Page 7 of All I Want For Christmas

She swiveled her head to look at Santa. “You talked toMatt?” she asked. No one knew about that body lotion.

“I’ve got my ways,” he said. “I know a lot about you.”

Suddenly she felt choked up. Logan and Dana had gotten in touch with Matt for gag Christmas gift ideas. That was so nice. Dana knew her well enough to come up with something appropriate, but they’d wanted it to really be amazing. And they’d wanted to include Matt in the fun. That was amazing.

She sniffed. “What else do you know?”

“I know that on Christmas Eve you and your two boys will watchIt’s a Wonderful Life.”

She smiled at that. “Doesn’t everyone watchIt’s a Wonderful Lifeon Christmas Eve?”

“Matt never did until he met you.”

Longing, nostalgia, and a strange mix of sadness and wow-these-guys-really-worked-to-make-this-special hit her. She nodded. “That’s true.”

“He’d also never had marshmallow popcorn.”

“It’s the only thing to eat duringIt’s a Wonderful Life.”

She realized that his hand was still stroking up and down her thigh from her knee to just under the edge of her skirt. But it didn’t make her uncomfortable. Maybe it should. Okay, it definitely should. But it felt strangely soothing. She took a deep breath. She needed to get off of this lap.

Soon. In a minute. Eventually.

She had the strangest desire to lean in to him. To shift so that maybe he could reach justa littlehigher on her thigh. Maybe put her head on his shoulder. And take a deep breath. She had a feeling that he smelled really good.

And all of thatdidmake her feel bad.

She took a breath. “Okay, how about my present?”

“Yeah, about that…”

She turned to look at him. “What?”

“Well, your gift wouldn’t fit in the bag.”

“Oh?” Okay, that got her attention. She didn’t need big gifts. Or any gifts. But if someone was going to give her one, a big one was just fine with her. “Where is it?”

“The other room. Want me to show you?”

A thought occurred to her. “Did Matt have something to do with it?”

“Yep.”

In ten years, she and Matt had had three Christmases together. Matt knew that she was okay. Basically okay, anyway. When he was there, it was a huge celebration. When he wasn’t…it was like every other day. But Christmas…well, that was their holiday. When they’d met, when they’d fallen in love. He’d proposed to her the second Christmas they were together. So he always made a big deal of it, even when he wasn’t there in person.

She popped up from Santa’s lap. “I’m ready.”

He stood too. “Okay, then there’s just one thing we have to do first.”

“What’s that?”

He pointed at Logan who was holding up his phone for a photo. Then he pointed to the mistletoe overhead.

Was she willing to kiss the guy who, while he might have gotten a little handsy, was about to give her a great big Christmas present from her husband? Damn right she was.

“Nobody can fight mistletoe, right?” she asked.

“Absolutely.” Santa stepped closer and ran a hand down the front of his shirt.

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