Last Christmas
Copyright © November 2011 by Shawn Lane

Cover Art © by Ava March

All rights are reserved. No part of this work may be sold, manipulated, or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s
imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not construed to be real. Any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely incidental.



Warning
This work contains sexually explicit scenes and graphic language and may be considered
offensive to some readers. Intended for adult audiences only. Not intended for anyone under the
age of 18. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

1

Shawn Lane

Last Christmas

by Shawn Lane

Andrew John Porter, A.J. to everyone, bent down to unlock the jewelry display case

holding the diamond jewelry for the tall, thin blonde woman with the elegant chignon.

“A.J.,” his co-worker, Brian, whispered urgently from a couple display cases down.

“In a minute, with a customer,” A.J. said under his breath. He peered up from the display

case and gave the woman his best smile. “This one?”

“The one next to that, thank you.”

A.J. closed his hand around the box of one carat diamond studs and placed them on the

counter.

“This is really important,” Brian persisted.

A.J. glanced at Brian and mouthed, “In a minute.”

Overhead the music track played Christmas tunes. Actually the department store had been

playing Christmas songs since before Thanksgiving. A.J. thought it might have been shortly after

Halloween. Only two weeks remained until Christmas.

“Those earrings are nice, but do you think they are appropriate for a teenage girl?” the

woman asked him.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her he had no clue what a teenage girl would like. He hadn’t

ever even dated one when he was a teenager having always known he preferred guys. He was

tempted to call Brian over to get his opinion since his friend and co-worker was straight and

engaged, but well, he could manage to at least to pretend he had a clue.

Last Christmas

2

“These are gorgeous, but perhaps a little too sophisticated for a younger girl,” A.J. said,

placing the earrings back in the case and reaching for another smaller and less expensive pair of

diamond studs. “May I suggest these?”

“A.J., you won’t believe who is here,” Brian spoke from behind another display case. He

didn’t have a customer since it tended to be slower during the day on weekdays even during the

holiday shopping scene.

“Santa Claus?” A.J. smiled at the woman. “What do you think?”

She turned them over and looked at the price, returning his smile. “Oh, I think these are

perfect for my niece, A.J.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“Shall I wrap them for you?”

“Oh, you do that?”

He winked. “I do. Red or green bow?”

“Red would be great. Thank you so much.” She handed him her credit card.

A.J. smiled. “Be right back.”

He stepped over to where they kept the wrapping paper. Brian, short with thinning brown

hair, stood next to the drawer with the wrapping supplies.

“What are you doing?” he asked A.J.

“Making a sale.”

“You’re flirting with that woman. What’s the point of that?”

A.J. shrugged. “It helps make a sale. I’ve found most women respond to me.”

“Even though you aren’t remotely interested in them.” Brian shook his head. “It’s so

unfair. They don’t look at me twice.”

“You’re engaged anyway. What did you want?”

Brian’s eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. Guess who is in the store?”

“The president.”

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Shawn Lane

“Funny. Way worse for you.” Brian glanced around as though expecting someone to be

listening to them. “Carter Thorne.”

A.J.’s turned cold, his stomach twisting. For a minute his head spun with the

overwhelming memories.

Last Christmas…

“Wow, I guess I made a mistake coming here on Black Friday,” a tall suited drop dead

gorgeous blond man said, leaning over A.J.’s jewelry counter.

A.J., who’d been running from one end of the counter to the other, stopped and stared at

the god. “Um, yeah, it’s our busiest day.”

The man sighed. “I guess I have to wait through all these people to talk to you, huh?”

“Talk to me? You want to buy something?”

He grinned. “Just dinner for you. I’ve been watching you all morning. And I know that

sounds kind of creepy, but it’s just you’re the most gorgeous guy I’ve seen in a long time. I’m

praying you’re gay.”

“Well, yeah, I am.”

“Great, what are you doing after work? Carter Thorne, by the way.”

“A.J. Porter, and it’s Black Friday, I’m not ever going to be done today.” He laughed.

“Tomorrow night then?”

A.J. decided he’d have to be an idiot not to accept a date with this guy. “Sure.”

“A.J.?” Brian was waving his hand in front of A.J.’s face.

He shook his head. “Sorry, got lost in thought.” He took the price off the earrings and

placed metallic green paper over the box and included the diamond certificate.

“Thinking about Carter Thorne?”

A.J. grimaced. “He was the worst mistake I ever made.”

“Why exactly did you break up?”

Last Christmas

4

“Basically I had a brief and disastrous affair with an asshole. Carter had just broken up

with his boyfriend and used me as his rebound I guess.” And A.J., thinking there was so much

more between them, had given Carter his heart. He taped the wrapping paper on the package.

“Ouch,” Brian said, giving him a sympathetic look.

“Thanks for the warning. I’ll be sure to avoid him.” A.J. finished the bow on the package

and quickly rang up the purchase. “I’m going to take my break now so hopefully he’ll have left

the store by the time I’m done.”

He returned to the woman with her package. “Here you are, Mrs. Duncan.”

“Oh, it’s lovely. Thank you so much.”

“Have a good day.” A.J. waited for her to step away from his counter and then turning on

his heels, he went through the partition in the jewelry counter and slipped into the aisle. Glancing

to his left to watch for signs of Carter, he turned right and headed for the employee break room.

“A.J., wait!”

Ah, fuck, he recognized Carter’s voice calling him. He quickened his pace and rounded

another corner and hurried down another aisle, hoping a customer wouldn’t stop him to ask

directions. He could see the break room door, but he could also hear Carter pursuing him.

He could barely wrap his mind around what Carter could possibly want from him after the

way things ended last Christmas. Hoping management was no where around, A.J. sprinted down

an aisle and wrenched the door that said Employees Only open and closed it in Carter Thorne’s

face.

* * *

Carter leaned his forehead against the closed door.

This was going to be more difficult than he imagined, and he’d imagined it would be hard

to get past A.J.’s defenses.

Obviously, A.J. had been tipped off to his presence in the store. Likely by the other guy

working behind the jewelry counter. Brian or Ryan or something.

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Shawn Lane

Still the man had to come out and back onto the floor sometime and Carter planned on

waiting. He had little better to do since a recent knee injury had him disabled from his job as a

police detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Temporarily disabled, he hoped.

In the meantime, Carted figured it wouldn’t hurt to browse the store. He still had Christmas

gifts left on his list to buy. For himself he only wanted one present.

A.J.

If only he could make A.J. see that what happened last Christmas was a mistake and Carter

had no intention of ever repeating it. If A.J. gave him a chance.

Stepping away from the closed door, Carter glanced at the department closest. He didn’t

want to get too far away and miss A.J. leave. Had it been a mistake to wait this long? Maybe, but

he thought the timing made sense. It did to him, anyway.

Carter had watched A.J. helping customers for much of the morning, trying to stay out of

sight. No, he hadn’t turned into a creepy stalker or anything, he just wanted to work up the nerve

to approach his former lover. And he wanted the chance to take in A.J.’s pure masculine beauty.

It’s what had drawn him to the man in the first place, last Christmas time.

“You didn’t have to take me here,” A.J. said, looking around the dark, romantic steak

house. “I would have been fine with Denny’s for dinner.”

Carter laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t. Besides, I’m trying to impress you. Is it working?”

A.J.’s blue eyes sparkled mischievously. “Hmm, I don’t know. Ask me after a glass of

wine.”

“Oh, great, you have to be drunk to find me charming. Ouch, that hurts.” Carter touched

his heart.

A.J. grinned, showing off his perfect smile. “I’m only kidding. I find you charming and I

am impressed. So far the evening’s been great.”

He couldn’t help staring, because though it might be cliché it was also true. A.J. was

breath taking. He had rich mahogany hair and a lock of it tended to hang over his right eye

begging to be pushed out of the way. It was hard for Carter to keep from leaning over and

Last Christmas

6

wrapping the silky softness around his finger. Besides those violet blue eyes, the like he’d only

ever seen in pictures of Elizabeth Taylor, A.J. had dimples on either side of his pouty lips.

“Something wrong?” A.J. asked.

“No, I just…I like looking at you.”

That brought out a rich, throaty laugh that curled Carter’s toes. “You lay it on thick.”

“Probably, but it’s an honest answer anyway.”

“Thank you. I can’t say I’ve ever been on a date with a cop.”

Carter smiled. “Me either.”

A.J. laughed again and he found he wanted to find a hundred things to say that would

amuse A.J. just so he could hear that laugh.

Carter picked up a blender in the house-wares section and read the box. He wasn’t sure he

knew anyone on his Christmas list who wanted a blender, but it was something to do while he

waited.

His cell phone buzzed in pocket of his jeans. Who the hell? He took it out and saw his

partner from the LAPD’s picture. He pressed accept call.

“What’s up, Bill?”

Bill Lockley had been Carter’s partner since he made detective three years earlier. “Just

checking up to see how you feel.”

“Not bad. Still a bit stiff. Going back to the worker’s comp doc next Monday.”

“If he suggests surgery tell him you want a second opinion.”

Carter winced. “Surgery? I don’t think I need anything that drastic.” He reached down and

rubbed it. That tiny bit of hurrying just to keep up with A.J. made the damn knee throb.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m on a stakeout.”

“What? How can you be on a stakeout?”

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Shawn Lane

He sighed. “It’s not a police stakeout, obviously. I’m at A.J.’s store.”

“Oh, my God. You’re after that kid again?”

“He’s like twenty-five, not exactly a kid.”

“You’re thirty-seven.”

“Shut up. Anyway, you know I still have feelings for him.”

“Right,” Bill said. “But considering the way things ended between you, I doubt he wants

anything to do with you.”

Carter figured Bill was right given that A.J. had run from him like he was an axe murderer.

“I just want to explain what happened.” A.J. loved him once. Or said he did, anyway. On that

most perfect Christmas Eve last year.

Bill snorted. “You expecting some sort of Christmas miracle?’

“Well, it could happen.”

“This isn’t the Hallmark Channel, Carter. Good luck, you’re going to need it.”

“Thanks, buddy, for your support.” Carter rolled his eyes and pressed end call.

When twenty-six minutes had passed since A.J. disappeared behind the door, the door

opened slowly. Carter knew by the blatant hesitation in the person behind the door, it had to be

A.J. He resisted the urge to pounce right way. If he acted too quickly, A.J. might bolt back inside

and call the store security to have his stalker removed from the premises.

A.J. stepped out onto the floor and looked around. Carter ducked behind a display of

juicers. Other than his dark hair being just a smidge longer, A.J. looked as perfect as he had last

Christmas.

The younger man seemed satisfied with his look around and he walked away from the

break room and down the aisle. Carter decided to let A.J. return to the jewelry counter before he

approached this time. He only hoped the man wouldn’t make another break for it, because with

his injured knee he could never keep up with him.

Five minutes later, Carter walked up to A.J.’s jewelry counter. He had no customers.

Last Christmas

8

“Hi, A.J.” Carter attempted a friendly smile. “Can we talk?”

* * *

A.J. blinked, frozen in place. How did he even respond to that?

“No.”

Some people had balls of steel and apparently Carter Thorne happened to be one of them.

“Please. Have dinner with me. Just to talk.”

He could say one thing for the man, Carter was still gorgeous. Well, it had been a year, not

an eternity, but still it irritated him. Most natural blond men that he’d ever met had thinning hair.

Carter had thick luxurious blond waves upon his head. And today he wore no suit but rather

jeans, a black shirt, and a leather bomber jacket. Upon his chin was sexy stubble.

Bastard.

“I have nothing to say to you, Carter.”

“All right, but I have something to say to you. I want to explain about last Christmas.”

Against his will, A.J.’s gaze dropped to Carter’s sensuous lips. He remembered their feel

on his, their taste. One kiss from the man and A.J.’s defenses would crumble. He backed up a

step.

“There’s nothing to explain. We had a fling, it didn’t work out. The end.”

“It was more than a fling, A.J.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“You told me you loved me.”

Having that pointed out was like being kicked in the stomach or maybe the chest.

Dropping his gaze away from Carter’s face, he said softly, “You didn’t.”

“I know. I…please. Just have dinner with me. I know you don’t owe me anything, A.J. I

deserve your contempt, but I’ll get down on my knees if I have to. I’m begging. Isn’t there just a

tiny part of you that wants to know what I have to say?”

9

Shawn Lane

There was and A.J. hated himself for it. Loathed.

Carter seemed to sense his hesitation and went in for the kill. “What time do you get off

work? I’ll pick you up.”

“Five.” His heart beat so fast he thought his chest would rupture. What the hell was he

doing? And what about Carter’s boyfriend. The one he’d dumped A.J. to get back together with.

Carter smiled. “Great, I’ll be here to pick you up.”

“Wait. What about Doug?”

“I’ll explain that later, A.J. It’s complicated and I don’t want to get you in trouble at work.

I’ll be back here a little before five. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Carter. I still hate you.”

Carter came back to the jewelry counter twenty minutes before five o’clock. He figured

Carter wanted to make sure A.J. didn’t give him the slip.

At five, A.J. said goodbye to his co-worker, Marlene, who had the closing sift. Brian had

gone home a couple hours earlier. Carter waited by a mannequin dressed in a sequined black

dress.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” A.J. said with a grimace. Ever since his agreement, if he’d actually

agreed, which he wasn’t sure he had, A.J. had been thinking how this was probably a big

mistake. Whatever Carter had to say, he didn’t want to hear it.

They walked out of the mall to the parking structure and A.J. followed Carter down an

aisle to the right. He recognized Carter’s blue Honda Civic.

Both of them were silent as Carter started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. After a

while though, A.J. couldn’t take it.

“I’m surprised you even remember me.”

Carter glanced briefly at him, frowning. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Last Christmas

10

He shrugged. “It’s been a year.”

The hands on the steering wheel tightened and Carter sighed. “We were involved in a

relationship, A.J. I’m not going to forget you.”

“Can you call a few weeks a relationship? I mean we went out right after Thanksgiving and

you dumped me at Christmas. Hardly a relationship.”

“What would you call it then?”

“I told you before. A fling. An affair. Whatever. But not a relationship,” A.J. maintained

stubbornly.

“But you told me you loved me.”

A.J. looked away, out the car window. “It was a mistake. It was just lust and I got

confused.”

Carter didn’t respond to that and A.J. was glad. He just wanted to get this whole thing over

with now. Whatever bullshit Carter had to say.

He frowned. “Wait, what restaurant are we going to? This looks like your neighborhood.”

“No restaurant. I’m going to make you dinner at my house.”

“What? I didn’t agree to go to your house.”

Carter shrugged. “You didn’t disagree either.”

“I am now.”

“Too late. We’re here.” Carter drove into his driveway and clicked on a button on his visor

to open the garage door. “I’m a cop, A.J. Nothing is going to happen to you. I don’t want to hurt

you.”

You already have.

A.J. bit his lip and opened the car door. “What happens when I want to leave?”

“I’ll take you back to your car.” Carter opened the door into the house. “Come on. I want

to talk first, then I’ll make dinner.”

11

Shawn Lane

“I won’t want to stay for dinner after we talk.”

“We’ll see.”

It seemed pointless to argue about it, but A.J. was certain he wouldn’t be sticking around.

Nothing had changed in Carter’s house that he could see. It was still almost sterile in its

cleanliness with distinctive masculine touches. The living room had a black leather couch and

matching chair. He chose the couch and wasn’t too happy when Carter chose to sit right next to

him.

A.J. scooted over to put more distance between them. “All right, Carter, you may as well

get this over with.”

* * *

Carter didn’t like the closed expression on A.J.’s face. It seemed pretty clear the man

didn’t want to listen to what Carter had to say and had already made up his mind he wouldn’t

like it. He wondered if he really was fighting a losing cause and A.J. wouldn’t be willing to give

him another chance no matter what he said. There was only one way to know.

“First, I should apologize for Christmas Eve. I should have responded when you told me

you loved me. I guess I was thinking you only said it because we were having sex at the time.”

A.J. nodded. “Yeah, that was probably the reason.”

“You tell every guy you’re having sex with that you love them?”

A.J. shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

Sighing, Carter continued, “I thought about it afterward and I knew you actually meant it,

it wasn’t just sex talk. But by then, it was too late. Things were already in motion.”

“Things being dumping me.”

A.J.’s voice was laced with such bitterness it gave him pause. It hurt to think he’d been the

cause of such a change in the sweet, bubbly man.

“I didn’t want to break up with you, A.J. I really liked you.”

“You liked me.”

Last Christmas

12

He nodded. “Maybe I even knew then that I loved you. But, things ended up not being

quite over with Doug.”

“Where is Doug anyway?”

“I’m coming to that,” Carter said softly. “You have to remember that Doug and I were

together for five years prior to our breakup.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“It was my decision to end things when I found out Doug was cheating,” Carter explained.

“But you aren’t with someone for five years without having a great deal of love for them, even

when the relationship no longer works.”

A.J. didn’t respond, just stared at his hands, clenched together in his lap.

Swallowing, Carter said, “On Christmas, Doug came to see me. He’d found out he had

stage four lung cancer and only had months to live. We both spent a lot of time crying that day.

Though I knew I couldn’t be a romantic partner to him anymore, I couldn’t let him spend his last

months alone. And I could have told you about that at the time, but honestly, you’d only been

with me a few weeks and it seemed unbelievably selfish of me to ask you to put your life on hold

while I cared for Doug.”

“I see,” A.J. whispered.

“At first, I didn’t want to believe him. Doug had always been a bit manipulative. But he

showed me the test results and brought me with him to see his oncologist.” For a moment the

memories became too much and his eyes stung with tears. “He passed away in June.”

“I’m sorry.”

Carter nodded. “He spent those last months in pain, but I gave him what comfort I could.

The guy he’d been cheating with wanted nothing to do with a sick Doug. He left me in charge of

his estate and I spent the first couple of months getting his affairs together and settled.”

A.J. still didn’t look at him, but his expression had thawed several degrees. “You should

have told me all this then.”

“Maybe. I don’t think it would have made our breakup any easier.”

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Shawn Lane

A.J. gaze rose to his face. “At least I wouldn’t feel like a fool who’d been used.”

Carter moved closer to him and grabbed A.J.’s hands. “I never meant for you to feel that

way. I cared so much…I just didn’t know what to do. You made me realize then that great guys

still existed, that love could be out there again for me, when I had lost hope. That’s why, even

though I’ve spent the last several months telling myself not to bother you, that you probably have

found someone far more worthy of you than me, I came to see you.”

“How do you know there isn’t someone else now?”

The thought was a knife in the heart, but Carter made himself ask, “Is there?”

A.J. closed his eyes briefly, shielding his gorgeous blue eyes from Carter’s gaze. When he

opened them, his eyes were bright. ”No, Carter, there’s no one.”

He nearly went to his knees, giddy with relief, but reminded himself that didn’t mean A.J.

would give him…them another chance. “A.J., I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but

I’m going to anyway.”

“Carter—”

“Wait.” Fear of what A.J. planned to say had Carter moving off the couch and kneeling

before his former lover. He ignored the twinging protest in his knee. “Please, won’t you let me in

again? I want to erase those memories of last Christmas. I want just the two of us to be together

this Christmas. I want to give you the best holiday you’ve ever known. I just need to prove to

you that you can rely on me.”

“I…I need some time, Carter. For the last year I’ve practically hated you—”

Carter winced.

“--and now well, I guess I can understand what happened with Doug and maybe even why

you didn’t tell me, though I wish you had.”

“I know.”

“So, I have to think about this, Carter, I’m sorry. I can’t tell you right now whether I’m

willing to try again.”

Last Christmas

14

Obviously not the answer he’d hoped for, but Carter knew he had to accept it. Swallowing

the hard lump in his throat, he nodded and sat back on his heels, willing his knee not to give way

when he rose up and humiliate him further. He managed to stand though his leg wavered a

second.

A.J. stood, too, and to Carter’s disappointment he headed toward the garage. He was

leaving. Something told Carter if he took A.J. back to the mall where his car was he’d never see

A.J. again. His former lover wouldn’t give him another chance.

Carter made himself follow after A.J., opening his mouth to at least suggest he stay for

dinner as planned or if not that, they’d go to a restaurant after all, and then he remembered

something he’d put in his pocket earlier that day. He hadn’t really known why, but now it

seemed quite fortuitous. He snagged the little item out of his pocket and held it above his head.

A.J. stopped at the closed door and turned around. “I—”

His gaze caught sight of the mistletoe Carter held in his hand perched carefully above

them. A.J.’s tongue came out to run along his bottom lip.

An invitation.

Carter leaned in and covered A.J.’s mouth with his, the kiss gentle at first, but soon he

crushed A.J.’s soft, pliable lips under his, plundering inside with his tongue. A.J. moaned and his

arms came around Carter’s neck and to him, it seemed as though A.J. had surrendered. He

certainly hoped so.

Eventually they had to come up for air and it was A.J. who gently pulled away. His eyes

were glazed with desire and his already full lips were pouty and swollen.

“You don’t play fair,” A.J. whispered, but there was no censure in his tone.

“No. I won’t. I want you in my life too badly not to be direct.”

A small smile curved A.J.’s lips. “I…guess we can try again.”

“You guess? You need another one of these.”

Carter kissed A.J. again, long, sweet, and thoroughly, until both of them were breathless

and quite aroused.

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Shawn Lane

A.J. sighed and leaned against him. “Yes, we can try again. I want to spend this Christmas

with you, Carter.”

Closing his eyes in relief, he held A.J. tight. “Thank you. You’ve made this the merriest

damn Christmas I’ve ever had.”

A.J. laughed and pulled back enough for Carter to see the sparkle in his blue eyes. “Do you

think dinner can wait just a little longer?”

“If I have you in my arms, it can wait forever.”

“Not forever, Carter. We’d die of starvation.”

Carter chuckled, feeling so ridiculously happy he feared he was only dreaming. He tossed

the mistletoe to the floor and his lips hovering near A.J.’s, he asked, “What do have in mind,

babe?”

“Let’s go to your bedroom, Carter.”

“Fuck, you don’t have to tell me twice.” Carter locked their hands and tugged A.J. down

the short hall to his bedroom. As they crossed through the doorway, Carter was already pulling at

the buttons of A.J.’s dress shirt, trying not to be too anxious and rip A.J.’s shirt. But hell it was

hard not to just rip.

“Help me before I rip this right off you,” he finally grumbled.

A.J. laughed and yanked off his tie and then skillfully undid the buttons, shrugging out of

the shirt and leaving it pooled at his feet. Carter’s fingers slipped under the hem of A.J.’s

undershirt and yanked it over the man’s head.

“God, you are still the most beautiful man,” Carter whispered almost reverently. His hands

grazed over A.J’s sculpted naked chest, his thumbs grazing over AJ’s nipples.

AJ shivered, his eyes bright. “Now you.”

Carter made short work of ridding himself of his own shirt and then pulled AJ close. “I

can’t believe you’re here and about to be in my bed.”

“If you ever get us over there,” AJ joked.

Last Christmas

16

Carter growled, but then laughed. “Okay. On the bed on your back.”

AJ made his way to the bed and plopped down in the middle of the queen-sized mattress

on his back just as Carter had ordered. He liked that. Maybe too much. His cock rose, pointing

toward the bed. At least his cock knew what was important.

He knelt on the bed, staring, almost salivating, at a naked, sexy AJ whose legs were spread,

his ass tilted up just enough for him to get a peak at AJ’s pink puckered hole. Soon enough he

would give that extra attention to that sweet pink hole, but now, he was anxious to get his cock

inside AJ after being without him for a year.

He stretched across the bed to his nightstand where he kept condoms and lube. When he

returned to AJ, he couldn’t help stealing a kiss. And then another. And still another.

“I’ve missed these kisses,” he whispered against AJ’s lips.

“Yeah?” AJ smiled.

“Uh-huh.” And when he was done fucking AJ, he’d spend the rest of the night

reacquainting himself with those fantastic lips. He leaned back on his haunches and squeezed

lube onto his fingers, slicking them good before he slipped a finger inside AJ.

“Oh, God.”

Carter clenched his jaw, willing his body not to overreact to AJ’s moans. The last thing he

needed to do was to come before AJ was ready. He added the second finger, unable to hold back.

He thrust the digits, spreading AJ’s entrance.

When he was sure he had AJ prepared, Carter tore open the condom wrapper and rolled the

rubber over his aching erection. His hands on the underside of AJ’s thighs, Carter pushed inside.

AJ’s whimper sent shockwaves of pleasure through Carter as he slid balls deep in AJ’s ass.

He pumped hard and fast, in his mind making up for lost time. AJ’s hand worked up and down

his cock in rhythm to the pounding in his ass.

Their eyes met, Carter was mesmerized by the beauty, the trust in AJ’s blue eyes and he

knew he’d been given the best present he could ever have. A second chance.

17

Shawn Lane

A long time later, Carter held a sleepy, satisfied AJ close. He knew he’d have to tear

himself away eventually from the comfort of AJ to get dinner ready to feed them, but he was

having trouble caring too much about it for now.

“I missed this,” AJ mumbled against his chest. “I missed you.”

Carter closed his eyes. “Me too. So much.”

He tilted AJ’s face up. “Merry Christmas, baby.” He covered AJ’s lips with his.

“Mmmerry Christmas.”

* * * * *

About the Author

Shawn Lane writes erotic gay romances and believes love and passion know no

boundaries. Happily Ever After is for everyone. She lives in California and holds down a boring

day job in a legal department of a giant corporation dreaming of the nights and weekends when

she can create new stories.

Shawn loves to hear from readers, is happy to answer any questions, and has been known to send

free books to fans just because.

Visit her on the Web at

http://www.authorshawnlane.com/

or at her blog at

http://smlgr8.blogspot.com/

Last Christmas

18

Also by Shawn Lane

From Amber Quill Press
Accidentally His
At Long Last
The Beach House
Becoming His
The Best Gift
Can’t Be His
Car Wash
Devotedly His
Galaxy’s Heart
His One And Only
Hitting It Big
The Impersonator
It’s Only Make-Believe
Jake’s Regret
A Knight For All
Lawyers In Love
Lost Between
Manfred’s Curse
More Than Anything
Most Likely To Succeed
Only For Him
Only Forever
Only His Heart
Only In His Dreams
The Other Side
Pieces
Pulling Away
Sorcerer’s Lover
Sorcerer’s Lover II
The Squire
Still The One
Sutter’s Bay
Sweet Reunion
Ticket To Ride
Twice In A Lifetime
Until The End Of Time

From Ellora’s Cave
Another Chance
Perfect Man
Stone of Wrath
Trust
Wanting Sam

From Silver Publishing
The Naughty Ones

From Dreamspinner Press
Beyond the Norm