Page 19 of Unexpected Christmas with the SEAL

She blinked through the tears, swallowed and smiled. “Merry Christmas.”

He ducked under the fence and lifted her up, making her feet dangle, then set her back down and kissed her hard on the mouth.

When they finally came up for air, he was smiling, and she was crying.

His face turned serious. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought you left.” She tried to smile, but it was brittle and flat. “I thought that you decided I wastoo much, too, and left. And took my dog.”

“You’re definitely nottoo much. I’m an early riser by nature, saw that it was a gorgeous morning and thought, why not take you for a spin in Bella. And Brunolovesriding in the helicopter. So I fed him, let him out, then brought him with me so you could sleep in a little.”

She blinked through more tears. “I’m sorry that I assumed the worst. I kind of have a habit of doing that.”

He shrugged. “No big deal. But just know, you’re definitelynottoo much. You’re just the right amount.”

She beamed up at him. “I should probably go change.”

He nodded. “Get dressed. I’ll go start opening up the farm, feed the animals, then once we’re done, we can go for a ride. I dug some blackberry scones out of my freezer that I made this summer, so we can have those and the coffee and tea in the thermos’s I brought for breakfast. And I figured turkey dinner and Die Hard marathon tonight?”

Her smile was going to break her face. “Where did you come from, Pete Callahan?”

He pointed north. “That way, about nine miles.”

She tossed her head back and laughed, but he only took that as an invitation to dip her low and kiss her.

Once they came up for air, they ran back to toward the house so she could get dressed and he could feed the animals. Within an hour, they were up in the air, headphones on, taking in the beauty of the rolling hills dressed in frost as the morning rays turned them into shimmering piles of diamonds.

It was honestly the best Christmas morning Hannah could ever remember. The scones were delicious; the tea was perfect and Cal was a great tour guide. He pointed out his little cabin on the edge of the cattle ranch, showed her Asher and Nate’s cabins on their land that they rented out in the spring and summer, and even let her try flying Bella—sort of.

They parked on the top of a hill near the furthest one of her uncles’ cabins and because it was too chilly to get out; they stayed in the helicopter, removed their headsets and just watched the day get brighter.

“I can almost feel the magic in the air,” she said, sipping her Earl Grey tea from the travel mug he brought. How’d he know she liked Earl Grey tea? Did he message her uncles and ask?

“Oh, I definitely can,” he said, taking a bite of his butter-slathered scone. He reached for her hand with his free one and linked their fingers together. “I’d like to continuehelpingyou on the ranch until you leave. If that’s okay?”

Hannah couldn’t keep the smile from her face if she tried. “It’s definitely okay.”

“Merry Christmas, Hannah.”

“Merry Christmas, Cal. Thank you for being on my team. I didn’t know I needed a team, but now I’m really grateful that I have one.”

“I’ll always be on your team, Hannah. Because you’re just the right amount.”

She squeezed his hand. “And you’re enough.”

Sixmonthslater…

“That’s the last box … I think,” Hannah said, plunking a big moving box filled with her life into the middle of Cal’s living room.

His green eyes went wide as he gazed around his small cabin at the mountains of boxes. “I think we’re going to need to get a bigger place.”

She bounced on her toes over to him and looped her arms around his neck. “Or we use the boxes to build a sex fort.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Well, yeah, of course. We do thatfirst. Then we think about getting a bigger place.”

“We knew this place would be too small for both of us.”

“I know, I just didn’t consider that with you moving in, that also meant all of your worldly possessions. Which seems to be a lot.”

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