Page 110 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

All in all, it’s not a bad way to close out the year, balls-deep in the woman I love, looking up at her face and knowing that this year will be better than the last—a million times better, because I’ve finally let myself love and be loved.

It’s not long before I pull her down so her breasts are pressed to my chest, and I can kiss her mouth while I thrust up to meet her movements. I want all of her, always, and for some unholy reason that I can only thank my lucky stars for, she feels the same way about me.

After, we get dressed, but I tug her back by the hand before she can leave the room. “I’d like to give you your present first. Just the two of us.”

“You already got me Jester,” she says, stunned. “Rowan, you didn’t need to get me anything else.”

“It’s nothing,” I say, self-conscious. Because itisnothing, or next to it. “I made it. It’s not something I bought.”

“You made me something?” she asks with the same look she got in her eyes when I told her about Christmas All Year Coffee. I feel a pleasant ache in my chest.

“I did.”

She clears her throat as I pull out the package from my closet. It looks pretty good, but only because Bryn wrapped it for me. “I got you something too,” Kennedy says.

“Did you get my shirt back from Jonah?” I ask. “I have fond memories of that shirt.”

“I have fond memories of you having it off,” she says with a slight smile, although I detect something nervous about her. “But no. That one went down in the blaze at Labelle Manor, unfortunately. This isn’t something I can actually give you, although I did get you something little. It’s just…” She pauses, looking at me, like she’s worried about what she has to say, which makesmea little worried.

“Well?”

“I get access to my trust fund a little over a year from now. I was thinking maybe we could start our own little nonprofit, here in Highland Hills, to make sure all of the kids get Christmas presents, like we were talking about. I thought maybe we could sell your cars as part of it. Step up production.”

My mouth gapes open. Here she goes, thinking big, when I’ve always been a small-picture kind of guy, but I don’t hate this plan. In fact, it’s a pretty fucking good plan, except…

“Kennedy, you can’t spend your money on me.”

“I won’t be,” she says firmly. “We’ll both be spending it on kids who need help.”

I slowly nod. “This would be a good time for you to open your present, so you can see if your plan is shit.”

She lets out a tinkling laugh, then sifts through her suitcase and comes out with a small package, which she hands to me.

We both tear in, and I laugh when I reveal a little blue pony similar to the one I gave her last week. She’s more of alet’s carefully remove the wrapping papertype, so she slowly disassembles the paper on the package I gave her, pulling aside the flaps.

When she gets to the box, she opens it, and the slight gasp she makes is adorable. It’s a bright purple, two-door coupe, made of painted wood. I use recycled plastic for the windows, since I usually give them away to kids, and the last thing youwant to hear is that you’re responsible for little Danny losing an eye. “Youmadethis?”

The way she says it, I feel special, like I’m not some two-bit handyman-slash-fireman without any real ambition or talent. That’s her talent, though—making people feel special. I’m just the lucky so-and-so she chose.

“I did,” I say, looking down at the car. “You told me purple’s your favorite color, Princess.”

“And it works?”

“It does,” I say with a grin.

“Want to try?”

“First, I think you ought to open the car door and look inside.”

“The door opens?” she asks in wonder, and hell, if she’s that easily impressed, she’s really going to be blown away when she—

She looks up at me, her lips parting, a plain white gold band on her palm.

I scratch the back of my neck, suddenly feeling like an idiot. I should have taken Rory up on his offer to help me with a ring. I shouldn’t have—

“Rowan, is this what I think it is?” she says in a whisper.

I take her other hand. I get down on one knee. “I know we’re supposed to playact getting engaged next week for the cameras. But I don’t want it to be pretend, Kennedy. Maybe you’ll think I’m crazy, but I want to marry you for real. This past month has been hell…and it’s also been the best month of my life. It’s not much of a ring, but you can use the one the production gives us if you prefer.”

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