A great internal debate raged between Elise’s desire for Jack and her dwindling professionalism for this job. A little voice at the back of her head told her to just kiss him a bit, then slowly break away and revisit this at another time. Said voice was squashed out by a raging she-beast known as lust, and Elise threaded her fingers through Jack’s luscious dark hair and gave a little tug, just for good measure. A groan reverberated in his chest, the vibrations shooting straight down to the crest of her sex.

Of course he was a fantastic kisser. A man who looked like Jack was probably skilled in all manner of bedroom deeds, but she was sure they wouldn’t broach that here and now. While the warehouse was quiet in this area, ignored by stressed-out stock guys trying to keep up with the crazy demand on the floor, Elise knew that one thick cement wall separated her from the madness—madness she really ought to be getting back to.

“W-wait. What are we doing?” she mumbled against his lips, her hands sliding to his chest—and gripping the front of his jacket all by themselves. Jack broke away, but only just, their foreheads resting against one another, hot breath mingling, and it was only then that Elise realized how comfortable it all felt. Sure, her body was on fire, every inch of skin ablaze and every nerve ending firing on all cylinders, but considering she still hardly knew him, the moment ought to be stranger. Tense. A smack in the face that would send her running. Only, she didn’t want to go anywhere. Not home. Not back to the floor. Not out into the cold December night, the icy streets and frigid wind better than any cold shower. She wanted to be right here, with him. Or, ideally, somewhere more private—but with him.

“I… You… The doll,” was his eloquent response, and she found herself grinning, one hand wandering up to cup his face.

“You’ve always had a way with words.”

He chuckled and stole a quick kiss. “Do you want to stop?”

“No.” She stole another one, and another, their lips lingering longer and longer each time. “I was just having a moment. Do you want to, er, you know…stop?”

His smile was like adding kerosene to her already smoldering fire.

“No,” Jack rumbled, his arm curving around her waist and guiding her hips to his. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for weeks. I just want to be here with you for a few minutes, if that’s okay? I want you all to myself, for once…”

Elise responded with a kiss, her heart happy. It was supposed to be a sweet sort of kiss, tinged with unsaid longing and newfound cheer, but then Jack nipped at her lower lip, catching it between his teeth and sucking just hard enough to make her whimper. Suddenly, all her thoughts of a triumphant return to the toy department shot straight to hell.

She dragged him closer, the weight of his wonderfully sculpted body against hers doing terrible things to her nether regions. Not able—or willing—to stop, Elise widened her stance and let him slip between her thighs. One grind of his hips, one feel of his steadily hardening shaft, and she was sold. This was happening. Right here. Right now. And it wasn’t going to be for just a couple of minutes, either.

Tipping her head back, she sucked in a gasp as Jack’s lips dropped from her mouth to her jaw, pressing hot little nibbles across her skin as he made his way down to her neck. Her hand tightened in his hair as goosebumps erupted across the sensitive flesh, his mouth devouring her secret sweet spot like a starved man. A moan slipped out before she could stop it, her hips bucking against his. The Miss Molly box had found a temporary home on the floor, out of sight and out of mind.

Apparently, all she and Jack needed was an excuse to rip each other’s clothes off—any excuse would do. Elise could get used to this. Her eyes scrunched closed when he sucked hard just below her collarbone, the faint hint of pain making her squirm in the most delicious way possible.

Then, out of nowhere, his head popped up, both of them breathing a little harder now, and then nodded at her vest. “Can we take this awful thing off?”

“Fuck yes.”

She all but cried her response, as if yanking off that hideous Christmas vest was like a climax in and of itself. They worked together to drag it off her shoulders, little chuckles and giggles shared between them, and it soon joined Miss Molly on the dusty warehouse floor, forgotten. Jack cupped her face and pressed a hard, firm kiss to her lips, one that stole her breath away—one that declared her for his own. If she were the swooning type, Elise might have.

“Everything e-else should probably, uh, mostly stay on,” she whispered when his hands dropped to her pants and popped open the button. No way was she letting another Bennington’s employee find her totally nude at the back of the warehouse. Not happening. Jack pulled away suddenly, but she clenched her thighs around him so as not to lose him completely.

“Right, is this… Is it okay that we’re—”

Elise tugged him back by the thick fabric of his black trench coat. “More than okay.”

Their lips met in a storm of tongue and teeth and soft moans, fierce from first contact. Like the blizzards had had rocked Fort Trent for the last week, there was no containing them—no slowing, no way to stop the buildup. Just hunker down and wait it out, until the raging winds and the merciless onslaught of ice and snow ebbed. Until the storm passed. For now, Elise wanted to be right in the thick of it, her body heightened to even the slightest caress—through layers of clothes no less.

Fabric barrier or not, when Jack cupped her, she felt it. Like fire lapping at her clit, the bud aching for attention, the flames licking higher into her belly and up to her nipples, which hardened to stiff peaks: desperate to be free, to be tweaked, to be suckled with his hot mouth until she couldn’t stand it a second longer.

This wasn’t the place for that. At the back of the warehouse, there was only time for hurried touches over clothes—which killed her. She would have loved to see Jack’s muscular frame, bare and exposed, draped over her as she writhed beneath him.

But this would do—for now. They’d revisit it after her shift.

After rubbing her over her pants, Jack hastily undid her zipper and slipped one hand beneath her panties—no hesitation, no nothing. She inhaled sharply, lips pursed in a surprised oh as his cool fingers slid between her slick folds.

“So… hot,” he whispered against her cheek, words wrapped in a satisfied groan, then swallowed her whimpers as his thumb swept over the swollen nub at the helm of her sex. Elise trembled against him, pleased that his solid frame kept her upright as he tormented her, alternating his touch, his kiss, between hard and soft, slow and fast, dragging her ever closer to a breathtaking climax; she savored every step of the way, bucking her hips up against his hand, her own fisted in his jacket as she mewled into his mouth, a mouth that kept her noises muffled—a mouth that kept their secret from the rest of Bennington’s that Christmas Eve.

Her body stiffened, core twitching with each gentle caress of her clit, the movements a complement to his beautiful torment. Faint pleasurable tendrils unfurled across her figure, a taste of what was to come.

She almost—almost—came completely undone when he slipped not one, but two fingers into her, massaging her from the inside and out, fingers working her inner walls while his thumb tortured her clit with slight yet constant pressure. A cry tore from her lips as her climax finally erupted, but Jack smothered the sound as best he could with his free hand, still working her relentlessly with the other as she rode out wave after wave of ecstasy. For a few seconds, the warehouse actually went black, and there was nothing but the feel of him between her thighs, the smell of his aftershave, and the taste of peppermint on his tongue as he kissed her. Her whole world was just Jack, start to finish, until she finally floated back into her body and remembered where they were.

And, frankly, Elise didn’t care.

“This seems like a long shot,” she whispered, fighting her moan when he eased his fingers out of her, the movement sending spasms of pleasure through her already weak thighs, “but…do you have a condom with you?”

He chuckled, voice husky and coloured with desire. “Are you always this insatiable?”

Elise replied honestly: “No.”

She wasn’t the type to have sex with a guy she’d only met a handful of times, either, but there was something in the air… She blamed it on the magic of Christmas.

More likely, it was just Jack.

Breath catching in his throat, he hastily dug out his wallet. The look on his face—like a kid on Christmas morning finding a boatload of presents under the tree.

“I normally never carry these,” he insisted, cheeks tinged with heat, and Elise plucked the shiny little square out of his hand, then looked pointedly down at his belt, lips twisted in a suggestive grin. His cock had been pressed up against her this whole time, straining to be free, and she wished they had the time for her to give it a little taste test. After all, Jack had been so generous with her; it only seemed right to return the favor. But with the furious motions of his hands unbuckling and unzipping everything, clearly he didn’t mind skipping straight to the main event.

Another time, then. Her grin blossomed into something more at the thought, something both sincere and mischievous, and she quickly dispensed with the condom wrapper, then pulled her black dress pants down so one leg was free—skinny-fit trousers and quickies were so not compatible.

“We…” Jack cleared his throat, his burning gaze boring into hers. “We don’t have to. We can slow things down, if you want?”

Slowly, she let herself look down, eyes widening at what she saw. It took her a second to realize her mouth was hanging open like a fish on a hook, and Elise shook her head.

“Uh, no.” What a package. What a perfectly sized, not too big, not too small, just right cock. Groomed, too, like he’d been expecting company. Where the hell had this guy been all her life? “No. We don’t have to. Do you want to? I don’t want to, anyway. I mean, we can wait, or, if you want, not. I mean… We can wait. Or stop. If you want.”

What was she saying? Were words even coming out of her mouth, or was it just random babbling?

“Not even a bit,” he said, then hissed softly when she rolled the condom on, his fingertips digging into the underside of her thigh. “Just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m great. Seriously.” Elise rubbed her hands up his chest to grasp his face. “You better take a lady to dinner after.”

Jack smirked. “Of course. Breakfast too, I think. Whatever she wants.”

They hesitated for a moment, until Jack leaned forward and gently rested his forehead against hers once more. Thumbs stroking his cheeks, Elise’s gaze wandered from his eyes, full of fire and lust, to his lips, full of promise and potential. Carefully, he hoisted her up, and her ankles locked behind him. Just as she drew a soft breath, ready to tell him that they might be on a bit of a time constraint that didn’t really for contemplative cuddling, he thrust into her, filling her tight sex until their hips touched. Her eyes rolled back as she pulled him close, arms wrapped around his neck and face buried in the crux of his neck and shoulder.

So…full. So wonderfully, deliciously full. Pleasurable tingles from her recent release pulsed through her with the slightest movement, and Jack cautioned a few slow, easy thrusts, letting her get used to the size and thickness…

Until finally he just took her. Hard and fast, he pounded into her, each pump of his hips sending a hum of pleasure through her. Their lips found each other, muffling their symphony of moans and cries and grunts and growls. Each thrust made her forget where they were, made her forget the hell she had endured over the holiday season, made her forget all the petty bullshit. There, just for a moment, all that mattered was her and Jack, together—the rest was just background noise. Static. A blip on the radar, there one second and gone the next.

Her second climax took her completely by surprise. Less see-all-the-stars-in-the-universe-y than the first, it still stole her breath away, feeling less like an explosion, all fire and heat and force, and more like a waterfall—rushing and soothing, but still oozing with raw power. She clung to Jack briefly before capturing his lips in a slow, deep kiss, whimpering when he bit her lip, perhaps harder than intended, and lost his rough rhythm. Jack’s pace stuttered, and he came with a shudder, tearing his lips from hers and showering her neck with affection.

Elise held onto him tighter as he wrapped his arms around her, hands clasped behind her lower back, and sighed contently against her skin.

“Merry Christmas, Elise.”

“You’re a bit early, Jack.”

“Christmas Eve still counts as Christmas.”

She grinned and kissed the side of his head, his hair smelling faintly of some coconut styling product.

“Okay,” she whispered, a sleepy contentedness settling over her. “It still counts. Merry Christmas, Jack.”

* * *

What the hell had he just done?

Besides, you know, had fantastic sex.

As Jack untangled himself from the gorgeous woman in front of him, her raven-black hair adequately mussed and her makeup a little smudged, he mentally scolded himself. After all, he was a dad now. He probably shouldn’t be having random hookups with women he barely knew.

In public, no less.

Yet as he knotted the used condom and tossed it in a nearby trash can, he decided he wasn’t going to beat himself up too bad. This was Elise, the woman he’d been dreaming about on and off for the better part of a month. She’d joked about dinner, but he actually wanted to treat her—and kiss her good morning tomorrow, wishing her a proper Merry Christmas in bed. He hadn’t meant to take things as far as he did. When she gave him the doll, all he had wanted to do was kiss her—and then one thing had led to another.

“So,” she said, chuckling, “that was…” Jack braced himself, waiting for the fallout, but it never came. “That was awesome.”

“I think I put you square on the naughty list.”

Elise shrugged. “I don’t mind. It’s been a whole year of nice, honestly.”

“Then I’ve broken a record streak.” He finished buckling his belt, smirking at the blush slowly creeping across her cheeks. When he was done, he caught her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Honestly, though, I don’t do this often. I just… You…”

“I don’t make a habit of it either,” she told him, returning the squeeze. “Seriously.”

Not that he had any right to judge what she did in her free time and who she did it with, but the thought that this stunning woman had made an exception for him made Jack’s chest swell with pride.

“Why don’t we—”

“What,” a shrill voice cried, “is going on here?!”

Jack whipped around to find a sweaty-faced manager glowering them down, her clipboard gripped so tight in hand that every knuckle was white.

“Penelope, I—”

“Explain yourself. You have thirty seconds to convince me why you even deserve this job,” the woman snarled, pointing her pen at Elise with a glare so venomous Jack couldn’t help but want to situate himself between the two women. He stepped protectively in front of Elise, fixing this Penelope woman with a scowl of his own, but the slight pressure from the hand on his arm made his hackles settle.

“Penelope,” Elise said as she stepped around Jack, her hand still touching him, “I’m done. I quit.”