by Ali Parker
He nodded. “Yeah. I know we’re going slowly, and I’m with you on that, but since we already spend all our time together, I figured this was the next logical step. I have an empty bedroom that would be perfect for Bennie, and I’d love to wake up every morning with you at my side.”
And there went the waterworks, yet again. It was the absolute perfect gift. “I love it,” I said, bending over to hug him. “And I love you.”
He jolted, as if he’d been shocked with 10,000 volts of electricity. I’d told him that I had feelings for him, and that he meant the world to me, but I’d yet to say the L-word. And now that I had, I knew he’d never let me take it back.
Connor pulled me in close, covering my face with kisses. “Say it again,” he demanded.
“I love you!”
His lips were on mine, scorching me with a white-hot kiss.
“Gross,” I heard Bennie lament, but I didn’t care. He’d better get used to Connor and I making kissy-faces, because I had a feeling we’d be doing it a lot.
When we came up for air, I stared down at the key in my hand. “Are you sure you’re ready?” I asked him.
“Positive,” he replied. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. With you and Bennie. I want us to be a real family.”
He cupped my cheek and I rubbed it against his hand. “I want that too.”
“Me too,” I said. The key to his condo was a better gift than an engagement ring could have ever been. This meant he was serious, and that he was thinking things through.
“How about it, Bennie?” I asked, trying to pull the boy’s attention away from the mound of gifts under the tree. “Do you want to move in with Connor?”
“Can I bring my Octopus game system?”
Connor laughed. “Sure. I wouldn’t let you move in without it.”
Bennie giggled, knowing Connor was teasing him. “Come here, squirt,” Connor said, holding his arms out to him. Bennie flung himself into his arms and Connor pulled him in for a hug.
In that moment, I knew Connor would be a good father to Bennie. I’d always been there to catch my son, and now I realized that Connor would be too. It was a good feeling, being able to trust someone, to rely on someone other than myself.
Connor settled Bennie onto his lap and I smiled, feeling more content than I ever had in my life.
“Did you like all your presents?” Connor asked.
“Yeah. They’re awesome.”
I smiled, and saw a matching smile on Connor’s face.
“What about you, Mom?”
I held up the key. “I got everything I’d always wanted.”
Connor blew a kiss to me and I caught it, holding it close to my heart.
“What about you, Connor,” Bennie asked.
Connor nodded. “I got what I wanted too.”
Bennie looked around, confused. There were no boxes or piles of wrapping paper around Connor. “What did you get?”
“I got a family. And it’s the best one in the whole wide world.”
I felt like I’d never have a moment as perfect again in my life. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. So I did both.
Connor pulled me into the circle of his arms, next to my son. “I love you both, very much,” he said, and I could hear the emotion in his voice.
“I love you too,” I told him with a watery smile.
“So gross,” Bennie said, squirming to be let down. Connor laughed and set the boy on his feet. He immediately ran to the game system box and started to try and open it again.
“I should help him,” Connor said, squeezing me tight.
“In a minute,” I said, not ready for him to let me go yet. “Thanks again, for everything.”
“It was my pleasure,” he replied. “I love playing Santa for you and Bennie.”
“Who would have thought,” I said. “When you drew my name by chance, that you’d go from sexy Secret Santa to the real deal.”
“About that,” he said, that slow smile spreading across his handsome face. “It turns out, chance had very little to do with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I found it very convenient that we both drew each other’s name, so I talked to Becca. It turns out that she gave fate a little help on this one.”
I let out a loud laugh. It figured. “Oh, Bec. You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
Connor snuggled me closer. “I’m glad she did what she did. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else.”
“Me neither,” I said.
We sat there together, me nestled in Connor’s arms, as the sun rose in the sky. It was a Christmas morning I would never forget. The morning we became a family. There was no bigger Christmas miracle on Earth for the three of us.
If he thought he could top this, Santa really had his work cut out for him next year.
The End
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About the Author
Ali Parker is a full-time contemporary and new adult romance writer with more than a hundred and twenty books behind her. She loves coffee, watching a great movie and hanging out with her hubs. By hanging out, she means making out. Hanging out is for those little creepy elves at Christmas. No tight green stockings for her.
She’s an entrepreneur at heart and loves coming up with more ideas than any one person should be allowed to access. She lives in Texas with her hubs and three kiddos and looks forward to traveling the world in a few years. Writing under eleven pen names keeps her busy and allows her to explore all genres and types of writing.
If you enjoyed her writing style, please check out her other pen names at the pen names link below!
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My Secret Santa
Copyright © 2017 by Ali Parker
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and plot are all either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
First Edition.
Editor: Mary Wolney
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