He held my gaze until I licked my lips. Then, desire made his determination falter and crackled the air where our unsteady breaths mixed.
Christmas with him.
My heart ached with want.
“Darlin’.” He cleared his throat. “I called my momma and told her about you the night I saved you. I told her about the woman who was bruised but whose spirit wasn’t beaten, who was too weak to walk but too strong not to fight. I confessed to her that I’d shot the devil in order to save an angel.”
“Mick…”
“And my sister?” He chuckled. “Let me tell you somethin’ about my sister… Jessa loves two things in life almost as much as her fiancé. One, her damn sparkling water. And two, her tarot cards. And I’ll tell you what… the day after I first kissed you, you better believe she called me up demandin’ to know the name of the woman who’d stolen my heart because her cards told her it happened.”
His laughter faltered. He’d been so engrossed in the story and making his point, he hadn’t realized to just how much he was admitting.
“So, yeah, darlin’, I want you to meet my family but don’t for one second think that they don’t know anything about you.” He cupped my cheek.
Emotion balled in my throat.
“This was my surprise,” he confessed. “I was goin’ to ask you to come with me.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Wasn’t quite how I planned it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I shook my head, turning my mouth into his palm and taking a deep breath of his sweet promises.
“Unless you don’t want to…” His head tipped.
“I want to,” I assured as I kissed his firm, stubbled skin.
He pulled my face up to meet his, claiming my lips once more as his own. His kiss was sweet, but firm. Possessive, yet respectful. He kissed me to tell me I was his, but only if I wanted to be. And I wanted to be…
I whimpered as he pulled back, the hunger in my stomach nothing compared to the need of my body. He rasped against my mouth, “And I want you to come because I can’t think of a better Christmas present than wakin’ up buried deep inside my woman on Christmas morning…”
His smile grew at my audible gasp even as my hands drifted along the waist of his sweats. “And what about this morning… Christmas Eve morning?”
His groan made his whole body shake as his hands enclosed mine and pulled them up between us. “Trust me, I’d love nothing more than to forget about family and holidays and the whole damn world for the sake of sinking back into your hot pussy, darlin’.”
Heat stampeded goose bumps over my skin at his words.
Things like that—even curse words—weren’t something that were uttered at Rock Beach, even in privacy because there was an image of class and propriety to maintain. I never thought about how hearing these things would make me feel, but now that I was, I realized just how delicious they rolled through my body. I realized I loved them because they weren’t flowery or fake, they were the raw and dirty words of real emotion, real need, and I craved that almost as much as I craved him.
“But I want you to meet my family. I want you to have Christmas with us. And givin’ you that is more important to me right now…”
He pressed a firm kiss to the tops of my knuckles before he stepped away from me. I could see how his body disagreed with his decision, and I’d never felt more in awe of the man who knew so surely who he was and more than that, the kind of man he wanted to be for me.
“Now eat up. We’ve got a plane to catch.”
I took one bite of the veggie scramble he’d made before it dawned on me. “Mick… I-I don’t have any other clothes.”
As if right on cue, there was a knock at his door and his devious grin told me that my good man had already thought of that.
“Jules!” Laurel exclaimed as Mick opened the door.
She pushed past him with a grin, followed by Eve, dropping the two large bags on her arms next to the counter and wrapped me in a hug, pulling back to look over my face.
“Are you okay?”
I saw in her eyes that Mick had told her something of what happened last night and regardless of what degree of detail he went into, Laurel knew what kind of people my parents were; she’d always known.
“I will be,” I promised with a sad but sure confidence. “I just… you were right… all this time…”
Her head fell. “I didn’t want to be,” she confessed. “For you, I would’ve given anything to be wrong about them because I know what it’s like to lose your family. But I can’t imagine what it’s like to have to lose them by choice rather than by chance.”
Our eyes met in a moment heavy with empathy and compassion. We’d grown up very differently and now, for very different reasons, we were both left with only each other as family.
I pulled her in tightly to me, sighing into her hug as I whispered softly, “It’s hard to lose what you never had.”
And I just wished I’d realized sooner my parents had never been my family.
“You have me,” she promised as her arms slid from around me and she wiped her eyes. “And you have Eli and Eve and Gwen and Mick… and we will always be here for you.”
“I know.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
She coughed to clear her throat and planted a smile on her face. “Which is why we’ve brought you clothes.”
“Merry Christmas!” Eve chimed in, butting in front of Laurel to wrap me in a hug.
My eyes bulged as they reached for the two bags and began rifling through the various pairs of jeans and tops that were inside. “You got these… for me?”
“Well, some of them,” Laurel explained. “It was a bit short notice, but my old boss at Ralph Lauren had sent me a bunch of things I think would look much better on you, so those are in here, and then Eve and I went out early this morning—her one friend owns a boutique up in Monterey—and we picked up a few other things from there.”
“I… I don’t know what to say…” I held up an off-the-shoulder lavender sweater, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
I’d been given a lot of gifts in my lifetime, many of them clothes, and some that cost more than most peoples’ paychecks, but none had ever held the value of these.
“Oh!” Laurel exclaimed, digging through her purse and pulling out a small box with a bow tied over it. “And this is from Gwen. It was taped to Mick’s door.”
“She said she had something for you,” Mick added. “Guess she was on-call too early this morning to give it in person.”
I took the box from Laurel, deciding to wait to open it before the waterworks got too bad.
“You guys didn’t have to do this, really. I mean, I really appreciate having something to wear other than this t-shirt,” I said wryly, a small blush creeping into my cheeks remembering I was only wearing Mick’s shirt after a night at his place.
Which could leave little doubt in their minds what else had happened between us.
Laurel’s hands gripped my shoulders. “For our whole childhood, you were always the one to know what you wanted. If there were mountaintops around here, you would have screamed your dreams from them.” We both laughed. “The best gift you could give me is having my cousin back in my life and knowing that she is screaming for those dreams again.”
“Hopefully, they’ll answer,” I replied, hugging her and Eve again.
“Alright, Mick, thanks for the eggs, but I think you should go take these, minus these”—Eve shoved the bags against his chest, pulling out a pair of jeans and the lavender sweater I’d held up—“and pack everything up while we sit and talk girl things while Jules finishes her breakfast.”
My lips parted, looking at him. But my gorgeous Goliath took her demands in stride and, with a smile, made sure to pause and plant a lingering kiss on my lips before obliging.
“Fifteen minutes, darlin’, then we have to get ready and get to the airport.”
As the bedroom door closed behind him to give
us some privacy, I turned to see two equally giddy and inquisitive stares awaiting every single detail that I was willing to give.
“You’re in love,” Laurel blurted.
I blushed. “Is it that obvious?” I groaned and then followed with, “Is it too soon?”
She beamed as Eve took the opportunity to reply, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “Love is its own kind of life. Sometimes, it’s planted in hard ground and lighted with dim hope and takes years to finally flourish. Other times, it’s planted in a spot that seems all wrong and yet, all the right conditions are there for it to bloom rapidly.” She averted her eyes for a moment, surprised that she’d spoken what she had. “I mean, I don’t know exactly for sure or anything… but from what I see…. Sorry, I was just helping my sister over at Blooms yesterday with their community garden, so plants are on my mind.”
We both chuckled.
“So, no. Definitely not too soon,” Laurel added.
My smile grew as I took the last bite of my eggs. “I’m nervous about meeting his parents. On Christmas of all days…” I confessed quietly. “I shouldn’t be… I’ve met countless of important, powerful people and never felt like this.”
“There’s a difference when the people you are meeting care about who you are.” Laurel grabbed one of my hands and squeezed, tugging me over to the orange couch. “And I know they are going to love you.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because you made the best snickerdoodle cookies ever.”
I threw back my head and laughed. I was still nervous, but it was hard to worry when I was smothered with so much love and support.
“Now.” Eve gave me a conspiratorial stare. “You’ve got another eight minutes to tell us all the details about last night before you have to go.”
“W-What details?” I stammered dumbly even as my own smile spread, recalling all the delicious things that had happened to me in that bed.
“How was it? How was he?”
“Yeah.” Laurel added, “You slept with the Friendly Giant! You have to tell us if his… beanstalk… was as large as the rest of him.”
I clasped a hand over my mouth as my cheeks bloomed as red as a rose before I glanced over my shoulder and, with a small giggle, told them about every second I wanted to share, keeping certain ones for myself, cherished in my heart.
Jules
It was a smooth flight from San Francisco to Aspen because my eyes had drifted shut before we even left the tarmac.
There was still this strange fog of transition weighing on my mind. I’d walked away from my parents—from my old life. I hadn’t told them I was leaving town or coming here. I hadn’t reached out to them at all.
It was freeing.
But just because I had the strength to walk away didn’t mean there weren’t still shadows it would take time to disengage from. It was like getting into and surviving a massive car wreck. Just because the car was totaled and I’d never get back in it, didn’t mean the bruises and the brokenness from the accident disappeared the second I got away from the vehicle.
It took time to heal.
And I was glad that, like Laurel said, I wouldn’t be alone during it.
When the captain announced we were preparing for our descent, my eyes pried back open, catching the mountainous Colorado terrain outside the window, and my heart begin to race.
Mick reached over and grasped my hand, sensing how I felt. His large, warm fingers around mine soothed me as we disembarked and grabbed our luggage, and as we walked through the small airport to where curbside pickup was.
I felt bad, seeing as he was carrying both bags on one arm, but he refused to let go of me.
“Do you think they’ll like me?”
In reply, he pulled my hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, murmuring, “I know they’ll love you.”
I smiled and turned my gaze back in the direction we walked.
A twinge of sadness melted over my heart, knowing I’d never be able to do this for him; I’d never be able to introduce him to my parents—not that he wanted to meet them at this point, after what they’d done. Still, it was hard to accept that though I’d come from everything, I hardly had anything, except myself, to give him.
He stopped and pulled me to him, kissing me until my legs wobbled, and I felt like I was flying. And it was kisses like that that reassured me that I was enough.
“They’re going to love you, darlin’. I promise.” He grinned and stepped back. “Now, I just want to warn you about Jessa. She’s pretty—”
He broke off as someone screamed his name with alarming volume from the exit doors. There was a brief flash of bright pink in my periphery before someone who had hair the color of a strawberry and lemon sherbet—and who was incredibly pregnant—launched herself at Mick, doing her best to throw her arms around his neck with a squeal.
“You’re here!” She exclaimed as she clung to him, and it was easy to see that it must be his sister; she and her fiancé were picking us up from the airport. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
“And you’re—”
“Don’t you dare say big.” She smacked his arm.
Mick laughed, the kind that came from your heart, and teased, “Never. Would never dream of sayin’ that to you.”
As soon as he carefully set her feet back on the ground and made sure she was steady, Jessa turned to me with a larger-than-life smile and beamed, “You must be Jules.”
I didn’t even get a chance to confirm, or greet her back, before she then wrapped me in a huge warm hug, refusing her protruding stomach to hinder the embrace in the slightest.
“I’ve heard so much about you. I’m so happy you’re here. I’m so happy to meet you. I’m so happy you’re with Mick.” She laughed and wiped her cheeks from happy tears. “I’m just so happy.”
“Oh Lord,” Mick grumbled. “Better get that out now before Mom sees, Jessa. If you get her started…”
She laughed and then huffed and then hit him again. “Alright, let’s get back to the car before I have to pry Chance off of airport security. They made us circle twice already.”
She babbled on as we walked to the car, asking about how our flight was and if there was anything we needed to stop for on the way to the house, assuring us that she’d tried to get everything that we could need.
When we got to the new Jeep Cherokee that sat with its four-ways on, Jessa’s fiancé stepped out of the driver’s seat and greeted us. Athletic with sandy-blonde hair and a winning smile, Chance Ryder was well-built but not nearly as big as Mick—and he knew it. The younger man extended his hand with a nod of respect.
“Chance,” Mick said gruffly.
His protective stare had me worried for a moment that he didn’t get along with Jessa’s significant other. But then the dimples broke the stony gaze.
“Good to see you, man.” Mick pulled his future brother-in-law in for a hug. “How’s the knee?”
Mick had briefly told me about his sister and Chance on the way to the airport. And in a way, they were both everything and nothing like he described.
When my mother used to inform me about guests that would be arriving at Rock Beach, it was always with their name, their station or their profession, their accomplishments and their estimated net worth—sometimes, with a physical marker if she felt it relevant to something about their social standing.
But Mick… he’d told me how his sister had left her boyfriend and her friends in Aspen to pursue her dream of becoming a physical therapist. He told me she spoke her mind—and her heart—and, even without the help of her tarot cards, always seemed to know what was going on with a person.
And he told me about Chance, how the man had lost himself and his purpose for a while after an injury ended his professional snowboarding career. He told me of a man who’d been through a little bit of hell in order to make a new path for his life and through it all, I felt a small connection to both of them—to the girl who’d been dead-set on her dreams and
to the man whose life had gone awry and who’d had to fight for a new future.
Now, meeting them both, I felt a small pinch of hope at their happiness, hope that it does, in fact, work out in the end.
“Knee’s doing real good thanks to your sister,” Chance replied, sending Jessa a burning glance. One I was familiar with. “We’ve haven’t been out on the mountain too much this season… for obvious reasons.” He nodded to Jessa’s very-pregnant status.
Mick stepped back and reached for my hand. “Chance, this is my girlfriend, Jules.”
I murmured my greeting as I received another hug, my thoughts lingering on the way Mick had called me his girlfriend.
They lingered on it while the guys loaded up the car and for most of the drive back to Chance and Jessa’s house where we were staying.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Jessa said again. She’d taken the back seat with me, giving her brother the larger front seat where he was in deep conversation with Chance. “And my mom is so excited to meet you. Ever since the night Mick called her, she’s been beside herself.”
She laughed.
Lowering her voice, she leaned in and went on, “Miles was always the one to bring home every girl. I don’t know, maybe to lower the expectations or importance of the whole meeting-the-parents deal, but Mick…” She glanced over to her brother, and I followed her stare. “He never brought anyone home, hardly even talked about dating anyone.”
“Really?” I asked with a small, strangled voice.
It was surprising that someone with such a good heart, not to mention a body that would make most women drool never brought home a girl.
She nodded and then grimaced.
“I’m sorry. Ugh, dammit, Jessa,” she scolded herself. “I don’t say that to make you nervous. I just… I’m so happy to see him happy, you know? Mick was always the one to do so much to help anyone and everyone else, and he never seemed to take the time to give some of that to himself. And I’m just really happy to see that he is now…” She wiped her eyes again with a huff. “And I’m apparently super emotional… I swear it’s because of this baby.” She huffed and Mick looked back at us.
Bespoken: An Opposites-Attract Standalone Romance (Carmel Cove Book 2) Page 27