Page 41 of Pining for Christmas

“I figured… you always wanted a snowy Christmas…”

“It’s perfect,” Ali breathes, bouncing on her toes in her brand new snow boots. “Oh my god, there’s afireplace. And a rocking chair! And bookcases and throws and wooden beams and it smells like sap and pine—”

“The works,” I agree, chest loosening. Well, I can’t have gonetoowrong, even if she doesn’t know the kicker yet.

“Thank you.” When Ali turns to me, eyes so bright, I could get lost in them forever. Could swim around in her baby blues. “This is the best vacation ever.”

Yeah. That’s the thing…

“Doesn’t have to be,” I say carefully, trying to gauge her reaction as I say the words. She’s sweet and excited, mittens still clutched beneath her chin. “Doesn’t have to be a vacation unless you want it to be. We could live here full time, baby. It’s ours. I bought it.”

Her mouth drops open and just like that, the nerves are back, crowding my throat. Making my chest feel tight.

“We don’t have to,” I rush to say, kicking myself inside for thinking this was ever a good idea. “It can just be an investment property, or a rental home. We can flip it or only come here once a year, whatever you want. But I know you’ve always wanted a normal life, and the thing is, out here in the sticks like this, noone gives a shit about the Wainwright family. Even beautiful as you are, no one would know you from Eve. So I could get a local job and you could do your editing work, and no one would ever bother you. We wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. But if this is dumb—”

“It’s not dumb.” Ali plasters herself against my chest, and her voice is shaky. “It’ssonot dumb, Saxon. We can really live here? Start over like that? In the snow?”

I press my smile against her hair. “Don’t think it snows in the summer, baby.”

“I don’t care.” My wife laughs, soft and perfect, and presses a kiss to my throat. “Oh my god, I don’t care. I love it.”

Thank god for that.

This was a risk, and it’ll be a major change for both of us… but if it’s better for Ali, it’s better for me. Plain and simple. I live to make this woman happy. It’s my whole deal.

“Well, come in and see it first before you agree.” I nudge her into the cabin, voice gruff. “But let me light the fire before you judge it. See the full effect.”

“I already love it,” she says again, and I’m light in my boots, floating with a job well done, as I lead her through the mountain home, pointing out the kitchen and the en suite and the nursery for our growing baby. And she’s right: Ali belongs here, with snowflakes melting in her dark hair. Her red Christmas sweater matches her flushed cheeks, and she looks so at home, like a puzzle piece slotting into place.

“But willyoulike it?” Ali asks, forehead creased with concern, but there’s no need for her to fret.

If she’s near, I’m happy. If she’s content, I’m fucking ecstatic.

Our kiss tastes like fresh mountain air.

“If you’re here, Ali Cat? Always.”

III

The Taming of the Scrooge

Description

It’s my grumpy boss’s worst nightmare—and my dream come true. Now, hand me that mistletoe…

My gorgeous bosshatesthe holidays. He pays me a big, fat bonus check every year just to work straight through it all, pretending like Christmas isn’t happening right outside our office door.

I don’t know his deal. Don’t get why mince pies make him froth with rage. All I know is: the holidays are forotherpeople. One hint of merriment, and I can kiss goodbye to that December chunk of change.

Except this year, we need to travel for work—and we get snowed in at the coziest inn you’ve ever seen, every single inch of it decked out in tinsel.

My boss is livid. My holiday spirit can’t be contained.

Oh, and there’s only one bed.

Noelle

The city streets are packed with holiday shoppers, everyone squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder. Gold and silver string lights twinkle overhead, swagged between the buildings like washing lines, and the faint sound of carols drifts out of every coffee shop I walk past.

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