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“Yes, please!” I say with a little too much enthusiasm. Pax doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, I think I even see the corner of his lips twist up into an almost smile.
I start to pull out the decorations as he warms up a mug of milk and stirs in the hot chocolate mix. He swirls the whipped cream on top and passes the mug to me, along with all the topping choices as I finish unloading all of the decorations and organizing them on the counter.
“Thanks,” I say as I take the cup from him.
Our fingers brush and I feel a jolt. My eyes snap to his and he looks just as affected as I am. I want to tell him that I couldn’t stop thinking about him last night. That I kept looking out my bedroom window to see if I could see him.
“Where do you want to get started?” Pax asks me as I concentrate on pouring caramel sauce on top of the whipped cream.
“With the tree?”
“Sounds good.”
He grabs the lights and heads into the other room.
“Did you grab ornaments?” I ask as I follow him.
“No, they were out.”
“That’s okay. It’s prettier when you get more personalized ones instead of the red or gold balls anyway and that takes time to accumulate unless you’re a millionaire,” I joke.
He looks at me over his shoulder and I realize that he probably is a millionaire.
“Right,” I say lamely, taking another drink of my hot chocolate.
He starts unboxing the tree and I help him, making sure that each of the branches are spread before I pass them to him to put into the base.
“Looks good,” I say when we’re done. Pax hums in agreement.
“Do you have a real tree?” he asks and I snort.
“I wish! No, I have one of those tiny little tabletop ones. The real ones are too expensive for me.”
He nods, looking thoughtful for a second but I ignore that and get started on the lights. We pass the strings back and forth to each other, winding our way up to the top.
“I guess I should have looked for a star or something for up top,” he says once the lights are on.
“It still looks pretty.”
“Thanks,” Pax says, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
“Did you want to do the garland on the tree or maybe along the fireplace?”
“Um, let’s do the fireplace. I don’t have that much garland.”
I nod, letting him do that while I grab a chair from the kitchen island and grab the mistletoe. I hang it up in the doorway leading into the kitchen. There’s already a nail there above the doorframe and I wonder if Pax used to celebrate Christmas or if it was from the previous owner.
“What do you think?” I ask as Pax joins me under the mistletoe.
“I think it’s tradition,” he murmurs.
“What is?” I ask, turning to him.
Pax is so much closer than I thought, and he’s so tall, I’m only a few inches above him, even standing on a chair. He looks up at me, those blue eyes pulling me closer, closer, closer, until I can feel his warm breath tease across my lips.
I gasp softly when his hands slowly slide up my thighs, landing on my hips. Pax holds me close and drags his eyes up and down my body before meeting my gaze again.
“This,” he murmurs before sealing his lips over mine.
