Harlequin Holiday Collection - Four Classic Seasonal Novellas

invitation with a slow stroke of his tongue against hers.
    Whimpering low in her throat, Holly tilted her head, wanting even more—and Zach obliged. He’d always been an incredible kisser, but she could recognize the sheer artistry of the man now that she was no longer a silly virgin determined to keep her hymen.
    When Holly had been dating Zach, her mother had been on her third marriage and her sixth suspiciously muscular gardener, while her father had just become engaged to his pregnant secretary. Sex seemed casual, selfish and often crude, leaving Holly determined that she would not play the same games or be another shoot on the Infidelity Tree. Of course, she grew up and realized the problem wasn’t sex but her parents’ own self-centeredness. But by then, Zach had been well out of her life.
    Holly had a few regrets, but she never dwelled on them. The only one she’d held onto was her sadness that her first lover had not been Zach—the only guy she’d ever really loved—rather than a frat boy she’d met when she’d transferred to a college in North Carolina.
    If she’d lost her virginity to Zach, she suspected she would like sex more. Judging by this deep, slow, sweet kiss, a lot more.
    Which left her wondering—since he’d come back into her life so unexpectedly, could she take him now the way she’d been too naive to do eight years ago?

Chapter Five
    Zach was fully aware that Holly was kissing him only to distract him, but for the first minute of that kiss he didn’t care. She tasted the same—sweet and warm. But the last time she’d been in his arms she’d had an air of innocence.
    Now she exuded sensuality.
    She melted against him, meeting every thrust of his tongue, sighs of pleasure emerging from her throat. Zach’s body reacted strongly and she obviously noticed. Holly rose on tiptoe to rub against his rock-hard erection, quivering with sensation. He dropped his hands to the shapely curves of her ass, lifting her, increasing the heat.
    “Oh God, yes,” she whispered against his lips.
    He didn’t know which turned him on more—the feel of her or that wondrous tone in her voice. He knew from experience that she was incredibly responsive, that he could bring her to a shattering peak of pleasure with a few touches.
    He’d love to do it, knowing now there would be no stopping afterward, no hand job in the back seat of his Chevy before they both returned—unfulfilled—to their dorms. He’d make her come, then find the nearest soft surface and do what he’d wanted to do to her on those long, frustrating college nights.
    But another loud thump finally pierced through the lust-drenched cells of his brain. He pulled his hands off her and stepped back. Back toward reality and the present, where a dangerous situation could be going on in that unknown room. “Holly, tell me what’s happening,” he demanded.
    “I don’t know. I guess it’s just been a long time, and I’ve just…wondered.”
    That wasn’t what he’d been asking, but he knew what she meant. He’d wondered, too. Wondered why she hadn’t even given him a chance to explain that last night at the end of their freshman year when she’d found him lying near an old girlfriend. They’d dated for two years and she’d honestly believed he’d cheated on her after she said “no” one too many times.
    He’d wanted to tell her the truth. But he’d been furious and offended that she hadn’t even asked. And before he’d had a chance to get over that anger, Holly had left. Transferred, never to return.
    “It didn’t mean anything,” she insisted.
    Before he could rebut that, the brunette he’d seen earlier peeked out of the next room. Her eyes widened when she saw him and Holly and he imagined the sexual tension between them was thick enough to stick a fork in. If the woman dropped her gaze three feet, she’d definitely see his physical response. He didn’t know how his zipper was managing the strain.
    The girl grinned. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
    “You aren’t, Reggie,” Holly insisted. “I was just going to give Za—Mr. Weldon—a tour.”
    “Perfect,” Zach replied, feeling better about the situation given the amusement dancing in Reggie’s eyes. But not completely reassured yet, he strode to the now-open door. “We’ll start in here.”
    He heard Holly yelp, but remained undeterred. Striding into the room, he quickly looked around.
    The room was huge, once probably a ballroom in the