Page 48 of Sexted By Santa
We didn’t say anything more. We didn’t discuss what it meant, or where we could go from there. Perhaps it would remain on this app, a screens-only affair. Maybe Christian would greet me with a kiss when next we met. I didn’t know, and just then, I didn’t have the energy to sweat the details.
My body was warm and humming, even as my eyes began to droop, and a bone-deep satisfaction I hadn’t felt in far too long swept through me. For now it was enough to know that Christian wanted me as much as I wanted him.
13
CHRISTIAN
“What are you doing here?”
I glanced up from my desk to see Barry leaning through the doorway. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I’m storing my gifts here so Teresa won’t find them before I have a chance to wrap them.”
“Which you’ll do at the last possible minute in the tradition of husbands all across the land?”
Barry chuckled as he sauntered in and settled into a chair across the desk from me. “You got me. How about you?”
“I only have Aunt Henry to buy for, so I won’t be doing much wrapping.”
Barry shook his head. “Not what I meant. What are you doing here?”
I shrugged. “Had a few things to tidy up. The end of the semester was hectic.”
In truth, I was looking for a distraction. After the late-night sexting with Jaxson, I wasn’t sure how to feel. We’d sexted before—but that was when we were anonymous strangers. Sexting as us, as Christian and Jaxson, felt different.
More real. More dangerous.
I wanted to know what it meant. I was also afraid of what it might mean. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be Jaxson’s bit of casual fun, but I had a terrible record with relationships. The idea of that man counting on me—him and his daughter both—was terrifying.
I’d spent years trying to be enough for Fynn, giving himeverything, and that hadn’t worked. Our differences had been too stark. The huge age gap, the differences in priorities and lifestyle choices had become insurmountable.
Bad enough that I’d failed my marriage, but to fail a little girl? That would be so much worse.
Barry didn’t look convinced by my excuse for being in the office. “You keep this place organized to within an inch of its life. What’s really going on?”
I grimaced. “Nothing. Just needed out of the house.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “You could always go visit your new boyfriend.”
I scoffed. “Jaxson is not my boyfriend. You know I only found a date so that Ella wouldn’t think I’d lied to her.”
Barry snorted. “You two seemed pretty cozy at the party.”
“Yeah, because we had to be convincing.”
“Uh-huh. Well, Jaxson is a good actor, I guess. The way he looked at you…”
“How did he look at me?” I asked, desperate for more clues.
Jaxson flirted so effortlessly, was so good at playing my date that I had no idea how he really felt. Even with the sexting. He’d said it would relieve tension…and he’d been right. But did it mean more than two horny guys getting off? Despite my reservation, I needed to know. Because deep down, I wanted Jaxson to want me, even as I feared what that would mean.
Barry smirked. “The same way you looked at him.”
“Shit.”
