The Christmas Dare Read online

  “I’m going to bandage them.” He had his head lowered over her lap as he wrapped her hands. First with nonstick sterile pads, then with a white gauze roll. His poor left eye almost totally closed, dried blood still streaked across his face.

  Her heart wrenched. “Can you see out of it at all?”

  “Well enough to get you patched up.”

  “We’re a sight,” she mumbled, her senses overwhelming her. The close proximity to Noah, the overheated warmth of the tight quarters, the taste of cinnamon in her mouth, the rich aroma of this outdoorsy man. Kelsey was drunk on his scent and the teasing glint in his good eye.

  The moment shouldn’t have been particularly erotic, but damn if it wasn’t.

  When was the last time someone had taken care of her needs?

  Well, Tasha had whisked her off to Twilight. So there was one time. But other than that, she was generally the caretaker in her major relationships—Filomena, Theo, Clive . . . and before she’d died, Chelsea.

  Kelsey had been the responsible twin. The one who pulled back when Chelsea plunged them recklessly into adventure . . . and usually trouble.

  “All done.” Noah adhered the gauze with medical tape and lifted his head.

  Their gazes met.

  She placed her bandaged hands to her heart and stared at him wide-eyed and awestruck by his handsomeness. “Your turn.”

  Chapter 14

  They swapped places. Noah sitting on the toilet lid, and Kelsey doing the doctoring. Since he was so tall, she didn’t have to kneel.

  Jittery, Kelsey soaked a washcloth in warm water, wrung it out, and carefully washed the dried blood from his face.

  He flinched.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Bet you’re regretting hanging out with me now.”

  “Never do I regret hanging out with you, Kelsey Anne James.” His one good eye drilled a hole through her.

  “You remembered my middle name.”

  “You were my first love, Firefly.” His voice lowered, turned Sam Elliott deep. “I remember a lot of things about you.”

  “Oh yeah?” she said, gently rubbing the blood from his face with the warm wet washcloth. “Like what?”

  “That little starburst birthmark, right here . . .” He reached around her leg to touch the spot high on her back thigh where she had a pigmented dark spot in the shape of a starburst.

  His touch fired her up inside.

  “You bought me a sack full of Starburst candy to tease me about it. No one else caught the joke.”

  “I loved seeing you in a swimsuit so that I could get a good look at the birthmark.” He gave her an adorable lopsided grin.

  “Yeah, that was why.”

  That look in his eye tickled her far more than it should have. Her feelings for Noah were complicated. His lazy smile and tender tone only muddled her more. Was he trying to start something? Attach those strings. Did she want him to?

  Half of her was screaming, yes, yes, yes, while the other half said, cool your jets. They hadn’t worked the first time around, why would they now?

  Because you’re grown-ass adults this time around, she heard Tasha’s voice say in her head.

  “Thanks again for doing the whole Sir Galahad thing.” She dabbed the last of the blood away, got a good look at the cut on his cheek underneath the black eye. Not deep at all. Clifford Steel must have cut Noah’s face with that gaudy pinkie ring he wore. “It was nice of you.”

  “Nice?” His tone turned caustic. “You think I jumped in and started kicking ass because I’m nice?”

  “You are nice.”

  “Do nice guys look like this?” He touched his cheek.

  “Okay, okay.” She laughed. “You’re a nice badass.”

  “Now you’re just trying to make me feel better.” He pretended to look wounded by her words.

  “Noah, you are a badass. Basketball star. Boatel owner. Striptease artist. But you’re still a nice guy. You’re happy-go-lucky and laid-back. It takes a lot to ruffle your feathers.”

  “You make me sound like a dufus.”

  “Oh no, no, no, Noah. I love the way you are. I wish I could be like that. I’m a bundle of nerves. I have no idea how to relax. Hell, I can’t even enjoy Christmas.”

  “That’s because you’ve never hung out with me during the holidays.” He tried to wink, but it didn’t work. “Ouch, ouch. FYI don’t try to wink with a black eye.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” She dropped the washcloth in the sink, his face cleaned of blood, and went for the antiseptic swabs. “This is gonna sting.”

  “Turnabout is fair play.” He slouched against the toilet’s tank, legs outstretched.

  “You want a candy cane to bite down on?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She gave him a candy cane. He looked adorable pretending he was a tough gunslinger biting down on a bullet. Chuckling, she cleaned the cut. His breath was warm against the back of her hand. “May I ask you a personal question?”

  “You can ask,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”

  “What really happened between you and your ex-wife? Tasha read that she dumped you after you got injured, but I know the media doesn’t often get things right.”

  “You friend is trying hard to play matchmaker,” he said mildly.

  “She just wants me to be happy. She thought this trip might . . .” Kelsey fell silent.

  “Might what?” Noah nudged.

  “She thought seeing you again might bring closure. Hit a reset button and help me to figure out what it is I need out of life.”

  He studied her for a long moment and then said, “Melissa and I wanted different things.”

  “What did Melissa want?”

  “Status, money, trips, keeping up with the Joneses, penthouse apartment, and all the trappings of success.” He shrugged. “I had all that for a short time, but it really didn’t do anything for me. I was much happier here in Twilight, being plain old Noah. She said I lacked ambition. Maybe I do. But I know myself. I don’t need the latest gadgets or priciest car or to be seen at the poshest parties. I’m perfectly satisfied drinking lemonade and swinging in a hammock on a Saturday afternoon. Face facts, I’m a simple guy.”

  That sounded like heaven to Kelsey.

  “Melissa didn’t leave me because of my injury. Sure, the timing sucked, and she took a lot of flak for pulling up stakes when she did, but to be honest, we were never a good match. We had chemistry, but that’s not enough to sustain a long-term marriage. Plus, she had a thing for one of my teammates.”

  “I’m sorry things didn’t work out.”

  “I’m not,” he said. “When I think about my marriage, ‘Unanswered Prayers’ pops into my head.”

  “The Garth Brooks song?”

  “Yes. At first, I was hurt of course, and I prayed Melissa would come back, but now . . .” His heated gaze met Kelsey’s. “I’m so glad she didn’t.”

  Kelsey gulped. She was very glad too, but she wasn’t going to say that. Unsure what was happening here, she sealed the cut on his cheek with a butterfly closure and stepped away from him.

  “Well . . .” she said, dropping her gaze and her bandaged hands. “It’s super late and I should be going.”

  “Thanks for this,” he said and touched his cheek.

  “Ditto.” She raised her bandaged palms and met his gaze again.

  “Some night, huh?”

  “Some night,” she echoed. Her feet pointed toward the door, anxious to get the heck out of that tiny, intimate room. But her heart, that crazy organ, surged forward, leaving her in a weird, twisted position.

  Noah stood. “I’ll walk you to your room.”

  “No, no, I can find my way,” Kelsey said and zoomed right out the door.

  Once in the narrow corridor, pulse zipping, she turned in the wrong direction, corrected and headed back toward the stairs.

  The lobby was silent. The Christmas tree was turned off, but floor lighting led the way to the guest rooms.


  As if she were sucking through a straw, her breath slipped from her lungs, thin and swift. Before she ever reached the door of the room she shared with Tasha, Kelsey saw the blue scarf, which her friend had used on her as a blindfold, wrapped around the doorknob.

  Uh-oh.

  A telltale sign that Tasha had company and Kelsey should find somewhere else to spend the night.

  Sean and Tasha must have hit it off big-time.

  Good for her!

  Except now, Kelsey had nowhere to go.

  She stood in the hallway a moment, considering her options. She could sleep on the chesterfield in the lobby, but then people would come trooping through. The thought of being that exposed bugged her.

  Or . . . she could go back to Noah and see if he had a spare bedroom she could use for the night.

  Back in front of Noah’s door, she took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. What if he thought she’d returned because she wanted to spend the night with him?

  Indecision grabbed hold of her. Maybe she should just camp out on the chesterfield after all.

  “Dammit, Tasha,” she muttered. “Thanks a lot for putting me in this position.”

  She was about to rap her fingers against his door, but making a fist hurt, and the door suddenly opened. Noah sailed over the threshold, frozen peas in his hand, and almost ran into her.

  “Whoa.” He halted. Backed up. “Hey.”

  “Headed to the kitchen?” She nodded at the peas.

  “Yeah. They were thawing. Did you get lost?”

  Yes, she wanted to say. About ten years ago when I told you not to fight for me. Instead she said, “There was a scarf on the doorknob of our room.”

  “No kidding? Tasha and Sean?”

  “Tasha moves fast. I worry about her.”

  “Sean’s a good guy.”

  “I’m sure he is, but she’s been through a lot of heartache—”

  “I hope she doesn’t hurt him.”

  “I hope he doesn’t hurt her.”

  “They’re both consenting adults. We should probably stay out of it.”

  “Agreed.” She paused. “Listen, do you have a spare bed I could sleep in tonight?”

  “We’re booked up,” he said.

  “Could I stay in Sean’s room?”

  “He doesn’t live on the Rockabye. Or even in Twilight for that matter. He rents a house out in the country, which is probably why they came back here instead of going to his place.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “You could bunk with me.” The alarm sprinting through her bloodstream must have shown on her face because he quickly added, “Just to sleep. I’m not suggesting anything hinky.”

  Why not, she wondered. Did he not want her? He must not yearn for her as much as she yearned for him.

  Crazy woman.

  What the heck was with her? One minute she was freaked out about the thought of sharing his bed, and the next second she had her nose out of joint because he didn’t want to jump her bones?

  “I didn’t think you were.”

  “It’s not that I wouldn’t want to do more than sleep . . .” He wriggled his eyebrows and tried for a smile, but he looked exhausted.

  Gosh, how selfish was she? Thinking about her sexual desires when he’d taken a beating for her.

  “Of course, we’ll just sleep. Who thought we’d do anything else? I didn’t think we’d do anything else. Why would we do anything else?” she babbled. “We’ve only been back together for a day. Not even a full twenty-four hours. Not that we’re back together. We’re not back together. I—”

  Good grief, Kelsey, just shut the hell up.

  He stepped aside, the bag of thawing frozen peas still clutched in his hand. Held the door wide open.

  She could see his bed from here. That comfy looking queen-sized bed. Too bad it wasn’t a king. They could both sleep on opposite sides and never touch, but a queen-sized bed . . .

  “C’mon in,” Noah invited, then shut the door behind her.

  The notion of sleeping beside Kelsey and yet keeping his hands to himself was more than Noah could process.

  “I promise I’ll stay on my side of the bed,” she quipped as they both stood in the middle of the room, staring at his bed. “You could even rig up a sheet between us, like in the old black-and-white Clark Gable movie, It Happened One Night.”

  She grossly overestimated the stopping power of a sheet and underestimated her sex appeal. Thank heavens he was feeling like hammered meat and didn’t have the energy to follow his impulses.

  Still, he needed to set up some ground rules to keep them both in check. “Nothing will happen,” he assured her. “You are safe with me.”

  She looked slightly disappointed by that, or was it his imagination? “Thank you.”

  “No kissing. No caressing. No snuggling.” No matter how much he might want to do all three, and more, so much more. Taking things to the next level so early in their reconnection would be a huge mistake. Noah knew it. He could see that Kelsey knew it too.

  If they had sex she’d just be using him to salve her emotional wounds.

  Yeah, what’s wrong with that? whispered the blackguard in him.

  “Got it.” She bobbed her head.

  “Swear that you will stay on your side of the bed?” he asked, sounding desperate even to his own ears.

  “I pinky swear.” She stuck out her hand.

  Noah looped his pinky around hers, stared into her gorgeous blue eyes, and thought . . . it is going to be a very long night.

  Three a.m. and Kelsey was wide awake.

  How could she fall asleep when she was lying beside the man who heated her blood and sent her heart dancing sideways in a lopsided reel?

  She rested on her back, arms ironed to her sides. Eyes fixed on the ceiling, listening to the soft sounds of his breathing. Not snoring. Just a rough but steady and reliable rhythm.

  It comforted her. His sound. Curled her toes. Caused her to feel all warm and cozy inside.

  To be so close to him . . . and yet so far away.

  She’d promised to keep her hands to herself, but Kelsey was seriously regretting that promise. When she pinky swore to his terms, she’d no idea just how difficult this was going to be.

  She ached to snuggle up to him. To wrap her arm around his waist with one hand, to let her other hand trail under the covers to touch his—

  Stop it.

  Right. She needed to stop thinking about sex. Stop visualizing him pouncing on her and pouring his hot self into her and—

  Geeze, do you not know the meaning of the word stop?

  Okay, okay. She closed her eyes, tried to think of something else. Hmm, what was a surefire desire killer?

  Oh yeah, Filomena.

  Umm, no. She certainly did not want to stir that pot, which would keep her awake for a totally different reason.

  Her bandaged palms throbbed, reminding her of what had happened on Twilight’s deserted main street just a few hours ago. Her mother sending her henchmen to whisk Kelsey back to Dallas. Noah, bravely standing up for her. Filomena was going to be so furious at him. At her. At them both.

  Emotion flooded her. Anger at her mother. Pride and admiration for Noah. Frustration with herself that she couldn’t easily turn off her preoccupation with pleasing her mother.

  It wasn’t the first time her mother had tracked her, spied on her, yanked her away from her leading her own life. Kelsey didn’t know why she was so surprised about what Filomena had done.

  When she’d gone off to Vassar, away from her mother’s direct control, Filomena had sent someone to follow her around campus, to spy on her and report back. Of course, “spying” wasn’t the way Filomena put it. In her side of the story, she’d employed a bodyguard to watch out for Kelsey’s safety.

  Yeah, without telling her about the “bodyguard.” So yes, Mom, it was spying.

  Filomena had also hired PIs to gather dirt on Theo to use as ammunition in their custody battle. To the point wh
ere Theo had threatened to sue her for harassment. Filomena had backed off the private detectives after that, but she did have a long history of using others to do her dirty work.

  Forget about her. Forget about Noah. Think about sleep. Count sheep. Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus on your breath.

  After several rounds of that, her body finally relaxed, and her mind grew fuzzy as she drifted between consciousness and a dream state. The problem with the dream state, however, was the dreams.

  Floaty images dotted her brain. Images of arms and legs and tongues and mouths as she and Noah did sweet, wicked things to each other. Kelsey sighed, melting into the dream, letting her imagination take her to places she wasn’t brave enough to go in waking life.

  A solid arm went around her waist.

  Her eyes flew open. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but she was suddenly wide awake, and Noah’s hard, strong arm was resting along her ribs, just below her breasts.

  Apparently, he’d flopped onto his stomach, and his arm had landed across her without him being aware.

  Or maybe it was a sly test to see what he could get away with.

  “Noah,” she whispered.

  No answer.

  She tried to move his arm, but that caused him to curl his fingers around her side and pull her down closer against him.

  “Noah, are you awake?”

  Nothing.

  But she heard a low, soft snore. Not awake. His snuggling was an accident. He was not trying to push boundaries. Not trying to sex her up.

  Disappointment nibbled at her. Gosh, he was a sound sleeper.

  She recalled one time at Camp Hope, the year they were fourteen. She’d sneaked over to the boys’ dorms and threw pebbles against the window above his bed trying to get him to wake up and hang out with her. She’d had a nightmare about Chelsea, couldn’t go back to sleep and needed to talk.

  But instead of Noah, she’d gotten the attention of the seven other boys in his dorm, who’d all come to the window to see what was going on.

  She’d hidden in the shadows, terror sending her pulse into overdrive, and then she ran back to the girls’ dorms, tripping on a tree root in the dark and busting her lip when she fell.