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Not that I would have.
I wrapped my legs around him and kept kissing him as he walked to the living room. We both laughed when he kept bumping into things like the wall and some of the little side tables that littered the front hallway.
“God, I just can’t get enough of this,” I muttered against his mouth.
I’d finally stopped trying to hide my relationship with Maddox at the sanctuary, especially in front of Dallas and Nolan, since they’d clearly known for a while that he and I were seeing each other. I hadn’t been so sure about whether or not Sawyer had known, but Maddox had taken care of that by grabbing me and kissing me while I’d been in the middle of talking to Sawyer in the office. The attractive vet had been asking if Newt and I wanted to come check out the hobby farm he’d only recently purchased. I hadn’t considered the invitation a date of any kind, and I hadn’t gotten the impression Sawyer had intended it as such, but Maddox had heard something he hadn’t liked and had proceeded to kiss me silly in front of the man. I probably should have been pissed that he’d been like a wild animal marking its territory, but secretly I’d been really turned on. Who knew I went for the possessive, growly type? Sawyer, completely unfazed, had waited until Maddox had finished, then proceeded to invite him to come along with me and Newt to see the place. To my surprise, Maddox had accepted. It’d meant a tense car ride, but that was something else that had changed in the past couple of weeks.
Although Maddox was still walking to work every morning, he was letting Dallas drive him home each evening. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was trying to challenge himself in the hopes he’d be able to cope with his fear better when it came time for me and Newt to leave. I had mixed feelings about that, because while I really wanted Maddox to start to heal from the trauma of it all, I didn’t want to be encouraging something for the wrong reasons.
It was just another thing I was trying really hard not to think about so I wouldn’t be forced to make any kind of decisions about anything.
Maddox carried me into the living room. I expected him to take me right to his sleeping bag, but he stopped and let me slide down his body until I was forced to stand on my own. I was about to protest when he pulled his mouth from mine and whispered, “Turn around, baby.”
I gasped when I took in the room. The fireplace was going as usual, but instead of a sleeping bag in front of the blazing fire, there was now a mattress there. A Christmas tree decorated with what seemed like hundreds of tiny bright white lights stood in the corner. There were more lights strung up along the windows overlooking the back yard, and pillar candles were set up on just about every piece of furniture, making the room glow. Dozens of brightly wrapped presents were beneath the tree.
“What did you do?” I asked in disbelief.
Maddox took my hand and led me to the mattress. “Sit there,” he said, as he pointed to the middle of it. I did as he said and watched as he went to the Christmas tree and grabbed half a dozen packages and carried them to the bed. He put them between us and said, “Merry Christmas, Isaac,” then leaned in to kiss me. He maneuvered himself so he was sitting with his legs on either side of me with the packages between us.
“What is this?” I asked as he handed me one of the presents. My throat felt tight as humiliation swamped my system. “You got me presents?” I whispered. “Oh my God.”
I began to cry. Although we hadn’t talked about getting something for each other, I’d just assumed Christmas would be about Newt. “I didn’t get you anything,” I said in horror. I looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I’ve never—”
He cut me off with a toe-curling, mind-numbing kiss.
“Isaac, sweetheart,” he said after he pulled his mouth free of mine. “You have no idea what you’ve given me. Even if I could find the words, it would take me until next Christmas to make you understand what it’s meant to me that you…” He shook his head, then kissed me again. He picked up the package I’d ended up dropping on the bed and said, “Open it.”
My fingers shook as I ripped into the present, and I couldn’t stop sniffling as I tried to hold back my tears. Trey had gotten me gifts, but they’d always been generic things like flowers and candy and the occasional sex toy that had been more for him than me. He’d never given me anything that was me.
