Page 76 of Daddy's Little Christmas

“And what’s rule three?”

He wet his bottom lip, eyes flicking to my mouth and back up again. “You’re required to kiss Santa if you like your present.”

Heat rolled through me low and sure.

“Well,” I said, setting the frame gently on the side table. “I’d hate to break a rule.”

I leaned in.

He met me halfway.

The first brush of his mouth was soft. I pressed a little closer, caught his lower lip gently between mine, tasted the faint sweetness of cocoa and sugar cookies still lingering there. His hand came up to my chest, fingers curling in the fabric of my sweater like he needed something to hold onto.

He sighed into me, and the sound went straight through every defense I’d ever built.

The kiss deepened. His lips parted on a small, eager exhale, and I took the invitation, tilting my head to slot us together properly.

He made a sound then—quiet, needy, utterly trusting—and shifted closer until he was half in my lap, one thigh bracketing mine.

“Graeme,” he murmured against my mouth. “I… I’m very grown right now.”

I huffed a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Good,” I said, my voice lower than I meant it to be. “Because I’m very aware of that.”

His cheeks flushed, but he didn’t pull away. If anything, he pushed closer, hips pressing, a slow, unconscious roll that made my breath catch.

Desire sparked hot and immediate, but it was wrapped around so much tenderness it almost hurt.

“Tell me what you want, Rudy,” I murmured, brushing my nose along his. “We stop when you say stop. We go as far as you want and not an inch more.”

His hands slid up my chest—confident—fingers curling into my shirt like he meant to keep me.God, I want him to want to keep me.

“I want you,” he said simply. “All the way. Adult me. Desperate for you. Hard for you. Choosing you, Graeme.”

The way he said my name.Something inside my chest loosened and settled all at once.

He lifted his chin, eyes burning now.

“I want you with me. I want you wanting me.”

My breath left me, slow and heavy.

“Okay,” I said. “Then I’m yours tonight.”

I rose, bringing him with me, hands firm at his waist. His fingers skimmed my shoulders, my throat, like he was mapping me now that he’d decided he was allowed to.

The world narrowed to the glow of the tree, the rasp of his breath, the whisper of fabric as we moved down the short hall to my bedroom.

Inside, the room felt smaller than usual, made intimate by the faint light spilling in from the living room and the soft shadow of the snow outside the window.

Rudy stood at the foot of the bed for a heartbeat, looking at me with something like awe.

“You okay?” I asked, because I would ask him that a thousand times if it meant he knew the answer mattered.

He nodded once. “Yeah. I just… I’ve thought about this. More than is probably polite.”

“I like impolite,” I said, stepping close enough that his chest brushed mine. “Especially from you.”

His mouth curved, and then he was kissing me again, hands sliding up under my sweater. His palms were hot against my skin, fingers splayed wide like he was trying to anchor himself and me at the same time.