AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sounds good.”
The waffle smelled done, and I opened the iron to fork it out onto a plate for Finn. Kennedy took it from me and cut up an apple to add to the plate before snagging the whipped cream from the fridge. She squirted a small mountain on top of his waffle and served it to him with a flourish, earning an excited shriek.
And I could get used to this. Our little family.
Which reminded me…
“Hey, so, I wanted to talk to you about Christmas.” I shut the waffle iron with more batter inside then placed my hand on the counter, pivoting to face her as she bent to retrieve a small pot from a lower cabinet. I ignored the desire to palm her ass and instead sidled up behind her as she placed it on a burner and flicked on the high heat. I kissed the side of her neck. “What do you usually do for the holidays?”
She added a bit of butter, sugar, and cinnamon to the pot. “Depends.”
“On what?”
“Sometimes we go with my dad’s family, sometimes we go to Mom’s, sometimes we do nothing, like last year. I got day drunk on mimosas, and we watched reality shows all day long.”
“We, meaning you and your sister?“
“Yep.” She made quick work of peeling and chopping up an apple.
“I always go to Boston,” I said, leaning on the counter to watch as she added the apple chunks to the pot. “I was wondering if you would want to go with me.”
She paused her stirring. “To meet your family?”
I toggled my head side to side. “That wouldn’t be the specific reason for you coming along, but, yes, you would meet my mom and brothers.”
“That’s…serious.”
I shrugged and moved backward to take the cooked waffle out and spoon more batter onto the iron. “It doesn’t have to be.”
She stirred the apples for a few more seconds then poured some of the sweet-smelling warm cinnamon apples on top of the waffle and picked up a fork. She carefully cut off a piece of waffle and made sure to scoop up apples before holding it up to me, expectantly. I kept my eyes on her as I accepted the forkful in my mouth, moaning at the delicious taste.
She smiled. “Good?”
“So good.” I took the fork from her and piled some onto it to feed it to her as well.
She licked her lips. “Really good.”
We stood there, feeding each other until the other waffle finished, and then I added it to the same plate. Kennedy poured on the last of the apples, and we ate that one too. When we finished, I dropped the plate into the sink, and we both sat at the table with Finn while he picked at his waffle, tearing it into tiny pieces, occasionally eating some of them. Of course, the whipped cream was completely gone. He’d eaten none of the apple slices.
That was when she finally told me, “Meeting your family for Christmas seems like a big step. I don’t want to intrude on your traditions.”
“You won’t be, I promise, but I thought you might like to come along.”
She smiled kindly. “What happened to one day at a time?”
I tapped my index finger on the table a few times. “Aside from what happened last night,” I started, then reconsidered it because it wasn’t only last night. “This has nothing to do with our…attraction. It’s about Finn. We’ll be up there for a week, and I know he’ll miss you. I thought it would be nice to spend the holiday together.”
Her attention drifted to the window for a few moments before coming back to me. “I’m touched you invited me, but could I have some time to think about it?”
I tried to pretend it didn’t feel like she was letting me down easy and forced myself to smile back at her. “Yeah. Absolutely. Of course.” I cleared my throat. “Like I said, no rush or pressure.” I turned to Finn. “Right, buddy?”
He made an engine sound as he flew an apple slice above his head like a plane. “Ight!”
“It’s only that…” She nibbled on her bottom lip, and I reached out my hand to her because it seemed like she needed it. After a moment, she said, “I tend to rush into things, and I don’t want to do that with you.” She pointedly glanced at Finn then back at me. “I don’t want to mess this up.”
I understood. “I don’t want to mess it up either.”
Her smile was slow to grow, but it was like a rainbow after a storm, the cloud in her eyes gone, and I leaned over to kiss her. Before I could pull away, she curled her hands around my shoulders. “I don’t know what your plans are for today, but I was thinking we could go get a Christmas tree since I have a few hours to kill before the show.”
