Page 42 of Getting Wrapped Up

That was the key, of course. Being accepted. She was accepted with her colleagues and friends in San Francisco, but she also kept a lot of herself hidden.

She had a feeling the people in Sapphire Falls could get her to spill her secrets.

Her gaze landed on an ornament. It was a ceramic depiction of the Sapphire Falls town square, hand painted in blues and whites and silvers. The gazebo was there, the hot chocolate stand, the four big trees…everything.

“I think this is the one I want.” She lifted it from the box.

Lauren nodded. “Definitely.”

They paid for their purchases, including more Christmas cookies and some fudge from Scott’s Sweets.

“Think the guys are done with the tree?” Kate asked. She took a bite of fudge and moaned.

Lauren laughed. “Yes, I’m sure they’re done.”

“Really? I have no idea how long it takes to cut a tree down.”

“Yeah, well, longer than this, but they’re not cutting it down.”

“They’re not?”

Lauren shook her head. “I’m sure Travis talked Levi into getting an already-cut one. But play along. It makes them feel manly to have us think that they did it.”

Kate laughed. “You guys showed up because Phoebe and Joe called and told you they were concerned about our safety out here with a chainsaw, right?”

“Actually, Adrianne called us after she stopped by this morning and heard the plan.”

Kate was amazed. “You all really do take care of each other, huh?”

Lauren linked her arm with Kate’s. “Some call it meddling. We like to refer to it as semi-forced love.”

Kate felt her eyes sting and had to blink rapidly. Only one thought was on her mind—they wouldn’t have to even semi force the love here on her.

It tookKate and Levi far longer than it should have to haul their tree from the truck to the porch, through the front door and into the perfect corner in the living room.

Of course, it also took a while to rearrange Joe and Phoebe’s living room to make that corner perfect.

Still, Kate could not deny that it was everything she’d imagined as she stepped back and took in the sight of the evergreen towering to the ceiling in the corner between the staircase and the fireplace. It would be the first thing seen when someone stepped in the front door.

She felt Levi move in behind her. When he wrapped his arms around her, she leaned into him and wished that this Christmas could last for a year. Or ten.

And to think that only a few days ago, she’d been planning to skip Christmas entirely.

She turned in his arms and went up on tiptoe to kiss him.

Levi didn’t even hesitate. He tunneled his fingers into her hair, pulled her closer with a hand on her ass, and deepened the kiss.

Fire seemed to lick through her, and Kate wrapped a leg around one of his. She pulled her lips away only enough to say, “We have candy canes.”

“We also have decorating and movies and cuddling to do.”

She pulled back farther. “You don’t want to have candy cane sex now?”

“I do. You have no idea how much.”

“I don’t see the problem.”

“Once I get you naked, that’s all I’ll be able to concentrate on. Until possibly January twenty-something.”

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