On December 6, 2012, we were invited to join in the Jingle Bells & Holiday Tales blog celebration hosted by Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews.

Our Theme: Christmas Memories

In this post, after a long day of writing, we call Trevor and Cassandra back to pick their brain to help us work through the question, What is your favorite Christmas memory?

SPOILER WARNING: If you have not read COUNTERMEASURE or TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE this interview with the characters contains information that could be considered a bit of a spoiler for that story.

Christmas Memories

Cecilia and I have just taken our seats in what we call our writing cave when Trevor and Cassandra burst in laughing. The space is a mix of sitting room and office, with a two-seat couch and a small dining table where we spend our days sitting across from each other while we discuss and write our stories. Tonight though, we’re playing the inquisition so we sit side by side leaving the other side for the feisty couple.

Trevor has his arm hooked around Cassandra’s neck and hers rests around his waist. The blustery weather has colored Cassandra’s smooth cheeks a rosy pink and added to Trevor’s hair’s messy disarray.

I raise my eyebrow at the picture in front of me. It gives me reason to assume that the hair situation might possibly have been started not by the wind blowing outside but by Cassandra combing her fingers through the disheveled mop on their way here.

As they shrug out of their jackets, Trevor nods at me and drops a kiss on Cecilia’s cheek. “How’s it going?” Trevor asks, pulling a chair out for Cassandra and settling in his own beside her.

“Good.” Chris grins. “You’re on time.”

Cassandra reaches over and squeezes Cecilia’s hand. “You called and voilà. Here we are.”

“Are you guys ready?” Cecilia scoots closer to the laptop on the table in front of her and I lean back in my chair shaking my head at Cecilia’s spreadsheet open on screen.

Christmas music weaves its magic in the background and a nice cozy fire burns in the red brick stone fireplace. The crackling of the logs and spitting sparks soothing on the cold blistery evening.

Trevor relaxes in his chair, an arm draped across Cassandra’s shoulders. Cassandra tilts her head to the side, and nods her chin toward the laptop. “What’s the qué pasa? We thought we were done for the evening.” Her tone holds a puzzled quality.

A smile quirks Cecilia’s lips. “We thought so too, but you know how we operate. You never know when something will come up. It turns out we need to pick your brains.”

“We need your help working through a question.” I quip, adding clarification. “We figured two geek brains are better than one.”

Trevor chuckles. “That would be us, right, mate?”

My grin widens as Cassandra rolls her eyes and shoots a look in Cecilia’s direction, which clearly screams “Really?”

Cecilia smirks and begins to type. “Okay, down to business. What is your favorite Christmas memory?”

A blush creeps from Cassandra’s neck to flood her cheeks and Trevor smiles wickedly as his eyes lock on her. His hand moves from her shoulder to the back of her neck and begins kneading it. Cassandra sighs and rests her hand on his thigh, rubbing it in a quick caress as she leans against the back of her chair.

I narrow my eyes at the two. “Spill.”

Trevor’s eyes dart to mine. A mischievous glint sparks in their depth. “That’s easy. Our first Christmas together. My present specifically. All wrapped with nice and shiny ribbon.” Trevor’s gaze strays back to Cassandra’s profile and his eyes touch her features lovingly. A soft smile curves the corner of his mouth as the memory of that event appears to grip him.

Cecilia raises her eyes from the screen to the couple. Curiosity floods them as she studies Cassandra who, in turn, holds her gaze. “The present. What was it exactly? A new computer gadget? Software?”

Cassandra flashes a saucy grin. “Well, I guess you could call it ‘software’.” She turns her glance to Trevor and he brushes her hair back, tucking it behind her ear.

“It was a brilliant gift. All soft and curvey with the ribbon expertly tied into place. The best part was unwrapping it.” He glances over at Chris and Cecilia. “My wife has such an imagination.”

Cassandra scoffs. “I had to think out of the box. What do you get the geek who has everything? It’s a killer thinking of something to buy so I went simple. I bought a roll of ribbon. Six inches wide and a lovely color of autumn leaves.”

“What did you wrap in the ribbon? More computer gadgets?” I dig, curious if it was something I might like. Trevor always has the latest gadgets in hands. I lean forward, expectant of the answer.

Cassandra shifts in her seat and looks toward Cecilia again. “Myself.”

Understanding flows into Cecilia’s eyes. “Ah, that must have been a hell of a surprise.”

Trevor’s face splits into a wide grin, the lopsided one that both Cecilia and I know Cassandra loves. “It was sexy and arousing all at once. One minute I’m in the living room setting the scene…you know…coffee brewing, Christmas Dubstep playing in the background, Christmas tree glowing with lights, the next, I’m picking my jaw up off the floor.”

He wraps a strand of her hair in his fingers and Cassandra leans against him. “You should have seen how wide his eyes popped when I stepped off the stairs wearing nothing more than the ribbon strategically wrapped around me—G-string style and a big plump box tied at my breast.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Cecilia listening intently, fingers flowing across the keyboard, capturing Trevor and Cassandra’s words.

Trevor’s Adam’s apple jumps as he swallows hard. “My mouth went dry and finger tips grew numb. All I could think of was that I couldn’t wait to unwrap that gift and explore it more closely. As she drew closer to me and whispered against my lips, ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Brennan’ my fingers shook and heart bounced against my chest. God, she was, is, hot.”

“The way you smoothed your hands across the ribbon without touching me just about killed me.” All eyes dart to Cassandra as she continues telling the riveting story. “When you pulled on the bow slowly unraveling it from my breasts revealing me inch by inch—” She stops and sucks in a breath. “—a flood of hot lava heat rolled through me, scorching me from the inside out. Your lips…hot and moist….”

Trevor abruptly rises to his feet dragging Cassandra up with him. He grabs his jacket and shoves hers into her hands.

“Trevor!”

“Get moving, a ghrá.” He pushes her toward the door. “Sorry guys…gotta run. I’m sure you can fill in the gaps.”

Cassandra glances back over her shoulder apologetically. “We can’t leave yet.” Trevor leans in and whispers in her ear. Her lips form an “Oh!” and her eyes sparkle with mischief. “Like he said. Sorry, something has—” Her gaze travels the length of Trevor’s body. “—come up.” Laughter coats her voice.

As the door slams behind them, I turn to a startled Cecilia and wink. “I want a Christmas ribbon.”

Cecilia stares at me a moment until understanding edges into her eyes and she bursts out laughing as she closes her laptop. “Well, Christmas is only a few days away….”

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*Coughs* Uhm...yeah...no words.

Sláinte!

Chris & Ceci