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Marcel doubles over, shaking with laughter. “She definitely takes after Heidi.”
Scooting forward, I hook my finger in his waistband. “I believe you said something about a Christmas orgasm.”
All teasing disappears and he focuses on me. “Yes, I did.”
After Charlotte and I exchange Christmas orgasms in the shower—not an easy feat when I’m pretty sure Blake was downstairs running all the hot water taps to hurry us along—we head downstairs.
“Morning!” Heidi shouts. She’s blur of plaid flannel pajamas and wild hair as she barrels into me for a hug. “Sorry if we woke you up.”
I squeeze her tight and muss her hair. “Sleep okay, bed head?”
She smacks my hand away with a smile. “You’ve got your own bed head going on, smart guy,” she says, jumping up to rub her hand over my head.
“Breakfast or presents?” Murphy yells from the kitchen.
“Better do breakfast first. Alexa won’t let you in another year or so,” Charlotte says.
“That’s what I thought too.” Heidi grabs Charlotte’s hand and then mine, dragging us into the kitchen. “That’s why I already started pre-heating the oven. I hope that’s okay?”
“That’s fine,” Charlotte says. “Thank you.”
Murphy has coffee poured for everyone, and after picking Alexa up and settling into one of the kitchen chairs, I heckle him for being so domesticated.
Charlotte narrows her eyes at me. “Are you trying to pretend you don’t have dinner ready almost every night when I get home from work?”
“Listen, ginger wonder-twins,” I say, pointing at the two of them. “No more of this conspiring nonsense.” I shift my gaze to Charlotte. “And you. What happens in our kitchen, stays in our kitchen.”
“Eee!” Alexa squeals.
“See, even Alexa agrees with me.”
Murphy grunt-laughs and slaps me on the back before setting a carton of creamer on the table.
Heidi hugs me from behind, wrapping her arms around my neck and practically choking me. “Aww, I knew my big brother would be good husband material for some lucky lady one day.” She kisses my cheek before racing back to the stove.
“Lucky lady with the patience of a saint,” Murphy adds.
“Da!” Alexa reaches for Murphy and he rubs a hand over her head. Then rubs his knuckles over my head.
“Knock it off,” I mutter, slapping him away.
The loud chatter of my favorite girls and warm scents of Christmas breakfast fill the kitchen. Murphy takes the chair to my left and together we watch Charlotte and Heidi.
“Is Carter coming over?” he asks.
“I think so.”
Charlotte turns around. “Bianca needed him to pick her up again last night.” She rolls her eyes. “So she might be joining us too.”
“You trust her?” Murphy asks me.
I shrug. I’ve only met the girl a couple times in passing. She seems nice enough.
“At our house, yes,” Charlotte answers. “With my brother’s heart, not so much.”
Murphy snorts. “Is he interested in getting into her heart or her pants?”
“Ewww,” Charlotte groans. “Both probably.”
“Aww,” Heidi sighs. “He’s so sweet. I hope she’s not using him.”
Murphy shakes his head.
Breakfast is loud and delicious. Heidi makes this breakfast-bread-pudding thing that I’m sorry I teased her about last night when she prepped it.
“I can admit when I’m wrong, little sis. This was worth all the work you did last night.”
“Thank you.” She grins and pushes the glass dish my way again.
“Oh my God. You two need to stay over more often,” Charlotte says. “I could get used to this.”
Heidi laughs. “Then it wouldn’t be as special.”
After breakfast, Murphy and I clean up while Heidi takes care of Alexa and Charlotte brings presents downstairs. We meet up in the living room to exchange gifts.
“Marcel first,” Heidi yells, dropping a sparkling green package in my lap. “Because you’re the oldest.”
“Actually, Charlotte is,” I point out.
“That’s okay.” Charlotte waves her hand at me. “You go first.”
“Careful,” Heidi says, watching me intently.
Pushing layers of tissue paper aside, I uncover a heavy ten-inch blade. I grip it by the clearly custom-made blue and dark gray handle, turning it over. “Is it a Battle Mistress?”
“Yup.”
Overwhelmed, I meet her eager eyes. “Heidi, it must have been really expensive.”
Her cheeks flush. “I wanted to get you something nice. And I have a job now, you know.”
Charlotte touches my side. “Holy shit, Heidi. I don’t know if he can handle something so big.”
Still a little choked up, I ignore Charlotte’s teasing, even though I know it’s her way of telling me to say thank you instead of questioning my sister.
“Blake said you lost your good hunting knife this year.” She gingerly takes it from me, testing its weight. “The guy I ordered it from said it’s sturdy enough to behead a moose with.”
I laugh and take it back from her. “We don’t have moose around here.”
She shrugs. “You never know.”
I pull Heidi in and kiss her forehead. “Thank you. I really love it. I always wanted one. I didn’t know they came in different colors.”
Eyes sparkling and happy smile in place, she moves on to passing out other gifts.
Murphy and I don’t usually exchange gifts. He and Heidi left their gifts for each other at Rock and Hope’s, so soon we’re on to spoiling the shit out of Alexa. Overwhelmed from the sheer number of toys and clothes we heap on her, she ends up passing out in a pile of wrapping paper. Heidi scoops her up, settling her daughter in her arms to watch her snooze.
This is the kind of Christmas I wanted Heidi to have when she was a kid. I always tried, but it never seemed good enough.
“You all right, bro?” Murphy says, sitting next to me.
“I’m glad you guys are here. Thanks.”
“That’s my gift to you,” he jokes.
I tap the box with my knife in it. “You shouldn’t have let her spend that much money.”
“Shouldn’t have let her? You’ve met your sister, right?” He takes the lid off the box. “I think Rock helped her order it. Did you notice the blade?”
I pull it out and examine it closer. Our club’s skull and crown are engraved near the handle with my initials underneath.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, so, you know, don’t go gutting anyone with it.”
I choke on a laugh and Heidi glances up. “What?”
“Nothing. Your boyfriend pointed out the engraving.”
She rolls her eyes. “Fiancé. We’re close to setting a date, you know.”
“Your old man pointed out the engraving.”
“Wow,” Murphy says. “That might be the first time you’ve said it without turning green.”
“Shut up.” I shove him into the pile of pillows at the end of the couch and he jabs his foot into my leg. “Get your smelly feet off me.”
He kicks me harder.
“Boys, please,” Charlotte warns, breaking us up and sitting in between us.
Carter knocks on the side door and Charlotte gets up to let him in. I take the opportunity to tackle Murphy and wrestle him down to the floor.
We bump into Heidi, jostling Alexa awake and she lets out a scream, stopping both of us.
Heidi glares and holds out my niece. “You woke her, you can have her.”
“Did I wake you, baby?” I ask in the mushy voice I only use with Alexa. She stops fussing and settles into my hold, reaching for one of her new toys.
Murphy pulls Heidi into his lap and she fusses over him like he just returned from battle.
“Whoa,” Carter says, joining us. “Looks like Christmas exploded in here.”
“Merry Christmas, Ca
rter,” Heidi says. Her gaze drops to Carter and Bianca’s entwined hands and she grins. “You must be Bianca. Hi.”
“Thanks for letting me join your family, Mr. Whelan,” Bianca says. I can’t tell if the breathy tone she uses is supposed to be sexy or the result of a hangover.
I’m not sure how I feel about being called Mr. Whelan or having this chick in my house, but it’s Christmas, so I try not to be a grouch about it.
“Your sister’s been waiting for you.” I nod to a small stack of presents by the tree.
For a second it’s awkward because I don’t think anyone has anything for Bianca, but then Charlotte appears with a package. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see you today or not,” she says, handing it to Bianca.
“Thank you, Char.”
A couple hours later, it’s time to clean up and get moving. “I told Rock we’d be over by noon.”
Heidi stands and wipes bits of paper off her legs. “I doubt they’re up yet.”
“I need to go to my parents’,” Bianca says, turning to Carter. “You can join me.”
“Uh,” he glances at me. “I’m supposed to go—”
“You can show up whenever you want, Carter. No big deal.”
I can’t tell if he’s relieved or he wanted me to give him an excuse for why he can’t go.
Charlotte frets over it after they leave, until I pull her aside. “He’s a big boy.”
“I know, I just don’t want him getting hurt.”
“He looked happy,” Murphy says.
“He looked confused,” Heidi corrects.
I nudge the girls toward the stairs. “Go start getting ready or we’re going to be late.”
Murphy shakes his head after they disappear. “Poor bastard. How’s he supposed to get laid with his sister right next door and in his business?”
“Maybe I should introduce him to some bunnies later.”
“No bunnies at the clubhouse tonight, bro.” He shakes his head. “No available ones anyway.”
“Come on. Let’s get ready. Rock’s gonna be annoyed if we’re late.”
“Last present!” Hope calls out. She makes a big show of reading the tag, even though we wrapped it ourselves last night. “It’s for you, Heidi!”
“Me?” she asks, accepting the small box Hope hands her.
Teller glances at me and raises an eyebrow. I shrug as if I have no idea. While Heidi, Murphy, and Alexa spent the night at Teller and Charlotte’s place, leaving Hope and I to a Christmas Eve alone—which we took full advantage of—they all showed up at the house before noon for Christmas brunch and gift unwrapping.
Intrigued by the box in Heidi’s hands, Alexa crawls out of my lap and over to Heidi, plopping down in front her. “You want to help?” Heidi asks.
Alexa squees and rips at the paper, but Murphy scoops her up before she starts stuffing the bow in her mouth.
“Oh my God!” Heidi yelps. “Tickets to Country Fest?”
“Well, Murphy said you’ve never been to a concert,” Hope says. “And I know you like Dawson Roads a lot.”
“But these must have cost a fortune, Hope. They always sell out right away.”
Hope just smiles. She’d gone to a lot of trouble and was pretty damn excited to score the tickets to the big country music festival that happens every year about an hour north of us.
“That’s really cool. Thanks, Hope,” Murphy says.
“Oh, wait.” Heidi’s eyes widen. “There’re four tickets here.”
Hope glances at Teller and Charlotte. “I figured you’d want to go with another couple or something.”
“You don’t want to come with us?” Heidi asks.
Well aware of my aversion to large, obnoxious crowds of drunk wanna-be cowboys, Hope waves the suggestion away. “You don’t want the old couple tagging along.”
“Hey.” I poke her in the side.
Ignoring me, she continues, “Besides, we’ll watch Alexa for you.”
Heidi reaches over, hugging Hope. “Are you sure? You’ll have enough of your own stuff going on this summer.”
“I’m sure.”
“If we can’t, for some reason,” I say, glancing at Hope. “You know Wrath and Trin will always watch her.”
“I know. I just hate—”
Heidi’s protest is cut off by the couple in question knocking, then coming in without waiting for an answer.
“Merry Christmas!” Trinity yells.
I stand and pull Hope up off the floor with me, so she can hug Trinity.
They have a bag of gifts for Alexa. She half-crawls, half-walks over to show off her bright red dress.
“Look at you in the fancy dress!” Trinity says, picking Alexa up and giving as many kisses as she receives. “Did Santa bring you lots of goodies?”
Alexa nods vigorously.
“Did you leave cookies out for Santa?” Wrath asks.
“Coo-coos!” Alexa giggles and points to our dining room table.
Trinity sets her down and Wrath hands over the bag. Alexa’s thrilled to have more wrapping paper to shred and toss in the air.
“I think the unwrapping is her favorite part,” Charlotte says.
Z’s next to pop in and Alexa squeals in delight at the big red and white Santa cap he’s wearing.
“That hat makes you look like a male stripper,” Wrath says.
“Don’t be jealous that I thought of it and you didn’t,” Z quips, bending down to pick up Alexa and swing her around. “Are you having a good Christmas?”
“Yaya!”
“Oh my God,” Heidi laughs. “I swore ‘no’ was going to be her answer to every question for the rest of her life. Thank you, Z.”
Teller and Murphy help pick up the stray bits of paper and arrange all the opened presents under the tree.
“Clubhouse is packed,” Z says. “Swan’s got everything started in the kitchen, but I think she’s waiting for you two.” He nods to Trinity and Heidi.
“We were all about to head over,” I say.
Charlotte groans. “I don’t know if I can eat any more food today.”
“Let me go put the tickets in my room,” Heidi says. “So Alexa doesn’t end up making confetti out of them.”
“Good plan,” Teller says.
Wrath, Trinity, and Z head over to the clubhouse first.
Hope runs upstairs to change and I follow.
“You’re okay going over there for the afternoon, right?” I ask.
She stares at my reflection in the mirror while brushing her hair. “Of course I am. I’ve been looking forward to dinner with everyone.”
I wrap my arms around her middle and pull her against me. “You look pretty, Mrs. North.”
“Thank you.”
Digging in my pocket, I take out one last present. “I have something else for you.”
“I don’t think we have time for you to show me your pole again, Mr. North.”
Laughing so hard I almost drop the box, I shake my head. “No, you’ll get my pole again later.”
She opens the box and her eyes light up. “The North Star.” She pulls out the heavy silver pendant with a solitary diamond in the middle. “Aww, it’s beautiful.”
“It matches your bracelet.”
She lifts her arm to show me she’s wearing the bracelet today. “I love it.” She presses a kiss to my cheek. “It reminds me of you, lighting up our journey together.”
“A constant reminder how much I love you,” I add.
She turns and lifts her hair so I can slip the necklace around her neck and fix the clasp. “Thank you.”
Downstairs, everyone’s bundled up and ready to trudge through the snow to the clubhouse.
“Z cleared a trail earlier, but it’s already getting covered over,” Teller says.
“Well, we can always stay at the clubhouse if it keeps coming down this hard,” Hope answers.
Murphy snorts at the look on my face. “I think Rock will shovel you a path home before he stays there.”
&nbs
p; “Amen to that,” I mutter.
“Thnow! Tees!” Alexa yells twisting and turning in Murphy’s arms. She yanks her hat off and tosses it at Teller. Her mittens go flying next and Heidi stops to pick them up.
“I don’t know why I bother,” she mutters.
“You did the same thing when you were her age,” Teller says. “Karma never forgets.”
“Shut up.” A sneaky smile flashes across her face and she stuffs Alexa’s mittens in her pocket, then scoops up a handful of snow, balling it up and flinging it at Teller’s back.
“Oh no you didn’t, little sister!” he yells.
“Christ, keep walking, Charlotte, or you’re going to end up covered in snow,” Murphy advises, picking up his pace.
Keeping Hope out of snowball range isn’t easy. “Knock it off, you two, before someone gets hurt,” I growl as one goes flying past my face.
“Uh oh, who did Dad have to yell at now?” Wrath asks, popping up at the end of the trail.
“Shut up,” Teller snaps, flinging the snowball he’d been preparing for Heidi at Wrath instead.
The ball of snow explodes against Wrath’s chest and he calmly glances down and brushes the remnants off his coat. “Feeling suicidal today, little brother?” he asks in a grave tone.
Heidi runs ahead to catch up with Murphy. “Good luck with that, Marcel!” she shouts.
Charlotte rolls her eyes and stops to pat Wrath on the arm. “Do what you gotta do, big guy. I brought an extra change of clothes for him.”
“What am I, five?” Tellers says.
“You did just lob a snowball at your big brother,” Charlotte teases, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Do that again, woman. I have a better place for you to stick that tongue.”
When we reach Wrath, Hope shakes her head. “Get him later when he least expects it.”
An evil smile spreads across Wrath’s face.
I groan and roll my eyes. “Why are you encouraging him, Baby Doll?”
Z’s dogs are romping through the snow in front of the clubhouse. He throws a few snowballs and they race after them.
Inside the clubhouse isn’t any less chaotic. The whole family’s here. Even Charlotte’s brother, Carter decided to join us.
Alexa’s excited to see Bricks’ and Winter’s kids. Murphy sets her down to play, but keeps a close eye on her.
