Christmas is Cancelled

chapter Seven





Tilly’s stomach didn’t just flip; it did a triple somersault and caught her jaw before it, too, could land on the floor, right next to where Dean’s jeans had fallen, crumpled around his ankles. She had an adulterated display of washboard abs and powerful legs as he pulled his jumper and top over his head before sinking onto the bunk.

He caught her mid-ogle. “Don’t just stand there gawking,” he said, his tone commanding. “Get on with it.”

“Right. Yes.” She leaped into action and fumbled for the hem of his jumper, so wet it was hanging down to her knees. Unfortunately, hot flushes and a slow, burning heat were useless at thawing out hands. Curled into tight balls, they were definitely still there—she could see them—she just couldn’t feel them or do anything with them. “I can’t...”

“Of course you can, it’ll be fine,” he said, amusement dancing behind his eyes. “I can turn around if you prefer?”

“No, I mean I can’t.” She held her hands up in front of her like clubs. “They’re not working.” As if she’d just flicked a switch, the light in his eyes went out.

“Oh.” He dropped his gaze and dragged a hand through his wet hair.

When he lifted his head to look at her again, his expression was cloaked, appraising her while he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. His shoulders slumped with resignation at the same time as his head dropped, then he sucked in a deep breath and huffed it out again with gusto. With a single nod, he slammed his hands onto his thighs and sprang to his feet to face her.

Watching him having to psyche himself up to undress her wasn’t doing great things for her self-esteem. Anyone would think he was being asked to throw himself in front of a moving vehicle or climb Mount Everest or something. He bolted across the short gap between them and grabbed the base of the jumper, then yanked it up over her head.

“Ow!” Her head was trapped in the neck of the jumper, her earring was caught in the wool, but he kept tugging and her head finally came free.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, his tone as lifeless and cold as she was feeling. Except for her ear, which was now burning. There was no depth in his eyes at all. It was like being undressed by a zombie and a reluctant one at that.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get under the blanket? You must be freezing.” She injected false brightness into her voice even as her eyes smarted, ready to betray her. “I’m sure I’ll warm up soon enough if I sit by the fire.”

“Don’t be daft, you’ll catch pneumonia.”

He reached for the hem of her top, but she knocked his hands away. “No really, I’ll be fine.”

Dean fixed her with a glare the color of steel, a muscle flexing in his jaw. He advanced again, zombie apocalypse style, so she took a step back, raising her hands to fend him off and met him glare for glare. She’d had enough of being treated like a leper.

His hands immediately dropped to his sides, and the chill in his eyes began to thaw. His brows dipped in the middle, and he looked at her, really looked at her, and then he finally saw her, the person stuck inside the freezing wet clothes.

“I’m sorry,” he said, exhaling as sharply as if she’d punched him. He backed up a couple of steps to give her some space. “I’ve been an a*shole. Please can I try again?”



***



Dean tried to get his breathing back under control and gave up, opting to hold his breath instead as Tilly studied him. Her brows dipped ever so slightly and droplets of water gathered in the corners of her eyes, drumming it into him just how much of an idiot he’d been.

The last thing he’d intended to do was upset her, but dulling his senses down was the only way he could cope with undressing her. Not at the expense of hurting her feelings though and if she kept on refusing his help, she’d be putting her health at risk too. He couldn’t have that on his conscience on top of everything else. No, he was going to have to do better. Much better.

“Okay,” she said quietly, lowering her arms and taking a step toward him.

The air whooshed out of his lungs, and he closed the gap to reach for her again. “Thank you.” He wanted to hold her close but made do with dropping a kiss on her forehead. Her skin was chilled beneath his lips and brought his mind back onto what he should be doing.

She had layering down to a fine art, but every single layer was soaking wet and stuck to her, needing to be peeled off her body. He had no choice but to step dangerously close to her to get each one over her head to avoid hurting her again, revealing more milky skin with every discarded layer.

He couldn’t even shut his eyes in case she took offence again. His hands were shaking by the time he was ready to tackle her jeans, and the backs of his fingers brushed against her soft belly as he tried to undo the button. He froze at the sound of a sharp intake of air with a hint of a whimper.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, staring over his shoulder at a spot on the wall. “Maybe if you undo the fly, I can get them off by myself?”

“No, it’s okay. I can do it.” And he could...usually. When he wasn’t all fingers and thumbs.

It was absurd to find it so difficult. He’d undressed plenty of women in his time without any bother at all. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t ever seen her before; it was only a few short hours since she’d been completely naked. He hadn’t been in love with any of those other women though, nor had they been proverbial forbidden fruit.

With the fly finally undone, the temperature in the room soared at the first glimpse of panties to match the sheer bra. Dean slipped his thumbs into the waistband and pushed down. The denim was stuck tight. So not good. He tried putting his hands in the back pockets but the jeans were welded to her skin, not budging even a fraction of an inch.

“Problem?” she asked nervously.

“Um...I’m afraid this could take a while.”

“Please,” she pleaded. “Just do whatever you’ve got to do to get them off.” She took short, shallow breaths that made her breasts rub against his chest, her nipples grazing his skin every time her lungs filled with air. “I’m bloody freezing.”

“Yes, right. Of course.” Enough of being a fumbling fool. She needed him.

He shoved his hands into the back of her trousers and discovered she was wearing a thong, his hands on her bare skin. Beads of sweat broke out on his brow that he didn’t dare wipe away. Gradually, he eased the seat of the skinny jeans down over her hips.

The next bit would be easier if he knelt down, if only it didn’t put him at eye level with the very part of her he was doing his damnedest not to think about. His body had already responded accordingly and was trying to escape from his boxer shorts. It was the most effective way though.

Closing his eyes as he dropped to his knees, Dean ignored the thrill that ripped through him and gripped the waistband again. He tugged downward, hard enough for her to have to brace her hands against his shoulder to stay on her feet. The battle with a wet pair of jeans and a raging libido had warmed him up nicely, but the coldness of her hands kept his mind on the task.

With some more blind maneuvering, they were down around her ankles, and he was able to lead her over to the bunk. “Why don’t you sit down and wrap a blanket around you while I finish off?”

For once, she did as he suggested. As soon as her boots and socks were off, it only took one final tug to get the blasted jeans off. The effort it needed tipped her over onto her back though, giving him even more of an eyeful in the process. Like his body needed any further stimulation.

She stayed lying down and shuffled to the far side, curled up inside the blanket and pulling it tight around her. “Thanks.” She was doing her best not to look at him, her eyes fixed on the roof, but she seemed unable to resist peeking, little furtive glances which only made him strain even more against the confines of his underwear.

Snatching up the other blanket, he wrapped it around him and lay down beside her, crooking his arm beneath his head like a pillow. She was shivering so hard the bunk shuddered. “Christ, you’re shaking like a leaf.”

“I’ll be okay,” she said, muffled by the blanket.

Self-preservation and common sense weren’t seeing eye to eye. He knew exactly what he needed to do to help her. The problem was at what personal cost? Tough, Tilly came first.

“Wh-wh-what are you doing?” she stammered when he dragged her into the middle of the bunk to face him.

He pried open her blanket and aligned himself next to her. “I can tell you were never a Boy Scout.”

Her pale lips pursed, and her eyebrows lifted. The kind of look to tell him he should be afraid. Very afraid. “I was rather hoping you’d notice I was a girl.” The way she said it made the skin on the back of his neck tingle.

“Oh, believe me, I noticed.” He hissed as she squirmed even closer to him, her body as cold as ice, but she wasn’t solid like ice. Not at all. As if he could fail to notice her soft curves. She cuddled up against him; her skin was smooth as satin. “But blue doesn’t become you, so we need to share body heat.” He forced his brain and his hands to focus on making the blankets into a cocoon around them.

“Right...” She sighed and buried her face into his neck. “So do you bring many girls up here?”

“What?” Her question caught him off guard.

“Well, it is kind of romantic.”

“What part of being stranded in a shack and risking hypothermia is romantic?”

“You know what I mean. The open fire, the candles, the solitude...” Unless he was mistaken, she was fishing for information, and no opportunity to tease her should ever be passed up. Until today. “Cuddling up to keep warm?”

She threaded her leg over the top of his as if to prove the point, and before he could stop himself, he’d reached down to cradle it, drawing it up and positioning it so that it rested over the top of his thigh, her hip and knee bent at right angles. “No, I’ve never brought anyone else up here.”

“I feel honored then, thank you for sharing it with me.” He could feel her smile against his skin even as she tried to hide it in her voice. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all he could feel.

“Christ, even your knickers are soaking wet, why didn’t you say something?”

Her tone was apologetic. “I know, I should have, but I didn’t want to make it any more awkward for you.” Awkward for him? Now he felt even more incompetent.

“They’ve got to go. It’s not like I haven’t seen you before.”

“No, I know. But what about you? Aren’t your shorts wet now too?”

“Fine, the lot goes. Everything off.” Dean flung the blankets off them and gently removed her underwear. His reaction to her naked body was humiliating really, there was no way she could miss it no matter how much she was trying to avert her eyes as he draped the blanket back over her.

Delaying the moment as long as possible, he climbed off the bunk and added more coal to the fire, arranging their wet clothes where they would dry best. His plan to keep his back to her until his excitement had passed wasn’t working. He should’ve known it was doomed from the moment he held her pretty matching bra and knickers in his hand.

“Hurry up, I’m still really cold.”

“Be right there.” How pathetic, he was acting like a shy schoolboy in communal showers. He whipped his shorts off and dived back under the blankets in a flash, but now he had the problem of arranging himself. Lying flat on his back and twisting from the waist was a position better suited to a game of Twister, talk about uncomfortable. “How’s that?”

“No, what you did before was better.” Shit. That would put a certain part of him exactly where it wanted to be.

Tilly took his silence as acquiescence, and icicles masquerading as fingers gripped his waist. She rolled him back onto his side to face her and shuffled into position, even reaching for his hand to cradle her thigh again. As she slid her leg back up to his hip, his entire body trembled, mocking him for his stupidity. He became acutely aware of how she was soft where he was hard, curved where he was all angles.

Trapped between her thighs, hypothermia was fast becoming the more attractive alternative. He was only human after all. Exercising restraint was far more likely to be the death of him. “This is a really bad idea...”