Sweet Holiday Romance Books 1 - 4

Chapter 7

7

By the time Chip parked the car in front of her house, Eve felt dizzy. The swift power of the car, the heavy scent of fine leather and Chip's cologne, the strangeness of watching her home town whisk by through tinted windows, people she knew gawking as they sped past them towards her house, all of this made her head spin. The thing that she couldn't wrap her mind around, the thing that put her right over the edge into a lightheadedness, was her proximity to Chip and the way he was resting his hand on her thigh after each time he shifted the car into a different gear.

The first time he'd done it, she thought surely it must be an accident. This was a small car and maybe he didn't know where her leg was positioned. After the second time, she knew he was doing it on purpose and her heart pounded in her chest even as she stayed completely cool on the outside. She was riding in an expensive sports car with Chip Hendricks. He was taking her home. Of course it was no big deal that his hand lay on her thigh, moving slowly higher and higher as they got closer to their destination. No big deal at all.

Eve didn't know what to say, so she said nothing at all. She let her body sink into the leather seat that was built for comfort, looked out the window and let Chip's hand move where it wanted. Her body reacted strongly to his touch and she felt powerless to stop him.

He parked in front of her house. As the rumble of the engine stopped, she turned to look at him, determined to invite him in for a drink or dinner or something. He was already leaning towards her and his mouth clamped on hers before she could say a word.

Her first reaction was to pull away, but Chip slipped his free hand quickly around the nape of her neck, holding her to him. The hand on her thigh pushed further between her legs and gripped her firmly. His lips were hot and insistent, but not unpleasant. Once Eve was over the initial surprise of being kissed, she relaxed into it and the pleasure of the whole thing spread through her body. All of her sensations were alive with the feel of him, the smell of him, the plushness surrounding her and the hard warmth of his hand between her legs, his mouth against hers.

"Can I come in?" He pulled away from their kiss long enough to ask her the question in a husky whisper.

"Sure.” Eve tried to remember if she'd left anything embarrassing laying around in her house. He came at her again for another kiss, this time pushing his tongue into her mouth. When she responded with her tongue, he made a little sound with his throat. She attempted to keep up with his fervor, but space in the car was cramped. "We'll have more room inside," she said during a breathing spell.

Chip laughed a little and leaned back in his seat. "Right, let's go."

As they walked up the path to the door, he put his hand on the small of her back, then let it slide down until it cupped her behind. Eve flushed and glanced up and down her street, wondering if any of her neighbors could see them.

"God, your house is creepy looking," Chip said as they walked up the front steps. The afternoon was turning to dusk and the clouds in the sky were no longer white and puffy, but grey and ominous, providing a rather gothic background for the peaked roof. The antique door loomed in front of them and Hazel and Sabrina sat in the front window, meowing at them excitedly. Still, Eve didn't think it was all that creepy.

"No it's not," she answered, a little offended.

"You have cats?" He asked, an air of disgust in his tone.

"Yes," Eve unlocked the front door. "You don't like cats?" He followed her into the foyer and pulled the door shut behind him.

"I'm allergic."

"Oh," said Eve. Right at that moment, Hazel and Sabrina rounded the corner from the living room into the foyer, meowing loudly and throwing themselves at the stranger, like always. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," Eve apologized.

"No problem," Chip responded, stiffening just a little as they wrapped around his ankles.

Any moment she knew they would start lovingly caressing him with their claws and probably snagging the pant legs of his suit. Chip sneezed. Eve cringed. The dizzying feeling of their magical ride home was dissipating quickly.

"Come on, girls.” Eve scooped first Hazel then Sabrina up in her arms. She took the wriggling sister cats to the kitchen and dropped them gently on the floor. She closed the door as quickly as possible, barely getting it shut before Hazel stuck her head through the opening. The door kept the cats away from them, but it did nothing to stop their wailing at being locked up against their will.

Eve whirled around to return to Chip in the foyer, but cried out when she found him standing right behind her in the cramped hallway between her kitchen and her living room.

"I couldn't stay away," he said, leaning in to kiss her. But just before their lips touched he turned his face away quickly and sneezed again. Eve winced. She looked down at the front of her sweatshirt, which was now covered in black cat hair.

"I need to change," she said.

Chip put his hand behind her ear on the wall, right next to her parent's wedding picture, effectively blocking her escape. It was a sexy move, and a little unnerving. Eve couldn't tell if she liked it a lot or didn't like it at all.

"Or," he sniffled a few times as he slipped his other hand under her sweatshirt, caressing her stomach and pushing the sweatshirt up her body. "You could just take it off."

Eve's heart was pounding out of her chest. She was frozen. The feel of his warm, heavy hand sliding up her skin held her hostage. She gazed at him, Chip Hendricks, high school heartthrob. His thick, dark hair was disheveled and falling forward over his eyes. His beautiful lips were set in that crazy smirky sexy grin he had been giving her since they were kids, and she could tell he was moving in for another kiss. She made the decision right then that she was ready. This was Chip, after all. She had wanted him to want her for as long as she could remember. There was nothing more to think about, was there?

Chip's hand reached the sensitive area just below her b*a and she inhaled sharply. That's when Eve felt something move against her back and there was a bump and a loud crash of glass shattering on the wood floor at their feet. Chip jumped back as Eve gave a cry of surprise. She looked down to see her parent's wedding photo smashed on the floor. The antique wood frame was broken in three pieces and the glass lay everywhere in shards.

"Oh, no!" Eve kneeled on the floor and began gingerly removing pieces of glass from the delicate face of the photo.

"I didn't touch it, I swear," Chip said, taking a few steps back. He sneezed loudly and cursed under his breath.

Big, fat tears welled up in Eve's eyes and she wiped them away with the sleeves of her sweatshirt so she could see what she was doing. How could she be so careless? The tears came full on now, she couldn't hold them back. It was just a photo, but she was overwhelmed at the prospect of it being destroyed.

Chip sneezed again, then he cleared his throat, "Maybe I should go now."

Eve didn't look up, she was too embarrassed. She just nodded and gave him a weak wave goodbye. As soon as she heard the door click shut, she sat down carefully next to the mess on the floor and let go with a good, old fashioned, sob.

When she finally cleaned everything up, her nose was red and her eyes were puffy. She let the sister cats out of the kitchen. They were incensed at their earlier treatment and let her know in no uncertain terms that they required a lot of love and attention to make up for her actions.

Eve sat on the couch with one cat on each side of her and inspected the wedding photo. She had been able to salvage it without damaging the main part, the actual images of her smiling, joyful parents. There was only slight damage on the bottom edge of the old picture and for that, Eve was very thankful. She placed the photo carefully on the coffee table. She would either fix the broken frame or find a replacement.

"That crisis was avoided, but can I fix the mess with Chip?" She asked the sister cats as she sat back and used both hands to rub behind their ears, one hand for each cat. Sabrina turned her wide, golden eyes to Eve and made a growling sound. Eve laughed, "What? You don't like him?" Sabrina turned away, refusing to give any further opinion. "What about you, Hazel?" Eve asked the smaller cat. Hazel looked at her and blinked a few times before putting her nose in the air and turning away. "Oh, I see," Eve said. "That's two 'no' votes." She sighed. "I'm talking to my cats again. Not a good sign."

Eve had to admit to herself, after the moment had passed, she was a little relieved nothing more had happened with Chip. Even though the incident had ended in embarrassment and near disaster. Now that it was over and she had time to think about it, she would be more comfortable postponing sleeping together, if they were going to sleep together, until they at least went out on a few dates. She wasn't really a hook up kind of girl.

"I'll just have to explain that to him," she told the sister cats. "If he's looking for a hook up, he'll need to look somewhere else." This made her feel better and she decided she would sleep on it and everything would look better in the morning. Just as she stood to go upstairs and get ready for bed, a thought struck her and she declared in dismay to her cat audience, "Belinda's pumpkins!"