Page 37 of Silent Night Sins
“How was it?” Nicky didn’t look up from her work.
“It was delicious.” I crossed to where she worked. It was hard to believe the small house on the dish in front of her was a cookie. Nicky had painted it with icing to look like a miniature palace. The window glowed from the light of a teeny, tiny candle. Snow dripped from the sill. The shingles on the roof were likewise dusted with white, sugary flakes. She was concentrating on a wreath over the door, adding dots of holly in bright red. “But now I’m ready for dessert.”
I plucked an unused piping bag of frosting, checking to make sure the plastic tip wasn’t clipped.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Nicky leaned protectively over the cookie. “These are a special order. My first customer wants three dozen for her family gathering tomorrow, and she paid a premium.”
Pride bloomed inside me. “You turned your art into a business?”
Nicky watched me. A slow, real smile spread across her mouth. “I did.”
“Who is it for?” I ran the piping bag through my fist, testing the girth. It wasn’t as solid as I would have liked, but it would serve.
“One of the social divas from the other night. She called me up the morning after the Jefferson’s holiday party to place an order for them— What are you doing?” Nicky squeaked.
I let the smile invade my voice as I leaned over her. “Be good for me now, angel. It’s Christmas.”
Pulling her into my arms, I tugged the mask down so my lips were free. The edges at the eye opening tore, making the opening wider. I took a deep breath, burying my nose in her hair. Nicky let out a low moan of pleasure and tipped her head—exposing her throat.
She called me a monster? A dangerous title. Didn’t she know monsters had teeth? I grazed mine along the column of her neck, making her shiver.
Gone was the scowl. Now if I could only make her smile….
I pressed a kiss against her pulse. “I can taste your heartbeat.” I sucked hard, making her moan again. “Do you hear that wild beat? That’s mine, angel. All mine.”
Nicky gasped as I sank my teeth into her flesh, bruising her skin. Caspita! I loved the way she responded to me. The way she tasted. The sounds that she made. I continued to kiss and bite her, taking my time to savor every inch of her neck, her jaw, wanting to find her lips, but not ready to share a first kiss.
No…that would come later.
When the mask was gone, I would lay myself bare to her. Nicky would kissme. Not the masked man, not the beast who chased her through the dark.
“I’m going to gobble you up,” I promised. “Tonight, you’re mine.”
“You’ll have to catch me first.”
The glee in her voice should have been a warning. I was about to point out that I had, in fact, caught her. That she was trapped on the stool, captured in my arms. But the naughty girl was quick and wily.
She’d plucked a tub of frosting while I’d been occupied in tasting her and squirted a healthy heap in her hand. Without mercy, she smeared it over the widened opening in the mask.
I reared back with a shout, temporarily blinded by sticky, sweet sugar.
Fumbling blindly for a towel, I heard the stool scrape on the floor. Quick feet dashed from the kitchen.
The moment I could see, I prowled forward, remembering at the last second to grab the bag of unclipped icing. A thrill shot through my veins. “Such a naughty, wicked girl!”
A squeal sounded from somewhere deep in the house.
I stalked forward, checking room after room. She wasn’t upstairs, so I returned to the living room, and scanned the area more closely. Tonight, the tree’s lights were multicolored. They blinked and winked in a merry dance of blues, reds, yellows, and greens. On the floor were items she’d been using earlier to wrap gifts. Scissors, tape, and tubes of paper lay next to bins of ribbon and premade bows. A beautiful mess.
I whispered to the sofa, ready to pounce.
With a wild screech, Nicky scampered out from behind it, launching something white and round at me. I caught the fake snowball, smiling in amusement.
She made it to the middle of the room before her foot caught on the tube of wrapping paper.
I pounced. “Should have cleared this stuff away when you were done wrapping gifts,” I scolded, sliding my hand over her thigh.
Nicky lay there stunned, breathing hard. “I thought I did!”
