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Warm, wet kisses along my spine that cause goosebumps to rise on my skin from the contrast to the chilly air wake me up on Christmas morning. Brayden’s hands are on my sides, pushing up my shirt as he goes.
“What are you doing?” I mumble without opening my eyes.
“Holidays are special occasions, which means I wake you up in a special way.”
I laugh as he moves up my back and his hands slide underneath my body to find my breasts. “What time is it?”
“Early enough for you to get an early present before everyone else wakes up. Roll over.” His hands leave my breasts. He lifts himself up, and I roll over. My shirt is still hiked up from where he pushed it up, so his eyes don’t meet mine at first. I almost want to tell him no, considering we could hear his mom, but it is Christmas and I can be quiet. I want this too much anyway. Brayden dips his head to cover one of my breasts with his mouth.
He jerks away when there’s a hard knock on the bedroom door. “Wakey, wakey, kids!” Perry shouts from the other side. “Big day!”
Brayden groans and buries his face in my chest. “Let’s face it; sex is ruined for me.”
I laugh. “We just need to go home and get away from them.”
He sighs this time. “We don’t get home until nine, and then we have to get rid of the twins. I’m fucking you tonight, so please for the love of all that is good in this world, don’t be tired when we get home.” He lifts his head. There’s a tiny smile on his face as he leans forward to give me a brief kiss before getting out of bed. He pulls on a shirt and pajama pants. He’s the only guy I’ve ever dated that doesn’t wear pajamas in the winter. I asked him about it last night; he said he gets too warm and he likes less anyway. Seems we’re alike in that manner. Dressed, Brayden holds out his hand. “Mom’s tradition growing up meant staying in pajamas all day, so let’s go.”
“Let me put on a bra at least.” I’m not that comfortable around them yet to waltz around the house without a bra on.
His mom is, though, because she didn’t bother with one. Perry starts a pot of coffee while the rest of us sit in the living room and I notice a few presents that weren’t there last night.
“I’m so glad you came,” Maryann says, looking at Brayden. “And that you’re happy for me.”
“Of course I am. You know I’ll do anything for you, Mom. Just make sure you give me a heads-up on the wedding.”
Maryann laughs. “I will. I told him we didn’t need a wedding, but he changed my mind. He kept reminding me that since I’ve never been married before and I never would be again if he could help it, that I should do it.”
“You should,” Brayden agrees. “I would like to pay for it.”
“You can help,” Perry says as he walks back into the room, handing a cup of coffee to Maryann before he sits next to her. “But I’m not sure if I can let you pay for it all.”
Brayden nods. I half-expected him to argue, but I’m glad he doesn’t, if only to let them have their way. Maryann gets a giddy look on her face and announces it’s time for presents. She insists on being the one to pass them out. Once everyone has their gifts, she instructs Brayden to go first. I struggled over what to buy him. What do you get a man who doesn’t need anything and has everything he could want?
His gifts suck, in my opinion, but I couldn’t think of anything good. I bought him ties—good ties. Every time I’ve seen him in one of his suits, he’s wearing a plain tie that’s either black, gray, or blue to coordinate with his suit. Now, he has ties with patterns and colors. When he opens this, he glances at me curiously, so I explain why I bought them.
“I buy the ones I have for a reason, darlin’. I like them.”
“It’s boring!”
He shrugs. “I’ll wear these,” he says in such a way that I know it’s only because I bought them for him.
I also registered us for a 5K this summer and added a note about how hopefully he won’t get beaten by a girl again. That makes him laugh. Lastly, I had to tease him further by buying him a collection of karaoke CDs.
He seems happy and satisfied with his gifts, so that’s good. Maryann tells me I’m next. She and Perry got me some fabric, a Michigan magnet, and this cute canvas about dogs. Brayden’s first gift to me is a key to his house with its own little keychain of a house.
“You were pretty sure of yourself, weren’t you?”
He laughs. “No. You weren’t getting that unless you said yes.”
My next gift confuses me. It’s a list of destinations. “What is this?” I look at Brayden.
“I want to take you on a trip in the summer. Some of those are cruises; some are simply places to go here in the States if we were to take a road trip. You’ll pick what you’d like to do and I’ll get it arranged. This is also motivation for you since you want to train a manager for the shop. This gives you a reason and a deadline.”
“Thank you.” I lean over to kiss him on the cheek.
Maryann is about to go next, but Perry jumps in first. I feel bad that we don’t have presents for him, but we didn’t exactly know we would be meeting him. It’s ridiculously sweet to see Maryann and him together, though. After he and Maryann have opened presents, I think it’s time for breakfast, but Perry stands.
“There’s one more gift.” He holds his hand out to Maryann. “Come with me.”
