Page 131 of All I Want For Christmas

He loved all of her sides. He loved that she’d let him see all her sides. He wanted to cuddle with her, try new things, have sweet memories full of multi-colored lights and delicious desserts. But he also wanted to see her after a bad day, hold her through the bullshit with her mom, fight with her, and fuck her.

Do not tell her all of that, he reminded himself. He was moving way too fast. He needed to just let this trip prove to her that he was willing to get out of his bubble and show her that they could have a good time together. The rest would come. He just needed to be patient.

Eventually, the whole group moved into the great room of the lodge where the gigantic woodburning fireplace was blazing.

The storm was still raging, the roads wouldn’t be cleared for at least another twenty-four hours, and everyone had resigned themselves to Christmas together at Merry Falls Lodge.

“I miss everyone in Autre,” Savannah admitted as Theo claimed a spot in a huge armchair.

There was room for them both—kind of—but no one else would join them. He pulled her into his lap.

She settled across his thighs without protest, and he felt his heart squeeze hard. She smiled up at him as he wrapped one arm around her back and settled the other on her thigh. Then she reached behind him and pulled a fleece blanket over them.

He lifted a brow. “I’mnotreally missing anyone at the moment,” he told her with a grin.

She laughed and wiggled her butt against his thighs. “I just mean that being here with a big group like this reminds me of them. We’d be having a lot of fun if we were snowed in with everyone there.”

She was sitting sideways on his lap, and he ran his hand up her thigh under the blanket. “I think we’d be having a different kind of fun,” he said. “You know we wouldn’t get away with sitting together in a big chair and making out without them all making a big deal out of it.”

Savannah put an arm around his neck and snuggled closer. “We’re just cuddling. But you’re right that we couldn’t do that in Autre without some big proclamation. Here everyone just thinks we’re already a couple.”

He wanted to make a big proclamation. Dammit. He gave her thigh a squeeze. “I think we’re already a couple too.”

She looked up at him. “You do? I thought the ‘I’m her boyfriend’ thing was just our cover story.”

Go easy. Don’t push. Don’t freak her out.

“I’m not interested in anyone else. I’m very interested in you. I think we should spend more time together,” he said. There, that sounded pretty…casual.

“Naked time?” she asked.

The rest of the group was settled around the fireplace as well, but the couches and chairs were spread out enough and everyone was into their own little conversations, so no one was listening in on them.

Theo focused fully on Savannah. She looked…worried.

Well, fuck.

“Yes,” he said honestly. “For sure. And I want to…hang out at Ellie’s with you.” There, that was treading carefully, right? He wanted to see more of her, but he wasn’t going zero to sixty. They could start with that and work up to more. It was too soon to tell her that he was ready to travel the world with her.

“Oh.” She nodded. “Yeah. So, instead of sitting at two different tables at Ellie’s like we do now, we’d…sit at the same table.”

Fuck, that sounded so stupid when he wanted to whisk her off to Paris. Or have her whisk him off to Paris. Whichever. It didn’t matter. But he nodded. “Yeah.” He put his forehead against hers. “And we’d talk toeach other.”

She laughed at that and the tightness in his chest loosened slightly.

“Oh. I see. And we’dtalk, huh? Not argue and insult?” she asked, looking up at him with a grin.

“Well, let’s not get crazy. Our arguing and insulting is hot.”

She nodded. “It is. But we couldalsotalk. I guess.”

“Maybe even flirt.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Oooh, flirt. I think I like the sound of that.”

“I might even feel you up under the table.” He ran his hand up her thigh again, moving higher this time.

She shifted on his lap, and he realized she was giving him more room. He grinned at her.

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