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“Well, we’re going to make it incredible and light up the house to look festive, considering outside is the apocalypse of snowstorms.” She giggled.
Her presence was like a flame that warmed me from the inside out. I couldn’t remember the last time these walls had heard laughter.
She caught me staring at her, her sinfully green eyes narrowing as the corners of her lips tugged upward. My heartbeat thumped, and it was a futile attempt to calm down when my cock hardened every time I looked at her. I couldn’t stop imagining her naked and hearing her sweet cries. To see her in the house, laughing, enjoying herself, cooking up a storm in the kitchen… things that made me wonder what it would be like to have a family of my own.
“Are you going to help or just stare?” she mused, then threw a ball of tinsel at me.
Laughing at her, I joined in on the decorating. Humming to herself and smiling, she searched for the best place to hang a glass bauble with golden swirls.
“Grandma and I used to bake nonstop. Some years, we had so many gingerbread cookies, we’d share them with the neighboring farms.” She smiled over at me, happiness gleaming in her emerald eyes.
I enjoyed the moment with her a lot more than I thought I would. She’d opened up to me, which surprised me, considering how terrified she’d been when she first woke up. I couldn’t help thinking about how Christmas was a time for miracles, hope, and even second chances. And how, for the first time in so long, it felt like my heart warmed up again, and of course, it all came down to being with Amelia and not spending another Christmas alone.
I’d missed happy times with my family and friends, when I allowed myself to have them. Since when had things turned so sour that loneliness had crept into my heart?
“Do you like Christmas?” Amelia asked.
I frowned as I thought about the question.
“I did when I was young, when my parents were alive, but after they died, everything changed. They were doing some stuff in Ireland that wasn’t exactly aboveboard, importing guns.” I paused, unsure how much I should say, but how she looked at me told me I needed to be honest if I wanted this to go on. Lying to her would get me nowhere, and for the first time since I took over the family’s business, I didn’t feel so alone. I felt as though I could trust her. “They pissed off the wrong people, and well, their car exploded.”
“That’s terrible,” she murmured, her eyes growing wide, but I knew what she must have been thinking—perhaps they deserved it for getting involved in that kind of shit. I’d thought about it myself once or twice, in my darkest days, along with how it led me to follow the same path, which got me thinking if that would end up being my fate.
“Christmas just became a reminder of how alone I was as the years passed, and well, as I said, I came here to get away from it.” I sighed heavily, knowing I didn’t feel like that now. “You make me want to have that again… and share it with you.” Taking a deep breath, I enjoyed how calm she made me feel with that soft smile she offered me.
“Christmas is great when you’re with someone you… like.” She caught herself.
I couldn’t blame her for changing the word at the end. I think we both had a lot of baggage, but I was starting to wonder if maybe we could be more than a fling over a holiday.
“It is. So, tell me more about this Jason guy I have to punch when the snow melts,” I said, trying to make her laugh to change the subject. Her grin cheered me up even more.
“I’d let you kick him in the balls if you wanted to. I told you about catching him in our bed with my best friend. Well, I should have left him long before that. He was the first real boyfriend I’d ever had, and I didn’t realize he was controlling me until it was way too late. I left my grandma and other friends behind to live with him, then he became the world’s biggest jerk.”
She picked up more decorations and placed them on the tree, not looking at me. I had the impression she couldn’t say this stuff if she was looking at me, so I didn’t force it.
“He was meant to be my protector, my family, my everything I’d been missing. Or that’s what I thought… until the first time he hit me. I didn’t wash the dishes fast enough after his parents came over. He thought I needed correcting.”
I clenched my fists to stop from storming down the mountain to that dead man walking. Amelia made it worse when her hand came up to cup her right cheek, and I knew she was remembering the pain, the shock that came with that slap.
“He deserves to be castrated for what he did to you, Amelia,” I said softly, wanting to touch her, but she looked too fragile just now. My giant hands might break her, so I picked up another delicate glass Santa and put it on the tree.
“He’ll get his, one way or another, Brick. Don’t you worry about him. Eventually, he’s going to meet a woman who makes him rue the day he was born. I’m done with him, and I don’t care what happens to him from now on. He could fall off the face of the planet, and I wouldn’t care,” she said bravely, and the look she sent me said she meant it.
“Good. It’s best not to dwell on asses like him. He’s in the past.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, so I went with encouragement. She needed time to become used to not being under that guy’s thumb, which I totally planned to break one day, but she’d be alright.
“Christmas was a time of magic, where I could hope for something better to come into my life. It took a while, but yeah, I think I’ve finally got what I hoped for. I’m here now and away from him, away from it all, and no matter what happens when it thaws, I’m going to have this to remember.” Her eyes watered, but she looked away.
“Maybe it doesn’t have to end, Amelia,” I heard myself say and wasn’t surprised. There was something special about her that made me want to mean it when I said I wanted to fuck her until the day I died, but I also wanted to spend every day with her. Funny how I knew that, even though I barely knew her.
I’d never met anyone who awakened something within me and reminded me that the way I was going, I would end up alone and dead like my parents.
“We’ll see what happens when the snow melts. You’re such a solitary guy, you may get tired of loaning me your shirts and invading your space.” She stopped decorating the tree, but the tears were gone, replaced with a gorgeous lopsided grin. “That’s fine, though. I’ll always cherish this memory of my first Christmas with someone amazing.”
“Even if I’m not exactly a good guy, Amelia?” I asked carefully, wanting her to know I wasn’t a white knight. A black knight, maybe, but never a white one.
“As long as you keep it all away from me and don’t bring danger to me. But I would like to know what you do when you want to tell me.” She shrugged, but I had to hide a wince of concern.
Danger was part of the life I lived, but I’d do my best to keep her out of it.
