Texas Christmas. Nancy Robards Thompson
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of lips that looked delicious.
She must’ve been more exhausted than she realized because not only was she accepting a ride home at three o’clock in the morning from a man she’d met only hours ago, but she was also fantasizing about kissing him.
She decided to dial her friend Sydney’s number because Sydney was her only single friend. Her other close friends AJ and Caroline had recently met the loves of their lives and were living with their fiancés. No sense waking up two people when Sydney was still living alone.
“Hello?” Sydney’s groggy voice came through the phone.
“Hi, it’s Pepper. I’m so sorry to call and wake you up.”
She explained the situation, and after assuring Sydney five times that she did not need her to come to the airport and pick her up, Sydney compromised by saying that she would wait for a call from Pepper saying she was safely at home, and if not she would send an entire fleet of Celebration’s finest out searching for one Robert Macintyre.
Her British accent sounded so proper.
Especially when she said, “Is this the Robert Macintyre?”
“Yes, I do believe it is.”
“Wait right there and let me come ride with you,” she said breathlessly. “From pictures I’ve seen of him, he is positively yummy.”
Pepper’s gaze fell on Robert’s lips again.
“I’ll be sure and let you,” she said.
After they found his black Range Rover, they fell into the same easy dialogue that they’d shared on the plane ride. As he drove, Pepper studied his profile. A bump on the bridge of his otherwise straight nose made his silhouette slightly imperfect, and a strong square jaw offsetting a full bottom lip made the imperfect look just right. At stoplights he would glance over at her and smile a smile that made her lose her train of thought.
Finally when they pulled up in front of her house, he settled back in his seat and let his gaze meander over her face, taking a long, unapologetic leisurely look.
“I can’t thank you enough for how you handled things in the airport,” she said.
“You didn’t deserve that. No one deserves to be treated like that. I’m just glad I was there to help you.”
* * *
All he’d wanted since the moment he’d first set eyes on her was to know how she would fit in his arms, how her lips would feel on his, how she would taste when he ravaged her mouth with his own. And he’d be damned if he was going to leave her tonight without knowing the answers to those questions.
He wasn’t sure who moved first, but the next thing he knew he was kissing her.
She gasped a little when their lips first touched. The sound she made was barely perceptible—more of a shudder. Rob wondered if maybe he’d felt her more than he’d heard her reaction. But the important thing was she didn’t pull away, she didn’t break contact.
He shouldn’t be doing this—for so many reasons. But she was kissing him back. He knew that, but her mouth was soft and warm and inviting. That little taste wasn’t enough. It tortured and tempted him more than it satisfied. As they sat there, arms around each other, lip to lip, the feel of her urged him to lean in closer. When he did, her mouth parted and she invited him in.
Want swirled around him, as if his taking possession might bind her to him and fix everything that was broken. The taste of her—like cinnamon sugar and roses and something bright, like golden honey or sunshine—made him reel.
* * *
Robert Macintyre might have shied away from Dallas society, but he certainly hadn’t fallen out of practice when it came to kissing. That was the one lucid thought Pepper had as she melted into him.
Rob made a noise deep in his throat, and desire coursed through Pepper, a yearning that only intensified the spell he’d cast on her. For a few beautiful seconds she thought she never wanted to catch her breath again. She could be perfectly content right here breathing his air for the rest of her life.
His rugged hands on her waist held her firmly but gently against him. Who would’ve guessed such a sturdy man could kiss so tenderly...yet with so much smoldering passion?
Then, just as naturally as they’d come together, they slowly released each other, staying forehead to forehead while the magic lingered.
“That was nice,” he whispered. “You taste good, like that truffle you shared with me on the plane.” He reached out and ran the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.
He gave her one more wistful kiss, this one featherlight, before saying, “I’ll walk you to the door.”
Caught in the twilight between longing and lucidity, she couldn’t find her tongue, but she was able to force her legs to carry her out of the truck and around to the back of the vehicle where he helped her with her luggage.
When they were standing at the door she could still taste him on her swollen lips.
“You have my card. If you ever need rescuing, you know where to find me.”
Chapter Three
Two days later, Robert sat in his home office and sorted through a stack of mail. He deposited five invitations to parties he would normally have no intention of attending into a pile. But the thought of running into Pepper Merriweather made him rethink his standard no.
“Shall I RSVP yes to these for you?” asked his sister Kate. She’d been working for him since she’d graduated from the University of Texas with an MBA eighteen months ago.
And then he came to his senses. The last thing he needed was to go out searching for his Cinderella. Hadn’t his divorce taught him that?
Rob answered Kate with a barely audible harrumph, which Kate seemed to intuitively understand. “Come on, Rob, I’ll watch Cody for you. You need to get out.”
He shot her his best leveling stare. “I have too much work to do this week to waste my time at parties thrown by people I don’t even know.”
Pepper might be there.
All the better reason not to go.
She shook her head. “If you went to these parties, you’d have the opportunity to meet them. Come on, you need a break. Get out and have some fun. Besides, the only reason anyone goes to these things is to work the circuit. There’s a lot of money at these shindigs. You’re missing out on opportunities for the Foundation.”
She was right. But to him, working the shindig circuit, as Kate called it, ranked up there with shopping or an evening at the ballet. Simply put, he could think of a hundred other things he’d rather do—such as change the oil in his truck or wash Gabe, his Lab-like, Heinz 57 mixed breed. Or, most important, staying in with Cody, his five-year-old son and eating popcorn and watching Spider-Man—again.
“I pay you to schmooze for the Foundation. If you think these parties are such a missed opportunity, why don’t you go in my place?” He turned away from the neat stacks of mail he’d created for Kate so she’d know what to do with them.
Next he began opening the emails that had come in since he’d taken a break to eat lunch with Cody, who had come home from kindergarten early today claiming he didn’t feel well. He’d perked up once he saw his dad. Rob wondered if he should schedule a conference with his teacher. Being the only kid in his class who was in a wheelchair made things difficult. Kids could be so heartless. Downright mean. He didn’t want Cody falling into the trap of having his old man fight his battles for him. But he was only in kindergarten.
Sometimes he sucked at being a single parent. But there was no questioning how much he loved his son.
“The only reason they invite me is because they want to hit me up for whatever cause they’ve deemed worthy this week.”