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She peered up at him from the security of his arms. “Know what?”
He feathered a kiss across her mouth and then another. “Seducing you will take a lifetime.”
Christmas morningdawned clear and sunny. Dressed in their colorful Christmas pajamas, the entire Salvatore clan gathered at Dom’s for a hearty breakfast.
The only one missing from the gathering was Soren, which Mia didn’t understand considering how they’d parted. Maybe it had something to do with his marital woes. He’d definitely given off “marital woe” vibes the previous night.
After breakfast, everyone gathered around the Christmas tree and gifts were handed out, the children opening first, oohing and ahhing over what they’d received. Hugs and kisses were enthusiastically offered and thank-yous filled theair.
Toni opened a beautiful lifelike baby doll from her father, afortuitous choice considering the pregnancy. Mia gave her workout clothes that matched Mia’s own. And finally, she opened cookie cutters for each holiday which had her instantly begging to bake more cookies.
Brand came next and Mia waited breathlessly while he unwrapped his gift from her. He took his time, which drove her mad with anticipation. But finally, he opened the box and shifted aside the tissue paper.
“Ah, Mia,” he murmured.
He lifted out the ornament, abeautifully decorated star covered in glass beads and pearls. And in the very center was writtenJoy!
“Do you like it?”
“I love it. My guiding star that brings me joy.”
“And your joy, which fills my heart.”
He leaned in and kissed her, taking his time, letting her know how much she was loved. When he finally drew back, he handed her his gift. “Open yours. Ithink you’ll like it.”
Now it was her turn to push aside the wrapping paper. And then she drew a shaky breath. Another box nestled inside the first, aring box with Dantes scrawled acrossit.
“Oh, Brand. What have you done?”
“What I should have done long ago.” He took the jewelry box and flipped it open. Inside was a ring with an intertwining pair of diamonds with two smaller ones on each side. “It’s from their Forever collection. This ring is called Happily-Ever-After.”
He removed the ring and slid it on her finger. “From this day onward,” he said for her ears alone. “Today, tomorrow, and every day after for the rest of our lives.”
She lifted her face for his kiss, lost in an endless moment of pure rapture. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to.”
“Yes, Idid,” he said, the words filled with both conviction and finality.
“Open mine now! Open mine,” Toni interrupted.
It took Mia an instant to gather her self-control and turn her attention to the next gift. Carefully tearing away the paper, Mia found a framed picture Toni had colored with crayons. AChristmas tree took up a huge portion of the picture. But standing in front, she’d drawn the three of them grouped together. Afamily united.
Tears filled Mia’s eyes. “It’s beautiful,bambina. Ican’t wait to hang it.”
“Where?” Toni jumped up and down in excitement “Where can we hang it?”
“In the living room? Or maybe in the bedroom? What do you think?”
Toni wrinkled her brow in consideration. “In the living room so we can see it all the time.”
“The living room it is.”
“Are we finished?” Dom asked. “No more presents?”
“Wait! There’s one more,” Toni announced. She crawled under the tree, rooting out a final box. It was small, the paper a bit tattered and worn. “Who is it to?”
“Bring it to me, child,” Domsaid.
Toni ran over and he took his time studying the box. “I believe this is for yourmammaandpapà.”
