Page 23 of Taylor

“Funny. But I’m guessing that hasn’t been the case for a long time.”

“True, but one of us should know what we’re doing,” he said, still holding her hand to his chest. “But seriously”—he waited until she looked at him—“you’re still in the lead. We can hang out and watch movies. We can fool around a little bit. I want whatever you want to give me.”

“Even if I wanted to give you my virginity?” she asked with wide, innocent eyes.

Fuck. Don’t fuck this up, he thought.

He licked his lips and nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

The moment hung between them.

He had never given much thought to having a serious girlfriend because hockey took all his focus, and he wasn’t greatat splitting focus, but there was part of him that thought maybe he could try something. But he was getting ahead of himself. The only thing that was being offered was physical. If that’s all she was offering, he would gladly take it.

“Okay,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s do this.” She took him by the hand and led him away.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He pulled her into his arms.

“What? I thought you were following my lead?” she asked with the cutest little pout he had ever seen.

“No, not if this is your first time and this is what you want. You’re going to follow my lead. You deserve something special.”

“Oh.”

He motioned to the fridge. “Do you have anything in there for a good dinner?”

“I was going to make a lasagna. It’s what we eat every Christmas Eve.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Knowing Coach, he probably has some wine stowed away.”

Alice chuckled. “Yeah, he does. There’s a wine cooler in the pantry.”

“Okay, so let’s do a little date. Get dressed, eat a nice dinner, drink a bottle of wine. What do you say?”

“It’s not necessary,” she said, biting her lip.

“Hey,” he said, grasping her chin and bringing it up until she was looking him in the eyes, “I want to.”

The slow, genuine smile creeping across her face warmed him down to his very core. “Okay. Let’s put the lasagna together and get it in the oven. Then you’re going to go upstairs and get ready, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

“Okay.”

“This is going to be fun,” he said as he slid his arms around her waist and held her close.

She closed her eyes and kissed him with a hum. “Okay, I’m going to get the lasagna put together. While I do that, you go put on the movie, and I’ll join you when I can.”

“That should give us enough time to finish upScroogedbefore I get stuff ready for tonight. Does that sound okay?”

She smiled up at him, and he would do just about anything to keep that going. “Perfect!”

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“Nope, I got this. Go put onScrooged, and I’ll be out... but... can I make one minor change to your plan?” she asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

“Of course.”

“I don’t want to get dressed up. That’s not me. Let’s just be cozy.”

She was perfect. That’s all there was to it.

---