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"Wait, please open this before you say anything else." She hands the bag to me. "It's taken everything in me not to give you this early."
Puzzled but falling more in love with this girl every minute, I give in and pull the tissue paper out, making sure not to drop it on any damn candles. I reach inside and pull out a leather-bound book, the pages yellowed with age, and feel my heart clench so hard in my chest that for a second I think I'm dying.
Damn, this woman and her impossibly romantic soul. She's going to be the death of me.
She's the love of my fucking life.
"Romeo and Juliet," I murmur in awe. "An antique edition. Noelle, I–"
She stops me, rising onto her tiptoes and kissing me softly. "I love you," she whispers.
"Say it again," I demand.
"I love you, I love you, I love you," she repeats, giggling.
"I'm never letting you go," I swear, and then my lips are on hers, the kiss hot and desperate.
Her hands are clutching at my shirt, trying to tear it off. I break the kiss for a split second to start to pull her sweater over her head, all thoughts of a plan or dinner or fires leaving my mind as all the blood flow goes south. But we bump into the tree, jostling the single other gift underneath, and I stop.
"Wait," I tell her. "I'm going to fuck you until you can't see straight, but first I have to give you your gift."
"It can wait," she insists, panting, her hands all over my chest.
"It can't," I argue, laughing as I extricate myself from her and pick up the palm-sized box. I push it into her hands, and with a huff, she rips the wrapping open.
Inside is a black velvet box and a ring. A rose gold band and a halo of diamonds around sapphire as blue as her eyes. It catches the light of the hundreds of candles, and suddenly all my annoyance for my niece changes into gratitude. The effect is amazing.
"Nathan?" Noelle breathes, looking up at me.
I drop down on one knee and take the box from her, opening it and taking the ring out. "Marry me."
"Is this real?"
"As real as my love for you."
"You really love me?"
"Of course. I was just waiting for the perfect moment. So I'm asking you again. Will you marry me so we can spend the rest of our lives together?"
"Yes!" Noelle shouts, and I laugh as I slip the ring onto her finger.
She tackles me, sending me flying backward, and I hit the carpet as she kisses me. We're a tangled mess of limbs and kisses and laughter, and we can't even stop long enough to take our clothes off.
We don't light anything on fire, amazingly. It's the best Christmas of my entire life.
EPILOGUE
NATHAN
One Year Later
Snowboarding is my thing, sure. But I don't think it's going to be Noelle's, and that's just fine.
She looks skeptical as I unload my gear into the ski chalet I've rented for us to spend a few weeks at, high in the mountain and surrounded by honest-to-god snow. Noelle is cradling our 3-month-old daughter, looking both happy beyond measure and a bit nervous at the idea of me barreling down the mountain on the board.
"It's only for if you want to get rid of me," I assure her, laughing. "Otherwise, I plan to spend the entire time with my two favorite girls."
She nods, relaxing a bit. "Okay. Because I have no intention of being a single mom."
