Page 43 of Always Us

“So next time we do this, are you going to tell me what you want?”

She gives me her shy smile. “Maybe.”

“I think you should.” I run my hand down her arm. “I liked it. I’d like you to do it again.”

She’s still smiling. “I’ll think about it.”

I kiss her, then swat her ass as I walk past her. “I need a shower before we go.”

“Is that an invitation?” She follows me into the bathroom.

“We just did it. You want it again?”

“No. I just like feeling your warm soapy hands on me.”

I turn on the shower. “Which always leads to sex.”

“Guess we’ll just have to see.”

Jade doesn’t realize that guys can’t always recover that fast. Either that, or she’s testing me to see if I can do it. And so far, I’ve been able to, probably because I’m only 20 and she turns me on like no other girl can. But I hope she knows it’s not going to work the same way when I’m 40.

As usual, our time in the shower leads to sex. And then we get dressed and go shop for our tree.

“What do you think of this one?” Jade points to a tiny five-foot Christmas tree.

We’re in a strip mall at one of those pop-up stores that’s only here for the holidays. In October it was a Halloween store where Jade got this smoking hot cheerleader costume. She needs to put that thing on again. Damn, that was sexy. I’m getting worked up just thinking about it.

I lean down and whisper in her ear. “You need to wear that costume for me.”

She thinks a moment, then smiles. “The cheerleader costume?”

“Put it on tonight when we get home.”

“We’re decorating the tree tonight. But how about tomorrow?”

“I can’t wait that long.”

She laughs and pushes me away. “Back to the tree. You like this one or not?”

“It’s not big enough. We need the biggest tree we can find that will still fit in the house.” I walk over to a display of bigger trees and point to a seven-footer. “This one’s better.”

“You sure it’ll fit?”

“We have eight-foot ceilings. There’s plenty of room.”

“Okay, let’s get it!” She claps her hands. It’s so damn cute. She’s so excited about buying a tree. It’s the first one she’s ever had.

I take the sales slip for the tree, then walk over to the lights. “What kind of lights do you want? And please don’t say white because I don’t like white.”

“No, definitely not white. Let’s get the multicolored ones.”

“Flashing or steady? Or they have ones that do both.”

“Ooh, get the kind that do both!” Her face lights up and she looks like she wants to jump up and down like Lilly would. She doesn’t, but I know she wants to.

Again, so cute. Cute enough that I have to pull her into my side and kiss her. “You’re freaking adorable, you know that?”

She doesn’t answer. She’s too mesmerized by the lights display, twinkling all around us. I let her go and grab a shopping cart. I take 10 boxes of lights and load them into the cart.

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