Page 33 of Christmas in Vines

“I don’t know if you’re lucky or sentient, but Lenny has gumbo on the stove now. Admittedly, he made it for himself, but he said you’re free to have some,” I told him.

“Awesome,” I grinned. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

My heart twisted over. “Stop with the pet names.”

I wonder why.

“Where do I get the gumbo…” Tyler asked then sidled up to me and dropped his voice, “And what exactly do you plan on doing to repay my favor?”

Reaching out in the sliver of space between us, I touched his belly, wanting—but not having the bravery to touch his cock. “Let your imagination go wild,” I replied. “Now you’ve got to eat. Come with me.”

We got back to the kitchen where Lenny was plating up the seafood gumbo and we took the small table in a nook away from the rows of stoves and ovens.

“Here you go, cher,” Lenny said, his rumbling Louisiana accent as warm as the food he put before us.

“…Sha?” Tyler questioned.

“It’s cher, like the singer but it’s pronounced cha.” I corrected him. “It means something like dear or honey or sweetheart. Overall, it just means that person thinks fondly of you.”

His eyes blazed with jealousy but vanished the next moment. I suppose he realized that thing between us was just a fling, a blazing inferno that would eventually burn itself out after we worked through the lust in our systems.

“Oh,” he shrugged. “I hadn’t expected… that.”

He sounded… not jealous, but… possessive? Was I off on reading his emotions? There were times Tyler was hard to read. When he was not overly flirting or exhausted from work, he kind of had a real strong poker face.

I reached for my spoon, “Pull that inner caveman back, Tyler. Nothing happened between us. It’s just southern courtesy.”

For once, his lips twitched, “Inner caveman, eh?”

“Yep,” I popped a spoonful into my mouth, then as the flavor hit my tastebuds, I clamped a hand over my mouth. “God, this is so good.”

Tyler looked to be in gastronomy heaven. He damned well groaned while dunking his spoon into the bowl again. He practically inhaled that bowl and wiped his mouth with a grand groan. “I’d eat that for the rest of my life.”

I took a few minutes to finish mine, but when I did, I felt the same as he did, satisfied and savoring the taste lingering in my mouth. Tyler reached over and swiped a spot under my bottom lip. “You missed a spot.”

Twisting, I sucked his thumb into my mouth and sucked on it; instantly, his eyes were dark with lust. I pulled away with a pop, “You’re not stealing my food.”

“It was a droplet,” he replied.

“It was still mine,” I told him.

Shoving the bowls away, Tyler said, “I want my payment now.”

My mood shifted, “We can go to the attic.”

“The attic?”

“Privacy,” I said, then added, “And you can take down a few boxes of ornaments.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

After dropping the bowls in the sink, we headed to the back of the house where the staircase to the attic stood. The moment we stepped into the wide, airy space, I pushed Tyler to the door and kissed him. One of his hands slipped into my hair and he pressed his wide palm against the back of my head, bringing me deeper into the kiss.

His tongue forced my lips apart and I slanted my mouth harder against his. I pressed my lower belly against his thick arousal and a thousand pleasure vibrations twisted around me. He jabbed his tongue into my mouth, hot, and hard, much as I knew he wanted to be fucking me.

Heat whipped through me, and an intense ache increased inside me. I yearned to feel him. My hips arched a little and a moan left my mouth at the vision of him undressing me. He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and the groan he let out was viscerally indecent.

I dropped my hands to undo his thick belt and pulled the buckle apart. I popped the button and slid the zipper down. I pulled away and whispered, “My payment.”

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