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He nodded. “I know. But…on New Year’s Eve, Dad and Maya are going to a party with some of his colleagues, and Izzie and Hill are going back to Lawrence to spend it with their friends. So we’ll have the house to ourselves. There’s no pressure if you’re not ready, but—”
I cut him off with another kiss, and he chuckled into my mouth and pulled me close as he slipped his tongue out to massage mine. A moan rose in my throat, and I hitched my leg up over his hip as I tried unsuccessfully to get even closer to him.
“I take it that means yes?” he teased when I let him talk.
“I love you,” I told him. “And yes, it means yes. Or at least it means I want to try. I’m not making any promises that it’ll actually happen.”
“I love you too, baby,” he murmured, kissing me again. “So much. And you know you just have to say the word and I’ll stop, no matter what.”
“I know,” I assured him.
A loud bang on the closed bedroom door interrupted us.
“Hey, lovebirds, get your asses up!” Izzie called through the door. “Some of us are hungry! And Mark and Jody just got here!”
Ian and I both started chuckling, and he kissed my forehead.
“Ready to head down and have breakfast?” he asked.
I nodded. “I feel bad that I didn’t get presents for your family.”
“Don’t. We all know you’re having a hard time, and any gifts you get today are because you’re loved, not because we’re expecting anything in return.”
“I just said I didn’t getyour familyanything. I didn’t say I didn’t getyouanything. And I was smart enough to slip it into my bag when I was packing.”
He smiled. “Getting to wake up next to you is the only present I need.”
“Same,” I agreed, pecking him on the lips before rolling over and getting out of bed.
* * *
The kitchen and dining room area smelled absolutely amazing. Maya was hard at work at the stove, cooking sirloin steaks and a huge pan of scrambled eggs, while Gary was putting together a plate of a bunch of different kinds of bagels, breads, and pastries.
“Merry Christmas, pumpkin,” my dad said as he got up from the table and pulled me into a huge bear hug.
“Merry Christmas,” I mumbled.
“About time you got out of bed. I’m starving,” Izzie groaned. “And Maya’s been torturing me with the steaks she’s been cooking.”
“It smells so good,” I said as I pulled out of my dad’s arms and went to hug Jody. “Can I do anything to help?”
“Want to help me cut up the fruit for the fruit salad?” Hillary asked.
I smiled and headed over to the sink to wash my hands. “Absolutely.”
“Ian, you and Iz can set the table,” Gary said, looking over his shoulder at his kids. “And there’s coffee in the pot if you want a cup while you’re working.”
I gratefully went to grab a mug out of cupboard and fixed myself a cup of coffee, then went and took the bunch of bananas from the huge assortment of fruit that was on the counter and started to peel and slice them. Of course, I left a little chunk out to give Cosette too.
“Anything we can do, Maya?” Jody asked.
“Nope,” she said. “You’re our guests. Just relax and drink your coffee.”
I couldn’t help thinking how different this was from the Christmases I’d spent with my mom. There had never been any hustle and bustle or anyone else involved other than the two of us. We’d usually just eat an easy breakfast and then unwrap presents. And more often than not, she’d end up picking a fight with me over something. One year, she didn’t think I was grateful enough for all the money and thought she’d put into my gifts, so she’d yelled at me and called me selfish and ungrateful. Another year, I didn’t get her a nice enough present, so the next year, I’d saved up every penny of my allowance money and birthday money and gotten her something twice as expensive…only for her to berate me for spendingtoo muchmoney.
Ian’s family was warm and welcoming, and the fact that they’d taken me in without a second thought told me all I needed to know about them as people. I wasn’t going to be judged here, and I wasn’t going to be ridiculed or talked down to. There was so much love in this house every single second of the day, and it just made me realize how cold and harsh my life had been before now.
“Everything okay, Ky?” Hillary asked me.
