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But Silas merely smiled and asked Evangeline to sit on the couch so he could pass her gifts out to her.
“Wait, what?” she asked in bewilderment. “I don’t have anything to unwrap. You’re supposed to pass out the gifts I got for all of you.”
Silas shook his head as did the others. Maddox scowled at her.
“So you think it’s appropriate for you to have gotten all of us something but it’s not okay for us to have gotten you a gift?” Silas asked pointedly.
She flushed. “You weren’t supposed to know—until now—that I had even gotten you anything.”
“We didn’t,” Silas said dryly. “We were in here to give you our gifts.”
“We got presents?” Zander asked in a hopeful voice.
She chuckled because he sounded like an excited little boy at Christmas. In fact, looking around at all of them, they were all smiling and looked eager to see what she had gotten. She was glad now that she had gone completely overboard with her shopping and had gotten each of them multiple gifts.
“I just hope y’all like them,” she murmured self-consciously.
“We’ll love whatever you got us,” Maddox said, shooting the others a warning stare.
Silas began handing everyone’s gifts out, and the guys promptly tore into theirs with all the gusto and excitement of a bunch of teenagers. She watched, too transfixed by the smiles and reactions to her gifts to pay any attention to hers. This was a Christmas she’d never forget no matter how long she lived. She slid a glance at Drake to get his reaction. This was their first Christmas together and they’d shared it first with her family and now with his. Later? They’d have their own Christmas celebration in private. But for now she was taking it all in and savoring every single memory made.
Drake smiled at her and mouthed, Thank you. She smiled broadly in return, letting him know that he was more than welcome. The silly man. It was he who had done far more for her than she would ever do for him.
Every single man came over to offer Evangeline a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and each sincerely thanked her for the gifts she’d gotten them. Then, of course, they urged her to open hers and she eagerly dove in, ripping the paper to shreds in her haste to see what was inside.
The guys teased her and poked fun, but there was open warmth and affection for her in each of their expressions.
At the end of the evening, Evangeline hated to see them go, although she was looking forward to whatever Drake had planned. He hadn’t said much other than he wanted them to open their gifts to one another on Christmas Eve instead of waiting until Christmas morning. And since she hadn’t seen the first present from him with her name on it, she had no clue what he could have gotten her.
And, well, after all he’d done for her parents, surely he had to know that there wasn’t a single other thing she needed. All she could have ever asked for, he’d already provided. If she hadn’t already acknowledged her love for him, then it would have been sealed when he’d gifted her parents with the house renovated especially for her father’s needs.
After hugging and kissing everyone good-bye, Evangeline plopped onto the couch and curled her feet underneath her as she watched the flames in the electric fireplace in Drake’s living room. Then, remembering the forecast, she got up and hurried to the window, hoping to get a glimpse of snow flurries. But what she saw had her exclaiming her delight.
“Drake, look! It’s snowing! Big fat fluffy snowflakes too!”
Drake returned from seeing his men to the elevator and curled his arms around her waist, pulling her into his embrace. He smiled and kissed her temple.
“I see that, Angel. Does that complete your Christmas, then?”
She turned in his arms and looped her arms up and around his neck. “You complete my Christmas, Drake. I can live without snow. I can’t live without you.”
He kissed her slow and sweet, his tongue stroking the depths of her mouth.
“Come sit on the sofa and let me go get my gifts for you.”
Excitement raced through her veins and she was nearly jittering as she returned to the couch. Flashing a knowing smile in her direction, he disappeared into the bedroom only to return a short time later with several wrapped packages. He laid them under the tree and then went back for more. But when he walked back in the direction of the bedroom a third time, her mouth fell open.
“Drake! How many presents did you buy me?” she asked, appalled at the mound of presents piled under the tree.
He grinned as he dumped the third load under the tree and then set off again for the bedroom. She was going to kill him. She didn’t need all this stuff! But, remembering his reaction before when she’d resisted the gifts he’d bought for her, she silenced her objections, refusing to ruin the holiday for him. If he enjoyed buying her things, she wouldn’t deprive him of that pleasure.
