Accidentally Under Your Tree (Grand Ridge Christmas #1)

13. Will

thirteen

Will

Seven nights before Christmas

"Do you think it's safe to use the elevator?" Lizzy asked with her arms crossed over her chest. She chewed on her lower lip with her eyebrows drawn together.

I wobbled my head from side to side. "There's a risk the power could go out, again. What floor are you on?"

"Seventh."

"I don't want to climb seven flights of stairs—"

"Me either."

"—but I'd do it with you." I gave her a little smirk. "You have to promise not to laugh at me when I'm breathing really heavy."

She did that adorable snort she'd done a couple of times. "I'd be too busy trying not to die. No, let's risk the elevator."

Her tentative little smile pulled at the dusty levers of my heart. Her kiss had been all warmth and quiet sighs. With every protective layer that thawed, I caught a glimpse of the passionate woman underneath.

It provoked everything in me. I wanted to pull her tight against my chest and be some place she felt safe. I wanted to search for all the ways to unravel her tightly wound persona. I wanted to know her.

I wouldn't tell her any of that.

It was a lot—too much for just a few hours of conversation and a single kiss.

But secretly, I harbored an unhealthy amount of hope for what we could be.

I should tell her about Will it Bloom? Renovations and how Rose and I were shopping the show for streaming services. It would be better than Lizzy somehow googling me and thinking that everything tonight was a lie. Especially since I had never had such an honest encounter. I'd never bared myself so completely.

Maybe I could hold this one thing back and trust that it wouldn't blow up in my face.

My boots thudded on the tile floor, and hers clicked as we made our way to the elevators right around the corner. I slipped my hand from my pocket and pushed the button to call it to the main floor. A bell chimed and the stainless-steel doors slid open. I followed her into the cabin, wishing that I had more than the next few seconds with her.

I wouldn't wish for the power to fail, but being trapped here with Lizzy would be a silver lining.

She rounded to the buttons, and I leaned my back against the opposite wall. I took in the sight of her. She was the manifestation of all my preferences—full curves and thick thighs, chestnut colored hair, and round brown eyes. And, of course, the prickly outer shell that I wanted to get beneath.

She looked at me through her lashes. "Tenth floor, right?"

"Mmm-hm." I nodded.

She breathed in, her breasts rose and press against the neckline of her sweater. A blush pinked her cheeks. There was no end to how she charmed me.

"You're beautiful, Lizzy," I whispered, my words almost lost in the sliding of the doors.

"Thank you."

We started our ascent.

I resisted the urge to tell her I didn't want to say goodnight, but just barely.

She gripped the railing at her hips in both hands, facing me. "Tonight doesn't feel totally real."

"No, it doesn't," I agreed.

The floors ticked by. Each one announced that our meeting was ending, level three, four, five.

"Come here." I held my hand out to her. She took it, closing the space between us in two long strides.

I pulled her against me. My hand fit at her waist. The material of her sweater was soft beneath my palm. Her mouth found mine with the same urgency that I felt. She tilted her head, giving me room to deepen our connection, and I took it. I was too far gone for anything but the taste of her, the feel of her. The way her breasts pressed against my chest. She met my need with her own.

She moaned deep in her throat. My cock twitched against her stomach, and she whimpered. I growled a response. Turning, I pinned her between me and the wall. I might have wondered if that was too far, but she hooked her leg around my thigh and my thoughts vanished.

I was losing myself in the heat of her seeping into my hip, when the ring of a bell declared that we were at her floor. The elevator doors slid open, and the cocoon wrapped around us tore open. Laughing and talking barraged into the cabin as a group of women waited on the other side of the doors.

Pulling away from Lizzy went against every instinct in my body.

The sounds of the strangers died out, replaced by a cough that did nothing to disguise laughter.

Lizzy smoothed a hand over her hair, but her ponytail hung loose. Her lips were swollen and the heat in her eyes stoked the fire already burning inside of me.

"I will call you." I promised, forcing myself to take a step back.

She swallowed. "Good night."

Her hips swayed as she strode past the women, sharing gossipy glances. My heart raced, and I struggled against the urge to chase after her. Eventually, the doors slid shut before the elevator carried me up the last few floors.

Alone.

Wondering how something could be this intense and consuming. How could I be head over heals so quickly?