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I wrap my arm around my best friend’s waist and give a squeeze. She’s wrong. She might be a little lost, something I recognize easily, but she’s not a lost cause. I’m pretty sure I know who her heart is waiting for. We’ll just have to see how it all works out.
When I look up again, I meet Bowen’s brown eyes, soft with love, and I know which gift he’ll value the most when I give it to him in the morning. The smile he shoots me, the one where his dimple comes out, has me thinking we might not be hanging out tonight for very long.
I’m more than okay with it.
CHAPTER 8
BOWEN
The giddy feeling of waking up on Christmas morning hits me hard as I slowly realize this is the best Christmas morning of my life. I have my woman in my arms, her naked body is pressed up against mine, and today is just the first of many holidays with her.
Because I’m never letting her go.
Because I’ll work to be worthy of her for the rest of my life.
Because showing her that she thrives in the light is the greatest honor I have ever been given.
I wrap my arms around her and bring her tighter against me and let my hands roam over her soft skin. I soak up the feeling because it’s fleeting. Today is a big day full of firsts. Our first Christmas together is the most important to me, but I know it’ll be the first of many. It’ll be one for the memory books.
Then we’ll be heading to my parent’s house and her parent’s house to see them and graze on whatever food there is to have there. I think she’s nervous about meeting my parents, but she shouldn’t be. I’ve already told them all about her.
The squeal my mom let out when I told her I had fallen in love with Aster was high pitched and full of excitement. She was patting my arm over and over like she couldn’t control her excitement and all I could do was laugh along with Dad.
“You better treat her right,” Mom admonished me. “Whenever I’ve seen her, she always looks so sad. I’ve always wondered what happened to her when she went off to the big city,” she mused.
“It wasn’t good,” I mumbled. She looked at me sharply and I gave a shrug in response. “She hasn’t told me everything, but I know her dreams of being on stage in a ballet company slowly died as she auditioned, not only for a spot at a company but for other productions as well. Casting directors wanted her to give more than she was willing to compromise herself for. That’s about all I know.”
Mom’s eyes went soft and filled with tears. Dad’s voice was in full-on pissed off dad mode, “It’s probably better she didn’t give details because then your mom would be bailing both of us out of jail and I hear the legal system is not as kind up there.”
He certainly wasn’t wrong, and it warmed my heart to know my dad would have my back like that for my woman. I wasn’t surprised and it felt really fucking good.
“Well, you treat her like a princess,” Mom sniffled with her words.
“A queen,” I gently corrected her, and the smile on Mom’s face turned from sad to brilliant.
“Guess we raised him right, hum?” Dad’s voice was teasing and had us all laughing.
I’m only a little bit nervous about meeting her family. It’s not like I don’t know them or anything but meeting them with their daughter on my arm is different than knowing them from around town. It’s not going to change anything for me either way.
I love Aster, and nothing is going to run me off. Not her past, not her fear, not her walls. I’m in this until I take my last breath and I’m more than willing to walk next to her as we navigate life together.
Aster rolls over in my arms and pulls me from my thoughts. Her eyes look darker and stormy blue when they blink open, the remnants of sleep hanging around and making her look cozy and adorable. I kiss her lips softly, needing the connection.
“Good morning, little Spark. Merry Christmas,” my voice is rough.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispers back and burrows deeper into my chest.
I revel in the way she feels in my arms and how she fits so perfectly. It’s hard to remember it was only weeks ago when I didn’t have this, didn’t have her. My life has changed so quickly, but it was a change I welcomed with open arms because she stole my heart with one look.
“I want to give you your first present now,” she murmurs against my chest.
I run my hands over her back and hips and then back up. I tease her, “Are you hiding it somewhere close by?”
She peeks up at me with a smile on her lips and joy dancing in her eyes, “It’s not a present you can touch or hold, it’s something you can feel.”
My eyebrows shoot up and my cock, which is already hard, throbs against her belly. She giggles softly and shakes her head.
“Now you have me very curious.”
