Christmas on Chaos Read online

  “I found your baby,” I tell him. “And I brought him back to you, along with all of his belongings.”

  The man doesn’t react at first, but then he looks up at me and a smile spreads over his face.

  “Sorry love,” he says, winking at me. “I’m with the doctor, and although I’d love to put a baby in her belly, we aren’t quite there just yet.”

  “Dragons,” I mutter. “Caleb, I didn’t recognize you.”

  “Caleb?” Sasha steps forward. “What are you doing here?”

  Caleb is Sasha’s cousin. The two of them came to Chaos together. I’ve only met him a few times before, but his hair is different now – longer – and his glasses have changed. I feel embarrassed that I thought he was the baby’s father. How humiliating is it that I didn’t realize it was him?

  “I could ask you the same question,” he grins.

  The doctor, Autumn, turns around and smiles at us.

  “Scarlett? Sasha? What a surprise.”

  “Uh, we found a baby,” I say, motioning to the child in my arms.

  “Bring him over,” Autumn says. She touches her patient’s shoulder gently to wake him up.

  “Acacius,” she says. “Your child is here. Open your eyes.”

  The man’s eyes flutter open and he looks disoriented for a minute. Then he sees the baby who, at the same time, sees him. The child practically throws his body toward his dad and I have to move quickly to catch him and keep him from falling.

  “Come here, little guy,” the father says, and he pulls the baby into his arms. He whispers to the kid for a few seconds and then he looks at me, and is it terrible if I go all mushy inside?

  Because I definitely, totally go all mushy inside.

  Fuck.

  My stomach starts twisting into knots because this guy isn’t from Chaos or Hawk or Sapphira or anywhere I’ve ever been.

  He’s an Earthling, through-and-through. I can tell just by looking at him. I can tell by his fucking smell, and it wafts over me like an aphrodisiacal spray. I swallow hard as I look at the man and it’s all I can do not to climb right up into his lap.

  The doctor looks at me strangely and I realize she’s scenting me right now.

  Great.

  Now everyone except the human is going to know exactly how dirty my damn mind is right now.

  “Thank you,” he speaks to me. Is it my imagination, or are his eyes running up and down my body right now?

  “You’re welcome,” I tell him. “But you probably shouldn’t have left your kid unattended,” I say, blurting out the weirdest and most awkward statement I probably could.

  Seriously, what’s wrong with me?

  I see a super hot human guy and the first thing I do is lay on the judgment?

  Smooth, Scarlett.

  Real smooth.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” he says sarcastically. “Next time I plan a medical emergency, I’ll arrange a babysitter.”

  “See that you do,” I tell him, and then we both start laughing at the same time, chuckling. I like this guy. He seems sweet and charming, and I have no idea where his wife is, or if he even has one, but any woman would be crazy to leave this guy because he’s...

  “Scarlett,” a voice cuts through my thoughts and I turn to see all three women looking at me: Dr. Autumn, the nurse, and Sasha.

  “What?”

  Sasha gives me a strange sort of look, like she can’t quite believe that I’m totally gushing all over a boy I’ve just met.

  “Autumn says we can go now. We’ve returned the baby and they’ll take it from here.”

  I turn back to the man and he seems to look just a little bit disappointed, and oh, that fills me with a deep sense of satisfaction.

  “No,” I whisper. Then I shake my head. Then it hits me. “A ride. You need a ride. Do you have a ride? We’ll give him a ride,” I say to the doctor.

  Sasha spreads her arms wide, as if to ask me what the hell I’m thinking, but I just shrug. We can definitely get this guy a ride. He and his baby might need some help getting home.

  “He’s weak,” I say to Autumn, arguing for myself. “And he needs a little bit of help.”

  “Okay...” Her voice trails off, but she looks amused. “Acacius, would you like your baby’s rescuer to give the two of you a ride home? You’re pretty much ready to go.”

  “Why, I’d like that very much,” he flashes a smile at me that would melt my panties right off.

  If I was wearing any.

  Chapter 4

  Acacius

  I REALIZE THAT FALLING for the woman who rescued my kid is a terrible idea, but I’ve never been the brightest man. We get outside of the shopping center and her friend turns to us.

  “It’s such a lovely day, and you seem to have this all taken care of. I think I’ll walk home.” She winks at Scarlett – that’s the woman who saved Jason – and she turns and walks away without a word.

  Scarlett blushes.

  So she feels it too: this chemistry between us.

  “You know, I don’t make it a habit to take rides from strangers,” I say.

  “Me neither,” she admits. “Besides, I don’t even have a car.” She walks to one of the android kiosks to call a taxi and presses a button. She comes back and smiles. “It should be here in three minutes.”

  “That’s fast.”

  “Like me,” she whispers, and I cock my head at her. She’s blushing furiously, as though she didn’t mean to make that comment out loud. Instantly, I’m turned on even though I know I probably shouldn’t be.

  “Scarlett, are you flirting with me?”

  “What? No,” she says in a way that tells me she totally is, but despite her comment, I get the feeling that sweet little Scarlett is anything but fast. I get the feeling that she’s the kind of woman you need to savor and take your time with.

  I get the feeling she’s the kind of woman I’d like to spend a lifetime exploring.

  The cab arrives and we all pile in. Somehow, I manage to show her how to fold up the little wagon Jason was riding in. With the push of a button, it pops down into a little cube-shaped item.

  “That’s it?” She asks, staring at it. “Your little cart folds up into this?”

  “It’s convenient,” I tell her. I don’t add that it was insanely expensive or that it was a bit extravagant on my part to buy it.

  “Well,” she shrugs. “Whatever works.”

  We pile into the cab and make it to my apartment building. Scarlett helps us get out and goes up to the building. She helps us slide open the doors and make our way up to our pod. Then she stands awkwardly at the door.

  “Front door service,” she laughs nervously, and I’m so totally charmed by her awkwardness that I swipe my card to open the door and then look at her as it slides open.

  “Thank you,” I tell her. “It was really wonderful of you to help us out.”

  “Of course,” she says.

  “Hold on a moment.” I step inside and place Jason in his enclosure device, and then I come back out and look at her.

  “Pretty crazy day, huh?” She says, and she bites her lip nervously.

  I don’t know how to explain what I do next because it’s completely inappropriate and wildly out of character for me, but I just smile and grab her, and then I kiss Scarlett deeply.

  She tastes like Christmas and wonder and beauty.

  She tastes perfect.

  A little moan escapes her lips as I press my mouth to hers. She doesn’t seem to mind the fact that we’re practically strangers and we’re just making out in front of my pod door.

  My cock hardens as the kiss deepens, and I wonder where she’s been my whole life. I kiss her over and over, running my hands up and down her sides, but then she pushes me away.

  “But...his mother?” She asks, looking over my shoulder at the closed apartment door.

  Ah.

  So she’s worried I’m cheating on my wife.

  What a sweet girl.

  I shake my head.


  “Jason is my sister’s son,” I tell her. “She and her husband passed away a few days after he was born in an accident. Now I’m raising him as my own.”

  Her eyes widen and then soften, and she looks very sad and very conflicted all at the same time. When you bring up death, even in a matter-of-fact way, people often don’t know how to respond, and so they either say nothing or they say something very awkward and strange and uncomfortable for everyone involved.

  “It’s okay,” I tell her. “You don’t have to say anything. Just kiss me again,” I urge, and she does.

  Scarlett wraps her arms around me and runs her tongue over my lips. She teases me, biting my lip and then letting her hands roam down my neck and chest. She strokes my body carefully, gently, and she moves her hands to my hips. For a minute, I wonder if she’s going to grab my cock. That’s the direction she’s heading in, and I might not have the scenting abilities of a Chaotic alien to tell if she’s turned on or not, the way she’s grinding against me tells me very clearly that yes, she is.

  “Scarlett,” I murmur against her mouth, but instead of speaking, she lets her hand move to the front of my pants. We’re in the pod hallway. My apartment door is closed. There’s no one around to catch us or see us, but it still feels wildly naughty. She strokes me over the pants, kissing me deeper and deeper.

  Then Scarlett drops to her knees.

  For a second, I think she’s going to pull my pants down and start sucking me off right in the hallway, but she rubs her face against my cock over the pants and then moves her hands there. She looks up at me and smiles sweetly.

  “You are the sexiest creature I’ve ever seen,” she tells me, and I realize that Scarlett is not only very open and comfortable with herself, but she’s honest.

  That’s a rare thing to see.

  She’s not afraid to put herself out there with people, and I love that. She’s a woman with needs and desires, and she’s making it very clear what those needs and desires are.

  I reach for her, pulling her back to her feet, and I pin her against the opposite wall. This time, I’m the one touching her. My hands are on her breasts and her hips. I grab her ass and pull her tightly against myself. Her tiny dress starts to ride up and I slip a hand under it on her thighs. Moving my hand up and back, I cup her ass only to realize something.

  “You aren’t wearing any panties.”

  She chuckles and shakes her head, but then bites her lip, as though she’s waiting for me to tell her what a naughty girl she is.

  And oh, she’s a naughty girl.

  Fuck.

  I just didn’t know she was this naughty.

  This is so fucking hot and I want so very much to keep going, but just as I’m about to lay some dirty talk on Scarlett, I hear Jason start to cry.

  Instantly, she pulls away and looks at my front door.

  “Your baby,” she whispers.

  “He’s probably hungry,” I tell her.

  “Oh.”

  “This was wonderful,” I say.

  “Yeah,” she swallows hard, and I know she’s trying to fight down her arousal just as much as I am. We both want more.

  We both need more.

  “Can I see you again?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Come over at noon,” I tell her.

  “Not dinnertime?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.

  “I can’t wait that long.”

  If I’m being honest, I don’t even want her to leave, but I also feel bad monopolizing her entire day.

  “Okay,” she says carefully. “I’ll see you tomorrow at noon.”

  She steps forward again and kisses me gently on the cheek. Then she leans up to my ear and whispers to me.

  “I’m going to go home and touch myself thinking about your cock, Acacius. I can’t wait to taste it for real tomorrow.”

  Then she turns and leaves, sashaying down the hallway, and I’m left with the world’s most impossible boner.

  Fuck.

  How did I get so lucky to run into a girl like Scarlett on a day like today?

  I hadn’t been planning on any of this. I’d just been going to the shopping pods to have some fun and do a little shopping. I hadn’t thought that I’d pass out from low blood sugar levels and I certainly didn’t think I’d run into the little vixen.

  But both of those things happen, and as I move back to my little pod door and press the button to slide the door open, I realize that my entire world is about to change.

  And there’s no way it can ever go back to what it was before.

  I’m not exactly the type of guy who falls in love quickly – or at all – but damn, if she isn’t the most interesting creature I’ve ever encountered. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough. Knowing that she’s at home rubbing her body as she thinks about me is just un-fucking-believable and something tells me that tomorrow, my entire world is going to be thrown into total chaos.

  And I don’t even care.

  Chapter 5

  Scarlett

  “YOU SAID WHAT?” ANNA and Sasha are sitting on the sofa and they’re both staring at me. I blush, realizing that my actions with Acacius were a little...well, they were a little unconventional, perhaps.

  They were a little bit wild.

  “Who says the girl can’t make the first move?” I shrug, reaching for a cookie. I bite into it and I’m instantly overwhelmed at the mixture of flavors. Yeah, Anna can cook. My sister may not have been able to create anything at all when we were kids, but she’s definitely making up for it now.

  “The girl can totally make the first move,” Anna smiles at me.

  “Definitely,” Sasha agrees. She fans herself jokingly. “But damn, girl, that’s so hot. I don’t think I’d ever be able to dream up something like that to say.”

  “So you’re going?” Anna asks.

  “Yeah, I’m going,” I glance at the clock. “I’ll leave in about an hour.”

  “What are you going to wear?”

  “I have no fucking clue,” I groan. Yesterday, I was wearing a sexy red dress without panties. Coupled with boots and my hair down, it was an electric combination. That was our first meeting, though, and I was in a totally playful mood.

  What am I going to wear today?

  How am I going to make this work?

  “I have an idea,” Sasha says. “Yesterday you were wearing almost nothing, so how about today, you wear extra clothing?”

  “Sasha, I don’t know if you understand how sex works,” I say drily. “But that kind of stuff doesn’t really work on guys.”

  “It is if you do a little striptease,” Anna points out. “You can undress layer by layer.”

  “Yeah. Make him wait for it.”

  “That’s the whole point. You have to make him wait and tease him. Taunt him a little bit. Then when he’s finally inside of you, he’ll be so close to coming that his orgasm will be fucking electric.” My sister bites into her cookie and reaches for her tea like we’re not planning out ways for me to seduce people, and I just laugh.

  “Maybe,” I say, but it does sound like a good idea.

  “All right, ladies,” I stand up and head toward my bedroom. “It’s go time.”

  “We get to give our approval,” Anna calls out behind me.

  “Full approval,” Sasha adds.

  I ignore them both and go into my bedroom. The door slides shut behind me and I stare at the mirror in my bedroom.

  It’s hard to believe that in just an hour I’m going to be alone with Acacius. It’s not that he’s expecting sex. I get the feeling that he’s truly a gentleman and if I say I don’t want it, he won’t push. If I show up and say, “Excuse me, I’d just like to have tea today,” then he’ll be totally accepting of that.

  But I don’t want prim and proper.

  I want dirty and hot and wild.

  I push open the closet door and start looking.

  It’s time to go catc
h myself a human.

  STANDING IN FRONT OF his pod feels different today. I think it’s because I’m very aware of how everything felt yesterday. It was fire and ice. It was absolutely electric. Yesterday, I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen between us, but today I know.

  Today I’m fully aware that when I walk through those doors, I’m going to be on fire.

  There’s a little camera on the front of the door, so I don’t even need to knock or press a button or do anything. He knows that I’m here. He can see me. He knows what I’m wearing and what I look like, but Acacius doesn’t know just how nervous I am at this very moment.

  I swallow hard and the door slides open.

  He’s there.

  Shirtless.

  His hair is damp, like he just took a shower, and his pants hang low on his waist. My eyes go there instantly, sliding over his carved abdominal muscles to his hips. He’s got flight lines that make my mouth water and my pussy tremble.

  Shit.

  What am I getting myself into?

  “Scarlett,” he smiles. “It’s good to see you.”

  “You too.”

  “I hope you’re hungry,” he says.

  “Hungry?” I lick my lips.

  “For lunch. I made echo pudding.”

  “My favorite,” I say, stepping into the apartment pod. He touches a button and the door closes behind me. Instantly, he’s on me. He pushes me against the wall and runs his hands up and down my sides.

  He’s kissing me like he can’t get enough of me and oh, my entire body is on fire with him. My body aches, wanting more, and I reach for his hips and pull him closer. His cock is hard, and even through all of our layers of clothing, I can feel him as he grinds against me.

  “You seem a little hungry yourself.”

  “I’m always hungry for a beautiful Chaotic woman.”

  “Even one who’s a little bit shy?”

  “I don’t think you have a shy bone in your body, Scarlett.”

  “I could be shy,” I whisper, but he’s kissing my neck, sliding his hands up and over my breasts, and I realize that no, I could never be shy.

  Not with him, anyway.