by Karla Doyle
“Sounds like you’re the one who wants to skip the wedding and get naked.”
She gave his taut butt a sound smack, her heels clickity-clacking across the wooden floor as she scampered out of his reach. “Let’s go, hot boyfriend of mine.”
“I like hearing you stake your claim.” His grin melted her insides that much more. He patted his jacket pocket while joining her in the front entryway. “I’ve got the card.”
“Ooh, thanks for the reminder. I can’t believe I almost forgot the present.”
He shook his head. “I’ve got the present. It’s in the card.”
“Not the charitable contribution. The other present.”
“Other present?” He stepped aside as she hustled toward her bedroom. “I thought they only wanted donations to their charitable foundation, in lieu of material items they don’t need because they’re filthy rich.”
“Right. That’s why we donated. But all of Jenna’s closest girlfriends are giving her something extra, just for fun.” She ducked into her room and retrieved the small, red package from a dresser drawer. “This one is from me.”
“The cock ring is for Jenna?” A grimace flashed across his face as soon as the question left his mouth. A question that stopped her in her tracks, halfway to the front hall.
“Who else would it be for? And how do you know this is the cock ring? Were you—” God, she hated to even suggest it. “Have you been snooping through my stuff?”
“No. I saw the box and wrapping paper sitting on your dresser while I was hanging your lamp.”
She nodded as slowly as she moved toward him. “The box was closed, and it was behind a framed photo. The only way you can know what’s inside is if you opened the box, and I’d call that snooping. Why?”
“I’m sorry. I never intended to invade your privacy.”
“That’s a non-answer wrapped in an apology.” She stopped in front of him and stared him right in his make-you-forget-everything eyes. “I’ll accept the apology if you answer my questions. All of them.”
“We’re going to be late for Jenna’s wedding.”
“Then we’ll be late. Or we won’t go. Either of which I’ll regret, but I’m not walking out of here without an explanation.”
Sighing, he pushed a hand through his perfectly imperfect hair. “I recognized the box from the day it arrived and I accidentally opened it. I wanted to see if the cock ring was still in the box.”
“Of course, it was still in the box. I bought it for Jenna and Ryan’s wedding. Why wouldn’t it still be in the box?”
“Because I didn’t know it was a wedding gift. I thought it was a Christmas gift.” The color drained from his ruggedly handsome face. “For somebody you’d been seeing.”
She didn’t need a calendar to count how many days it’d been since that package arrived. Kelly had already told her, earlier this morning. Twelve days I ago, I realized that my feelings for you went a lot deeper than friendship.
“Oh, my God.” She stepped backward, gripping the wall so she didn’t lose her balance. “You saw that I’d ordered a cock ring, assumed it was for somebody I was seeing, and got jealous that I might have a real relationship on the horizon. That I might not be waiting in the wings to be your later-in-life fallback plan. That’s why you’re suddenly interested in me as more than a friend—because you thought I’d found someone else to be a lot more than my friend.”
“You make it sound shallow and selfish.”
“Because it is!” The strength returned to her wobbly knees, along with some steel for her spine. “You only wanted me because you thought I was unavailable. Well, guess what? I was totally available twelve days ago, because there wasn’t another guy. You didn’t win me away from somebody else.” She threw her hands up and turned a full circle, drilling him with a glare when she met his gaze again. “I bet I look a lot less hot to you now, don’t I?”
“No.”
“If that’s true—if—then I’m sure your lack of attraction to me will set in again soon.” Hands shaking, she reached behind her neck. “You can return the necklace and take some other bimbo to the Carolinas.”
“You’re keeping the necklace and you’re wearing it when we go to the Carolinas, together.”
She shook her head. “I’ve been getting over you all my life, and I’ll keep doing that. I don’t need a pretty consolation prize or a pity-the-best-buddy trip.”
“Addie, stop.” His large, warm hand closed around hers as she struggled to undo the clasp. “Stop and listen to me, please.”
She allowed him to draw her hands downward, but pulled away when he tried to hold them. “I can’t. Not right now. I won’t miss my best friend’s wedding because of this.”
“I thought I was your best friend.”
She sighed. “You are. But I’m going to need a break from you, after…this. I’ve already talked to a friend about getting an apartment together, so I’ll probably do that in the new year.”
“You were planning to move out? With who? Since when, and why?”
The sound of her phone ringing inside her purse cut her off before she could answer. “That’s my parents’ ringtone. They’re probably freaking out because I’m not at the church yet.”
“Because we’re not at the church.”
She shook her head. Not because he was wrong, but because she couldn’t let him bundle them as “we” anymore.
He nodded toward the door. “Let’s get going. We can talk about it on the way.”
She shook her head again, this time because he was wrong. “I’ll drive myself. I’m going to be under my parents’ microscope as it is, after cutting it so close. I certainly don’t need them seeing me with smudged eye makeup or a Rudolph nose because you and I had a serious talk on the way to a wedding.”
“Then we won’t talk.” He exhaled when she crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head for a third time. “I won’t say a word, I promise. Just let me drive you. If we take separate vehicles, that’s two parking spots we need to find, and you know that’s going to be next to impossible. You don’t need that stress. Ride with me, and I’ll drop you at the front door. It makes sense.”
“Fine.”
“Thank you.” He moved to the door and held it open, offering his hand as she approached. “Any chance you’d take my hand?”
God, she wanted to. It would be so easy to weave her fingers with his, to accept the subsequent squeeze from his strong, warm hand. To forgive and forget everything that’d exploded between them. Instead, she shook her head again and walked past him.
They’d talk later, that much was inevitable. Necessary. She didn’t know where they’d land on the relationship scale. Wherever it was, she’d stick the landing and keep her head up, even if her heart was crushed beneath her feet.
December 25
KELLY
This day hadn’t just derailed, it had done a couple rolls and landed in a mangled heap at the bottom of a ravine.
He hadn’t talked to Addie on the drive to the church. He’d literally bitten his tongue to keep it from wagging, but he’d kept his promise. Unfortunately, she also hadn’t talked to him. She hadn’t even glanced at him.
She’d said, “Thanks,” when he let her out in front of the church. Nothing more. She’d simply walked away.
Inside the church, he’d hadn’t known what to expect, but she’d saved him a spot at her side and he’d taken it. He’d left his hand on his leg throughout the ceremony, hoping the wedding’s atmosphere would inspire her to take it. It hadn’t.
She’d dismissed him after the wedding. Played it off as wanting to spend time with her parents before the dinner and reception.
Her parents seemed to have bought the lie, so he’d retreated to the house, alone. To their house, only it wouldn’t be, if Addie followed through on her threat to move out.
What the hell was that about? She’d made it sound like a plan she’d had in the works. As much as he’d like to believe it was an empty threat blurted in the heat of
the moment, that wasn’t her style. She’d never been one to lie.
Being each other’s “plus one”, they’d sat together during dinner. Also seated at their table—her parents, an aunt-and-uncle pair, a male cousin and his wife. Those six additional people added up to zero opportunity to talk. A math equation Addie didn’t seem to mind, based on the minimal attention she showed him throughout the meal and speeches.
The moment the D.J. got on the mic and freed the guests from their seats, Addie had up and left without comment. The one-eighty in her behavior had earned him questioning glances from her parents. Reserved, kind people they were, they didn’t outright ask what’d changed since this morning’s brunch, at which he and Addie had been affectionate and maybe a bit over-the-top demonstrative. Her parents had probably chalked up the dinner’s frost level to a lover’s spat that’d resolve itself.
Kelly knew better than to expect that. He’d never seen Addie so angry. Not at him, anyway. Now that the lights in the community center had dimmed for the dance portion of the reception, he could barely see her at all. Something he intended to rectify as soon as the D.J. played a specific song.
He hung back, nursing his beer and making brief, casual conversation with people until he heard the beginning of Eyes on You. He set the beer aside and cut a straight line through the crowd.
Addie’s gaze snapped to him as he approached. Her posture stiffened. Her eyes had a definite need-to-bolt look about them, but the conversation she’d been engaged in prevented a quick escape.
First time in his life he’d appreciated her friend Amy’s gift of unlimited gab. If he managed to save his sorry ass from the mess he’d created, he’d send Amy a thank-you card and a bottle of wine. Hell, he might even let her talk his ear off next time she stopped by “for a quick minute” that lasted an hour.
“I apologize for the interruption,” he said, cutting Amy off mid-sentence. “But I requested this song for the love of my life, and I’m here to beg her to dance with me.”
Amy’s eyes bugged out and her bottom lip fell open. More importantly, she stopped talking.
He stepped in front of Addie, lifting one of her hands and placing a kiss on her knuckles. “May I please have this dance?”
She answered with a nod, then allowed him to lead her onto the nearly vacant dance floor. “Everyone is looking at us,” she said, as he spanned the small of her back with his palm and held her as close as their very public environment permitted. “This isn’t really a slow-dancing song.”
“It’s a slow-dancing-with-you song. And I’m glad everyone is watching. I want the world to know I’m with you, that we’re together, together.”
The smile he’d hoped for didn’t materialize on her face. Instead, she sighed. “You’re saying this so I won’t be angry or hurt by what happened between us. Because you feel guilty about leading me on under false pretenses.”
“I don’t enjoy telling you you’re wrong, but you’re wrong.”
“Please don’t make this worse than it is by lying to me. It won’t spare my feelings, it’ll make me trust you less.”
“I’m not lying to you, Addie.”
“You already admitted that your non-platonic interest started the day you opened that package. You admitted to looking in that box again, to see if you still had the lead in a contest that never existed.”
Shit. They were running out of song, and this wasn’t going anywhere near how he’d hoped.
“Yes, I got jealous when I thought you were giving that cock ring to some guy I wasn’t even aware you were seeing. Yes, I hated the thought of you with anybody else, and yes, that’s what motivated me to change our relationship. But not because I’m an idiot who wanted to keep you in some fucked-up holding pattern. Because I’m the idiot who realized in that moment that I don’t just love you as my best friend, I’m in love with you as the woman I need by my side, every single day. The woman I want beside me, mercilessly hogging the covers, every damn night of my life.”
The song ended, replaced by an upbeat, top-40 hit that brought dozens of people back to the dance floor. He didn’t care about any of them. Only Addie, whom he refused to let go—physically or otherwise.
She stared up at him from their stilled position. “I don’t hog the covers.” That’s what she chose to address, out of everything he just said? Not going to make this easy on him, was she?
“You totally do. But your cover-hogging gives me an excuse to snuggle against your sexy body, so I’m good with it.”
“Are you sure you still think I’m sexy, even though I was never out of reach?”
“I’ve always found you sexy, I just didn’t let myself go there. I knew I was shit at relationships—hell, I didn’t think I wanted one. I knew I couldn’t give you what you deserved. I didn’t want to do something that’d make you walk out of my life.”
“And now you’re ready to take that chance?”
“Hell, no. Now, I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you with me forever, because, in case you missed it the first time I said it, I love you.” He released her from their formal dance posture and placed one of her hands over his heart, pinning it there with his. “I meant it when I called you the love of my life. I’ve been trying all day to find the exact, perfect time to tell you I love you. This isn’t the kind of moment I was hoping for. Not by a longshot. I wanted it to be a special memory we’d be talking about when we’re old and gray. But this’ll have to do, because I can’t let you think anything else, not for a single second longer. I love you, Ads. Please give me another chance to show you how damn much.”
Beautiful, expressive eyes locked on him, she nibbled the plump, bottom lip he was dying to kiss. “I think this moment is pretty special.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “I love you, too.”
Best words he’d ever heard. Now he just needed to hear one more. “Do you forgive me?”
“I do.” Those two words were so much better than the one he’d hoped for.
“I love you, baby. Hope you’re okay with hearing it, because I’ve got a lot of catching up to do with saying it.”
“I think I can handle it.” Her smile could’ve lit the entire community center, but it was all for him.
He was smiling pretty damn hard, too. Being the luckiest man in the world did that. And on the subject of luck, he slipped one hand into his suit pocket, then raised his lucky charm above their heads.
Her lips formed the prettiest O as she looked up. “Oh my God, is that my mistletoe from the front hall?”
“It’s our mistletoe, and I’m taking it everywhere we go, 365 days a year.”
Her head tipped back as she laughed, giving him a primo opportunity to kiss her neck.
Later. Right now, he wanted her lips. Needed them pressed against his. He wouldn’t rush it though, because the sound of her laughter was better music than anything he could request from the D.J.
Sighing as her laughter subsided, she twined her arms behind his neck and smiled again. Softer, this time. Deeper. “Everybody’s still looking at us, you know.”
“They’re waiting to see if the mistletoe worked, and the lovestruck guy gets a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the room.”
“The guy doesn’t need mistletoe for that.”
“I love you,” he said, dipping down for the first brush of a kiss. The first of many tonight, and every night to come. “Merry Christmas, Ads.”
Epilogue
April 4
KELLY
Waking up next to Addie’s soft, warm body almost always led to being inside her soft, warm body. A daily habit he didn’t want to change. Today, though, he resisted. They’d have plenty of time to slide back into bed after his plan played out.
Still, he coasted his palm over her lush curves, following his usual path to the sweet spot between her legs. There truly was no better way to wake her than with a drawn-out orgasm.
Her sleepy hum filled his ear as her body came alive beneath his touch.
His plan could wait a few minutes. Except it’d be a lot more than that. The longer they’d been together, the better the sex had gotten. Quickies no longer existed for them.
Tempted as he was to bury himself deep in her sweet heat, it’d wait. Today, he wanted something else more.
“Good morning.” He kissed her neck—because he wasn’t strong enough to resist kissing the pulse point below her jawline—then rolled her gently onto her back. “Do you think the Easter Bunny came last night?”
“I didn’t know we were calling it that,” she said, reaching for his cock. “But, yes, I’m pretty sure he came last night. Several times. Either that, or he’s the world’s best faker.”
He laughed while subtly sliding her fist from his dick. “There’s no faking anything with you. I love every single thing we do together.”
“So do I, so let’s do some of them.” She rolled toward him, pressing her tits against his chest.
He groaned when she reached between them to angle his cock toward her pussy. “You know I want you every minute of the day and night, but today, I’m going to wait until after breakfast to have my dessert.”
She pouted as he slid out from between the sheets. “I wouldn’t say no to you.”
He hoped she stuck to that promise a few minutes from now. “Let’s put that to the test.” He stood beside the bed, his ready, raging hard-on in a direct line with her face. “Will you please get out of bed?”
“Fine.” She huffed and flipped the covers off, revealing her naked body, and instilling more than a little regret that he’d rushed her out of their cozy love nest. Tits and ass jiggling just enough to make his mouth water, she shimmied into her morning sweats. “But let the record show that your Easter Bunny and I would both rather I’d done something else.”
“Noted.” He snagged her around the waist and pulled her tight against his ever-hopeful Easter Bunny. “Happy Easter, baby. I love you more today than yesterday.”
“Butt stuff for the win.”
“Not because of the butt stuff.” He grinned while smacking the aforementioned butt. “But I did fucking love it.”