Christmas Miracle Read Online Free Page B

couldn’t even to begin to guess at, she was really convinced he couldn’t be genuinely interested in her. It would’ve been funny if it weren’t so perplexing. She couldn’t be more wrong. Pulling her into the circle of his arms, he kissed her. Not the gentle butterfly kiss he’d placed on her soft, yielding lips before. No, this time he kissed her with all the desperate passion pent up inside him. His mouth moved with purpose, forcing hers open so he could taste her fully.
    Damn, but kissing Mikki was sweet! She tasted like peppermint and chocolate, the flavors he’d always associated with Christmas. Now they would always remind him of Christmas with Mikki; he couldn’t think of anything he’d like better. Unable to allow her to say no, Leslie didn’t let up his oral assault until her body melted against him. There was no way she could miss the rock-hard proof of how badly he really wanted her.
    “Why?” The truly bewildered look on her face would’ve been funny in any other circumstance. As it was, he was more concerned with her complete lack of self-esteem. The woman was gorgeous; why couldn’t she see that?
    “Because you’re beautiful inside and out,” he informed her seriously. He wanted badly to strip her down right here and now to show her what he meant. “And you make me feel things I haven’t felt in such a long time.” Shit, he’d actually admitted that out loud. He hadn’t meant to. “I would really like a chance to get to know you better. And I want you to know me, Leslie the man. Not Leslie Trace Brooks, movie star.”
    Waiting the few moments it took for Mikki to make up her mind was killing him. The urge to just throw her over his shoulder and take her off to his cave was far stronger than he cared to admit. His chest felt painfully constricted as his heart raced. This hadn’t happened to him since—hell, since before he came to California. Since high school, really. It was humbling, and scarier than he wanted to admit.
    “Please, Mikki.” Unable to take the silence of indecision, he decided to beg. Couldn’t hurt. “I just want to get to know you better.”
    What if she said no? What would he do then? Probably follow her home like a fucking stalker. He realized that was so inappropriate, but he was going insane here. What he needed was time to change her perception of how she saw herself, and to convince her he was in dire need of her down-to-earth goodness in his life, her realism. Living in a world of fakes, she was rare, and he wanted her for his own. Insanity, but what wasn’t in Hollywood?
    “Okay, but I’d rather not go anywhere … public,” she finally acquiesced.
    Odd request, but he could give less than a damn. Anything she wanted, he was all too happy to oblige.
    “How about I cook for you?” If they didn’t have to be back in this mall tomorrow afternoon, he would’ve flown her to Paris. Women liked that kind of thing, right? Maybe he would do it Sunday night. Movies were made about doing that kind of shit; surely he could pull it off in real life.
    Yet he couldn’t deny his mouth was literally watering at the thought of having Mikki in his home—one of them, anyway. It would be just the two of them, alone. God, he prayed he could behave himself. Probably not. “I promise to be on my best behavior.”
    Unless she didn’t want him to. In that case, all bets were off. And he’d do everything in his power to make her not want him to be on his best behavior. But more than anything, he needed to get to know her, and allow her to really get know him. With this woman he didn’t have to be guarded, to watch every word for fear of reading about it in the tabloids later. Mikki wasn’t that kind of woman. More than one actor had been a fool for believing that about the woman he was dating, but Leslie knew it deep in his soul.
    “Good, perfect.” She actually beamed up at him. It felt as if the sun were shining directly on his face.
    Most females he dealt with