A mouth crashed against hers, hard and demanding. Her lips parted, and she tumbled backward onto brown cotton sheets. His hands tangled in her hair, and she tilted her head back, giving his mouth greater access to her neck. His breath was hot on her skin as he pulled her further up onto the bed, pausing to suckle her earlobe, biting down gently and making her moan with delight.
"Wake up, dorkus!"
Veronica rolled over, unwilling to let loose her grip on her precious dream. She almost had Logan's shirt off and he had been looking at her so intently…
"Veronica Mars!"
She sat up and leaned in close to kiss him, framing her hands around his face.
Quite suddenly, Logan's head slipped from her hands, and Veronica found herself sitting face-to-face with Lilly. Dropping her hands and sighing in discontent, Veronica scrubbed her fingers over her eyes, willing herself awake. Peeking through the gaps in her fingers, she saw that she was still trapped her dream. She was sitting in Logan's suite in the Grand, minus Logan and plus one ethereal being.
"Well hello to you, too. Dreaming of our mutual ex, are you?"
In no mood to discuss her love life, or lack thereof, with Lilly, Veronica raised her head, and fixed Lilly with a long stare. Pursing her lips, she took in Lilly's latest otherworldly ensemble. Clearly in a festive mood, Lilly had poured her pale body into the tightest green silk dress Veronica had ever seen. While the color set her smoky eyes off perfectly, it clashed with the crimson blood still oozing from the gash in her head. Or, Veronica mused, tilting her head, perhaps that was the point.
"Red and green, duh!" Lilly enthused, flipping her hair and moving through Veronica's dreamscape to settle on Logan's couch.
"Eavesdrop much, Lil? You shouldn't be listening to my thoughts, you know."
Veronica stood, moving into the living room. Or pseudo-living room. Dream living room? She didn't know what to call it, and it didn't really matter.
"Oh please Veronica Mars, like you don't listen when you aren't supposed to."
"I suppose I do, on occasion. When I really need to."
"Like you really needed to know where Logan was that night in Mexico?"
"I didn't eavesdrop to find that out."
"No, but you blackmailed him for the information. And you say my relationship with the boy was destructive and cruel."
Lilly stood, towering over Veronica in platform heels dyed to match her dress. The shoes laced up her calf, begging you to look at the green garment's short hemline. Lilly smoothed the fabric of her dress down so that it barely covered her ass.
"You're going to lose him if you don't act soon."
Veronica opened her mouth to protest that she already had, but Lilly shook her head, cutting Veronica off with a finger waved pointedly in her face.
"Uhh-uhh, none of that whiny, mopey shit, Veronica. You had your cry; you've given him space and time. Now it's time to remind him of how sorry you are for being a bad little girl and how amazingly hot you look. Not that he needs reminding of that of course."
Lilly half-laughed, tossing her head back with a smirk.
"You should see him in the shower." She grinned wickedly, dropping her voice to a whisper.
"I really don't want to know."
"He's all slick from the hot water—I love that he's gone all surfer boy now, he's so seriously toned and wicked-looking."
"He surfed when he was with you, Lil."
"We were freshman, Veronica. He poser surfed, as in, 'Yay, I stood up on the board today!' That is not surfing, that is messing around in the water."
"Do you have some sort of master plan that does not involve telling me about Logan's surfing aptitude? And please leave out the rest of the shower story."
"Sure you don't want to know? Your name comes in at the end, and I can read his dirty thoughts, you know."
Veronica rolled her eyes, waiting for Lilly to move on.
"Fine. Two words: Santa suit."
"Yeah, I can see Logan falling over himself to forgive me with that brilliant plan."
Lilly smiled and stepped back as the room started to dissolve.
"Wait, Lil! What do you mean? Santa suit?"
Lilly's laugh rang in her ears as she faded from sight.
"You'll figure it out, Veronica Mars. You always do."
Veronica sat up, blinking rapidly to adjust to the light. She was in her room at home and all was normal, except for the pile of fastidiously folded clothing sitting on her laptop. Tossing back the covers, she stood and walked to the desk. Propped against the plush velvet of the cloth was a photograph Veronica was sure she'd torn in half almost a month ago. She picked it up, staring at the image for a long moment.
It was her and Logan, stretched out on a sand dune. Veronica remembered the day completely. Parker had rounded up everyone she could to escape Hearst and they'd gone to the beach for a picnic. Wallace had nabbed Veronica's camera to take snapshots of Mac and Piz building a sandcastle. He'd turned the camera on her and Logan only for a few minutes, capturing the them just watching the others. In this shot, Logan had leaned into Veronica, whispering something in her ear, and she was laughing, her smile stretched across her face.
A month ago she couldn't handle seeing herself that happy. She hadn't really been angry at Logan when she'd ripped the candid shot; she'd been frustrated with herself for ruining something good.
Lifting the pile of clothing, Veronica bit her lip, plotting her next move. Inspiration had struck, thanks to Lilly, and Veronica knew exactly what she was going to do.
---------------------------------------
With classes finished for the holidays, Logan found himself with nothing on his calendar. Celebrating the end of the semester with Dick got old rather quickly, as Dick behaved exactly the same during school as he did outside of it. Beer pong at two in the morning just wasn't that appealing when Logan knew he would be the one wiping his friend off the table.
Sighing, he left Dick's rented condo before the night's festivities began and after Dick's first round of beers, intending to head back to the Grand for a good long nap. The party life was too stressful, Logan decided, wondering how on earth Lindsey Lohan managed to drag herself out night after night.
His cell phone rang as he pulled into the parking lot, and when Logan reached to pick it up, he saw that Dick was drunk-dialing him once again.
"Hey man, what's up?"
"Logan! Get your ass back here!"
"Can't Dick, I'm already home. We'll double-team the competition in beer pong next time, okay?"
"You're missing the most killer party ever—some high school chicks even showed!"
"Didn't you swear off high school girls before we even left high school?"
"Now I am a college man, dude! Times have changed and Master Dick has brought sexy back to them!"
"Okay, JT, just take it easy."
Shaking his head, he pushed through the lobby doors. He'd been gone for less than an hour and it sounded like Dick's pre-gaming would put him out of commission in about another thirty minutes. He hoped someone would at least move him to a bedroom.
"Mr. Echolls! Logan!" Tina waved him over to the concierge desk.
Logan sauntered over, ringing the little bell when he arrived at the counter.
"Madam Tina, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"The mailman, it would seem."
She handed him a package addressed neatly in handwriting he recognized immediately. There was no return address, but he didn't need one to know from whom this had come. Distracted by thoughts of the package's contents, he thanked Tina halfheartedly and rode the elevator up to his suite in silence.
Veronica was sending his stuff back to him by mail; this was the only explanation for a package from her. He'd hoped she would have come by with it already and in person. He wanted desperately to see her, to talk to her. This package seemed so cowardly, and Logan certainly did not think of Veronica Mars as a coward.
Muttering to himself, Logan found a letter opener and cut the tape off the sides of the package.
"Might as well get this over with…she probably left a small bomb in here, to set off while I'm sleeping to show me up for not sending her back her stuff."
Opening the box, he found a lot of foam peanuts and a smaller container. Puzzled, he opened the second box and found a stack of photos. The top one he recognized, it was him and Veronica at the beach, he had a copy of this same photo on his dresser. The next one he didn't understand, it was a calendar with a date circled, then a clock, then a picture of the Grand, what was this? None of these were his photos, and he doubted that many people would want a photo of a door marked "415."
He flipped to the next photo, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was Veronica, standing in her room in front of her mirror. She wore something that vaguely resembled a Santa suit, except this version was more of a red velvet bikini top and a miniskirt trimmed in fur. The fishnet stockings she wore tucked in to ankle-high black stiletto boots had his mouth watering. She was examining her reflection, one hand on her hip, the other adjusting the Santa hat on her head.
In the next photo, Veronica sat facing the camera, legs spread wide in a kind of center split. She was leaning forward on her elbows, head tilted to one side, wearing the reddest lipstick he'd ever seen. Her lips were pursed in a half-smile he called her 'vixen look' and on the back of this last picture she'd written one sentence:
Don't be late.
Intrigued, he flipped back through the images, assembling what she wanted him to do. He was to go to room 415 on December 24th at 11 P.M., or so he assumed, for the clock she'd photographed had a small picture of the full moon leaning against it.
Glancing at his calendar, he groaned aloud. Today was only Monday, and the 24th was still five whole days away. At least, Logan thought, he had these charming new photos of Veronica to keep him occupied until then.
-------------------------
At exactly eleven in the evening, Logan stood outside the door of room 415, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He'd tried the doorknob when he'd arrived fifteen minutes ago, but he found the room locked. When he'd knocked, he'd gotten no response. When he knocked again, an index card was slipped from under the door that read "You're early" in Veronica's neat script.
Inside the room, Veronica watched him through the peephole. When he'd knocked almost fifteen minutes ago, she'd suddenly become extremely nervous. What in the hell had she been thinking, taking those pictures and setting this up?
This was Logan coming to meet her, the boy she'd trusted, hated, adored, abused, and was somehow still madly in love with. They certainly didn't need a good round of fucking each other's brains out, they needed a shrink. Or a whole team of shrinks.
But her skimpy Santa outfit begged 'take me' and he was standing outside waiting to do so. And she wanted it, she couldn't deny that. After all, it was Christmastime, and hadn't she been a good (well, mostly good) girl?
"I suppose I could wait 'till New Year's to resolve to work on our actual issues," she muttered, breathing slowly to calm herself and praying to God that her strength of will held out.
She flipped the lock and pulled the door open, cocking her hip to one side and fixing him with what she hoped was a sexy stare.
"Hello there," she purred.
"Hello yourself, Miss Claus."
He looked her up and down before moving into the room. It wasn't close to being the size of his suite; this room consisted only of a tiny bedroom and adjoining bathroom. He noticed an overnight bag sitting on the counter before she danced around him, quickly, shutting the door to the bathroom. When she turnned back to him, she had a nervous grin on her face.
"Veronica, what does this mean to you?" He gestured between them, "I mean, this, being here and all."
Gathering her confidence, she pushed on his chest until he was forced to step back. She leaned in as he leaned back and fell onto the bed. Veronica climbed on top of him, planting one knee on either side of his chest.
"This," she said softly, running a finger down the side of his face and across his chin, "means that I want you. I screwed up, and now I'm making it up to you."
She sat up, beginning to pull off the velvet bikini halter top, but Logan reached up and stopped her.
"I want it on. I want to fuck you in this sexy little outfit."
Pushing up into a sitting position, Logan shifted so that Veronica sat astride his lap. She tugged off his shirt and placed her Santa cap on his head.
"So I'm not the only one wearing a ridiculous costume," she explained.
His eyebrows twitched and she could feel his cock jerk through his pants.
"Trust me, babe, I'm thinking less along the lines of 'ridiculous' and more along the lines of 'ridiculously hot.'"
Flipping her over onto the bed, he pulled her boots off. Veronica lifted her hips as he ran his fingers along her fishnet tights, but he didn't move to pull them off.
Instead, he kissed her. Fiercely, deeply, and with enough fervor to make her wonder how she'd managed to hold out on coming to him for a whole month. His tongue teased the seam of her lips, and she clutched at his arms, bringing him closer.
His bare chest brushed against the velvet of her top, and her nipples stiffened. Moaning, she arched her back, bringing her arms up around his neck.
Smirking, he dipped his head, pressing a kiss to her clavicle. Brushing his thumb across the swell of her skin and moving under the fabric of her top, he licked a path to her breast.
Veronica gasped when he stopped swirling his tongue around her nipple and bit her gently, lavishing attention on her with his teeth. His free hand moved down her side, a light caress that ended when he pushed away from her.
Alarmed, Veronica began to sit up, but Logan shoved her onto her back, shedding his jeans and boxers and ripping the tights from her legs.
Logan inserted one long finger into her as he fumbled blindly for his wallet with his other hand. Realizing through a hazy screen of lust that Logan was searching for a condom, Veronica slipped her hand under the pillow next to her head, revealing several foil packets she'd stashed there.
"Came prepared, Santa baby?" he inquired with a grin.
"Best watch your mouth—" she said, crying out when he added another finger, "I know if you've been bad or good and I'm—" he twisted his fingers inside her and she squealed in pleasure, "in charge of the gift-giving around here."
"Really? Well then I guess I can just quit working so hard for you, eh?"
Logan pulled his fingers out of her and rolled on a condom before spreading her legs and plunging inside her. Her body hugged his throbbing cock as he pounded into her again and again. He pushed in all the way to the hilt and then moved back out again, dragging out his movements.
She twisted beneath his weight, shuddering and gasping out his name as she came. Her muscles tightened around him, and with another sloppy thrust, he filled the latex.
Breathing heavily, Logan rolled off her, and Veronica turned on to her side, looking at him. He was sweaty, and they both reeked of sex. Miraculously, the Santa hat she'd shoved onto his head had stayed on, its fur trim now matted against his brow.
Turning his head to meet her gaze, she felt something stir within her yet again. She'd planned this night of debauchery for him, after all. Shouldn't she be the one doling out the pleasure here?
Reaching her hand down between them, she pulled the condom off his cock. With feather-light movements, she stroked him, teasing him back to hardness. Without breaking eye contact, she repositioned herself over him.
Taking her hands off of him, she straightened her skirt and ran her hands across her bare abdomen, watching his face as she touched herself. Cupping her breasts when she ran her hands across her chest, Veronica smiled down at him before she tipped her head back. Tangling her fingers in her hair, she rolled her body, eliciting a hiss of appreciation from Logan.
His hands came up to steady her hips as she sank slowly down onto him. With teasing eyes now locked with his lust-filled ones, she lifted herself up, and he groaned out her name. Suddenly, he pulled her back down, impaling her on his length. Veronica rocked her hips back and forth, riding him to his climax and shrieking out her own as she felt him flow inside her.
Once again side by side, her head resting on Logan's arm, she sighed contentedly.
"Veronica?"
"Mmmm?"
"That second time…we didn't use a condom."
"I'm on the Pill, and we're both clean. I wanted to feel you come inside me, Logan."
He groaned, pulling a pillow over his face.
"No more dirty talk. Too tired for more sex."
Amused, Veronica sat up, tilting her head to one side as she smiled at the red velvet Santa hat she could see above the pillow that covered him.
"No more sex, huh? Should I add that to my list of New Year's Resolutions?"
"Sure. Right above learning to keep your nose out of everyone's business," he replied, his voice laden with sarcasm.
Biting her lip, she answered him seriously.
"How about learning to trust the guy I can always depend on?"
She removed the pillow from his face and searched into his dark eyes for a glimmer of hope.
He took a deep breath and asked, "So how about giving me what I really want for Christmas?"
"What's that?"
"A kiss from an incredibly sexy Santa," he paused momentarily and then continued, "and breakfast in bed with my girlfriend?"
Grinning, Veronica settled herself next to him.
"I think I can manage that."