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I head over to the swing and climb onto Boss’s lap. “You didn’t have to agree to that.”

“It’ll be fun, and it clearly means a lot to her. I’m taking away her little girl, so the least I can do is stay and help her hang a few ornaments,” he says.

I throw my head back in laughter. “A few…you’re funny. You have no idea.”

He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. I want your mom to get to know me. Your parents should feel comfortable with the guy their only daughter is moving halfway across the country to live with. I will hang up thousands of ornaments and answer all their questions if it puts their mind at ease. Someday, you’ll want that from your own daughter. You know?”

“About that,” I hiss. “I hate kids. Will you still love me if we don’t have any?”

He presses his lips to mine. “I will love you forever, no matter what. But let’s put the kid conversation on the back burner. We have time to discuss that later.”

“But I really hate them.”

“You wouldn’t hate your own.”

I scrunch my nose. “I don’t know. I won’t know that until I have my own, and then what if I do and I still hate them? You can’t just give it back.”

He circles his arms around my waist and pulls me close, kissing my lips. “I love you, Lexi Laine, every spoiled inch of you.”

“I love you, too.”

CHAPTER25

BOSS

Lexi’s mom wasn’t lying when she said she loves Christmas. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who loves Christmas quite as much as she does. With holiday tunes blasting, we decorated every inch of the house over the past two days.

I loved spending time in the house Lexi grew up in with her parents. While not as sassy as Lexi, she and her mom are very similar in looks and personality. They’re both fun and adventurous. Maybe Lexi doesn’t see it because she’s been so quick to put a microscope on herself lately, but her mother is just as spoiled in her own, less obvious way. Her dad makes sure to keep her mom living the charmed life she’s used to.

Truthfully, I find her parents’ relationship really endearing. I love that her dad adores her mother as much as he does. It’s rare to see couples so in love after such a long time together. I hope to be able to spoil Lexi for decades to come, and I plan on spoiling her rotten.

“Do you want a gingerbread or sugar cookie?” Lexi opens the Tupperware container full of Christmas cookies we made with her parents last night. Her mother packed them up for us to snack on in the car today.

“Sugar,” I respond.

Lexi pulls a cookie out of the container and hands it to me. “Okay, how about a sled?” She hands me the frosted treat.

I chuckle at the irony. “Have you ever gone sledding?”

“No,” she says. “But I have gone skiing…well, once, anyway. We took a trip to Colorado when I was sixteen.”

I take a bite of the cookie, the soft and sugary treat melts in my mouth. “We’ll have to go sledding this winter. There’s a big hill behind the condo that’s perfect for it. I haven’t gone in years. Not since I was a kid, really. But you have to do it at least once. So I’m taking you.”

“Works for me,” she agrees, happily eating her own cookie.

Lexi’s car is packed with everything she wanted to bring to our condo, mainly clothes, shoes, and hair and makeup products. She included a few nostalgic-type items like her framed pictures and a couple of photo albums. We opted not to bring any of the furniture from her room since I have all that stuff already, not that we had room for it in her car anyway.

Seeing the exit I want, I pull off the highway.

Lexi sits up in her seat and peers out the window. “What’s up? Do we need gas already?”

“Nope, something else.”

“You have to go to the bathroom?”

“Nope.”

“Stopping for food?”

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