"God, Kiera...God...that was..."

He dug in a little deeper and I closed my eyes. Surprisingly, the fire started resurfacing. I found his mouth, wondering if I could still have that moment with him again, but together this time. Our lips containing the soft groans we were making, I encouraged him to move his body at a speed that would satisfy him. He whimpered when he hit the right spot and I moaned softly, needing him even more than before.

His mouth falling open, he started to lower his head. My hand came up to his cheek, making him stare at me. He clenched my hand in his as he closed his eyes. I watched the euphoria start to flood his features. Just as his h*ps paused, he cringed, almost looking pained. It passed immediately as a soft, but deep noise left his throat. He bit his lip to contain it, but the sound, mixed with the look of pure pleasure on his sculpted face, pushed me over the edge again.

Keeping my eyes open so I could watch every second of his bliss, I felt my own wash over me again. It wasn't as intense as the first time, more peaceful, more perfect. As his body collapsed against mine, I finally closed my eyes, letting the shared moment of ecstasy sweep me away.

Chapter 14

Merry Christmas

I awoke the next morning gloriously achy. As I stretched out my tight muscles, my hip hurt a little bit from sleeping on the hard floor. My arm was mostly numb from partially lying on it. My more womanly parts were also feeling the dull strain, renewed from weeks of being ignored by last night's powerful reconnection. But none of that truly bothered me, because a warm arm was flopped over my stomach.

I turned my head and snuggled into the warmth of Kellan's neck, missing the feeling of waking up next to him. His arm tightened around my waist and the words I'd missed even more brushed against my ear. "Mornin."

He inhaled deep and stretched out his muscles. I had to imagine that he was every bit as sore as I was, although, his man parts probably weren't. That was just a side effect for women...it was nice, though. A reminder.

I leaned in to kiss his neck. "Good morning yourself." Popping my eyes all the way open, I propped myself up onto my elbow. Smiling down at the half-dozing man beside me, I whispered, "Merry Christmas, Kellan."

He opened his eyes and reached up for my face. "Merry Christmas, Kiera." His hand threaded through my hair and wrapped around my neck. As he started pulling me down to his lips, my bedroom door opened. I froze, wide-eyed, suddenly remembering where I was.

"Kiera? Where are you?"

Hearing my sister's soft voice, I peeked my head up. Her luxurious hair was piled into an adorably cute ponytail on the top of her head. Anna laughed when she saw where I was hiding. Dressed in pink and green camouflaged pajamas, she giggled as she laid down on my squeaky mattress. Propping her face into her hands and clicking her heels together, she looked over the edge of the bed, to our love nest on the floor.

Smiling down at the two of us as I lowered myself back down to Kellan's arms, she laughed out, "Well, I was going to wish you a Merry Christmas and ask if you wanted to head downstairs with me, but I can clearly see that you've already unwrapped your present." She smiled over at Kellan peering up at her with an amused grin. "Hey, Kellan, glad you finally made it."

He chuckled, squeezing me tight. "Hey, Anna. Thanks."

Pulling the blankets up Kellan's chest, hiding his tattoo as well as his marvelous pecs, since Anna was clearly enjoying the visual that she'd walked into this morning, I sighed at my sister. "What time is it?"

Anna swung her perfectly emerald eyes to me. "It's breakfast time...Mom's making eggs."

I sat up straight, clutching the sheet to my chest; it fell off Kellan a little in the process. "Breakfast...is Dad up?"

Anna clicked her heels together, smiling devilishly. "Yep." She pointed at Kellan. "And he better get out of here, before Dad realizes he's not on the couch."

I scrambled into action, pushing Kellan out of the blankets. He squirmed and fought me, obviously wanting to stay where he was. "Kiera, relax."

Shaking my head, I pushed him harder. "No, Anna's right, he's gonna kill you if you're up here."

Twisting his lips at me, Kellan raised an eyebrow. "What's he going to do, really? Ground you?"

Shoving his shoulder, I nodded. "Yes, right after he castrates you."

Sighing, Kellan stood up...not bothering to hide himself at all. My sister grinned at his nak*dness and I slapped my hand over her eyes. Narrowing mine at Kellan, as I kept Anna from prying away my fingers, I watched him slip his clothes back on. Smirking at me, he muttered, "Fine, I'll sneak into the hallway so he'll think I was in the bathroom."

I shook my head. "No, you should sneak out the window. Make him think you went for a walk or something."

Zipping up his jeans, Kellan dropped his mouth open. Since he was mostly dressed, I stopped fighting with Anna to keep my hand over her eyes; she scowled when she noticed how covered Kellan was, then smiled at how uncovered he still was. Holding his shirt in his hands, he pointed at the window with his thumb. "We're on the second story, Kiera."

Wrapping a sheet around me, I shook my head. "Please, he won't believe that you were just in the bathroom." I pointed out the window. "There's a store about a block from here that should still be open. You could pick up some milk...my mom would love you for that."

He shook his head, his hands on his hips. "My shoes and jacket are downstairs in the living room?"

Anna brightened, popping her head up. "No they aren't. I put them outside when I woke up."

I looked over at her, surprised. Anna shrugged as she giggled. "It's not the first time I've had to hide a boy, Kiera." She winked at me and I shook my head at the adventurous girl.

Kellan groaned, slipping on his shirt. Frowning, he muttered, "Damn it, I haven't snuck out of a woman's window since I was fifteen."

I rolled my eyes at him, but Anna giggled. "Kellan, I think you and I seriously need to swap some stories someday." He looked back at Anna with a crooked grin and she winked at him. I rolled my eyes at the adventurous pair. Standing up, I shoved him towards the window.

He sighed, opening it. Glancing out at the wintery landscape before him, the frozen trellis he'd have to climb down, he looked back at me with a pitiful expression. "You're an adult, Kiera. He really would probably get over it quicker than you think."

I bit my lip. I hadn't told Kellan how hard it had been to get Dad to let him even stay in the same building as me. "He was going to have you sleep in a tent, Kellan...in the backyard." I raised my eyebrow at him, my expression completely serious.

He started to laugh until he realized that I wasn't joking. Sighing, he rolled his eyes. "Fine," he leaned in to kiss my cheek, "but you owe me, big time."

I giggled as he pinched my butt. Anna giggled too. Saluting us with two fingers above his eyebrow, he ducked out the window. I held my breath as I watched him, hoping he didn't fall. When he was at the ledge of the roof, I whispered, "Be careful."

He looked up at me, a puff of air leaving his mouth as he shivered in his long-sleeved t-shirt. Anna came to join me as I stared out the window and Kellan smirked at the two of us. Twisting his lip devilishly, he muttered, "You're lucky last night was completely worth this..."

I flushed and Anna let out a throaty laugh. As Kellan began descending, I quietly said his name. When he looked up at me, light snowflakes falling on his rosy cheeks, I smiled and said, "Pick up some eggnog too."

He closed his eyes and shook his head, continuing his retreat from my bedroom. Laughing at the look on his face, I silently closed the window. After I quickly shrugged out of my sheet burrito, I threw on some I-just-woke-up pajamas. Anna helped me put all of the covers back onto my bed. We were sitting on the edge of it, laughing over Kellan's sullen expression, when my door swung open. Smoothing my hair into a pony tail, I smiled as Dad poked his head in.

Staring at him warmly, I watched his light brown eyes scour my room for intruders. The thinning hair on his head was streaked with gray, and as I watched him frown at me, at my empty room, and then at my sister, I was pretty sure we were both to blame for the color change.

"Merry Christmas, Dad," I said brightly, hopping up to give him a hug.

Seeing my room with no trace of a boy in it, he relaxed and hugged me back. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart." Pulling apart from me, he did his best to contain a smile. "Did that Kellan fellow decide to not stay here then? I see that he's not downstairs."

I frowned as best as I could and looked back at Anna sitting on my squeaky mattress. "He's not? He was there last night when I went to bed?" I looked back at Dad, keeping my voice as even as I could. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the last year had made me a better liar than I'd ever wished to be.

Dad frowned but Anna stood up and joined us at the door. "I ran into him this morning. He said he was going to run to the store and get some milk for Mom, since we're almost out." She tilted her head at Dad. "Wasn't that nice of him, Daddy?"

Dad twisted his lips, but had no argument against Anna. Shrugging, he mumbled, "Yeah, I guess..."

Smiling at each other, Anna and I shepherded our clueless Dad downstairs. I secretly thanked her when we got to the bottom. In my ear she whispered, "I heard you guys last night...no need to thank me, you needed that."

I turned beet red as we entered the kitchen.

Mom was there, whisking a bowl of eggs into a yellow, frothy mess that matched the frilly bathrobe she was wearing over her flannel pajamas. Over the smell of greasy, crackling bacon was the undeniable aroma of cinnamon rolls. It made my mouth water. As my mom worked away on the breakfast, I came up beside her and rested my head on her shoulder. The comforting smells and sounds instantly brought me back to every Christmas morning I'd ever had with my family.

Mom's hair was the same color as mine and Anna's, but not because she had good genes or anything and she hadn't started graying yet. No, her secret weapon came from a product whose tagline was -Fight the good fight. It always made me giggle when I saw the hair color box in her bathroom. The slogan was like something Denny would come up with. Oddly, I paused a moment to wonder if he was enjoying his Christmas day with Abby.

Squeezing my waist, Mom looked over her shoulder at Dad sitting at the table and reading the paper while Anna gushed about how excited she was for us to open her present; she'd gotten the same thing for every member of our family. As Dad absentmindedly nodded at Anna, Mom looked back to me. Her green eyes, a gift she'd passed to Anna, sparkled as they met mine.

"Did you have a good night last night?" I flushed a bit, wondering if she knew what really happened. She had woken up before Dad...

Playing with the end of my ponytail, I tried a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah, it was nice to see Kellan again. I've missed him."

Mom smiled, returning to her cooking. With a knowing smile, she nodded. "Uh-huh." Biting my lip and praying to God that she hadn't heard us too, I twisted to leave.

Mom looked back at me before I completely turned around. Frowning a little, she shook her head. "I'm sure he's a good boy, Kiera, and I'm sure you are deeply in love with him, but...not in the house, okay?"