Page 52 of Candy Canes & Caroling

I didn’t care that I was in my office, that we were supposed to be working, or that someone could walk in unannounced. All I cared about was having her lips on mine as she straddled my wheelchair to get as close as possible. Her soft moans of pleasure filled my head and made me wish I was the kind of man who could pick her up and carry her to bed, where I’d make love to her for hours with no limitations, just the way she deserved. The thought was a bucket of cold water on my overheated libido, and I leaned back to break the kiss.

“Don’t. Whatever thought you just had, it isn’t true,” Hazel whispered, forcing me to make eye contact.

“That’s where you’re right, Hazel. The thought I had was to pick you up, carry you to my bed, and make love to you for hours. I can’t do that. The thought will never be more than a daydream, but you deserve someone normal to pick you up, toss you onto the bed, and ravish you without limitations.”

Hazel put her finger to my lips. “Normal is boring and overrated, Irving,” she said, lowering herself to rest across my legs. “I’ve had normal, and I assure you, of all the normal men I’ve kissed,” she said, putting normal in air quotes, “not one of them made me feel the way you do when we connect.” I opened my mouth to speak, and she held up her finger. “Don’t say it. You don’t get to make decisions for me, nor do you get to tell me that what I feel is wrong.”

“I was just going to ask why you’re sitting on my lap?”

Her shrug was sassy and I knew whatever she was about to say would make me laugh. “To prove you can pick me up and take me to bed. All you have to do is think outside the box you have firmly put yourself in when you don’t belong there. You’ve spent your life thinking outside the box, so stop pretending you don’t know how. Start applying how you think about your life, and how you move about it, to our relationship, and you might surprise yourself at how seamless it becomes.”

“Our whatever this turns out to be relationship?” I asked, tucking a piece of hair back behind her ear.

Hazel leaned in and let her forehead touch mine before she spoke. “Every time we kiss, there’s a voice low in my belly that whispers we’re on the right track. Do you hear the same voice?” I nodded, unable to lie to her face, especially when we were this close. This intimate. “That’s the voice to listen to, not this one,” she said, tapping my temple.

“If I listen to this voice,” I said, caressing her belly in a circle longer than necessary. It was so damn soft that I wanted the barriers to be gone so I could touch her sweet skin. “I could end up hurt worse than I ever have been before.”

“Which is terrifying,” she agreed in a whisper. “The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want a life where you never feel that sense of total…”

Her hand worked in the air as she tried to think of the word she wanted, but I lowered it and twined my fingers in hers. “Intimacy?”

“Is that the word that keeps running through your head too?”

“Every time we’re together. Even when we’re surrounded by people, there’s this connection between us that makes it feel like we’re alone. Every look. Every touch. Everything is effortless.”

She traced my cheek with her finger before she buried her hand in my hair. “You stole the words from my lips, Irving Wallace. Now, I’m going to kiss you again, but this time, I want you to listen to that voice low in your belly and let it guide you.”

Before she could initiate the kiss, I tipped her head and kissed her like a man possessed. If she wanted me to succumb to the intimacy, I would, but she’d have to do the same. When she moaned and leaned into me, connecting our chests as her tongue danced with mine, I knew she was all in for taking this undefinable relationship to a new level. When our desire for each other was sated, our lips fell apart, and she leaned against my chest. As I wrapped my arms around her and her heat soaked into me, I was reminded of the importance of listening to my gut. If I didn’t, I could miss out on some of the best things in life.

“I suppose we can’t sit here and make out all day. We’re supposed to be working.”

“It’s Sunday,” I said, kissing her lips again. “We’re technically off the clock, but I suppose we do have a lot to do.”

“Pick this up later?” she asked, stroking my chest with her palm.

“You can bet on it,” I promised, accepting another quick kiss before she stood up and practically skipped out of my office.

I glanced down at Star, who was watching the whole scene unfold. “She’s something, isn’t she, little buddy?” I rubbed his head as he nuzzled my hand. “I know you like her. You can’t hide it.”

The look he gave me said that statement was the pot and the kettle. He wasn’t wrong.

Chapter Thirteen

I wheeled my way from the office to the rec room and found Hazel sorting craft supplies from large bins. “I wondered where you’d gotten off to,” I said, stopping by the table.

“Hey,” she said with a smile when she glanced up. “I’m making lists of what supplies I have and what I need for the events I’m planning once New Beginnings is open. The meeting was last night, and we haven’t heard a word, so I’m also trying to burn off nervous energy.”

“I have good news and bad news then,” I said, leaning an elbow on the table. “Which should I lead with?” I asked, trying to hide my smirk.

“The bad news, of course,” she ordered, dropping the tagboard to the table. “That way the good news will cheer me up.”

I forced a somber expression to my face and sighed. “The bad news is, the council approved making the apartments accessible.”

“Irving! That’s not bad news, that’s the news we’ve been waiting for!” she came around the table and threw her arms around me, doing a little hop as she hugged me. When she stepped back, she wore an expression of deep concentration. “Wait, if that’s the bad news, what’s the good news?”

“They didn’t approve twelve accessible apartments,” I said, and watched a frown mar her beautiful face. “They approved eighteen!”

The room was silent as she stared at me, her mouth opening and closing several times before she blinked twice. “Eighteen?” she squeaked.

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