AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That sounds good, Cass. Do you have many other volunteers?”
“You.”
“That's it?”
“Yes, Maggie is sending her daughters over to help with collecting money, but you are it, otherwise.”
“Well, you can count on me, I'll be here.”
We continued working for a couple of hours before he finally dragged me away.
“It's your day off Cass. Let’s go grab the things we need for the tree and head home.”
I took a step back and looked at what I had accomplished. “Does it look okay?”
“It looks great.” He walked up behind me and took my hands in his. “You can fuss over this tomorrow, it's time to go.” He kissed the back of my neck and pulled me away from the table toward the back door of the shop.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cass
“Ithink it's in thatone there, Brody.” I pointed to the blue tote up on the top shelf in the garage.
Brody grabbed the step ladder and climbed up, pulling the tote down I had pointed at. He sat it down on the floor and tucked the ladder away, and I went to pick up the tote.
“Leave it, I got it, it's heavy.” He bent down, picking up the tote and brought it inside, dropping it on the floor in front of the tree.
“Alright, before we get started, let's get in some comfy clothes, you get the wine, and let's decorate this baby,” Brody said, grinning at me.
He took off to his room, and I headed into the kitchen. Neither of us had spoken a word to one another about last night or this morning, and except that single kiss this afternoon, Brody had basically kept his hands off me. I wasn't sure how I felt about it, and I did my best not to read into it.
I grabbed a chilled bottle of white from the fridge and two glasses, dropping them off on the table in the living room before heading to my room. Changing quickly into a pair of shorts and a tank top, I made my way back out to the living room to find Brody starting to put the new lights on the tree.
I stood and watched him from the doorway of the hall, reminded of Jackson—he had always put the lights on the tree. I blinked away the tears that had started to burn my eyes and poured us some wine.
“Did we get a tree topper?”
“I think I have one, Brody, hang on.” I searched through the tote from the garage, finally finding the angel Jackson had bought for me the first year we lived in the house buried in the bottom. Handing it to him, he placed it on top of the tree and continued with the lights. I stood staring up at the angel, remembering the night Jackson had surprised me with it. It brought tears to my eyes thinking of the smile on his face when I had seen it. I shook away the memory and started helping Brody with the lights. This was why I avoided Christmas, most of the memories were too painful to keep reliving every year, and if I could just pretend in my personal life it didn't exist, I didn't have to live with the pain.
The night went on like that, some decorations, especially the special ones almost bringing me to my knees. I didn't say anything, I didn't have to, I knew Brody could tell, but he tried tirelessly to keep me laughing. When the tree was completely decorated, we stood in front of it the lights flashing red, green, and yellow. I could feel him watching me, taking in my reaction. It had been three years since I had a tree in my living room. Aside from all the memories tonight brought up, I think I missed all the beautiful decorations.
Brody grabbed the remote, turning the TV to a radio channel. Silent Night had just started playing. He dropped the remote down beside where Missy was sleeping and slowly approached me. He grabbed my hands, placing one on his shoulder and pulled me into his arms.
“Care to dance with me?”
“I don't dance anymore, Brody.” I started to pull away out of his embrace.
“Sure, you do.” He grabbed me, slowly pulling me into his arms. We started slowly swaying in time to the music in front of the tree. I loved how our bodies fit together, and how the feeling of being held in his arms again was like a dream come true. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes, breathing in his masculine scent. “See you still dance.”
When the song was over, we stopped moving, a long kiss on my forehead bringing me back to the moment. I lifted my head and looked into his eyes, hungry with need. He lifted my chin with his hand and crashed down onto my lips.
His hands gripping me under the ass, he picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist, carrying me over to the couch, and sat down with me straddling his lap. He continued kissing me as he leaned over to shut the light off. The soft music filled the room as I concentrated on him, the light from the fire dancing off his skin.
When we parted, he stared into my eyes and placed both his hands on my cheeks, pulling me gently toward him. He kissed me, and I could feel something very different in this kiss than I could last night or even this morning. It was deeper, slower, and filled with a feeling I couldn't describe. When he pulled away, his strong hand still cupped my cheek. As he looked into my eyes, his hid nothing.
“I wasn't going to say anything, but I haven't been able to get last night or this morning out of my head.”
I felt myself start to blush, then his lips crashed into mine again.
