Page 112 of Filthy Fae

Funny thing was, I wasn’t a bit worried about her hugging Cody, even if I did wish it were me. I knew beyond a doubt that Amber would never betray us. No matter how much Cody wanted her, she would never be his. She was ours. In a funny way, we’d done just what our parents wanted. Our father had paid us to take her in and tame her wild ways, and her mother had wanted her to learn responsibility. Now Amber helped run the ranch, and she’d settled down. She wasn’t going out getting drunk, and she wasn’t running around with lots of men. She was in a long-term committed relationship. Sure, she liked to have a glass of wine or two and take it from her three stepbrothers at once, but no one had said that was off limits when they sent her our way.

As we slipped into the pew, Amber took a seat between me and Cody. I listened to her sweet voice singing carols, and I ached to take her hand in mine and wind my fingers through her slender ones. Not being able to touch her in public only built anticipation for later, though. I knew that from experience. The excitement was half the magic, like waiting to unwrap presents on Christmas morning. With Amber as a gift, this would be the best Christmas of my life.

10

Amber

As I sat in the church pew, I itched to reach out and take Holden’s big hand, to slide my fingers between his and feel small and dainty compared to his monster paws. Instead, I sang the carols with the other parishioners, letting the mood of the evening settle over me. Tonight, we’d have snow. We’d wake up to a white Christmas, watch each other open gifts, and take care of the animals. We’d eat a big dinner and I’d take a nap while the guys watched whatever game was on. At night, we’d sit around the fire telling stories and getting drunk on eggnog. I’d make Christmas cookies with Sawyer like I had last year—and hopefully I wouldn’t burn them.

Even though Lidia would hang around most of the day, I didn’t mind. I actually enjoyed the ornery old biddy. Sure, she liked to criticize me as much as Waylon, but once she relaxed, she was lots of fun. Compared to my ice queen mother, she was a dream. I’d even come to love her tacky fingernails, now decorated with little reindeer faces, complete with a shiny red gemstone accent for Rudolph’s nose. And the woman could cook like nobody’s business. Looking at her over there singing to her heart’s contentment, with an arm around Cody, I thought I might not mind having her for a mother-in-law one day.

When Holden slid an arm around me during “Silent Night,” warmth filled up my chest until I thought I’d burst. Thank the baby Jesus that I had Holden to balance out Waylon’s prickly comments. Holden had accepted me just as I was from the very start, and even if he didn’t challenge me to grow quite as often as the others, he loved me just as much when I changed and grew as he had from the start. And I’d love him just the same no matter what. I couldn’t wait to see how we all grew and changed and learned to fit together all over again.

Finally church was over, and we headed outside. “Well, I guess I’ll see you two in an hour or so,” Lidia said. “Don’t hang the stockings without me.”

“Come on now, Ma, we’re too old for that,” Holden said, an adorable blush sweeping over his cheeks.

I was still caught on the part before that. “You’re coming tonight?” I squeaked. I’d had big plans tonight, and they did not include snoozing quietly and waiting for Santa.

“You know what they say,” she said with a wink. “If you can’t bring Moses to the mountain…”

“Likely won’t be able to get over there tomorrow,” Cody said, plucking his hat from the rack in the church atrium and scrunching his hat down on his head. “Not with this storm moving in.”

“The plows won’t be out on Christmas,” Lidia said. “Not that early. I need to get over there in time to make dinner.”

My mouth watered at the memory of last year’s ham—the crispy, sweet outside and the juicy, salty inside. Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself opening my mouth and agreeing. I’d spent most of my life ordering takeout Chinese for Christmas dinner, and a table full of Lidia’s homemade family recipes was an offer I couldn’t refuse. What can I say, a girl’s gotta eat.

“Thank you,” Cody said quietly, tipping his hat to me as we stepped outside. His eyes caught mine, and a charge ran straight through my traitorous body and settled with a throb in my clit. Shit.

The blast of sub-arctic wind that smacked into us at the speed of a train cooled me right down. It banged the glass door of the church open so hard I let out a little shriek of surprise, sure it would shatter. Somehow, it managed to hang onto its hinges, and Holden wrapped an arm around me. Bracing ourselves, we plowed through the hurricane gusts and made it to the truck, though Holden had to hold his hat on with one hand the entire way.

When we pulled up at the ranch, all the lights in the lodge were blazing, the warm glow spilling onto the snow and making me warm inside. I couldn’t wait to be alone with my three boys for an hour before their mom arrived. My pulse raced at the thought. With their mom staying over, this would be our only chance. I grabbed Holden’s hand, and we took off through the punishing wind. Icy crystals from the last snow blew along the surface of the crust and slashed at our faces. We ran up onto the porch and stomped off our boots before ducking inside.

The fireplace was roaring, and a huge pile of logs sat ready to warm us through the night. I could hear someone moving around the kitchen, and the delicious smell of cinnamon and spices filled the air. Cheery Christmas music drifted out through the toasty lodge. When I’d arrived, it had been barren of decorations except for a rack of deer antlers. Now it held touches of Christmas from the red and white table runner to the boughs on the mantel, the basket of pinecones on the coffee table to the sprig of mistletoe dangling above the kitchen entrance.

As soon as we’d closed the door and stomped off our boots, I stuck my head into the kitchen. Sawyer was dancing around, sliding his cowboy boots across the wood floor as he moved to stir something on the stove and then back to the counter where he was putting the final touches on a tray of blintzes.

“There’s my woman,” Sawyer said, sliding the tray into the oven before dancing over and grabbing my hand. His other hand, still stuffed inside an oven mitt, found the small of my back. Grinning down at me, he started dancing me around the room, singing along to “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

“Glad to see that someone’s in the holiday spirit,” I said as we danced past the table. I had come a long way in the country dancing department. I could do a respectable two-step, all the line dances, and even the country waltz. I hadn’t learned the Christmas tango, or whatever we were doing, but Sawyer was a good leader, and I could follow along easy enough.

Sawyer spun me under the mistletoe and stopped to kiss me, his neck arching as he bent his head, his hips pressed against mine. He ran his hand down from my back and over my ass, lodging his hand as far between my legs as it would get. Which felt so weird through an oven mitt that I broke away, laughing.

“How’s my favorite horny baker?” I asked, holding his face between my hands. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

“Horny,” Sawyer said, burying his face in my neck and rocking his hips against mine. I could feel his erection growing by the second. “If I’d known you were wearing this to church, I would have said fuck the cows and gone with y’all.”

“Is Waylon still out there?”

“He had to run into town real quick,” Sawyer said, stepping back over to the stove.

“In this?” I asked, gesturing to the window. “Is he crazy? When did he leave? How long has he been gone?”

“Uh…I don’t know, a while back,” Sawyer said, rubbing the back of his neck. “He’ll be back real soon.”

“Yeah, well, he’d better,” I said.

Half an hour later, the blintzes were done, but Waylon had still not arrived. “He’ll be fine, Amber,” Holden said, patting my hand. “We grew up here. He knows how to handle the roads in any condition.”