The Christmas Playbook (Shadow Valley U)

Chapter 11 I'm living in an alternate reality. One where my old crush, my old neighbor, is under me in the snow and letting me put my hand down her pants like we're in high school. This feels forbidden. And dangerous. And like everything I never knew I wanted, all bundled into a white ski outfit. I angle my body to keep what I'm doing from view. I dig my hand deeper, my fingers seeking the edge of her panties. The smooth-damn, Mira, you're smooth down here?-skin drawing me lower. Until I meet her arousal, and my heart damn near skips a beat. She's wet.

Fuck me twice, my dick rises to the occasion, even though this is not the time or place for that. She'd get frostbite on her ass, and then the nickname really would be ironic. "Touch me," Mira breathes. I oblige. And, listen, I'm not gonna lie. I have some experience in this department. Not with Mira, of course, but other girls. The ones who tend to seek me out at parties or on campus... Why the fuck am I thinking about them? I focus on the feel. My fingers memorize the landscape of her pussy, and I slowly push one finger inside her. "Ah, fuck," she groans. Her eyelashes flutter.

"When's the last time you were fucked?" Her gaze flies to my face. I add a finger, pumping into her with as much movement as her clothing allows. I grind the heel of my palm against her clit, and her mouth opens. "When?" I grit out. "I don't know." Her hips move. "A while ago, probably." "Probably?" I smirk. "Then I should probably stop so you can think straight." "Oh my God." She grabs my forearm. "Don't you dare." Behind us, a new wave of skiers and snowboarders comes down the mountain. Their shouts float over us, and Mira's muscles clamp around my fingers.

"A little exhibitionist, hmm?" I lean down before she can answer, pressing my lips to hers. I increase my hand movement, my brain warring between leaving her hanging until later and wanting to feel her orgasm right this minute. Her grip on my arm tenses. I keep the pressure up while my lips drift against hers. Her face is cold, but her mouth opens up for me. And when she sucks my tongue into her mouth, my dick pulses. Fucking hell, she's not even touching me, and I'm ready to burst. I shift my weight, seeking relief. When her palm comes down over my groin, I pause. Hold it together.

We're in public. And yet, thinking of my grandma or something embarrassing that happened when I was a kid doesn't hold a candle to how Mira occupies my mind. And my hand. We probably appear obscene, and maybe I have an exhibitionist kink, too, because only a few over-the-pants strokes of her hand has me coming in my pants. I kiss her harder, the pleasure rushing from my balls, tingling up my spine. Hopefully she didn't realize... Must distract. I increase pressure, tempo, and her hand falls away from my pants as she comes. I swallow her cries, and only when she goes limp do I ease back.

My gaze drops to my lap, and thank fuck I'm wearing black snow pants, plus athletic shorts, plus my briefs. The layers will hopefully hold my cover until I can get back to the cabin and change. "Good girl," I say, just to see if it'll piss her off. Her face flushes, and she hurriedly pulls her goggles back down. I laugh and shake my head then push myself to my feet. I hold out my hands, which Mira takes after a split second of hesitation. She steps away from me and straightens her jacket and pants and finds where her board ended up.

I lower my goggles and pick up my forgotten gloves, sparing a moment to lick my fingers before sliding them back into the warmth. Not the right warmth, but it'll do. "Let's get down this mountain." I smirk. "And we'll see if you continue humping me." "There you are!" Briar's voice rings out, stopping me in my tracks. Oops. I pivot, my arms laden with snowboarding gear. Thorne and Briar make their way up toward my cabin. They're wearing matching knit hats with ridiculous, oversized pom-poms on top. Thorne's is mainly red with threads of green, while Briar's is the opposite.

God, Mira better not make me wear something like that. "You two are ridiculous." Briar scowls at me. She's been happier with Thorne-versus the prickly version of herself she used to be-but she still knows how to send a classic withering look. "You've been MIA," Thorne says. He hops up the porch steps and gestures for my key. I freeze. "What?" "It's a mess in there," I blurt out. I set my stuff down on the porch. "You guys hungry?" "You're not even going to put your gear inside?" Thorne narrows his eyes.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Oh, just the fact that there's an extra suitcase and girl shit spread across the cabin. We've been here one night-one night-and it's like a bomb went off. I literally saw her unpack her stuff into the dresser, but it doesn't matter. Overnight, someone must've come to terrorize us by sprinkling her items around every surface. Something tells me it's only going to get worse. "They're doing a tree-lighting thing tonight," Briar says. "We're all gonna go after dinner. They advertised live music and hot cocoa." "Yeah?

That sounds fun." I hastily unlock the door and shove my stuff in then pause. I came in my briefs like an idiot earlier, and I can't very well go wandering back to the lodge for lunch wearing my ski boots. I point at them. "Stay. Two seconds." Before they can reply, I lock myself in and lock them out. It takes a minute to get out of the boots, then another to shuck the rest of my lower-half layers. I rush to the bathroom and use a washcloth to clean the waistband of my pants, which collected my mess, and grimace. Did Mira notice? Is that why she suddenly seemed more embarrassed?

Of course I'm going to ruin whatever this is. Fake or not, we were getting along. I mean, I wasn't kissing and fingering her for the hell of it. Okay, I was. But there's also an attraction to her that I'm not going to deny. It lives right there, under my skin, and when she's around, I can't ignore it. Her. I can't ignore her. One of my friends bangs on the door. I pull on fresh boxers and jeans, socks, and my winter boots. They're both exasperated by the time I re-emerge. "Finally," Thorne mutters.

"Would've been nice for you to invite us in." "But then you would've seen all my sex toys." I frown. "Some things are meant to stay private." Briar chokes on her laugh. "TMI, Anderson. No one needs to know what you get up to at night." I snicker. "Sure thing, B." "Back to the conversation we were in the middle of... You're going to join us tonight? It's Christmas, after all." "Well, it's not quite Christmas," I hedge. "We've got three more days." Guilt worms through me that I'm not celebrating with my family.

I sent their presents home before we left, so the giant box of wrapped goodies should be arriving any day now. "Plus," I add, "you guys are too busy fucking to notice my absence." Briar turns red. Gotcha. "Okay, okay." Thorne shakes his head. "You hungry? We were gonna meet up with everyone and grab lunch then either hit the slopes or do the music bingo thing." "Music bingo? Are we on vacation at an assisted living facility?" I grimace. "I'm starved, but I'm not playing music bingo unless it's strip music bingo." Their easy laughter is a welcome change from Mira's uptight family.

"But you already went snowboarding?" I focus on Briar as I herd them off my porch and back up the road toward the main lodge. "Um, yeah, early bird gets the worm or whatever. I was eager to test out the new board. It's great, by the way. Thanks for asking." Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn finḑnovel.net "I told you he was going to be lonely," Briar mutters, elbowing her boyfriend. Thorne shoots her a look. "I'm not lonely." I roll my eyes. "I've been finding plenty of entertainment." Simultaneously, their attention swings back to me.

My statement might've sounded a little dirty, sure, but they're the ones whose minds are in the gutter. I scratch my jaw. "I mean, uh⁠-" "Oh my God, you found a hookup already?" Briar laughs. A flush works its way up my neck, accosting my cheeks. Because my traitorous brain goes right back to the mischief Mira and I got up to on the slopes this morning... Sure, we made it down in one piece, and we didn't even run into Mira's sister or brother-in-law. We did see her parents, who looked ready to head toward the lift.

They invited us, and before I could make up a lie, Mira blurted out something about the binding on her board needing to be fixed. Once gone, we split up. Me to drop off mine, Mira to pretend to get her board repaired for appearances' sake. Or something. I don't know-maybe she just wanted to be free from me after that orgasm. It was spontaneous and a bit stupid, a definite risk to both of our reputations if we had been caught... My insides haven't been so twisted up since my first college game as a starter. "Don't listen to her, Rhys." Thorne pats my back.

"You can hook up with whomever you want." Briar shakes her head. She beats us both to the door, yanking it open and sweeping her arm to usher us in. "That's my job, kitten," Thorne rumbles. He pauses at her elbow, his hand going to the side of her face. He leans down⁠- Gag. I miss their kiss, instead bypassing them and slipping into the warm lodge. Across the lobby, past the reception desk, I spot the rest of our friends standing at the hostess stand. I take a breath and continue forward.

Hopefully Mira's family is nowhere near this restaurant, because I'm not sure how I'd explain this group to them. Or vice versa.