A Christmas Romance in the Scottish Highlands (Scottish Highlands #6)

Chapter 24

24

ELLA

‘Alex?’ Ella gasped as soon as she opened her front door to find him hovering on the doorstep, looking embarrassed. Snowflakes were drifting from the icy, silver sky, and he’d obviously been standing there for ages, because his hair was soaked. Although that did nothing to detract from his beauty.

‘What are you doing here?’ She’d left him painting the scenery in the village hall half an hour earlier, after Wyatt had begun to tug at her jeans because he was hungry and tired. Ella had been hoping Alex would ask her to stay, had been wishing he’d at least repeat their gentle kiss. When he hadn’t, she’d considered begging him to follow her home – but instead they’d stared at each other awkwardly, until his mobile had begun to ring and she’d decided to leave.

‘You left your glass slippers behind,’ Alex said gruffly, holding up the bag she’d put by the stage and forgotten. ‘I thought you might need them.’

‘Tonight?’ Ella nodded, hoping the good deed was just an excuse to see her. ‘Of course, Wyatt and I often dress up before bed,’ she teased.

He looked embarrassed. ‘Aye, well…’

‘Sorry, I’m nervous,’ she said, flushing. ‘Thank you, I’m supposed to practise walking in them and losing one. Mae told me she’s going to test me tomorrow.’

Alex smiled. ‘Then perhaps you should put them on now?’

‘I will if you come in,’ she blurted, taking the bag from his hands as hope bloomed, filling her chest.

Alex stared at her for a beat, his dark eyes registering something Ella couldn’t read. ‘Deal,’ he said softly.

‘I’ve almost finished cooking a lasagne,’ she said, trying to give Alex an extra reason to stay. ‘Are you hungry?’

‘Aye.’ He jerked his chin and Ella stepped away, giving him room. ‘Thanks.’ His voice was clipped, almost as if he wasn’t sure which words to use.

Ella didn’t wait as Alex took off his shoes and coat; instead, she headed into the kitchen clutching the bag before opening it and slipping the glass slippers on. They were surprisingly comfortable, and the extra height made her feel more confident and sexy.

She glanced around. She’d lit some pine-scented candles while she’d been cooking, and fairy lights hung across the window giving the small kitchen a festive glow. She toyed with the idea of putting on the overhead lights, before dismissing the thought. Instead, she checked the food as the timer went off and took the bubbling dish from the oven. When Ella turned, Alex was standing in the doorway with his arms folded, frowning.

‘Is everything okay?’ she asked gruffly as his frown deepened. ‘I mean.’ Her stomach roiled. ‘Did I annoy you earlier, with the stars and all those questions?’

Maybe she’d misunderstood his reasons for visiting – perhaps he was here because he was upset? He’d kissed her, sure. But what if after she’d gone, he’d had time to think – to get angry?

Alex blinked, looking shocked and took a small step forward before thinking better of it because he immediately stepped back. ‘Why would you say that?’

Ella looked at her feet. ‘No reason,’ she muttered. ‘How hungry are you?’

She turned again and opened a cupboard, drew out two plates. Her stomach had been grumbling a few moments ago, but now Alex was here she knew she couldn’t eat. She felt flustered and unsure and wished she had a script to follow.

‘Not very,’ Alex said, sounding as tongue-tied as Ella felt. ‘I’m not upset. I wanted to talk to you…’ He sighed.

‘About?’ she asked, turning so she could lean back against the counter, folding her arms, feeling defensive.

He pinched his lips.

‘Because if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier, I’m sorry,’ she said.

‘You didn’t.’ Alex shook his head. ‘I mean you shouldn’t be sorry.’ He winced, his jaw grinding. ‘I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that’s what you’d assume. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks criticising everything you do.’

‘That’s not true!’ Ella gasped. ‘You helped me.’

‘You’ve done nothing wrong, Ella.’ Alex waved a hand. ‘I’m here because I wanted to finish our conversation on the stage.’ He took a step forward, his gaze intense. ‘I had some time to think when I was finishing off the painting.’ He looked less tortured now, more thoughtful. ‘Time to think about what you asked.’

‘About what you want?’ Ella checked, trying not to hold her breath. This conversation kept changing and she felt off balance because she wasn’t sure what to expect. But there was hope now, hope because she could see something in his face.

He nodded. ‘I don’t have all the answers.’ His eyes clouded. ‘There’s a lot of unfinished business between me and my father. A lot I need to talk with him about – when I’m ready to do it. I do know since I’ve been in Mistletoe…’ He paused, searching for the right words. ‘Since I met you…’ He cleared his throat. ‘There have been some days when I’ve felt like I’m enough. When I’ve been able to see beyond all the things I’ve been told, all the expectations I keep failing to live up to. And, I realised – while I was cleaning the brushes of all things –’ He half smiled. ‘– and I saw the slippers you’d forgotten, that I knew there was at least one thing I wanted.'

‘What’s that?’ Ella croaked, watching as Alex slowly tracked across the kitchen and placed his hands on the counter, effectively hemming her in. Her heartbeat pitched up, and blood began to rush in her ears.

‘This,’ Alex whispered as he leaned in.

The kiss when it came was exactly what Ella had been anticipating. There was no slow burn this time. Alex was clearly a man who’d decided what he wanted, and in this moment, it was her. He pressed his body into hers, taking her mouth with a confidence she hadn’t experienced before. He was demanding, the kisses hard and hot from the outset, which proved he’d been thinking about her – thinking about this…And that he had no doubts.

Ella matched him in form and finesse as their kiss deepened and she found her hands wandering, eager to take things to the next level, because she’d been wanting this to happen since she’d realised that he wasn’t the judgemental, arrogant man he pretended to be. She ignored Alex’s jumper and instead tugged his shirt out of his jeans before skimming her fingertips across his skin and breathing in his spicy fragrance. She felt his low answering growl vibrate against her lips and grinned.

She’d been waiting for this – wishing for it. Now he was here, now Alex had decided to take this step, Ella wasn’t about to hold back. She didn’t care what his reasons for coming tonight were. Didn’t need him to explain. Her life had been all about expectations and guilt – she’d barely had time to open herself up to anything resembling want and had let go of all her needs. So she let her hands roam, and told Alex with her kisses exactly what she wanted. Hoped he’d be able to read what was in her mind.

‘You’re sure?’ Alex asked after a few minutes, his lips still secure against hers. He was penning her in, pressing her against the counter – his hard body moulded close. As if something he’d been holding in had broken, and by finally admitting what he wanted, a dam had burst. The rush of release sweeping him to her.

‘Aye.’ She gently bit his lower lip.

He groaned. ‘Then you’re wearing too much. You can keep the slippers on,’ he added, tugging at the bottom of Ella’s blouse. ‘But this needs to go.’

‘My clothes your problem,’ Ella shot back as Alex spun her around and moved her until she was pressed against the kitchen cabinet, trapped again.

Her chest heaved, her skin tingling because she loved this new side of Alex. Loved him taking control. He slid his hands upwards along her sides and across her collarbone and neck, then pressed them to either side of her jaw as he took the kiss deeper, tipping her head.

Ella surged against him, her insides heating, as she savoured the evidence of his arousal, pressing herself into it. She drifted her hands lower and fiddled with the buttons on Alex’s shirt. Her fingers were shaking so much she couldn’t undo them, so she tugged his jumper over his head instead, throwing it onto the floor before moving back to the buttons.

They were fiddly and the tiny openings too small. ‘Damn,’ Ella complained, wishing she could just rip it up the front and pop the buttons off. She only didn’t because she was afraid Alex would have to ask Blair or Aggie to sew them back on.

So instead, she dipped her fingers under Alex’s shirt again and stroked the hard planes of his stomach, trailing her fingernails into his skin, dipping down until she was stroking under the top of his belt, edging lower still.

Alex moaned and let go of Ella’s face so he could begin to work on her clothes. He shoved the bottom of her jumper up, pulling it off and tossing it over his shoulder. When it hit the floor, he made quick work of the buttons on her jeans and shoved them down her legs, moving back so she had space to step out of them without getting tangled in her shoes. When she had, he kicked the jeans aside and gazed down, his breath quickening.

Ella shuddered as the cold air cooled her limbs and he must have noticed because he frowned.

‘We should find somewhere warmer.’ There was need in Alex’s eyes, a need that made Ella shiver again.

She jerked her chin in agreement and wound her arms around his neck before leaping into the air and wrapping her legs around him, losing one of the glass slippers in the process, despite trying to catch it with her toe.

‘You can tell Mae you did your homework,’ Alex teased as it clattered onto the kitchen tiles. Then he hugged her closer, and pressed his palms into her bottom, stroking his large thumbs beneath the material making her gasp, her insides liquifying. The buttons of his shirt dug into her stomach as he pressed her closer still and began to walk towards the kitchen door. ‘Where?’ he rasped.

‘Bedroom. Upstairs,’ she shot back, nibbling his ear. Smiling when he sucked in a breath and shuddered. ‘Do you need to put me down?’ she purred, as he stopped.

‘No. I just needed a moment,’ he ground out and then carried her quickly into the hallway. Wyatt growled as they passed – but instead of following, the bloodhound lumbered in the opposite direction towards the sitting room, where Ella had left his bed.

‘Which way?’ Alex demanded as he reached the top of the stairs.

‘First on the right,’ Ella said as she continued to nibble the side of his neck – breathing him in and sliding her tongue across the tiny pins of his stubble.

Alex sighed as he entered her bedroom and marched to the bed. Ella had put a lamp on earlier and it glowed, highlighting the hard planes of his face. He dropped her onto the duvet, before standing back and gazing at her.

Ella sat and then rose to her knees so she could track forward and work on the belt around Alex’s waist, slipping it from the loops in his trousers and shoving them down. Then she set to work on the buttons on his shirt again.

‘Do you think Prince Charming had buttons this small?’ she asked, irritated as she failed to undo even one. ‘Or maybe he had servants to do it for him?’

‘I’ll do it. Watch and you can learn.’ Alex tipped Ella back onto the bed. He took off his cufflinks and placed them on her bedside cabinet, then began to work on the bottom button of his shirt. He fiddled for a moment, all fingers and thumbs before shaking his head and yanking the material until it ripped and three of the buttons pinged off. ‘I told you it was easy,’ he joked, bunching the blue cotton and making quick work of using the small gap he’d created to escape.

‘You’d better not tell Aggie or Blair I did that,’ Ella muttered as he climbed onto the bed beside her and lay until they were facing.

‘You want me to put it back on?’ Alex teased, taking a moment to gaze down her body. Ella was only wearing her underwear now, that and the one Cinderella shoe which she’d somehow managed to keep on. Her stomach pitched as she met Alex’s eyes. They were dark and hooded, and she could almost read what he wanted to do. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he said, his forehead pinching as he leaned in to kiss her again.

This one started slow; the glide of lips and tongues, the warmth of two bodies sliding against each other. Ella shuffled on the mattress until she could feel Alex’s skin brush hers. He’d somehow removed his jeans when he’d climbed onto the bed and something must have happened to his socks because aside from a pair of skimpy black boxers, he was naked.

Ella continued to kiss Alex, reaching around with one arm so she could unfasten her bra. The slow skate of their lips hastened as she unhooked it and slid it from one shoulder before tugging it down her arm. She heard Alex’s hum of approval as her nipple pressed into his chest. Then suddenly his large hand was palming her behind, and working her pants down until everything inside of her was heating, turning into a molten, fizzing mess.

Alex slowly peeled off Ella’s remaining clothes without breaking their kiss, although they were both panting hard. Somehow he managed to take off his underwear because he eased her over and suddenly Ella could feel his smooth hardness pressing into her belly. She wriggled, teasing until she heard him moan.

The ache inside her core was building, and Ella stroked her hands over Alex’s shoulders, pulled him against her, enjoying the weight of him as he pressed her down into the mattress. She stroked his large arms and wide shoulders before skimming her fingertips along to the rough hair on his legs. Exploring, dipping into the curves of his spine and trailing across his firm bum.

Alex broke off their kiss and began to feather his mouth along the sensitive skin on Ella’s neck, drifting across her collarbone before he shifted lower. She lay back and shut her eyes as he licked and flicked his tongue over her breasts, making her body shudder and her insides climb.

Ella began to writhe and groan, almost floating off the bed when his clever mouth stopped just below her bellybutton and he began to explore the soft space underneath, before edging lower.

‘Oh, oh, oh,’ she moaned as he licked and sucked, and everything inside her fizzed and sparked, clenching and rising until she could bear it no longer.

‘Now!’ she yelled, grabbing Alex’s arms and tugging him until he was on top of her. ‘I want to do this with you this time,’ she whispered against his mouth, and he nodded.

Then suddenly Alex was inside her and they were moving. Slowly at first, but he was as impatient as her because the thrusts quickly grew in intensity and speed.

‘Are you there?’ Alex rasped as their bodies rocked. Faster and hotter, wilder and rougher until they felt out of control. Ella could feel the curl of something inside of her, knew she was about to explode.

‘I’m there!’ she gasped as the wave crested and she shot after it, her insides exploding into a fever of pleasure. Alex rocked once more, then he let out a loud groan and shuddered.

Ella wrapped her arms around him and hung on tight, absorbing the aftershocks, until he calmed and stilled. Alex’s breath was hot against her ear, and he eased himself to the side, taking her with him and hugging her tight.

Ella lay in the soft light knowing whatever happened in the future, however long Alex stayed in Mistletoe, she was glad they’d had this night.