Page 174 of Lucky Mother Pucker

I smooth my hand over the fabric, then look at myself in the mirror. I turn to get a glimpse of the back with Leo’s name and number.

Peretti. Number 53.

I can hardly contain my smile. I can’t wait to see his reaction.

I walk out of the bathroom and head back into the bedroom.

For a second, I linger in the open doorway. Leo’s looking at Wally, petting his belly.

“It’s funny how you got me two Christmas gifts,” he says to me while smiling down at Wally. “I got you two gifts too. How perfect is…”

He trails off when he sees me. “Oh, fuck,” he growls.

I bite back a grin as I spin around and pull my hair up. I glance over my shoulder at him. His mouth is hanging open, and there’s a dazed look in his eyes.

“Surprise,” I say softly.

His gaze fixes on my back. He swallows hard before looking up at my face. “Come here,” he growls.

My belly dips as I walk up to him. He stands up, grabs me by the waist, and pulls me against him. And then he crashes his mouth against mine.

He teases my lips apart, lapping at my tongue. I moan.

“You look so fucking hot in my jersey,” he growls against my mouth.

“You like it?” I rasp.

He drags his mouth down the slope of my neck. “I fucking love it.”

He leans back and holds my gaze. “You’re wearing that to every one of my games from now on.”

I grin, feeling ridiculously happy and giddy.

The sound of Wally’s feeder goes off downstairs. He hops out of bed, then races out of the bedroom. We both laugh at the sound of him galloping down the hallway.

Leo starts to pull me onto the bed and slides his hands up the jersey.

“Wait, what about my gifts?” I tease.

He pulls back, sighing. He smiles. “Right.” He moves me to sit on the bed. “Wait here.”

He leaves, then comes back with a big, flat box wrapped in shiny red paper.

I rip it open. When I see what it is, I gasp.

For a few seconds, I can’t speak. All I can do is stare.

I look at the beautiful oil-painted image on a canvas. It’s me and my parents and Wally, huddled together in front of the Christmas tree. My favorite photo of us. Leo had it turned into a painting.

My eyes water and my throat goes tight. I look up at the original framed photo, which is sitting on the top shelf of his bookcase against the wall. When I found it in that box of my parents’ things, Leo insisted I display it in his bedroom so I could look at it whenever I wanted.

I look up at him. “Leo, this is…” I trail off. The emotion bubbling up inside of me is too much.

I wipe the tears as they stream down my cheeks. I sniffle and look down at the painting once more, mesmerized by how beautiful it is.

“I love it,” I sob. “This is the most thoughtful, incredible gift.”

His mouth curves up in a relieved smile. He cradles my face in his hands and kisses me softly.