I promised them champagne, so probably not until after that.
“Was it too much?” I whisper, worried that maybe I should’ve done this in private, instead of inviting everyone we know to invade our personal space.
“No.” He shakes his head vigorously. “Maybe a little chaotic.”
I shrug. If he hasn’t figured out that life with me comes with a hearty dose of chaos by now, he never will.
“Come on, then. Let’s celebrate.” Leo pops the cork from one of the champagne bottles and starts pouring everyone a glass.
“You hear him,” I say to Aidan. “Time to celebrate.”
Aidan gives me a hungry look, one that says his idea of a party doesn’t include champagne. Or friends and family.
“Later,” I whisper.
When everyone has a glass, Aidan clears his throat. “I guess I should say something, but I’m still a little speechless.” He turns to me, his cheeks a bright shade of red. “Um, on behalf of myself and my… fiancé, thank you for coming.” Happiness explodes inside me when he says the wordfiancé. “Drink up and then get out.” He gets a nice round of laughs before everyone’s downing their drinks and mingling.
It gives me a minute to pull him close to me and kiss him again, this time with less of an audience. “I love you, fiancé,” I say.
“I love you, too, fiancé.” He kisses my forehead in a sweet gesture that melts my heart. “This is the best Christmas present ever.”
“Better than thePower Ranger?” I ask. It took me a bit, but I did finally give him the gift I got for Christmas last year. It was repurposed as a Valentine’s Day gift, though I quicklybroke down and told him the whole story of how it was bought and stored away. It sits—unopened—on one of our bookcases.
“I don’t think that counts. You didn’t give it to me on Christmas, so was it really a Christmas present?”
I ponder his reasoning for a moment. “Was it better than the hot chocolate?” Such a terrible choice of a backup gift, though I know he went through it all. I keep our home well-stocked for such chocolate emergencies now. They happen more than one might think.
“Hmmm…” He spends way too long thinking about it, so I give his ass a little pinch.
“Hey! That’s a tough question, but yes, I think this is the better gift.” He gives me another quick kiss. “We should probably mingle.”
“Yeah, probably,” I say. Is it so bad that I want to keep Aidan all to myself tonight?
“Come on. The sooner we say hi to everyone, the sooner they leave.” Once again, he’s got a great point.
“Whatever you say, fiancé.”
