One Christmas Wish by Brenda Jackson
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
NOTFORTHEfirst time, Sierra thought Vaughn was the best kisser on this earth. This kiss was raw, unapologetically intense, and he took her mouth for all it was worth. With determination, he was making this toe-curling kiss spill right into her very soul.
She felt herself being swept into his arms and carried across the threshold and heard when he slammed the door shut. He had managed to do that all while kissing her. And from the way his tongue was tangling with hers, he wasn’t finished yet. He hadn’t taken time to ask why she was there. Evidently it didn’t matter.
He finally broke off the kiss and eased her to her feet, leaning his forehead against hers as they both tried to slow down their ragged breathing. And then, he was ravishing her mouth again, deepening the pressure. Chances were her mouth would be swollen tomorrow but she honestly didn’t care. She rather liked being taken by strong, hard lips.
Vaughn finally released her mouth again. “I missed you.”
His words were a whispered caress across her lips. He’d gone on trips before. What had made this one so different for the both of them? “I missed you, too.”
He smiled at that. “You came.”
She nodded. “Yes, I came.”
“What about your family?” he asked, burying his face in the hollow of her throat. She could hear him inhale deeply, as if he needed to soak up her scent.
“My parents left today, and my sister, her husband and the kids are leaving tomorrow. Dani understood that I wanted to see you tonight.”
He lifted his head to look at her. “What about Teryn?”
It was thoughtful of him to ask. “Dani is keeping Teryn. I’ll join them for breakfast in the morning at the Witherspoon Café. You are invited to join us.”
“Thanks, and I’d love to.” Then, as if he suddenly realized all she’d said, he asked, “So, you’re free to spend the night?”
She eased closer to him. “Only if I’m asked, Vaughn.”
He lifted her chin so their gazes could meet. “Will you spend the night with me?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him. “Yes, I’d be happy to.”
He swept her into his arms again and headed toward the bedroom. He gently set her on his bed.
His bed.
“Why are you looking around like that? It’s not like this is your first time in here,” Vaughn said, easing on the bed beside her.
“I know, but the last time I was too busy trying to get you back inside of me to pay any real attention.”
That was an understatement. All she could think about was that she had to be home by two and she had wanted as much of him as she could get.
“I’m glad you’re here and we don’t have to beat the clock this time.”
She sat up. “I’m glad as well. How was your trip?”
He slipped off the bed and began pulling his shirt over his head. Sierra loved looking at his perfectly toned abs. “Good. It’s always that way when Zara and I get together. But...”
She switched her gaze from his muscular bare chest to his face to the worried lines bunching his brow. “But what?”
“Something is bothering Zara, but I don’t know what. I wish she would tell me so I can handle it for her.”
Sierra crossed her arms over her chest. “Typical man who thinks a woman needs a man to handle anything for her. From what you’ve told me about Zara, she can very well handle things for herself. Whatever it is, I’m sure if she wants your help, she will ask for it.”
“Your independent streak is showing, cherie,” he said with a laugh.
“Then let it.” She exhaled. “I didn’t come here to argue with you, Vaughn.”
Now he was sliding his pants down a pair of muscular thighs. “That’s good because I don’t intend to argue. All I want to do is make love to you. And you look beautiful by the way. That outfit looks stunning on you.”
“Thank you.” She wore one of her favorite blouses and a skirt Dani had gifted her last year. She had never worn it since it was a lot shorter than the skirts she usually wore.
“I like seeing your legs,” he said with his eyes on her. “I hope to see more of them. But right now, I want to see more of you.” He slowly walked back toward the bed. “You are sexy as hell, Sierra, all over.”
He pulled her toward him and then reached out for her skirt and eased it off her body.
“Aren’t you going to take off my shoes?”
Vaughn smiled at her. “Not yet. Seeing such a beautiful pair of legs in stilettos takes my breath away.”
“You sound like a man who is not hard to please.”
“I am a man who appreciates beauty, and I’m about to show you just how much.”
When he had stripped her down to just her panties and bra, a huge grin tugged at his lips. “Oh, cherie,” he whispered as he leaned in to trace a finger around the lacy edges of her panties before moving to the lacy cups of her bra. “Your underwear is going to be the death of me yet. They are always so damn sexy.”
“I guess you can say it’s a fetish of mine.”
“One I definitely appreciate,” he said. He took his time removing both.
When she was naked, she looked at her feet. “What about my shoes?”
“They stay on.”
“Oh,” she said, wondering how that would work since she’d never made love before with her shoes on.
“Tonight, I’m going to make you come more times than you can count, Sierra.”
“Oh my,” she said, when he leaned in close.
She believed him.
THEMOMENT VAUGHNopened his eyes, he thought, déjà vu. Sierra was spread out on top of him. Same position, but a different bedroom. Last time he awoke to find her like this, they had been in her bed. Now they were in his.
They had made love all through the night and early morning. At times, he had been on top and then other times, he had let her have her way with him. He smiled while thinking he liked giving her that control because she made it most enjoyable. She’d told him that one summer she and Rhonda had worked on a farm in Texas and had learned how to ride horses. He could tell she’d been pretty damn good at it.
“Why are you smiling?”
He saw she’d awakened. “Memories of last night.”
“Umm, in that case,” her lips spread in a huge smile, “what does that tell you, Vaughn?”
That tells me that maybe you’re softening. That you can find it in your heart to love me as much as I love you. To want to give marriage a try again...with me. To give you my babies. To let me make you my queen.
Instead, he said, “It tells me memories of last night are making you smile, too.”
“You’re right about that.”
She glanced around as if looking for a clock. When she didn’t see one, she asked, “What time is it?”
He picked up his cell phone off the nightstand. “A little past seven.”
“I need to grab my overnight bag from my car.”
“I can do that. What time are we meeting your family for breakfast?”
“At ten. They’ll leave for the airport from the café.”
“Then we have time to make more memories. What do you say?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I say bring it on.”
After making love again, they showered together in the huge claw-foot tub. As she finished dressing, Vaughn went to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. When he came out of the kitchen, she was standing in the living room and staring at the staircase.
He gazed at her thinking how stunning she looked in a pair of jeans and a pullover sweater.
“That’s odd.”
Her words got his attention. “What’s odd?”
“These stairs.”
Vaughn came to stand beside her and took a sip of coffee and looked at the staircase. It was long and winding and he thought one of the most striking features of the house. “What’s so odd about them?”
“The last time I was here, we made love on the stairs.”
He smiled, remembering. “We sure as hell did.”
“I felt something hard.”
Vaughn chuckled. “Cherie, what you felt was me. I was hard.”
She playfully jabbed an elbow into his side. “I’m talking about something hard on my butt.”
“Then it was wood. These are the original stairs, and they were probably made from the finest wood.”
“Yes, but I still find something odd.”
He stared at the stairs he’d seen practically all his life and didn’t see a single odd thing about them. “And just what do you find odd?”
She pointed. “The fourth stair. It’s shaped a little differently. See?”
He studied the fourth stair, tilting his head left to right. At first, he didn’t notice any difference, and then he did. Moving forward he rubbed around the area of the stair with the pad of his thumb. When he touched something that felt like a knot embedded in the wood, he pressed it and a side drawer opened.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said, feeling around inside the drawer and pulling out a velvet packet.
“What is it?” Sierra asked, coming to stand beside him.
“I’m not sure. Let’s see.”
Taking the packet over to the dining room table, he opened it up and pulled out a rolled-up sheet of paper. Unrolling it, he and Sierra stared at it, and then they looked at each other.
A wide smile touched her lips. “Well, it seems the mystery has been solved. Your great-great-great-great-grandmother Zara was Jean Lafitte’s wife, and this marriage license proves it.”
“THETWOOFyou found Jean Lafitte and Zara’s actual marriage license?” Dani asked with an incredulous look on her face.
Sierra and Vaughn had joined her family for breakfast, and Sierra couldn’t wait to tell everyone what they’d found.
“Yes! Can you believe it?”
“That’s wonderful!”
Vaughn smiled. “Yes, I think so as well. It will be up to the historical society to verify its authenticity.”
“Then what?” Sierra asked.
“I’m not sure, but we shall see. I tried calling my sister to tell her what we found but couldn’t reach her. I believe she went to church, which is probably why her phone is off.”
Breakfast was delicious. Vaughn, Emory and the kids had stacks of blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. Sierra and Dani settled for tea and blueberry muffins. More than once, Sierra glanced over at Vaughn, and he smiled and winked at her. Whenever he did so, she could actually feel a throb between her legs. Would there ever come a time when she would not desire him?
At least Dani was no longer ogling Vaughn like she’d never seen a good-looking man before when she had one sitting beside her. Emory might have trusted Dani enough to find her interest in Vaughn amusing but after a while Sierra was finding it annoying.
“My goddy and I are helping Mr. Vaughn decorate his boat for the Christmas light parade,” Teryn exclaimed happily. That got all the kids talking about how much fun it would be and Dani’s kids saying they wished they could be there to help.
Emory and Vaughn were getting along great, and Sierra was glad of that. Her niece and nephews had a lot of questions for Vaughn about his big boat that Teryn had told them about. Time slipped by and, before Sierra knew it, it was close to noon. Dani, Emory and the kids had to leave for the airport.
When Sierra hugged Dani, her sister whispered in her ear, “He’s hot, sis. He’s also a keeper. Don’t mess things up.”
Any other time, whenever her sister and family came to visit and they left, Sierra would always feel teary-eyed. As their car pulled away today, she felt differently. She still regretted them leaving, but when she looked down at Teryn, she saw her goddaughter was the one crying.
Sierra was about to say comforting words to Teryn when Vaughn surprised her and squatted in front of Teryn so they were eye level. “You recall what you told me the other day about the reason your front door is blue?”
Teryn nodded, wiping her eyes. “Yes.”
“Well, will you do me a favor?”
“What, Mr. Vaughn?”
“My mom and dad are in heaven, too, and during Christmas they would hang this huge wreath on our front door. Do you think for this Christmas I can hang it on your door?”
A smile lit Teryn’s face. She looked up at Sierra. “Can we, Goddy? Can we hang Mr. Vaughn’s mommy and daddy’s wreath on our door since they’re in heaven, too?”
Sierra smiled and ran fingers through the curls on her goddaughter’s head. “Yes. I think that would be special.”
When Vaughn stood, she mouthed the words thank you to him.
He winked at her and then said, “We’re close to the Ellorans’ Ice Cream Shop. How about if we go get cones? And then I can give you the gift I bought for you while in Boston.”
Teryn clapped to show her excitement and, squirming between them, she gave one of her hands to Vaughn and the other to Sierra.
“GODDY! GODDY! MR. VAUGHNISHERE!”
Sierra wiped her hands on the kitchen cloth and looked down at Teryn. Smiling, she said, “It certainly sounds like it. Let’s get the door and remember, no running down the stairs.”
“And I love my necklace,” Teryn said smiling.
Sierra doubted she would ever forget the happiness on Teryn’s face when Vaughn presented her with a small gift-wrapped box. Inside was a gold chain necklace, custom designed and personalized with the name Teryn. Receiving that gift had certainly made her goddaughter’s day. After eating ice cream they had parted ways, with Vaughn going home to find the wreath he’d told Teryn about and Sierra and Teryn going home to unpack after the days spent at the family’s lake house.
Sierra doubted Vaughn knew just how much his request to hang his parents’ wreath on their door had meant to Teryn. She’d been talking about nothing else since. Her goddaughter now felt she had a kindred connection to Vaughn since they both had parents in heaven.
She had tried to get Teryn to hold off putting up the wreath for a couple of weeks—after all, they hadn’t started decorating for Christmas yet. But Teryn pointed out that they would have to start decorating the café windows this week for the Christmas on the Main contest. Besides, Teryn reasoned, putting the wreath up now meant not having to put it up later.
Holding hands, they walked down the stairs together, and Sierra checked the peephole before opening the door. Vaughn stood there with a huge Christmas wreath in his hand, and the only way she could describe it was beautiful. She immediately thought the blueberry and sleigh-bell ornaments entwined in it would complement the blue door among all the greenery.
Teryn was clapping her hands and jumping up and down. “It looks lovely, Mr. Vaughn. It’s going to make your mommy and daddy so happy, and mine, too.”
Vaughn grinned. “You want to help me hang it?”
“Yes!”
Sierra watched Vaughn effortlessly place Teryn on his shoulder. It took Sierra’s help in handing him the wreath to angle it perfectly in the center while adjusting the wreath hanger in place. He had to move it around a few times so it wasn’t covering the peephole.
“What do you think?” he asked Sierra, smiling. Teryn was still perched on his shoulder, and it was obvious she was waiting for her godmother’s response as well.
“I think it looks beautiful and both sets of parents are in heaven smiling because they are happy.”
Teryn happily bobbed her head up and down. “They are! They are in the ‘parents in heaven club’ together and happy with what we did!”
“This calls for cookies and hot chocolate,” Sierra said. “I just finished baking a batch. I hope you can stay and join us, Vaughn.”
“There’s nothing else I’d rather do than join my favorite ladies for cookies and hot chocolate,” he said, easing Teryn off his shoulders.
The wide smile he gave Sierra touched her all over. He had made Teryn’s day and in doing so, he had made hers as well.