When they parted, he gave her a wink. “You done after this?”
She nodded. “Yep. Managed to get everything on my list.”
“Me too. What do you say we go back to my place for hot cocoa? You can help me hang up that wreath you made me buy and we can start working on growing my Grinch heart a few sizes.”
Adele ran her fingers over his belt buckle suggestively. “Not really your heart I’m interested in seeing get bigger.”
Porter reached around her and gripped her ass in his large palms, squeezing tightly. “Dammit, woman. Keep that up and your cousin, Evan, is gonna arrest us for public indecency because I’m about two seconds from tossing you into my truck bed and giving you exactly what you’re asking for.”
She laughed. “Sadly, I think it’s too cold for that.”
Porter’s hands remained on her ass. “It wouldn’t be cold for long.”
“Good point,” she murmured, slipping her arms beneath his thick coat and wrapping them around his waist.
He kissed her again, then pulled back a few inches to study her face. “I think I’ve been a bad influence on you. All you think about is sex.”
Adele gave him a coy smile and shrugged. “I think there’s an argument to be made for the other side. Because I’d say you’ve been a very, very good influence on me in that regard. Last night was…”
The previous night, Porter had given Adele her first taste of bondage, tying her spread eagle to her own bed as he went down on her, licking, biting, and sucking her through two orgasms before he climbed over her body and fucked her into oblivion.
“Great,” he muttered darkly. “Now I’ve gotta find a way to walk to the hardware store with a hard-on.”
She giggled as she released him. Then she raised one eyebrow, giving him a smug, challenging look.
“Bad influence,” he mumbled as he adjusted his jeans, which did look far too tight to be comfortable at the moment, turned, and stiffly started off in the direction of the hardware store.
Adele watched, resisting the urge to call out his name to suggest they forego the rest of the shopping and head straight to his place. Once Porter had crossed the street and disappeared into the store, she stepped into Dolly’s.
“Hey, Adele,” Dolly greeted her as she entered.
“Hi, Dolly. I was hoping you could help me find a Christmas present for my mother. My dad mentioned there was something in your shop window a few weeks ago that she liked.”
For the next ten minutes, she and Dolly walked around the store, trying to figure out what her mother had seen in the store window. In the end, they figured out it hadn’t been a blouse or a sweater at all, but rather a lovely maroon and navy shawl that looked exactly like something Mom would absolutely love and something her father would instantly forget. She couldn’t begin to understand why he thought it was flowery.
Adele had just finished checking out when she heard someone say her name. Turning, she smiled when she spotted Keith’s mother entering the store.
“Mrs. Jensen, it’s nice to see you,” Adele said. She’d always been very fond of Keith’s mom, though their interactions over the past year had become increasingly uncomfortable. Mrs. Jensen was still convinced that Adele was going to come to her senses any day, move to St. Louis, marry Keith, and give her lots and lots of grandchildren.
Mrs. Jensen’s opening salvo proved this conversation was going to be just as rough as the last few they’d shared. “Our boy is coming home for the holidays.”
Adele smiled, though it was a weak one at best. The last time she’d spoken to Keith—a little over a month earlier—he’d told her he wouldn’t be able to make the trip home due to work. Apparently, that had changed.
“That’s great,” Adele said, when it was clear Mrs. Jensen expected her pronouncement to be met with some level of happiness. “I’m sure the two of you will have a wonderful time.” Keith’s father had passed away when Keith, an only child, was twelve, so for over half his life, he and his mother had been a family of two, and no mother doted on her son more than Mrs. Jensen.
“Oh, honey. You know you’re family too. I hope you’ll be able to pop over on Christmas day for a little while. I’m making my famous apple pie for dessert.”
For the past four Christmases, Adele had always gone to the Jensen house after her family’s Christmas celebration, joining Keith and his mother for dessert. They’d kept the tradition going last year as well even though she and Keith had split up just before his move the week preceding Thanksgiving.
She’d agreed to dessert last year because she’d missed him, and the two of them had agreed it would just be as friends. But because the breakup had been too new and neither of them had really accepted the relationship was over, the “just friends” line had been blurred for a few minutes under the mistletoe. And in the kitchen after the two of them offered to do the dishes. And then again on the front porch as she said her good nights.
While they’d only shared kisses, it had set Adele back in terms of her ability to move on, something Macie had given her an earful for when Adele spent the better part of New Year’s Eve, crying over a bottle of champagne.
“It’s very nice of you to invite me, but I don’t think I’ll be able to come this year.” Adele hoped the discussion would end there because she hadn’t spoken to Keith since she’d started seeing Porter.
Of course, her relationship with Porter—Adele was uncertain if it was wise to think of it as a relationship—was less than a week old. She still wasn’t sure if it was going to stick. Though she sure as hell hoped it did. She hoped it more and more with each passing day.
She shut that thought down instantly, determined to keep a tighter grip on her heart than she’d managed so far. Because for the past week, he’d consumed her every waking thought and more than a fair share of her dreams.
Every minute she spent with Porter only left her falling deeper and deeper under his spell. Which could mean amazing things for her future…or could lead to an unbearable heartbreak if he discovered somewhere down the road that he was wrong about wanting to date, preferring his bachelor status to being in a relationship with her.
She’d spent four years with Keith and when he moved away, she’d been hurt. But something told her that if Porter ever broke things off, the pain she’d felt when Keith left would seem like a day in the park compared to the devastation Porter would leave in his wake.
Mrs. Jensen looked crestfallen over Adele’s rejection to her invitation. “But you have to come. I know Keith is looking forward to seeing you. He’s missed you so much this last year. You’re all he talks about during our Sunday phone calls, wanting to know how you’re doing, what you’re up to. I know things didn’t work out with Nick. Your father told me last week when I stopped by the restaurant for lunch.”
Adele hadn’t been aware that Mrs. Jensen had been paying such close attention to who she’d been dating. Of course, the woman was working off old information considering her dad had only found out about Adele and Porter a couple hours ago.
“Come to dessert,” Mrs. Jensen pressed. “It’ll give you and Keith time to catch up and…reevaluate.”