Katherine Garbera - One Hot Christmas

She couldn’t imagine what had made him react like that. “Is something wrong?” She sat up.

“Not really. No worries.” He left the room quickly.

She thought about the incident until he came back. Only one thing explained his behavior, and if she was right about what had happened, she needed to know about it.

When he returned, she was ready for him. “Ben, did the condom break?”

His expression gave her the answer.

“That’s what I thought.” Her mind sorted through the options. She’d never been in this position before, but she’d figure it out. “I think we need to—”

“We don’t need to do anything.”

“That’s not exactly true. We just met, so pregnancy wouldn’t be a good thing under the circumstances. I—”

“You won’t get pregnant.”

She didn’t appreciate his cavalier attitude. “You don’t know that. My family is extremely fertile. They get pregnant like that.” She snapped her fingers.

“I’ve had a vasectomy.”

She had her mouth open to offer more arguments for treating this as a serious situation, but she closed it and stared at him. “I guess you really don’t want kids.”

“No.”

She waited to see if he’d elaborate. He didn’t, which told her she’d guessed right. This was a sensitive topic. “I guess you wore the condom for health reasons.”

“No. My last girlfriend was a nurse. She wouldn’t go to bed with any guy unless he had a clean bill of health. Once she found out about my vasectomy, she was thrilled that we didn’t have to use anything.”

“Oh.” The thought of him having sex with another woman didn’t sit well with her, but that wasn’t the issue here. “Were you worried about me?”

“Of course not. I’m sure you’re squeaky clean.”

She was, but that wasn’t the issue, either. “So why didn’t you suggest we go without?” He’d been willing to have this frank discussion with another woman, after all.

“Partly because we’d just met, and it’s one of those lame things guys try to get away with.”

“You thought I wouldn’t believe you.”

“Right.”

“Why did your last girlfriend believe you?”

He sighed and walked over to sit on the side of the bed. Then he took her hand in his. He laced his fingers through hers but didn’t look at her. “Because I told her why I’d gotten a vasectomy.”

“Then please tell me.”

“I think it’s a little harder to tell you.”

That hurt. “Do I come across as judgmental? If so, I don’t mean to.”

He looked into her eyes. “You come across as someone who’s known nothing but loving kindness all her life. I hate the idea of bringing ugliness into that world. Maddie wasn’t like that. She was...I guess you could say she was jaded. Oddly enough, that was why I broke up with her. She was too cynical and that began to bother me.”

“Oh, Ben.” Heart breaking for him, she cupped his cheek and searched his gaze. “What in God’s name has happened to you?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t have your upbringing, and I’m afraid I might repeat that pattern. I can’t risk it.”

She thought he probably was wrong about himself, but he might not believe her if she said so. She could also sense that he didn’t want to talk about his past and how it had shaped him.

“Ah, Molly.” He lifted their clasped hands and kissed her fingertips. “You feel so absolutely right, but I wonder if I’m being selfish. I can’t offer you any of the things you want.”

“That’s not entirely true.”

“Sex doesn’t count.”

“Who says?”

“I do.” He touched her cheek. “You’ll find someone who’ll give you great sex and lots of babies.”

She squeezed his hand. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye out for that person. But in the meantime, could I please have more great sex with you? Because I really like how you do it.”

9 Contents Cover Title Page A Last Chance Christmas Vicki Lewis Thompson Under the Mistletoe Katherine Garbera Ignited Kimberly Van Meter Where There’s Smoke Liz Talley www.millsandboon.co.uk A Last Chance Christmas Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Epilogue Under the Mistletoe About the Author Dedication 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Ignited About the Author 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Where There’s Smoke About the Author 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Endpage Copyright

BEN DIDN’T KNOW a guy in the world who could refuse a request like that. Besides, after two climaxes, he had the staying power to make long, slow love to Molly. She seemed to like that as much as she’d liked the wall-banging kind.

Turned out, so did he. A whole hell of a lot, in fact. Afterward, he gathered her close and they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

He woke up before she did, experiencing an emotion that didn’t come often to him. At first he had trouble naming it, but finally he settled on the description that seemed to fit. He was contented.

The reason was easy to figure out. He’d enjoyed amazing sex with a woman he liked well enough to sleep with in the literal sense. He hardly ever woke up with a woman. Usually he went to their place and left that same night. Staying for breakfast gave the wrong impression, as if he might be considering a more permanent arrangement.

But he and Molly had put everything on the table, or enough that she understood why he wasn’t the one for her. He didn’t have to dredge up the past and talk about his crummy family or his fears about turning into his dad.

Instead, they could enjoy each other and part ways as friends. If he didn’t want to think about the leaving right now, so what? Philosophers said that the trick to happiness was staying in the moment, so he’d do that. And in this moment, he was extremely happy. He couldn’t remember being happier, in fact.

He could faintly smell cookies baking and the muted sound of people talking on the floor below. It must be after seven if the cookies were already in the oven. He still cradled Molly against the curve of his body, his arm tucked around her waist. She’d wanted to be part of the cookie situation, but setting an alarm had been the last thing on his mind and probably on hers.

No surprise that they’d overslept. They’d worn each other out, in a good way. He’d love to stay like this a little longer, but she might not thank him for it.

He murmured her name.

She stirred in his arms and yawned.

So cute, that little yawn. Funny how his feelings for her were more tender than lustful this morning. “If you still want to bake cookies, you need to get up.”

“Cookies!” She scrambled to a sitting position and stared at him in dismay. “I forgot the cookies!”

“Sorry. Me, too.”

“It’s okay. Not your fault, but I have to boogie.” She left the bed, gathered up her clothes, and began tugging them on. “Thank you for a wonderful night.”

He propped himself up on his elbow. “You’re welcome. Doing anything special tonight after the party?”

“I hope so.”

“Would it happen to involve coming back here?”

She laughed. “Yes, unless you’d rather come to my room where we’d probably end up falling off the double bed.”

“No, thanks. I’ll meet you back here in about...” He glanced over at the small clock on the nightstand. “About eighteen hours, give or take.”

“That’s a long time.”

“I know. Want to schedule a rendezvous in the middle of the day?”

After pulling her sweater over her head, she looked at him. “I’d love to, but I don’t think we dare. The house will be full of people today. I’ll be pretty busy, and besides, somebody might come up here. I wouldn’t want them to hear us, or worse yet, walk in on us.”