Page 21 of We Wish You a Happily Ever After

He missed the feel of her next to him, but he couldn’t help but laugh at Stephanie’s gushing.

“Are you professionally trained? You sound like an—”

“Angel,” Jeremy couldn’t resist finishing for her. “She does.” He winked at Bella, who grinned.

“Thank you,” she said to both of them. “I sing in a…well, I…” Her smile twisted into a quick frown before she glanced over at Jeremy and quickly caught herself. “I sing professionally, actually.”

“Well, you’re amazing. Do you have any originals? Or even better, an album I could listen to?”

“Steph, leave the poor girl alone,” Logan called across the sleigh. “We have time for one more carol before we get back to the ranch.”

“How about ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’?” someone yelled. A moment later, the whole group was caught up in the tune, and Bella was once again tucked into the crook of his arms.

It had been a perfect day, as far as he was concerned. The sky was blue and while the sun was out, it had been warm enough for sweaters, especially when they skated on the little rink that had been set up. Now that the sun had gone down, it had cooled off considerably, but Jeremy wasn’t upset about that at all because it meant he could pull up the fleece blanket over their laps and pull Bella even closer to keep warm.

Under the cover, when her hand slipped to his leg and squeezed his thigh, a jolt of desire shot through him. It was all he could do to keep from pulling her up onto his lap so he could kiss her the way he’d been dying to all day, right then and there.

He could wait.

As it turned out, Jeremy had to wait even longer than he’d expected to because when the sleigh ride wrapped up, Levi had a bonfire going in the yard, and they were shuffled along with the rest of them to warm up with a cup of cider next to the fire. It was late by the time they walked through the ranch yard, under the twinkling lights he’d helped to hang, and back into the truck.

“That was a fun day.” Bella sank back against the seat. “But I’m exhausted.”

He tried to hide his disappointment, but obviously wasn’t successful at his efforts, judging by Bella’s chuckle.

“If you’re tired, I’ll take you home, but—”

“But I’d rather go back to your place.”

He turned so quickly in his seat, she laughed again. Harder this time.

“Is that okay?”

For a split second—but only a split second—Jeremy thought about playing it cool. And then his instincts kicked in and he closed the distance between them and did what he’d been wanting to do all day: kissed her hard and without question as to what his answer was.

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