*
The last weekendof Poinsettia Paradise was smooth sailing. He even heard his dad bragging about how well the season was going to Charlie. Christmas was still a week and a half away, but unlike other Christmas tree lots, the farm only sold trees for a limited time, ending the season early. The last weekend was busy, and Mason found himself trying to keep up with demand and not spending as much time as he’d liked escaping into the barn with Natalie. In fact, besides a few times he was able to sneak away to get his Mexican hot chocolate, they didn’t spend any time together.
He couldn’t complain too much because, on both Saturday and Sunday, she came home with him. He enjoyed exploring his girlfriend’s body, familiarizing himself with what set her off and all the sweet sounds she made. Nothing made him happier.
“So, now that the season has wrapped up for you guys, are you just allowed to be lazy for the rest of the year?” she asked him as they sat in bed, sharing a bowl of peppermint ice cream.
“It’s quieter but there’s usually greenhouse prep that needs to be done, and planning for spring planting for the nursery. But this year is kind of different so I’m not exactly sure.” With his dad wanting to retire, there may be things changing in his future. They hadn’t talked much about it lately, so he wasn’t sure what was going to happen now and thinking about it stressed him out. “I don’t suppose this is also the quiet period for the coffee business. You can take time off, and we can spend Christmas somewhere warm and tropical.” He kissed her bare shoulder before taking a spoonful of the ice cream she offered him.
“I wish. My parents would probably flip out if I miss the family’s Christmas Eve get-together. However, they owe me after my uncle basically forced me to drop my usual December Tahoe vacation in order to work at your place.”
“You take a trip to Tahoe every December? Do you ski or do professional snow tube racing or something?”
“Ha! No. I-I just go to get away from everything. Take a week for myself.”
“You go by yourself?”
Her spoon scraped the edges of the ice cream in a slow circular manner, her concentration deep. “Yeah.”
“You don’t get lonely?”
“I usually made a friend or two when I was there.”
He wasn’t sure what she meant byfriendand he was afraid to ask if these were men. Not because Natalie shouldn’t be able to do whatever she wanted, but rather he couldn’t stop himself from being a little jealous of any man who got attention from her, even those in the past.
It was quiet for a moment or two. Only the sound of the metal spoon hitting the glass bowl filled the air.
“Do you regret giving up your trip?” he asked.
“No. I thought I would but…” She looked at him. “It’s funny how things turn out, right? I’ve never eaten ice cream naked in bed before, never knew there was anything to it, and now I don’t want to eat ice cream anywhere else. It’s that good.” She took the last bite, closing her eyes to savor it, and any weird jealousy he had evaporated because she was right. Anything in the past, whether in her life or his, didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things because sometimes a person just didn’t know about something until they did. And those other guys should be jealous of him because he had her and they didn’t.
He took her empty bowl, setting it on the nightstand. “So you’re doing this big Christmas Eve family thing?”
“Mm-hmm. What does your family do for Christmas?”
“Most of my extended family is in Arizona. So for the holidays it’s usually just my parents and me. I usually go over on Christmas Day. My mom makes duck for dinner. It has to be quieter than your family thing.”
“Oh, for sure. You guys have duck? I don’t think I’ve ever had duck before? Sounds fancy. They sell that at the Grocery Outlet?”
Mason chuckled. “I don’t know where she gets them. You can come if you want.”
“Oh, no. I don’t want to invade your family’s holiday—”
“Come. I want you to meet my parents.”
“I’ve already met them.”
“That doesn’t count. I want you to meet them as my girlfriend.” He kissed her shoulder again, his lips traveling to her neck.
“Oh.” She was quiet for a brief time before finally saying, “Okay.”
“You can bring a little noise to break up our normal quietness.”
“Excuse me? Are you saying I’m noisy?” But she laughed as he pushed her into the bed and began to kiss her with more intention, his hands sliding across her body.
“I keep telling you, you’re not quiet, but I like that about you,” he murmured against her skin. “I love your shoulders. You have the best shoulders.”
“I love your shoulders too.” Natalie slid her arms around his neck, her fingertips chilled from holding the ice cream bowl. He shivered when they touched him. “Do you want to come to my family’s Christmas Eve bash?” she asked.
