Page 94 of Mountain Hero

EPILOGUE

Christmas Eve

ENZO

“Enzo, I think we need a bigger tree next year.”

Winter’s on her knees, trying in vain to fit the rest of the gifts underneath the already-full Christmas tree. As she turns toward me, she gestures at the mountainous stack of boxes still sitting off to the side and says, “I can’t fit everything underneath it. Is it too late to get a second tree?”

“Well. Maybe,” I hedge. “It is Christmas Eve and all. We’re kind of running short on time.” I walk over to the tree and kneel beside her. “What’s wrong with just leaving the presents off to the side?”

“I guess that would be okay.” She takes a brightly-wrapped box and tucks it between two other ones, then turns back to me. “But I don’t know how we ended up with so many presents.”

“We have a lot of people to buy for. Your aunt. My mom. Alec. Ronan. Gage. Knox.”

“And Lark.” Winter smiles. “After everything she and Knox have been through, they definitely deserve a nice Christmas.”

“Very true.” I kiss her cheek. “Plus, didn’t you buy something for Max? And Sage?”

“And Will,” she adds. “Since he’s taken on so much more at the store, I wanted to get him something nice to show our appreciation.”

“Plus—” I raise my eyebrows at her, smirking. “There seem to be an awful lot of presents with my name on them. Which you didn’t have to do.”

“Enzo!” Winter looks at me, aghast. “It’s our first Christmas together. Did you really think I’d only give you one present, like you said?”

“Well.” She has a point.

“And,” she presses on, “I seem to see a lot of tags with my name on them. It looks like I’m not the only one who went a little crazy shopping.”

“Fine.” I pull her into my arms and kiss her until she’s flushed and gasping. “I went a little overboard. But I like giving you things.”

“And I like giving you things, too.” Winter grins at me. “I think it’s okay. We’re allowed to spoil each other. Especially on our first Christmas.”

“That’s true.” And I’m really excited to see her reaction to all the gifts I bought—the special edition hardcovers by her favorite author, new hiking gear, a framed photo of us from Thanksgiving to add to the mantle, and a new reading chair I’ve had hidden in the basement for the last two weeks.

But the most important gift isn’t for tomorrow. It’s for tonight.

Standing up, I reach my hand out to Winter. “Can you take a break from gift arranging? Go for a little walk with me?”

“A walk?” Her brows pull into a puzzled V. “It’s dark out. And snowing. I thought you wanted to sit by the fireplace and watch Christmas movies tonight?”

“I do. Just a little later.”

Winter gives me an assessing look, her eyes narrowing like she’s trying to read my expression for some kind of clue. But she takes my hand and says with a smile, “Okay. It is really pretty out. And we can warm up with hot chocolate when we come in.” She pauses. “Or sex. That would work, too.”

As I pull her to her feet, I kiss her again. “I really like that idea.”

“We should have Christmas Eve sex,” she says thoughtfully. “Like a tradition.”

“You mean like Halloween sex? And Thanksgiving sex?”

Her eyes sparkle, the lights of the tree reflecting in them. “Yup.”

“I love it.” And as we get bundled up in layers of clothing, I keep adding to our growing list of new traditions. “New Year’s Eve sex. Valentine’s Day?—”

“Of course,” Winter adds with emphasis. “That’s a no-brainer. But then there’s Groundhog’s Day, and Saint Patrick’s Day…”

We’re still going as we head outside, coming up with obscure celebrations like Donut Day and National No Pants Day.

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