Page 119 of Catching My Dreams

“Brilliant,” he suggested, his face still pressed into the crook of her neck as he recovered. “Fucking astounding.”

Ella let out a chuckle. “Unbelievably amazing,” she agreed, running her fingers over his back. “And now we need to clean up before our guests arrive.”

Noah groaned, and it wasn’t a pleased sound. “Can’t,” he muttered. “I want to stay right here.”

Ella grinned. “I don’t think our friends and your two sisters would be very happy to find us like this.”

He let out a resigned sigh and rolled off of her, leaving her feeling empty and cold.

“I guess we better shower,” he said glumly, rising from the bed and grabbing her hands to lift her drained body to standing.

He placed a soft kiss on her lips, and just like that, Ella was warm again.

She followed him into the bathroom, and they probably broke some kind of speed-showering record to make sure they were presentable when the others arrived.

“Don’t forget to put on your sweater,” Ella chirped when they heard a knock from downstairs.

He sighed and put it on reluctantly, but Ella could see a glint of amusement in his eyes. He loved it.

She still needed to pull on her jeans and shoes, so Noah was the one who went down to let their friends in.

She could hear Archie barking at the door, his yaps going silent as soon as the people he knew were revealed and could give him some attention.

She was just tying the laces on her sneakers when she heard Chris’s loud voice filtering upstairs.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

Ella snickered. She could perfectly imagine Noah’s chagrinned expression.

“Ella gave it to me,” her boyfriend replied when her foot hit the step at the top of the staircase.

“It’s hysterical,” Riley said.

“It’s a travesty,” Chris argued.

“It’s…something,” Asher added.

“It’s the ugliest sweater I could find,” Ella told them as she stepped into the living room where they’d all gathered. “Merry Christmas, everyone.”

“Look, you have one, too,” Chris said with eyes filled with mirth.

“I do,” she agreed, proudly brushing her hair behind her shoulders so they could take in her sweater properly.

“I like them,” Olivia said, her blue eyes sparkling with humor.

“Yours is maybe a bit more tasteful,” Ella replied with a grin after taking in the red sweater that had a pattern of reindeer and candy canes.

The others were wearing festive colors under their winter coats, but Christmas sweaters were sadly missing from their outfits. Chris was at least sporting a Santa hat, so he won points for that.

“Merry Christmas again,” Asher said, stepping forward to hug her despite the fact that they’d already seen each other earlier for lunch.

The others did the same, and Noah smiled at Ella when she wrapped Olivia in a tight hug.

“Who wants a drink?” Ella asked after pulling away. “We have eggnog, coffee, hot chocolate, and soda.”

They all gave their orders, and Noah helped her get everyone sorted. He moved around the kitchen like he belonged in it as much as she did, and Ella couldn’t help grinning as they took the drinks through to the living room.

“Oh, the Christmas music,” Ella said once the drinks had all been handed out.

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