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I put up three fingers in Scout's honor. And then as she giggled, I nipped at her neck again. "Okay. I promise. That was the last one."
She laughed. "Somehow, I don't think I should believe you."
I did it again, this time sucking hard on the flesh of her neck and tucking my hands over her ass as I pulled her hips against me so that she could feel every inch of the erection pulsing against my jeans. “You know that I would, right? I’d have you right here if it wasn't for my family walking around. I want to enjoy every minute with you." The unspoken words hung between us.Until this is over.
"Jensen." But even as she admonished me, she moaned. She was so damned responsive, and I loved every second of it. The truth was I didn't want to let her go. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to find a way to keep her. I could figure out a way not to screw it up with her, right?
"Hey you, behave. I have to give you your Christmas present."
I grinned. "I thought my Christmas present was that thing you did with your tongue this morning. Seriously, I'm going to work really hard at not thinking about where you learned that."
Alex rolled her eyes. "No. That was not your present."
I backed off and set her away from me. "Okay, what's my present? Yours is waiting back at the house, but I'm happy to get mine now. I love presents."
"I know you love presents." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a long envelope then grinned at me before handing it over.
I shook my head as I took the envelope from her and shook it.
"You're supposed to open it, silly."
"Yeah, but if you handed me a box, I would certainly shake it and try guessing. This one I can't guess. It’s too small for a painting."
"That's because I broke protocol and decided to get you something different. Something else you'll love."
A little niggling voice in the back of my mind offered up,As much as I love you?Where had that come from? I did love her of course, but it wasn'tthatkind of love, was it? Although my conversation with my grandmother the previous day went through my mind.
All these years, I’d thought that my father didn't love me. That he’d seen how messed up I was and hadn't believed in me. That I was in some way flawed. And now I realized that might not necessarily have been true. So maybe Alex and I could make a real go of it.
"Come on. Open it. Don't just stand there."
I realized I was staring at her. With a flourish, I tore open the top of the envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. My eyes scanned the paper quickly, trying to comprehend what I was seeing, and then I lifted my gaze to hers. "Seriously, you're sending me race car driving?"
She shook her head. “No. I'm sendingusrace car driving. Formula One, the whole thing. In Vegas. This time I wanted to get you apresent-present. Normally I give you paintings because, well, it feels like I'm giving you a piece of myself. But this time I figured I'd give us an experience. I mean this whole place is an experience and, uh, everything is different. Anyway, I thought it was time to change things up for your present.”
I laughed and then wrapped my arms around her before picking her up and twirling her around. "It's awesome. I love it. You better get ready because I'm so going to kick your ass."
"And of course, neither one of us can resist a competition." She squeezed me back. “You should probably understand that you're going to lose. You know how competitive I am."
"I'm not letting you win this time."
She pushed back from me, but I held her closer still. "You neverletme win. I always win fair and square."
She did, but I wasn't conceding. "If you say so."
She smacked me on the arm. "And just when I was going to say thank you for everything you did for me at the gallery. Cassie let me know about you chewing out the delivery guys and threatening businesses and all in my name."
Someone should've done that for her before. Anyone. I shouldn't have been the first. I shrugged. "You deserve it. And I—" Whoa, had I just almost told her I loved her? “Being here with you reminds me what I've always loved about this place. Reminds me of how much Imissthis place. Because of you, I think maybe I could come back and face my demons here."
"I love Grandma Lucy. She's amazing. I can almost make a decent meal now. The woman is magic." She shifted in my arms. "So how are you going to break everything to her?"
Yeah, it was inevitable. We needed to tell her. Or ratherIneeded to tell her. I wanted to get her healthy again first, though. "I think in a few weeks after she sees the doctor again, I'll tell her that we split up but we're still great friends. And that'll be the truth."
Except you want more.
And in that moment, I knew that was my truth. I wanted so much more with Alex. But knowing how she was about emotions, understanding that she wasn't one to bear her soul, I kept that to myself.
"There you two love birds are."
