

“No,” she whispered again and this time I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“You’re really not going to let me touch you, are you?” I asked.

“You can touch, just don’t play too much,” she said and then covered her face and shook her head. “Everyone’s going to be talking by morning, aren’t they?”

“Why does that bother you so much? They know we’re newly bonded. It’s kind of expected,” I pointed out.

“It’s embarrassing,” she confessed.

“This is not embarrassing, Sydney. Earlier today sitting there while total strangers offered condolences and threw money my way like I was some charity case, now that was embarrassing.”

“No, it wasn’t, that was the spirit of Christmas shining bright. Your ego and pride just couldn’t see that.”

“Is it not your pride that’s keeping us both from what we want right now?” I asked.

I knew I was pushing my luck, but she was too cute when she got frustrated. Her face was all scrunched up and her cheeks were hot.

“Don’t you throw my words back in my face,” she challenged.

When she went to playfully smack me, I caught her hands and held them above her head as I leaned into kiss her. Positioning myself on top of her, I could feel her sweet heat and knew she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

“Are you going to submit?” I asked.

“Never,” she challenged trying to escape my hold, but the huge grin on her face told me she was enjoying herself. Finally, she settled with a big exaggerated sigh. “Fine, have your way with me, but if anyone asks tomorrow, I’ll deny it.”

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