The Heart Of Christmas

"Andrea..."

Turning around at the sound of the all too familiar voice, Andrea Lew wasn't sure if she should smile or frown, because the voice belonged to Jonas Henderson. As he slowly closed in the distance between them, a half-smile crossing his face, she felt her heart thundering in her chest.

Still so handsome after all these years

, she thought,

handsome and charming and annoyingly self-assured. Damn him for looking this good!

"Jonas," she returned his greeting, quirking an eyebrow questioningly. "Did you show up here stag? I don't see a bimbo on your arm." She saw him laugh in response at her wry humor, and felt her irritation level rising. His smooth, velvety chuckle never failed to get her going, and she felt annoyed with herself for the effect his laugh had on her. His goddamned chuckle shouldn't affect her this way still, so why was it? In her mind, she imagined decking him on his smug jaw, seeing him fall flat on his back, looking up at her dazed.

He deserves it too

, she thought glumly,

twit

.

"I've always loved that quick wit of yours, Andi," he smiled, calling her by his pet name for her, giving her a smoldering once over with his eyes. "I can honestly say no one else quite matches up to you in that respect."

"Only in that respect, Jonas?" she coyly asked, taking a quick sip of her champagne, before moving her head slightly closer to him, and adding, "As I recall, there were a few things I did that made even a jaded connoisseur like yourself forget your own name."

"Oh I remember Andi," he gave a low laugh, looking down at his shoes for a moment, before locking his intense gaze onto her again. "I remember very well indeed."

"Hmmm, your name?" She asked, deliberately misunderstanding him.

"The things you do," he stated simply, looking at her intently, noticing the faint blush on her gorgeous Asian features. "As I am very sure you remember... the things I've done to you."

"Actually? I've managed to forget about you and move on with my life, Jonas. And no, I don't desire a refresher course, thank you," she flippantly replied, taking another sip of her champagne. She looked around the room at the rest of the Christmas party revelers and wondered again, what the hell she was doing here, and just her luck... she had to bump into the one man she had taken a long time to get over.

What were you thinking, Andrea? You should have stayed home and spent some quality time with your battery-operated boyfriends

, she silently berated herself.

At least they won't break your heart and trample on it before leaving

. She turned back to look at him, and thought she saw a hurt look flash across his face. "Oh don't you even start," she shook her head and narrowed her eyes.

"Start what? I thought we ended years ago," he reminded her, and in spite of himself, couldn't help the bitter tone in his voice. Just like he couldn't help noting how hard her nipples were under her scarlet knitted blouse.

"I'm glad you remembered, since you were the one who walked out on our relationship," she said. Spotting a waiter walking around with drinks on his tray for the partygoers, she quickly set her drink on his tray when he walked by. "Now if you don't mind, it seems this party is now pretty much a bust for me, so I'm going to head home. Not really nice seeing you again, Jonas. Have a nice life. You'll understand if I don't call or keep in touch."

* * * * *

Jonas watched her departing figure as Andrea made her way through the party. Her legs, elegantly wrapped in a pair of tasteful, black fishnet stockings, drew his gaze. A matching pair of scarlet red, strappy high heel shoes added a couple of inches to her 5'4" frame. His eyes wandered upwards, admiring the black, wraparound silk skirt hugging her deliciously curvy hips, and of course, her scarlet red knitted blouse, which completed the ensemble. The knitted blouse kept her beautiful breasts from his view, but didn't stop him from recalling the feel and taste of them.

Indeed, how could he ever forget anything about Andrea? Everything about her aroused him to fever pitch, if the bulge in his pants was anything to go by. She was an intoxicating mix of coquettish, Asian sensuality and brazen, daring seductress. She tormented him with her teases, and she was the only one he knew who could drive him to the brink of frustration and insanity, before offering him the sweetest, most tender love he had ever known.

All that ended when his company offered him an overseas posting, along with a promotion and a very generous raise. He decided to accept the overseas posting, and had already intended to propose to Andrea so she could join him there, but it didn't work out the way he intended.

For one thing, he didn't factor in Andrea herself. Why, he didn't know, even though he should have. Andrea, with her fiery, independent streak, was happy with the way her life and career were going, and wasn't willing to give it all up, even though she was happy for him when he broke the news to her.

Jonas never quite got around to proposing to her, because everything fell apart before he had a chance to. Thinking back on it now, he truly had no idea how it suddenly turned into a screaming match, with her accusing him of placing his career before hers, and expecting her to roll over because of it. He in return tried to reason with her, even pleading with her to reconsider moving with him so they could be together.

The romantic evening he had planned ended up with her storming out of his apartment, slamming the door behind her. He allowed himself a minute to cool down, to think; because their fight had gotten him so frazzled, he couldn't think clearly. By the time he rushed downstairs to look for her, she was of course long gone.

Jonas remembered frantically searching all the places he knew she went to, and even stopped by her apartment a couple of times in-between to see if she was home. In the meantime, he ran his cell phone battery down from his repeated attempts at calling her, but never getting a response from her cell, her work or her apartment.

Exhaustion finally claimed him, as he sank onto her couch in her apartment, hoping to catch her the moment she came home. He fell into a deep, yet uneasy sleep, only to wake up the next morning to find her sitting on her loveseat staring at him, looking as if she'd cried the entire night.

Andrea then told him the one thing he never wanted to hear from her, that she thought it was better if they went their separate ways. With no further discussions, nothing... it ended, and his heart never quite picked up all the shattered pieces from that morning.

All these memories flashed through Jonas' mind as he purposefully made his way through the crowded party after her. For four years, he lived the semblance of a life, but after the seemingly endless parade of women since her, he realized Andrea was the one for him. He was determined to make her see he was the one for her too. That is, if he could get through her thick wall of stubbornness and pride long enough for her to realize it.

* * * * *

Andrea made it to her apartment, before she shut the door and leaned heavily against it. If she thought the memory of the man was powerful, it simply paled in comparison to the man himself. Jonas always had a way of getting under her skin, whether in a good way or not, and she spent four long years getting over him. He just had this way of making her crumble and totally lose her resolve whenever she was in his presence, and it infuriated her. Apparently, he was back in the city, and from the vibes she got from him from their brief encounter at the party, he wanted back in her life.

Not a chance, bucko!

She thought furiously.

I like my life the way it is, thank you very much. I'm not letting you come and go as you please!

Immediately after she thought it,

'come and go'

, she shook her head and laughed at the unintentional pun. Yes, of course she remembered the way he climaxed, with his throbbing, rock hard cock buried deep inside her. It was a pleasure in itself, watching him hit his peak. The memory of it tingled her pussy, heating it, and in spite of herself, made her dripping wet and her nipples hard.

Walking over to her Christmas tree standing by her apartment's bay window, she played with the decorations dangling from its branches and absently stared out at the gently falling snow. She thought back on the last four years, at the frequent emptiness she felt because whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not, her stubbornness ended their relationship because of her refusal to compromise. No one else since then managed to take his place in her heart, because Jonas was one of a kind—he was raw, sizzling, insatiable animal sexuality, coupled with sweet, loving, tenderness that broke her heart.

Jonas did break her heart too, she frowned as she stalked away from her Christmas tree, angrily pulling her clothes off and leaving a trail to the bathroom.

* * * * *

Jonas pulled his keys out of his pants pocket and hoped Andrea hadn't changed the locks to her apartment. He slid the key into the keyhole and turned it, breathing a sigh of relief when the lock clicked, enabling him to open the door. Throughout the years they were apart, he kept the key to her apartment on his keychain. It was kind of symbolic for him because in a way, no matter where he was or how much time had passed, he always carried a part of her with him. It was also because he could never bring himself to remove her key from his keychain. Maybe it was because if he did, it would mean there was no hope of salvaging their relationship, and hope was the one thing he never gave up on.

A comfortable warmth greeted him the moment he stepped into her apartment. He breathed in the scent of pine from her Christmas tree and smiled to himself. Andrea had always preferred a real tree to a fake one, and he had always been the one to lug it up to her apartment in years past, and one to his apartment too. A sudden thought occurred to him and he wondered whom Andrea got to lug her tree into her apartment during the last few years. Jealousy hit him, and while it didn't surprise him, he was surprised at its intensity.

While it was true he never denied himself the pleasure of the company of women after they broke up, none of them ever came close to touching his heart like the way Andrea had, and still did. The other women were more to sate his natural needs for the flesh, or booty calls, as his friend Aaron preferred to call it. He wondered about the men Andrea had sought to satisfy her own needs, and whether she was in a relationship right now.

Jonas heard the shower going in the bathroom, and his eyes tracked the trail of clothes she left on the floor. The sight, and the idea of her naked in the shower, made his pants uncomfortably tight, and he groaned as a familiar desire swept through his body. He needed to know however, if she had another man, so his eyes scanned her apartment for signs. He saw none in her living room, so he immediately proceeded to her bedroom and flicked the switch on. The soft light illuminated her bedroom with the king-sized bed taking up half the room. He smiled again, remembering king-sized beds were also her preference because there was much more space to play around with, as she used to tell him.

Walking over to her chest of drawers, he pulled out and closed each one in succession, only finding her clothes, underwear, and lingerie in them. When he opened the last one though, he was amused to find her collection of toys, all carefully laid out on a satin gold scarf. His eyes wandered over to the left side of the drawer and he saw a stack of letters tied up in a cobalt blue ribbon.

Reaching over, he picked the stack up, and found they were the letters and cards he had sent her over the years, easily recognizable because of the stamps, the postmarks, and his handwriting on the envelopes. As far as he could tell, she had opened and read them, but she never replied to any of them, or returned any of his calls, or responded to his voice messages or e-mails.

Why?

He wondered, understanding while she was unwilling to give up her career at the time, he couldn't understand why she chose to end their relationship that fateful day.

Setting the stack of letters back down the way he found them, he shut the drawer and stood up, deciding he had waited long enough. Andrea and him belonged together, and he didn't care how long it took to break through the icy barriers she had obviously set up around herself. He would chisel through them and by god; he would make her see she was his, as much as he was hers.

* * * * *

The hot water blasted out the showerhead and onto her back while she soaped her front. Her nipples were hard freckled nubs and her pussy was wet with its own moisture. Andrea reached down between her legs and started teasing her clit, slowly at first, her soapy fingers circling the opening of her pussy before plunging a finger in. Her eyes closed, she let out a long, deep sigh, while with both hands, she worked her fingers over her clit and pussy, and imagined Jonas' thick black cock stroking deep inside her.

Andrea's orgasm hit hard, causing her body to shudder from the pleasure as she called out his name. When it subsided, she turned around to face the water stream from the showerhead, leaning her palms against the wall in front of her so the water drowned her tears and washed them away. Her pussy also wept, but with a need for the one specific cock it knew would satisfy it, and now that its owner had made his presence known to her again, it practically throbbed with a demand for it.

Cursing what she saw as weakness--her need for Jonas, she raised her face to the water, felt the soapiness wash away from her body and used her foot to shut off the water. What happened next almost made her jump out of her skin.

"I've always liked to hear you cuss, baby, and I especially loved it when you talked dirty to me," the deep, smooth, velvety voice said with more than a hint of amusement.

Andrea immediately placed the voice, so in spite of him startling her, she collected herself enough to slide open the frosted glass shower door. Sure enough, through the steam floating about the bathroom, she saw him... Jonas, casually leaning against the sink cabinet, without a stitch of clothing on. He was in his full, naked glory, a gorgeous, heart-stopping black Adonis if she ever saw one, his arms crossing his chest and wearing nothing but a full, massive hard-on and a lazy grin.

"I especially loved it when you called out my name when you came," Jonas said with a knowing smile. "Exactly like you did when you masturbated in the shower just now."

Andrea favored him with a cold stare, her own arms crossing her chest, pushing her breasts up. With one eyebrow arched, she calmly said, "Looks like I should have changed the locks when I had the chance, or be more careful of who I give the key to my apartment to. Get out, Jonas," she said icily.

"No. Not until we both address the issue at hand," he replied firmly.

"Oh really? What issue... the one sticking out between your legs?" She asked sarcastically, still glaring at him. "Go stick it someplace else, Jonas. I'm pretty sure you can easily find a willing bimbo to do the horizontal mambo. This pussy isn't available to you anymore."

* * * * *

"The one thing you've never been good at Andrea, is lying," Jonas said, not at all fazed by her chilly reception, having expected it from the strong-willed, Asian minx. If anything, her sassiness was turning him on. Reaching over to the horizontal metal bar where her towel hung, he gave it a quick tug before tossing it at the surprised hellcat. "Towel yourself dry, baby. I'll be waiting for you in the living room," he said with a cheeky, unaffected grin, before his expression turned serious. "We need to talk."

"Like hell we do!" She fumed, toweling herself off furiously. "I want you out of my apartment... NOW!"

"Don't keep me waiting, Andi," he growled out a warning, arching one eyebrow at her, before turning and walking out of the bathroom.

* * * * *

Andrea tried not to notice his sexy, muscular ass striding out of the bathroom. Apparently, he still worked out, because his body lost none of its physical potency. While he was not overly muscular, his lean physique was sufficiently muscular in all the right places. The man was pure, potent, sensual energy bundled in a sexy, appealing package, and his hard-on reminded her, not too subtly, just how much he was packing.

"Arrogant bastard," she cursed under her breath. First he broke into her apartment then had the unmitigated gall to show up at her bathroom buck naked, and order her around—in her own home! "Asshole," she snarled, determined not to cave in.

Tossing her towel onto the sink cabinet, she grabbed her hair-dryer and dried her hair.

If he wants to talk, he can damn well wait

, she thought, making a mental note to change her locks as soon as possible.

* * * * *

Jonas was sitting on the easy chair, absently fondling his cock, when Andrea walked into the living room, wrapped in a peach-colored towel. "Sit down, Andi," he said, nodding at the couch. "I think we need to clear the air between us."

"The air would clear quickly enough once you leave my apartment," she demanded again. "And don't tell me what to do in my own home. I'm no longer your lovesick lust puppy, Jonas."

"Sit down, Andi... please," he reiterated, in a firm but gentler tone.

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head, but sat down on the couch anyway. Crossing her legs, with her arms still across her chest, she said, "OK fine, you said you wanted to talk. So talk."

Jonas however, looked at her steadily for several moments, realizing she wasn't going to make it easy for him. "How come you never returned any of my calls, e-mails, voice messages or letters?"

"Why? And make getting over you that much tougher? I wanted a clean break, Jonas. I didn't want you hanging around my frigging heart and haunting me with your absence. I wanted to move on with my life," she replied. Seeing the hurt look in his dark brown eyes, she sighed with a hint of impatience. "Quit... looking at me like that. Why would me not responding to you surprise you anyway? You were the one who left, remember?"

"I never intended to go alone. I wanted you with me. You know I did, Andi."

Nodding her head slightly, she smiled and gave a little laugh. "So it's still 'what Jonas wants' hmmm? Never mind I have my own career going. You wanted me to drop everything."

"I never said that. I just wanted you with me. How is it wrong? How is my wanting to marry you and sharing the rest of my life with you wrong? Couldn't you even give us a chance... or move an inch even? Your journalism skills are highly marketable and much sought after. You could very easily find a job where I was going. I never wanted to hinder your career or get in the way of your ambitions, Andi."

"You... wanted to marry me?" She asked, her eyes widening in surprise at his statement. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yes," he replied, the pain very obvious in his voice. "I did."

"How come you never asked?"

"Because you never gave me a chance. I told you about my overseas posting and you seemed happy enough for me, yet when I asked you to come with me, you started flipping out and accused me of not taking your career seriously. I never got around to it." Feeling her thaw a little, he chose that opportunity to join her on the couch. Feathering her bare shoulders with his warm breath, he looked into her eyes and softly said, "but I wanted to."

Andrea closed her eyes and shook her head, apparently confused by his revelation. She muttered something under her breath, before standing up to walk away.