CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER
8
I
saac surveyed the damage to the living room. The blanket fort had collapsed at some point, and the girls were curled up on the floor in front of the fireplace, haphazardly covered with blankets. Sara had nestled in and was sleeping, with Jenna’s arm wrapped around her.
They looked so beautiful together. It made his heart hurt for Sara that she would never have that with her own mother. But he was glad she had this magical Christmas with Jenna so that she would know how things could be.
He didn’t want to disturb them, but it was Christmas Eve, and Santa needed the room cleared so he could get on with the business of bringing Christmas to the MacAllister household.
He gently extracted Sara from Jenna’s arms, and carried her off to her own bed. Once she was settled, he returned to the living room to find that Jenna was no longer on the carpet. He heard her bustling around in the kitchen, and with the comforting knowledge that she was feeling at home, he set about putting out the stockings and getting things ready for morning.
There were packages to put under the tree, and stockings to fill. And then he had a couple of other items on the agenda that needed seeing to.
Jenna watched
from the kitchen door as Isaac hung Sara’s stocking and his own from hooks above the fireplace. She felt her stomach fill with butterflies when he hung a third one beside the two that were already there. Judging by the barely recognizable snowman on it, the stocking had been made with a lot of love, and it had her name on it. At that moment, she truly wished that this was her family. That she didn’t have to leave when her time was up, and that she could stay and make a life with these two beautiful people.
But the reality was that she was moving into her new place in a week, and the new life she was starting was several hours away, in Vancouver. Jenna’s family was nothing but trouble, and Sara and Isaac had had enough disruptions already. The last thing they needed was her brother and mom thrown into the mix. It was better for everyone if she just left when her vacation time came to an end.
Maybe one day she would have her own family. When that time came she hoped it would be just like this one.
Isaac finished tucking small packages into the stockings, and turned to see Jenna watching from the doorway. “You’re standing under the mistletoe.”
Before she could say a word, he crossed the room and swept her up in a kiss that removed all thoughts from her head.
All she could do was kiss him back, and she poured everything she was feeling into it.
This time, neither of them pulled away.
Jenna was ripped rudely back
to reality when she unthinkingly put her weight on her bad leg.
Isaac took one look at her grimace of pain and swept her into his arms. “We need to get you off your feet. This time, we’re going to make sure there aren’t any pint-sized interruptions.”
He wasn’t going to get any argument from her. Jenna was long past caring about whether or not this was a smart decision.
She had been an awfully good girl for many years in a row now. And this one perfect Christmas Eve with Isaac was going to be her reward.
He carried her down the hall towards his room. Jenna had been avoiding even looking in there all week, because she couldn’t seem to look at
any
bed without thinking of him in it, let alone
his
bed … where he actually slept … naked, she was sure.
The bedroom was like the rest of the house. Comfortable, but clearly where a man lived. He hadn’t bothered to make the bed that morning, which Jenna approved of. She always thought it weird that people would make their beds before getting on with the day. Hers pretty much always looked like she’d just crawled out of it, unless she was putting on fresh sheets or her mother was coming to visit.
Isaac laid her on the bed, and her motivation for analyzing bed-making habits quickly disappeared. His lips came down on hers again, and her hand went under his sweater.
Wow.
The man was nicely put together. But she wanted to see, not just touch. Jenna grabbed his sweater and pulled it over his head. It appeared he didn’t mind, since he grinned from ear to ear and began to undo the buttons on her shirt.
Once he succeeded, she was lost in the feel of his hands all over her. He traced the edge of her lacy bra over and over with his thumb, like he was playing with the ribbons on a Christmas package he wasn’t quite ready to open.
But Jenna wasn’t all that patient at the moment. She was more a rip-the-paper-off-the-package-and-dive-in kind of girl. Apparently they were thinking along similar lines, because they both moved at the same time.
She wanted him with all of her mind and most of her body—all except her knee, which shot spasms of pain through her every time it got knocked or bumped. Which was often, because her focus was on other body parts at the moment. She tried to ignore it until Isaac rolled on top of her and she accidentally bit his lip.
“Ow!” He drew back and rubbed his lip.
“Sorry! That was an accident.” But now that the pain had reactivated her brain, she couldn’t help but give the situation more thought.
“I don’t think I can do this.”
Oh crap—had
he misread the signs? He was sure Jenna was just as interested as he was. The kisses they shared were off-the-charts hot, and her hands had been all over him, like his were all over her. In fact, he was pretty sure she had been the one to remove his shirt. His lust-fogged brain was clearly missing something.
“You want to stop?”
“No! I absolutely, most definitely do not
want
to stop.”
Neither did he, as his body was so painfully reminding him. The way her body pressed up against his drove the point home. And made it even harder to insert some logic into the situation. “So the problem is … ?”
“I really, really want to do this—but I don’t think I
can
. My knee is killing me.”
Isaac rolled over instantly. “I’m so sorry, Jenna. I wasn’t thinking.” At least not with his brain.
“I don’t think
we did any lasting damage. It’s feeling better already.” The pain was quickly fading. She didn’t miss the stabbing sensations, but she did miss the feeling of his weight on her. And his naked chest was now too far away for her to reach. Damn it! She was so close to having her cabin fantasy fulfilled—at least in part. The hot tub was still on hold for the moment.
“So you don’t want to go?”
Seriously?
Leave him here half-dressed before she got to see the rest of what was on offer? “Definitely not. I’m not going to be around for all that long. I want to enjoy every minute we have together.”
Isaac grinned. “As you’ve noticed, I can be a creative guy when the situation calls for it. I’m willing to dedicate the time and attention to make sure you get every last bit of enjoyment you can out of tonight.”
If this little fling was supposed to fuel her fantasies while she settled in to her new life, then she was going to do her research properly. She was more than willing to sacrifice her spot on the nice list for the sake of stocking up future-Jenna’s memory banks.
“Why don’t you lose the rest of those clothes and we’ll see how creative we can get?”