by Jacki James
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“You, going back to the city. You know, if you didn’t plan to stay you should have said something. It wasn’t fair for you to not tell me before I fell in love with you.” A smile spread across his face. And if it was possible, I felt even more angry and hurt. My heart was breaking, and he was smiling like an idiot. “What the fuck are you smiling about?” I spat out.
“You love me.”
“That is not what we’re talking about. You lied to me,” I yelled.
He glanced around and I followed his gaze and saw a couple of people walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the road. Great. Like this wasn’t horrible enough, now I had witnesses to see me falling apart.
“I didn’t lie to you, but can we talk about this inside, please?”
“Fine,” I said, shaking his hand off my arm and marching toward the door. I opened it and went through the house straight to the great room. Stopping in front of the fireplace, I took the snow globe off the mantel and shook it. I set it back up there and watched the snow fall on the little town below.
“Terry,” he said quietly as he stopped behind me. “Look at me, baby.”
I shook my head no and continued to watch the snow fall. I knew if I looked at him everything I was feeling would be written on my face. I’d always been an open book like that.
“I don’t want to have an important conversation like this with the back of your head.”
I grabbed the snow globe and spun around to face him. “I don’t know what important conversation you think we are going to have. You’re moving back to the city. You didn’t think that was important enough information to share with me. I’ll just take my grandmother’s snow globe and leave. There’s no reason to stay here and talk.”
He reached out and took the snow globe out of my hands and said, “There are a lot of reasons for you to stay, but how about if we start with this one?” He reached up and cupped my cheek. “I love you.”
“You what?” I asked.
“I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“But Justus said you told him you were moving back to the city.”
“Well, that was the plan before.”
“Before what?” My head was spinning, so it was taking me a minute to catch up with what he was saying. He wasn’t moving back to the city. He loved me.
“Before you Terry. When I first came here, I planned to sell this house and move back to the city as soon as possible. But then I met you, and now I can’t imagine living anywhere you aren’t.” He stepped around me and set the snow globe back in the center of the mantel. “So how about we leave that right there where it belongs, and it can become a tradition in this house just like it was in your grandmother’s?”
He turned to me and pulled me in his arms, kissing me breathless. All I could think over and over was that he loved me, and suddenly, I couldn’t get close enough to him. I needed to feel him against me, skin to skin. “I have a great idea for another tradition,” I said, sliding my hand up inside his shirt.
“Oh yeah, what is that?”
“Make-up sex. We should make that a tradition any time we fight.”
“Were we actually fighting, though?” he asked, unbuttoning my shirt.
“In my mind, we were. In my mind, we fought all the way from the animal shelter back here,” I said with a moan as he trailed kisses down my neck to my collar bone.
“Hmm, that definitely qualifies, then.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him to his bedroom.
Chapter 15
Terry
“So, what do we do now?” I asked him.
“What do you mean, what do we do now? We eat this amazing French toast that you cooked for breakfast.” I rolled my eyes and tossed a blueberry at him. “Hey!” He said picking up the blueberry from the table where it had landed and popping it in his mouth.
“I don’t mean this minute and you know it. I’m talking about us. What do we do?”
“I was thinking we go get ourselves a couple of puppies. What do you think?”
“I’m serious. This is weird. We’ve only known each other for a month, it’s crazy.”
“Terry, I’m serious, too. All I know is I love you, and I want to go get both those puppies you told me about. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that.”
I looked at him. He wasn’t wrong. Even though we hadn’t known each other long, I couldn’t imagine life without him. “Okay, let me call Justus.” I dialed his number and waited for him to answer.
“Hey, Terry, you okay?” I heard the worry in his voice. With the way I left there yesterday, I should have let him know everything was okay.
“Yeah, Justus, everything is fine. I wanted to see if we could come get both puppies? One for me, and one for Nicolas.”
“We don’t know for sure how big they’re going to get, so an apartment or a condo might not be good for the puppy.”
“He’s staying here in Avana Springs, so that won’t be a problem.”
“Really? That’s awesome, I was hoping I was wrong. Do you have all the puppy supplies you need?”
“Umm, no. We can run over to Nelson’s and grab stuff.”
“Okay, I’ll text you a list of what you need.”
“We’ll go there now, and then come by if you have time.”
“I have plenty of time. You guys come on.”
I hung up and smiled at Nico. “We need to go to the pet store and get puppy supplies.”
My phone dinged. I expected the list, but instead, I got a picture of the puppies. “Look.” I held the phone out in front of his face. He took the phone and looked at the picture.
“Which is yours, and which is mine?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t choose between them. Which do you want?”
“You really don’t have a preference?”
“Nope, I don’t. I like them both equally.”
“Okay, how about we go shopping, and then we can figure it out when we get to the animal shelter.”
I’d never seen so much pet stuff in my life. Nico had gone way overboard. These puppies were going to be so super spoiled—both of them—because if his puppy got something, mine did, too. It was almost comical.
As we loaded up the car, I cracked up. “We need to go and unload all this puppy stuff or else we don’t have room for the puppies.”
“We do, don’t we?” he said. “Let’s go empty out the car first.”
He pulled the car into the garage and killed the engine. I started to get out, but he said, “You know, it would be a shame to separate the puppies.”
I turned to look at him, trying to figure out what he was getting at. “Well, he can’t keep them, and I don’t have room for two.”
“No, but I do. I not only have room for two puppies, I have room for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes, for you. I know it’s only been a month, but I really don’t like it when you go home at night.”
I looked at him. “I can’t believe it’s only been a month. Our being together feels so natural.
“It does. I’ve felt that way from the beginning, like we just fit somehow.”
“We do, but I’m not going to lie, that kind of freaks me out a little. Like it’s just a little too easy.”
“Baby, we love each other. Yeah, it’s fast, but I don’t think the fact that it wasn’t hard means it isn’t real or that it won’t last.”
“Oh, this is gonna last. You’re stuck with me.”
He leaned over and gave me a kiss. “Okay, so is that a yes or a no?”
“I don’t want to mess this up.”
“You will. So will I, but we’ll work it out.”
“This is scary. But I want to say yes.”
“Then I’m taking that as a yes. Now let’s go get our puppies.”
We drove out to the shelter and Justus met us at the door. “Hey, guys. Come on, I’ll take you to the puppies.” We followed him th
rough the door to the pens out back. “Here they are.”
He opened the gate and we went in. The only two puppies left were ours. I swooped in and scooped both them up, handing one to Nico.
“Did you decide which one you’re taking?” Justus asked me. Nico and I looked at each other and grinned.
“We aren’t deciding. We’re going to share.”
Justus looked at us and raised one eyebrow in question. “Like joint custody?” he asked.
“No.” I laughed. “I’m moving in with him, so we’ll be sharing full time.”
“Really? Well, good for you.”
The puppy I was holding snuggled into the crook of my elbow and let out a little sigh. “Oh, how cute.”
“You know, I could have given those puppies away at least three times. But I’m so happy it’s you guys taking them.”
We loaded the puppies in the crate, took them to the house, and spent the next few hours getting them all set up in the great room. “Okay, we got the puppies all situated, so when do we get your stuff?”
“Most everything in the house was my grandmother’s. I don’t have too much to bring, so it shouldn’t take long. I want to keep the house though, because it was hers. Maybe I can rent it out.”
“I bet you can. I think that’s a great idea.”
“So we’re really going to do this?” I asked him, still trying to let it sink in. “I know I keep coming back to this, but people are going to think we’re crazy moving in together so quickly.”
“Do you care what people think?” he asked.
“Not people, but like your parents. What will they think?”
“Well, since my mother reminded me at Christmas time that she and my dad were already married by now, I don’t think they’ll have much to say.”
“I like your mom,” I said. “Look at the puppies. Getting both was a good choice.” They’d both curled up together on one of the pillows we’d bought and gone to sleep.
We snuggled together on the couch watching them sleep. “You know, I’ve never really enjoyed the holidays like I did this year, and I have you to thank for that.”
“It was my pleasure,” I told him, letting the feel of him warm me. I could spend the whole winter curled up on this couch with him.
“It really was fun, and after this last month, I can’t wait until New Year’s Eve.”
“Do we have plans for New Year’s Eve?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, I figure after this Christmas, I’m looking forward to having a very Terry New Year.”
If you want to learn more about Avi, the soup kitchen, and his fake boyfriend be sure to grab Heavenly Melody by Sammi Cee.
A Snow Globe Christmas Series
If you loved this book, make sure to read the entire A Snow Globe Christmas series for hours of MM holiday reading pleasure. All books can be read as stand alones and are connected only through a shared premise.
Book 1: A Very Terry Christmas by Jacki James releases Nov 18
Book 2: Wishing On A Dream by Michele Notaro releases Nov 20
Book 3: Hensley Manor by Jaclyn Osborn releases Nov 22
Book 4: A Villain for Christmas by Alice Winters releases Nov 25
Book 5: Heavenly Melody by Sammi Cee releases Nov 27
Book 6: Snowfall and Romance by Wendy Rathbone releases Nov 29
Book 7: Bite Me, Santa by Brittany Cournoyer releases Dec 2
Book 8: Rhett's Gift by Taylor Rylan releases Dec 4
Book 9: Hot Chocolate Kisses by Jackie North releases Dec 6
Book 10: Lights, Camera, Christmas! by J.D. Light releases Dec 9
Book 11: Brandon's Very Merry Haunted Christmas by AJ Sherwood releases Dec 11
About Jacki James
Jacki James has been saying she was going to write a book since she was sixteen and wrote fanfiction (before fanfiction had a name) about her favorite Rockstar. She is a believer in love of all kinds but Paranormal MM romance is her favorite by far. She has a romantic heart and a dirty mind and likes to write stories that let both shine.
www.jackijames.com
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