Page 32 of Wishing Stone

Her eyes were pleading, practically begging me to understand. Although she was clearly trying to keep her tone even, she couldn’t mask the wistfulness in her voice. It made the disappointment of the failing lights ten times worse.

What I’d done here wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.

“I know what you want, Krystina. I’m just doing my best to try and find a balance,” I said with agitation. Bending over, I picked up another rock.

“Wait!” Krystina exclaimed and took my hand. Uncurling my fingers, she looked down at the rock in my hand. “Don’t throw this one. It’s a wishing stone.”

“What the hell is a wishing stone?” I asked a little too harshly with an impatient shake of my head.

“A wishing stone is a rock with an unbroken stripe all the way around it. Look here,” she said. Removing her gloves, she shoved them in her pocket and began tracing her finger around the rock to show the perfectly unbroken pale quartz ring. “There’s no beginning and no end. If you make a wish for yourself when holding the stone, it’s supposed to come true. But if you make a wish for someone else, both of your wishes come true.”

I wasn’t a believer in superstitions, but there was something about the look on Krystina’s face that made me pause. The air seemed to stir as I studied her. She was the reason no more shadows or nightmares haunted me. She was my very own angel—the light in my darkness—the woman who helped chase away my demons and dared me to dream.

If I had one wish this Christmas, it would be to give her what she wanted. Yes, she spoke about wanting her friends and family, but I knew what was in her heart. She desperately wanted a baby more than anything else. It was what I wanted too.

Perhaps if we both wished for it…

I shook my head, unable to believe I was considering such nonsense. Krystina had clearly been rubbing off on me too much. Still, I couldn’t help but humor her.

Wrapping my hand over hers, I pressed the stone between each of our palms. “Make a wish, angel.”

“Together,” she said with a smile.

I watched her close her eyes, then I followed suit and made my wish. I nearly laughed at the ludicrous idea that this would make one bit of difference in the outcome of us having a baby. But then I found myself shivering against a cold breeze. The wind kicked up, whipping around us and puffing up billows of snow under the stars.

“Did you feel that?” she whispered.

I opened my eyes to look at her once more.

“The wind?” I asked.

“Yes. The wind that came at the exact moment we made our wish. It was like magic.”

My mouth tilted up in amusement.

“Christmas magic? Or maybe it was the Ghost of Christmas Past?”

“Are you making fun of me?” She pushed her lip out in a fake pout.

“Not at all, Mrs. Stone. I think it’s sexy when you talk about magic. It makes me want to create some magic of our own.”

“Is that so?”

Without answering, I leaned in closer and brushed my mouth against hers. Pushing my tongue past her lips, our kiss deepened, turning breathy and intense in an instant. It was always that way with us. The softest of kisses could ignite into a red-hot flame in the blink of an eye. Despite our differences and many mistakes along the road, Krystina and I never failed at passion.

Her body relaxed against mine, and I felt her submission on a molecular level, stirring every cell in my body to take her right here. I loved this woman with every fiber of my being. She was perfect from the inside out—from her unwavering inner strength right down to the perfect shape of her lips.

And she was mine—all mine.

“We’re going to screw in the snow, aren’t we?” she whispered against my lips.

I low chuckle reverberated in my chest as I moved my mouth along the line of her jaw.

“Angel, if I weren’t worried about you freezing to death, I might consider it.”

Pulling abruptly away, I bent down and swooped her up from behind her knees. She laughed, breathless from our kiss, and swatted my shoulder as I cradled her to my chest.

“Put me down, you neanderthal.”

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