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She nods, and I move her so she’s standing in the circle of my arms, our fronts pressed together.
“I want you. Biblically. I’m not gonna lie about that. But I promise you, we won’t do anything tonight that you don’t want to do. I can wait until next Christmas, if that’s how long it takes for you to be ready. But with the way this storm is worsening, I don’t think it’s safe for either of us to be out here much longer. So, if you can put your trust in me enough to come home with me, we can both be safe and warm in no time. Besides, we’re both without our families on Christmas Eve, and there’s no one I want to spend this Christmas with more than you.”
This Christmas and every other Christmas from now, I silently promise.
She looks up at me for a minute before she nods, her curls bouncing slightly.“I trust you, Jackson,” she says before she looks up shyly at my face, lowering her voice so it’s barely a whisper. “And there’s no one I want to spend Christmas with more than you, either. I don’t want this evening to end, ever.” She presses her lips together as she searches my eyes like she’s hoping to God she’s not freaking me out right now. And she isn’t. In fact, my smile couldn’t be wider right now.This girl is mine.
And I think I might just keep her…
SOPHIA
Feeling cold to my bones, Jackson ushers me into his heated apartment and takes my coat and bag before he stores it in the entry closet. “Let me get a fire going and something warm to drink,” he says when he notices me rubbing my arms through my sweater, and looking around his rather large living space.
“That sounds like heaven.” Taking my hand, he leads me further into the penthouse. Yes, apenthouse. He lives in one of those fancy high-rises with a doorman and a security desk. But what I’m most surprised about is how tastefully his apartment is furnished. It looks…homey. But in the nicest possible way.
“This doesn’t look much like a bachelor pad,” I comment, looking at the warm wooden floors and the soft colored furniture. “I expected a white-black-beige color scheme. You have great taste, Jackson.” I love how his name feels in my mouth.
He chuckles, walking ahead of me and flipping on a few lights so I can take a better look before he picks up a remote and aims it at the mantel, the flames of a gas fire bursting instantly to life.
“Wow,” I breathe as I move to stand by the floor to ceiling windows across the living room that look out into the snowy night. “I feel like I’m inside a snow globe.Look at this view.”
“I knew the minute I walked in and saw the city from these windows that I had to buy this place.”
I hear his footsteps behind me, and a moment later, I feel his heat against my back as he wraps a soft blanket around me for warmth. Every nerve in my body tingles in anticipation, wondering what will come next. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait long before he sweeps my hair away from my neck and bends to place a kiss against my neck.
“Jackson.” I breathe, shivering at the feel of his beard scraping against my delicate flesh.
“Is this OK? I just want to hold you, sugar. You have no idea how much I like having you here in my house, just you and me.” I feel his hot breath tickle my chin.
“It’s more than OK,” I manage to get out, feeling so turned on by him that I’d likely let him take me up against these windows for all the city to see. But I manage to keep my libido in check, and instead, relax against his chest as we stand there looking at the view.
“It was my sisters-in-law,” he says after a while, and I have to force myself to shake out of the warm haze I am in.
“Your what?” I crane my head back so I’m meeting his eyes.
“My sisters-in-law,” he repeats. “They decorated the place, not me.”
“Oh! They did?”
“Yes, all three of them. I told them they could go nuts as long as it didn’t look like an old granny lived here, and they took up the challenge. Created a WhatsApp group, swatch charts and everything to coordinate the entire effort. They’re also responsible for that.” He points to a Christmas tree and a small stack of presents under it.“I normally don’t bother putting one up at home because I don’t spend a huge amount of time out of the office. But they thought it was tragic not to decorate for the holidays, so they helped me out.”
I turn slightly to look at him better. “You havethreesisters-in-law?”
“Wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t come with three brothers.” I feel his hard body rumble as he laughs. It makes me smile.
“I always wanted a brother. Or a sister. I asked Santa a million times over the years, but…seems he and the stork don’t have an open line of communication.”
He chuckles at my joke before he releases me, then tugs me toward the opposite wall. “This is them,” he says, indicating the dozens of framed photos depicting his family during happy times. There’re his brothers’ weddings, camping trips, family gatherings, and I see his sister on her graduation. In each image, the faces of a large and beautiful family smile back at me from within the frames. I sigh wistfully.
“Oh, I love this, Jackson. You have such a big and beautiful family,” I whisper, my eyes drinking in all the toothy grins of his nieces and nephews—a few of the photos taken over the holidays around the tree. “Christmas morning must have been the best.”
“It was. Still is for the most part. I generally get to my parents early so I can help them prepare for the onslaught of the grandkids. They have more energy than all of us put together.” He smiles wistfully. “What do you do back home?”
“Oh, we’re pretty traditional. Presents in the morning. Lots of food. Last year, Gran gave me a copy of Amy Schumer’s book because she thought that if I was going to make it in life as a ‘big girl’—her words—I should learn from someone who uses it to her advantage.” I laugh softly, remembering how I’d been offended at first, but then I ended up really loving that book. It was one of the reasons why I decided to move to the city to pursue a career in design—get out of my designated box, so to speak.
“Your gran did that on Christmas?” His brows shoot up, and I wave his concern away.
“She wasn’t trying to be nasty. She’s just very blunt. And I did enjoy the book, so…” I shrug.
