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“It’s one of many to come,” he says, pulling me close and kissing me again.
44
EPILOGUE - JESSE
* * *
It’s Christmas morning and I’ve got Andi Summers lying in bed beside me. Fuck whatever’s under the tree. This is all I need.
I smile sleepily as I lift a lock of her dark hair and watch it practically sparkle in the morning light streaming through my window. She groans, squeezing her eyes until her nose wrinkles, and then yawns.
“Hey,” she croaks. As soon as she spots me, she scoots closer and curls into me.
I put my arms around her, pulling her even closer. “Merry Christmas,” I say.
“Oh!” She pops upright, almost headbutting me in the chin. She looks down, realizes she’s not wearing a top, then covers her breasts and laughs. “What did you do to me?”
I chuckle. “Come on. Let’s get dressed. Carter is always the first one awake on Christmas. If we don’t get out there, he’ll probably open all his presents without us.”
Andi, clad in nothing but a pair of panties, scrambles out of bed and starts gathering her clothes from my floor and tossing them on as she finds them. I get dressed, brush my teeth, and head out to the living room with her.
Nolan is up and making coffee. The whole cabin smells like syrup, biscuits, and cinnamon.
Carter is sitting very close to the tree looking suspicious.
“Morning, Captain,” Carter says, giving me a cheesy salute.
“Joker,” I say, grinning. “You aren’t trying to peek at your presents, are you?”
“I just shook ‘em a bit.”
“Bad luck,” Maddox says. He’s shuffling into the living room, clad in PJs with his hair a mess. “Every time you peek at a present, a cute kid dies somewhere.”
“Dude,” Carter says, shaking his head. “You just made that one up.”
Maddox shrugs. “Did I, though? You won’t ever know for sure. You’ll just be blasting kids all over the globe because you’re too impatient to wait and see what you got. Is it worth it?”
I laugh, because Carter looks seriously concerned.
“Biscuits?” Nolan asks.
“Me!” Andi says, rushing toward the kitchen. “Where’s Mia, by the way?” she asks around a mouthful of hot biscuit.
“She… couldn’t come,” Nolan says.
Evasive. Something’s going on there. The two of them haven’t admitted they’re into each other, but it has been pretty obvious for weeks now. If she’s not here for Christmas, he must’ve screwed something up.
Jake slaps me on the back and gives a squeeze. “Morning, asshole.”
“Morning,” I say. “Merry Christmas.”
He points at me, still gripping my uninjured shoulder. “You did a good job last night, by the way. That was… yeah. Andi deserved something like that. I’m glad you gave it to her.”
I nod. “She did deserve it.”
“And you were a dick for not realizing it sooner.” He reaches up to mess up my hair and then turns to grab two biscuits. He shoves one in his mouth, chewing and then flicking Andi on the head. “Morning, Goober.”
“Merry Christmas!” she says, hugging him.
