Page 65 of A Very Snowed In New Year
“I’m listening.”
“I think you’re probably nervous about me seeing you naked because you’re going tosee meseeing you naked. So I would like to suggest that if you don’t see anything, if you focus on the way it feels when I touch you, if you focus on how youfeel, maybe you won’t be nervous.”
“Close my eyes, you mean?”
“I have a sleep mask in my bag.” He touches my foot and then heads for the door. “Wait here—don’t move.”
I do as he says.
As I focus on how I felt when he touched my foot and told me not to move, my body is helping me understand that I liked doing as he says.
A lot.
I process that while he’s in the other room. I can hear him change the channel to a music station. R&B, maybe, but it’s Beyoncé, and I didn’t even know how much I needed to hear Beyoncé right now. Maybe always.
Holden returns holding a black silk eye mask. “It’s mulberry silk, but a dude on a podcast recommended this for good sleep hygiene, so it’s super masculine and badass.”
“It’s very handsome. But if I’m nervous about you seeing me totally naked shouldn’tyoube the one wearing it?”
“If you understood how much I want to see you naked you would know why that’s a really bad idea.” He rests one knee on the bed and leans over me, holding the sleep mask over my head. “I’d like to describe what I’m seeing when I look at you, Piper. I have a feeling you have no idea how beautiful you are because you’ve been so busy describing other people and focusing on why they should be together. And I want to be the one to explain it to you. I want you to know why I want to be with you.”
Well. Gosh.
“Okay?” he asks.
“Okay.” I’m still covering my boobs when I lift my head a little so he can place the sleep mask over my eyes. It’s so silky and light, and it feels divine. I do relax. And then I lean back on my elbows again. “Holden?”
“Yeah?”
“I liked it when you told me what to do just now. When you told me to stay where I am.”
“Good to know.” I can hear him grinning. “I’m taking off my pants now. Lie back with your hands stretched out and clasp them above your head.”
I do as he says, wondering if his boxer briefs are still on.
He grasps both my ankles and tugs me closer to the edge of the mattress. I feel my miniskirt and my panties ride up my bottom. And then he flips me over onto my stomach. “I’m goingto take off your skirt now. I really like how you look in this skirt. But I’m going to like how you look out of it even more.” He unzips it in the back and gives it a good tug to pull it down my hips. “Lift your ass up for a second.”
I do.
He gives my skirt a yank and I feel it around my thighs, but I stay where I am. “You can relax now.” I do. He slips the skirt down my legs and over my feet, and I can hear it land on the floor. He grunts. “Get on your hands and knees so I can get a good look at this ass.”
I don’t know if I would like it as much if anyone else said that sentence in any other way, but I get onto my hands and knees for Holden because he makes it sound like such a reasonable request and I just want to do it for him.
“You don’t know,” he says. His voice has become thick with lust. I feel his warm hands on my butt cheeks, over my panties. “You don’t even know how good this is. This bubble butt.” He strokes me in a way that feels appreciative and then squeezes with both hands. “In these pink cotton panties.” He grips my hips and massages them again, vigorously this time, and I don’t know why I like that so much, but I like it so much. “You wear these for me? For Journal Guy?”
“I wear these all the time for myself.”
He squeezes my hips hard. “Wear them formefrom now on.”
“I’d rather take them off for you,” I say. I don’t even recognize my voice. I can’t believe I said that. It’s the kind of thing I’d write in a text maybe. The sleep mask made me say it.
“I’m gonna take them off for you now, but you have the right idea.” He slips his fingers under the loose elastic waistband and then pulls them down, exposing my bum.
I’m not gonna lie—the way he groans, it makes me feel really, really good about myself, and I’m not even embarrassed about him seeing me like this.
“Babyyy.” His hands and his lips and tongue are all over the flesh of my butt now. Kissing and nipping and massaging. I can feel my arousal dripping down the inside of my thigh. “So soft and smooth and round. I’m the only one who’s seen you like this.” He slaps my butt just the tiniest bit, and it sends a shiver all through me. “Right?”
“Of course.”
