He saw she had Game of Thrones and The White Queen and other historical fiction series he’d heard had a lot of sex in them. He smiled. He’d always seen Debbie as very sexy. She had a natural appeal. Her movie selection was an interesting side to her that he hadn’t known about.
He figured it was safer sticking with humorous stories like Jingle all the Way. He could just imagine snuggling with her on the couch, watching something with sexual overtones, and wanting to take her to bed.
She joined him with two steaming mugs of cocoa, this time in bright green mugs. She’d already topped the cocoa with whipped cream, which was for the best, since he was fully dressed this time. He thought the night couldn’t get any better.
At least he didn’t think things could get any better, until he wrapped his arms around her while they watched the movie. She was warm, soft, and cuddly, and smelled like lilacs and spring, while the winter storm covered everything outside with a fresh coating of snow.
One last night of staying at her place with her like this, he told himself. One last night, and he could never do it again. Making love to her could lead to trouble in their work relationship—which up until now had been the best.
“Have you ever done that?” Debbie asked, feeling so good in his arms. In a way, he wished she was a wolf, but then again, he loved her just the way she was. But if she was a wolf, he’d love to go for runs with her and tackle her in the powdery snow.
“Forgotten someone’s Christmas gift and it was too late to buy it? Nah. My family is really laid back. They’re happy with whatever I get them. We always share a Christmas list way before Thanksgiving so everyone knows what we’d like to have, and we don’t get a bunch of duplicate gifts that way.”
Debbie smiled. “That sounds nice.”
“What about you?”
“Not buying a popular gift in time? No. Not me. I think that’s why I enjoy the story so much. I can just imagine having my own kid someday who hears about something everyone else in school wants, and then not ordering it in time because it’s a limited edition. Actually, that happened to me once. On the receiving end. I wanted a doll all the kids were talking about. But”—Debbie shrugged—“only a couple of the girls in school got them, so it wasn’t like I was the only one who didn’t.” She looked up at Allan. “Don’t tell anyone else I played with dolls.”
He laughed. “Your secret is safe with me. My sister loved playing with dolls. Lori was more of a tomboy. I don’t see anything wrong with either.”
“I bet you were hunting things when you were a kid, playing tactical maneuvers with Paul…”
“Fishing, ice skating, swimming, hiking, you name it. But yeah, hunting and playing tactical maneuvers too.”
“Me too, except for the hunting and tactical maneuvers. But I also liked to play with dolls.”
They watched the movie and had a really nice time—laughing, cuddling, and enjoying way too many cookies. Now the time had come to retire to bed.
“Ready to go to bed?” she asked.
“Yeah. Let me grab a bag out of my car.”
“Okay. I’m going to get ready for bed.”
*
When Allan returned to the house and locked up, Debbie was in the kitchen in her pajamas putting away their cocoa mugs.
She wasn’t one to jump any man’s bones. Not even Allan’s. Though she really was going to make an exception in his case if he was all for it. Not because she was so needy—well, maybe a little needy—but because she really, really liked him. What could be wrong in that?
His smile broadened.
It had been a long time for her. Her last relationship had ended over a year ago, and it hadn’t ended well. He hadn’t been ready to settle down, and he especially hadn’t been interested in her diving sport. He hadn’t liked when she wanted to take trips to places where she could dive and he couldn’t join in on the fun. But if she was going to invest all that time and money, she wanted to do what she loved most: dive. Diving was such a big part of her life, it didn’t make sense to have a boyfriend who disliked it.
In that regard, Allan seemed like perfect boyfriend material. He loved to dive with her, either on the job or off.
He set the empty glass in the sink, grabbed his Glock, snagged her free hand with his, and then headed for her bedroom. She took that as a hot damn, yes!
“No commitment,” she said when they reached her bedroom and she set her gun on the bedside table. Not that she wasn’t interested in having one with the hot SEAL, but she wanted him to know that she understood if he wasn’t ready for anything like that and maybe wouldn’t ever be.
“Right,” he said.
She climbed under the covers, pulled off her pajama top and then her bottoms, and dropped them on the floor.