Page 53 of It's Mother-Pucking Christmas!

“There was this one guy who managed five minutes. Obviously did not make me come then said he needed something to eat to perform so I had to cook for him, then he ate all my foodandthe cake I was saving for later then fell asleep and drooled on my pillow. Another guy—”

“Stop.” Ryder groaned.

“He had way too much to drink, and I was on top of him and—”

Ryder rolled us over kissed me to shut me up.

“You don’t want to hear the rest of the story, Mr. King of the Overshare?”

“I don’t think it’s going to end nicely.”

“You ever had to mop purple-colored projectile vomit off a rental ceiling?”

“I play hockey.” He grimaced. “So yes, I have.”

20

RYDER

Igazed down at Dakota.

She was already half asleep after I’d toweled us off. Now she was tucked in under my covers.

“If you’re not going to fuck me again, MVP hockey player,” she murmured, her eyes closed, “you’re going to have to carry me to my car.”

I nuzzled her neck. “I’m not letting you leave. You’re staying with me.”

She opened one eye. “You let girls sleep over after the second date?”

I smiled against her collarbone. “Just you, Dakota. I’ll even cook you breakfast.”

“Nooo, I’m cooking you breakfast.” She moved her hand and brought it down with a too-hard smack on my arm. “You deserve it. You’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. It’s like you’re not even real,” she murmured, kissing the nearest part of me she could reach.

I basked in her adoration, in the feel of being wanted, being desired.

Maybe even loved.

I played with her hair while she drifted off. I knew I shouldn’t say the words, knew the heartbreak that it would lead to, but she was asleep now, right?

“Dakota?” I whispered.

Her breathing didn’t change.

“Dakota, are you awake?” I kissed her softly. No change.

So I indulged it.

The fantasy.

“Dakota, I love you,” I whispered, “I love you more than anyone else in the world. You’re everything to me. I’d do anything for you. I’ve never loved anyone like you. Please be mine. I want you to be my wife. I want a family with you. I want us to be together forever. Say yes, say you’ll marry me. Say you’ll never leave me. Say you love me.”

“I stole one of your shirts.”

I turned around when Dakota walked up to the small kitchen island that looked over the living room the next morning.

She was swimming in one of my Icebreakers T-shirts.

A grin formed slowly on my face.

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