Page 100 of Silver Fox's Christmas Scandal
I'd deal with Viktoria later, and when I did, she would be rudely awakened to her place in my life.
Because now that I knew Tessa wanted me as much as I wanted her, there wasn't an army on earth that could stop me from having her.
31
TESSA
I moved the miniature Christmas village from the coffee table to the bookshelf, then back to the coffee table, then to the windowsill. The tiny ceramic houses looked wrong everywhere I placed them, but I couldn't stop rearranging. My hands needed occupation or they'd shake uncontrollably.
The knock at my door came at exactly seven o'clock. And I knew it was him, punctual as always. He'd told me he would stop by, and after that incident at the hospital, I didn't know what to think.
I opened it to find Lucian standing in my narrow hallway, still wearing his charcoal suit from another endless day at the hospital helping Elena recover. The exhaustion etched across his features made my chest tighten, but his pale gray eyes burned with an intensity that stole my breath.
"Hi," I managed, stepping aside to let him enter my cramped apartment.
He crossed the threshold and stopped, taking in the chaos of Christmas decorations scattered across every surface.
Red and gold garland draped the couch. Ornaments covered the dining table.
Three different nativity scenes occupied various corners of the room.
My home was always a Christmas explosion, but I'd gone and purchased more decorations this year to distract myself. I needed that much.
"I've been—" I started to explain the mess, but he moved toward me with such purpose that the words died in my throat.
His hands found my face, fingers threading into my hair as he backed me against the wall beside my front door.
The cool paint pressed through my sweater as his body caged me in, solid and warm and desperately familiar.
"My God, I've missed you," he said, breathing against my face as he pulled away. His forehead pressed against mine, pinning my head to the wall, and I didn't want him to move an inch.
"You came," I whispered.
"I'm so sorry about that scene. I should've come after you, but Elena woke up."
"She what?" I asked, suddenly shocked. "You should be there." It wasn’t right for him to be at my apartment when his daughter was still in critical care.
"They're doing tests and getting her a bath. She told me to go." His lips claimed mine again, and I let him invade my mouth with his tongue, joining him in the frenzied dance.
"I've loved you for months, Tessa," he rushed out. "I knew it that night in my penthouse when you fell asleep in my arms, and I knew it every morning when I watched you walk into my office wearing those pencil skirts that drove me insane."
His confession poured out in a rush, years of restraint finally breaking. "I never said anything because I thought I'd ruin your life. You're twenty-six, brilliant, with your whole future ahead of you. Why would you want an old fool who's already destroyed one family?"
My hands fisted in his suit jacket, pulling him closer. "You're not old, you're not a fool, and you haven't destroyed anything. I love you, Luci."
"How long have you known? Why didn't you tell me?" His hands started to search my body, pulling at my clothing.
"I was terrified to tell you how I felt," I gasped between kisses as his jacket hit the floor. "I thought you'd think I was trying to trap you or use the baby to?—"
"Never." His shirt joined the growing pile of discarded clothing. "I've been going out of my mind wanting you, needing you, thinking you'd walk away the moment you got what you came for."
We stumbled toward my bedroom, leaving a trail of fabric behind us. His hands were greedy, taking what he so clearly desperately craved from me. And I let him. I helped him. By the time we collapsed on my bed naked, I felt physical pain in my groin as evidence of how badly I wanted him.
"I should've told you when I knew it," I whispered against his neck. "I should've been brave enough to say I was falling in love with you."
"We were both idiots," he murmured, his hands mapping the curves of my body with renewed worship. He hovered over me as if it were the first time he'd seen me. "Let's not make that mistake again."
Lucian’s mouth dragged down my throat, the stubble along his jaw scraping against my skin in a way that made me shiver. His hands were everywhere—cupping my breasts, skimming down my stomach, gripping my hips as if he couldn’t believe I was real beneath him.
