An excerpt from Unwrapped
by Ellen Fisher (copyright 2004) 
Part of the Christmas anthology On the Naughty List available on December 3, 2004 from New Concepts Publishing

                The Hummer started out of the driveway with a lurch, and Syd punched in Mim’s number.  Mim picked up the phone on the second ring, sounding distracted and harassed.  Obviously overexcited kids shrieked in the background.  “Hello?”

            “Hi, Mim.  It’s Syd.  I was wondering if I could leave my car at your place for a while.”

            There was a brief silence.  “Oh, God, he got to you, didn’t he?”

            Syd blinked at the empty road, lit by the broad swath of the Hummer’s headlights.  “What do you mean?”

            “You and Nicholas.  Are you going off to…”

            Syd couldn’t help it.  Abruptly the situation seemed ridiculous to her, and she chuckled.  “To have meaningless, casual sex.  Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

            She felt the Hummer swerve abruptly, as if Nicholas was so shocked that he’d almost run off the road, but when she shot a look in his direction he looked cool and in complete control of the car.  Although, she thought, in the glow from the instruments his jaw looked tightly set.  But maybe that was just a trick of the light.

            “What the hell is wrong with you?’ Mim demanded.  “How many times have we talked about his overactive sex life over the course of the past eight months?”

            Syd frowned.  “Correct me if I’m wrong, Mim, but I got the impression you were trying to set us up.”

            “I thought you might, I don’t know, settle him down or something.  I didn’t think you were the type to—to—“

            She’d tried to settle him down three years ago, and it hadn’t worked.  By now she was pretty sure that was a pipe dream.  But what Nicholas did to her hormones was undeniable, and she couldn’t bring herself to pass up this opportunity, no matter how crazy it was.

            “To be slutty on Christmas Eve?”

            Mim sighed.  “I didn’t say that.”

            “Call it my Christmas present to myself, Mim.  I’m tired of being a good girl.”  She shot a look at Nicholas and added, “Just for tonight, I want to be bad.”

            This time she was certain she saw his big hands tighten on the steering wheel.

            She said goodbye to Mim and pressed the disconnect button, then glanced out at the dark night.  They were driving through a heavily forested section on the outskirts of town.  “Where are we headed?”

            “The park, I guess.”

            Syd nodded.  The parking lot there ought to be pretty safe on Christmas Eve, she thought.  Dark and empty… the perfect place for a tryst.

She became aware that she was shaking with anticipation, her body humming with eagerness.  It had been a long, long time since she’d had sex with anyone.  To have Nicholas to herself—well, it was more than she’d dared dreamed for when she’d set this evening up.

            Nicholas pulled the Hummer into a dark section of the Swift Creek Park lot, leaving the engine running but killing the lights, and turned to face her.  “So,” he said.  “You come here often?”

            She recognized his typical effort at defusing an awkward situation with a joking remark.  She’d always loved his sense of humor, yet it had irritated her because he’d never seemed able to take anything seriously.  Eventually she’d come to realize he simply wasn’t designed to take anything seriously. 

            “This isn’t exactly the kind of thing I do on a regular basis,” she said.

            “There’s a first time for everything.”

            Leaning across the console, he put his hand against her cheek and brushed his lips over hers.  His hand felt warm and rough against her skin, and his lips felt soft, and almost… hesitant.  It was odd, she thought hazily, but he seemed almost awkward.  Rusty.  As if he hadn’t kissed anyone for a long while.

            Almost as if this truly was their first time.

            She parted her lips, buried her hands in his thick black hair, and let her tongue stroke his, mating with it in a slow dance that rapidly grew faster and more intense.  Heat swirled through her, flames licking at her body in places where nothing had licked for far too long.  A soft groan rumbled from his throat, and she felt herself go instantly liquid at the primal sound.

Her hands slid across his broad, muscled shoulders, down his chest, feeling his power and solidity even through the bulky sweater he wore.  The sheer masculinity of his body, the way he felt, the way he smelled, sent another wave of lust through her, drowning her in sensation.

            He trembled beneath her touch, and emboldened, she moved her hand down further, across his flat, toned stomach, and down to his jeans, where something incredibly hard and hot strained against the fabric.

            “Wow,” she whispered against his mouth.  “That’s quite a package.”

            Her fingers stroked him experimentally, and she heard his quick intake of breath, felt him jerk beneath her hand.  He lifted his head from hers and stared down into her eyes, humor quirking the corners of his mouth upward.

            “Go ahead and unwrap me, babe.”