Chapter Thirteen
Josh had never considered putting a couch in the lodge’s office, a lack of foresight for which he was now kicking himself in the ass. He had, however, put a lock on the door to keep guests out, so he didn’t have to worry about anybody walking in unannounced.
A long leather couch would have been nice, though, beating the hell out of being bare-assed on the hundred-year-old braided rug on the office floor.
There were families in the living room, watching the New Year’s Eve countdown show together, and the closer it got to midnight, the louder they got. Rose and Andy had retreated to her room to do the same privately. Some of the men from the families in the living room were hiding in the barn from the merriment, drinking beers and talking sledding. Privacy was at a premium at the Northern Star.
It had been tempting to head to Katie’s apartment for the night, even if she did have the heat turned down, but he didn’t like leaving Rose with a party going on in the house. It wasn’t a big party—or even technically a party, really—but there were enough people and enough alcohol that a problem could pop up. Even with Andy in the house, Josh wasn’t taking the chance of things going to shit while he was away.
The office had been their last resort, and it served the purpose even if it wasn’t the most comfortable place in the house. Naked on his back, with Katie straddling him, the braided rug didn’t bother him as much as he’d thought it would. Hell, with her breasts filling his hands, he could have been laying in a bed of puckerbrush and he wouldn’t care.
With a hand braced on either side of his head, Katie could look at him while she rocked her hips in slow circles that damn near drove him out of his mind. “You know, I’ve heard that however you ring in the New Year is how you’ll spend the entire year.”
“I think chafing would kick in sometime around February at the latest.”
She laughed and lightly slapped his chest. “Not literally.”
“Then what? Is this some kind of riddle?” Why were they even talking right now? He was buried inside her and she was talking about some stupid holiday tradition.
“Quit being a dumbass. It means if you’re happy and having fun and everything when it turns midnight, you’ll have a happy, fun year.”
Together, he thought. If they were together when the ball dropped, did she think they’d spend the year that way? While being in bed—or on the floor, actually—with her wasn’t exactly a hardship, he had his bags mentally packed. If the door to his leaving Whitford opened even a crack, he’d be through it so fast it wouldn’t have a chance to hit him on the ass on the way out.
That’s what he kept telling himself, anyway. Right at this moment, the need to get away wasn’t quite so urgent.
“And you,” she said, “are apparently at risk for spending the next twelve months scowling at ceiling fans.”
“I’m laying on my back, facing up. I can’t not see the ceiling fan.”
“You can not scowl at it. What were you thinking about?”
He put his hands on her hips and rocked her forward, then he lifted his hips in a hard thrust to remind her what they’d been doing before she felt a need to have a conversation. “Less talking. More moving.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I’m not ringing in the New Year with you telling me what to do.”
Before she could resist, he pushed one of her knees back and rolled until he was on top of her. “What was that?”
She wrapped those amazing legs around his hips, holding him close to her. “Maybe this was my master plan all along.”
He started moving his hips, slowly thrusting until she dug her nails in his back and made that impatient sound low in her throat that made him incredibly hot. Quickening the pace, he watched her face, loving the way she caught her bottom lip between her teeth.
When she moaned, her breath coming faster, he ran his tongue across her lip and pressed a kiss to the spot her tooth had been catching. “Shhhh.”
Her frustrated growl would have made him laugh if he wasn’t aware of just how close she was, and the fact he wasn’t far behind. She felt so damn good, and he thrust harder as she buried her face in his neck to muffle herself. Her body clenched around him and he couldn’t hold back anymore.
When his breath returned and his heart stopped hammering in his ears, he rolled to the side so he wasn’t crushing Katie into the rug. With his arm thrown over her, he rested his head against hers and enjoyed the afterglow.
“We’re stuck here until they all go to bed, aren’t we?” she asked after a few minutes.
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Of course not. For all they know, we have a TV in here and wanted to watch a different channel than they did. We should probably get dressed before we go out there, though.”