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“Hey, it’s good to keep you on your toes.”
Chapter Thirteen
Leah
It was too easy.
Five days before Christmas and everything was falling so effortlessly into place with the stories we had lined up for the special that it was as if it were a perfectly choreographed ballet. If I hadn’t actually had the sleepless nights attached to Bryce Ramone’s colossal screwup and panicked over ways to make it right, I wouldn’t have dreamed there had been any other plan.
And each segment was heartwarming, inspiring and uplifting…exactly as I had envisioned. Nearly everything was working out better than I had ever dreamed. Except…
I reached down to pick up the eighth mystery gift to arrive on my doorstep. Except for this person, whoever the hell they were. I sighed as I hung up my coat, slipped off my shoes and sank into the couch with my latest present.
I was becoming the world’s biggest hypocrite. For so many years I hated every romcom or romance novel that boasted a love triangle. I never really understood the tormented main character who could love two people equally—and yet here I was.
Scrunching my nose, I glared at the package in my lap. I’d turned into the leading woman in every feel-good holiday movie. Two men were vying for my attention, each of them somehow managing to weasel their way into my heart. I groaned and slid my finger to the flap, tearing the tape from the paper. Why couldn’t Brendan and my Secret Santa be one and the same? That would be far more convenient.
That was enough to make me cackle as I popped open the lid to the box—not only the thought that anything could possibly be easy, but also that Brendan would be the one behind more than a week’s worth of daily gifts. He wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret this long and definitely would want to take credit for how ideal each one was.
This one was a little different from the others. A cream-colored envelope rested on top of the tissue paper, and my heart rate kicked up a notch. Maybe I could decipher the sender based on handwriting. Surely binge-watching true crime shows was enough experience to be considering an expert.
But the note contained within the card was written in a script far too perfect to be anything other than a fancy font. My heart ached with each word as I read the message then read it again, then a third time because it couldn’t possibly be real. This was romance movie shit and not something happening in my real life.
For the woman who gives and gives, don’t forget to take time for yourself.You’re worth it.
Hidden beneath the delicate paper was an old-fashioned sand timer. The outer shell holding the glass globes was a dark, rich walnut with an inscription along the top that read, “Take time to breathe,” and along the bottom, “Check in with yourself.”
Emotion clogged my throat. The past two years I’d immersed myself in work. I’d loved it, but I’d lost a lot of me in the process. Somehow someone saw. Someone knew.
I gingerly set the piece on my nearly bare mantel and took the steps two at a time to my basement. Screw the tasteful décor I’d told myself counted as holiday cheer with the wreath and so-small-you-could-barely-see-it tree. I hauled three of the many, many totes up to the main floor and pulled out figurines, garlands and lights. Within an hour, I’d somewhat transformed my kitchen, living room and entry into something a hell of a lot more festive.
I smiled and turned off the bright overhead bulbs, letting the glow from the strings of Christmas lights framing the fireplace, wrapped around my banister and, more importantly, from the full-size tree that filled the place so much better bathe my home and myself in warmth. I wrapped my arms around myself and smiled, not realizing until that moment how far from my truth I’d strayed.
Bitterness I hadn’t even recognized weighing me down since Aaron’s unceremonious departure from my life and our home evaporated like a puddle on a hot summer day. I thought his absence had created a hole, but the reality was it was just making room for Brendan.
Or the mystery man, my consciousness reminded me with a gentle tapping at the base of my skull.
A sharp rap at my door dragged me out of the pool of serenity I’d found myself floating in. My heart skipped a beat, then made up for it by racing nearly as fast as my feet to answer the knock. I had a strong suspicion I knew who it was, but the thought briefly flitted through my mind that maybe the cloaked stranger behind the gifts had decided to make his presence known now.
Brendan’s mouth hung open and his eye grew to the size of saucers when I opened the door. “Am I at the right house?”
I fisted his shirt and all but dragged him over the threshold. “So funny I forgot to laugh.” I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline of reclaiming the bits of me I’d forgotten, the relief of having the New Year’s special nearly wrapped up as perfectly as my daily surprise presents or the fact that the bastard had the nerve to smell like leather, sage and sex, but I pulled him close and captured his mouth in a hedonistic kiss.
“Someone has stepped up their welcoming game.” He caressed my face and lowered his forehead to mine with a teasing smile. “Should I ask what caused that kind of a greeting and who let Macy’s throw up their holiday department in your house?”
I dropped my hands to the top of his shirt and quickly unbuttoned the entire way down until the two halves spread open. “You definitely get partial credit. Oh, and this?” I gestured around the room. “Is less than half of what I have. There’s still more downstairs.”
Brendan stepped back, and I nearly screamed at the loss of the electricity that had been pinging back and forth between us. He methodically closed the drapes covering each window, sealing us off from the chance of any prying eyes. It might be a small chance, given the way the snow had begun kicking up on my drive home, but it wasn’t zero.
And I couldn’t help but love the fact that we were on the same page and making the trek to the bedroom wasn’t going to happen—at least not for this round.
“Does this mean I can buy that scandalous elf lingerie I saw?” He tugged down the zipper of the sleeveless dress I’d worn beneath a very practical and proper blazer and within seconds had me standing in my living room in just my bra and panties.
“Don’t push it, Golden Boy.” I unfastened his belt and slid the leather through the holes until it fell on the floor then moved to his waistband. “You are seriously overdressed.”
He reached behind me and flicked open my bra with far too much ease. “Any present worth having needs to be unwrapped first, sweetheart.” He leaned back as the straps fell from my shoulders and the garment dropped to the floor. “And hot damn are you worth unwrapping very,veryslowly.”
I shoved his pants and boxers down with a little more force than necessary. “Another time. I want you…now.”
