The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 133

Chapter 133-1

“Remind me that in spring I should have this shitty gravel removed and put in cement.”

He laughed; it wasn’t worth holding it in. His laughter sounded rough and deep, just like his thick and raspy voice. A voice that wasn’t good for singing, but that I liked hearing whenever I could. I turned very red, because he was laughing at my misfortune.

“I’ll remind you. Can you get up?” Alexander asked, when he was able to speak.

“I didn’t break something in my backside out of pure luck, thank you very much. I’m going to survive.”

He laughed again. My blush increased to infinity. He grabbed my arm better and pulled me.

“Come on, I’ll help you,” he said, between laughs.

“Alexander, it’s not funny! Right now I could…!”

I turned toward him pretending to be furious. And I was left speechless when I realized that Alexander had crouched beside me and we were far too close. His breath, like a thick cloud of warm white vapor, struck my cheek. The scent of his perfume was intoxicating. His hand around my arm was large and powerful. I don’t know if I started trembling, or if it was only the uncontrolled pounding of my heart; but I felt heat. I felt anxiety. I felt a sting going down my belly, an indescribable tingling climbing up my back, so strong that it immediately overshadowed the pain in my backside.

It was like having butcher’s hooks in my skin, pulling me painfully toward him. I moved my lips, perhaps in a vain attempt to articulate his name, and…

And then, Alexander kissed me.

I think that of all the descriptions of kisses I have read in my life, I could take nothing useful from any of them to recount what I felt. Nor could I say it in my own words, even if I wanted to. It wasn’t some marvelous thing that should be adorned with fireworks and broken spells, it wasn’t even long. It lasted a few seconds, it’s true, but I enjoyed it immensely.

And it was just a kiss, a normal kiss between two people who shared some feelings, a simple and unpretentious kiss, but one that, in fact, made my cheeks burn. Because a kiss is that instant where everything happens, many of the smallest pleasures occur at the same time: touching, smelling, tasting and enjoying. Just as I couldn’t put into words the sensation that ran through me when I perceived Alexander’s scent in the sheets of my bed that time, I suppose I couldn’t (nor do I feel like it, it was my experience, entirely mine, unique and non–transferable) say how happy it made me to receive that kiss. Because I was touching him, I was hugging him, I was smelling him,

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Chapter 133 1

and (more important even) I was feeling him, all through a simple contact that was nothing more than that, a brushing of lips.

But I liked it so much, so much…

When he finally pulled away from me, we stayed looking at each other for a moment. I still couldn’t speak.

“We should go inside, today it’s going to thunder more than usual. Do you see the ring around the moon? That’s a storm. Very soon.”

“I can make hot chocolate,” I blurted out suddenly. “Would you like a cup of chocolate?”

Yes, definitely the most lucid reaction. The best one. Alexander encouraged me and helped me to my feet with a gentle pull, with that infinite patience he had for me. He took the trouble to pick up all the fallen logs that time, and nodding:

“I’d love to, of course,” he answered calmly.

Knowing that I was reacting like a shy teenager did not help me at all.

Alexander had probably already realized what was going through my mind, if my body was capable of translating it into a language his superhuman abilities could interpret. He had surely already noticed what I wanted, what it provoked in me to have him only for myself, in my house, with all his attention on me and without the children around. Especially after that kiss. I felt the heat of embarrassment in my cheeks. What would he be thinking of me? Surely my attempts to hide everything he had done to me with just a brushing of lips amused him.

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Chapter 133.2

Chapter 133-2

But it was everything. All of him provoked me, and I could no longer control it.

For Heaven’s sake, why was I behaving like a girl?

I had been married once. I had almost had a child. I shouldn’t have felt so inhibited in the presence of a man I desired, and who, after that kiss, would evidently respond to me. I suppose another woman in my situation would not have gone so far as to put the milk in the microwave, and would have preferred to be struggling with the buckle of his belt, or perhaps…

I shouldn’t have overthought it either; if I had talked about it with Alexander at some point, and if it weren’t so uncomfortable to think about, everything would have been easier. The main problem was that I could not expect more from him that night, and being aware of that mortified and embarrassed me at the same time. I felt incapable just when I could have taken the advantage. With a long sigh, I gave up and finished preparing the two cups of chocolate. The bars were a gift from Christian, Nika’s brother, very fond of sweets. It was authentic homemade Swiss chocolate, the most delicious I had tasted in my life.

With the two cups, I faced the moment of truth.

I went into the living room. Alexander had already sat back down on his side of the large sofa, after arranging the logs we had brought and feeding the fire with two or three pieces. He turned toward me, with a peaceful smile in which he did not fear showing his fangs. I handed him a cup, and he extended his hand to take it with a “spasibo” on his lips, the word of thanks in Russian. He did not usually speak in Russian (or in any other language I did not understand) when he was near me, and that was undoubtedly another sign of his good humor. Alexander looked at me for a moment, but it wasn’t as if he expected something from me.

I didn’t know what to do. What if I moved forward, and it wasn’t what he intended?

He wouldn’t have kissed me on his own initiative if he didn’t expect something more… right?

I pulled the cup out of his reach before he could grab it, and placed both of them on the small table, at a prudent distance and where they wouldn’t spill by accident. I swallowed, restless. I looked for a moment at the fire, undecided. I also looked at the television, at my bookshelf, and finally a shiver of emotion ran through my body when I felt his warm and enormous hand taking mine, calmly.

“Johanna,” he called me, his voice firm. “Johanna, look at me.”

I stopped trembling the instant he spoke, and his fingers closed over mine. I turned to look at him; Alexander had just set the remote control down on the table as well. He kissed the back of my

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hand gently, and another shudder went through me.

“Come here,” he urged, and I didn’t dare disobey him.

He leaned forward, over the sofa. He gently pulled my hand, and with the other he grabbed me behind the knee. I understood the message, even though I didn’t hear anything else he said: my heart was beating very fast in my ears, like a drum. I sat astride his lap, and the first thing I managed to do was cling to his shoulders, search for his mouth. I felt his strong arms close around me, and the heat enveloped me brutally, along with the sound of that low and provocative growl. Now, that was a kiss. Long, deep, breath–stealing. I lost the little will to resist that I had when his tongue brushed mine and his fangs gently captured my lower lip in a sweet and exciting suction that left me surrendered to him. I tried to pull away from his side just enough to take air, but Alexander attacked me with more aggression, throwing himself over me, taking me backward.

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