Page 18 of HoHoHo for You

I swallowed hard and pushed up to sit. “This is sweet, but—”

“Bridge, don’t.”

The low plea in his tone caught at my heart and yanked me back to face him.

He’d let the bag slide to the floor, but he was still in that ridiculous costume—that lookedamazingon him and framed his abs perfectly.

“Don’t what?” I snapped.

He leaned closer, invading my space. “Don’t shut me out.”

“I’m not, I need to go to the bathroom and… and sleep some more. I didn’t sleep great.”

“You can sleep later,” he said, then gave me brief kiss before sitting back again. “Go to the bathroom. Brush your teeth. Shower, and get dressed.”

“I’m not getting fucking dressed, Sam—I need to stay in bed today and—”

He was on his feet in a shot, looming over me, grabbing my chin and making me face him.

“Babe, I don’t think you’re listening,” he said in that lovely, low growl that made my belly tingle. “You have beenverynaughty, staying in the house and being accessible for my sexual pleasure for far too long. I have a present for you. A reward for being so fucking bad. You’ll have lots of time to rest, I promise. But this isn’t it. You get your ass in that bathroom. I’ll wash you if that’s what it takes. But you’re mine for the rest of the day. Do you understand?”

God, I loved it when he went all Dom like that, but my pride kicked in. I slapped his hand away and stepped past him, stomping across the room. “Fine. But I’m not smiling about it.”

He chuckled behind me, and even though that made me swear, it also made the tingle in my belly rise.

I took a long time in the shower, just to piss him off—and got out to find clothes already laid out for me. I eyed them suspiciously, but they were normal clothes. Leggings, one of his hoodies—one he’d worn so it smelled like his cologne, which Iloved—andmy sheepskin boots.

Sam-Krampus leaned against the door, arms folded, half-grinning at me like he knew I’d been thinking about trying to evade him, and he was pleased with himself for outwitting me.

“You’re too fucking cheerful in the morning,” I muttered, then brushed my teeth so I’d have an excuse not to talk.

When I had rinsed my mouth and dried my hands, I turned to face him and mirrored his posture, arms folded, head tilted. “What now?”

Sam pushed off the wall and closed the space between us, standing right at my toes as he reached behind him to reveal another box.

“How the hell did you hidethatbehind your back?” I almost laughed and had to catch myself.

“Lots of room in my sweats.”

I huffed. “Good thing. You’re a grower.”

He gave me an approving growl, then nudged my arm with the present. “Open it.”

Reluctantly—and a little bit fearfully—I reached for the box. I took the time to untie the ribbon this time, slipping fingers under the tape at the end and unwrapping it. Another Amazon box so I couldn’t tell what was inside.

When I opened it and saw the thin, black straps, at first I thought he’d bought me very slinky lingerie and my heart sank because I wasn’t in the mood. But when I picked it up to confront him with it, it was way too small to be lingerie. And when I unfurled it…

“A sleep mask?” I asked, confused. Hadn’t he said I had to get out of bed?

“Guaranteed to blockalllight, but stay smooth and comfortable over your eyes,” he said with a smile. “There’s more though. Look.”

I did. And the black, square box inside the other box turned out to be… “Noise cancelling headphones?”

I looked at Sam, the headphones in one hand, the silk mask in the other. “What is this?”

Sam’s expression dropped from smug and suggestive, back to that pleading I’d seen on him when I first woke up. He closed the gap between us and stood over me, licking his lips before he spoke.

“You need to get out of this house.Weneed to make new memories for this time of year—but don’t worry, we aren’t riskinganyChristmas. We’re going away, Bridget. And I’m going to make sure you can’t see, or hear anything that has anything to do with Christmas.”

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