Page 161 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
I was a bastard for putting them there.
This was temporary.
We all knew it.
And still, I couldn’t force myself from this place if I tried.
“Iwuvit!” He hugged it against his chest.
I cleared the heaviness from my throat. “Well, what do you say I put up that tree so you can hang it?”
“I say yes!” His pink bowed lips stretched in delight.
I met Piper’s eyes for a moment.
A thousand things passed between us in that bare moment.
Gratitude and need and knowing.
Questions and uncertainty and fear.
I sent her a knowing smile before I grabbed the tree from the wall. I wrangled it around the furniture as I glanced between Piper and the pile of bags on the floor. “Would you mind grabbing the stand and putting it wherever you want the tree?”
“Sure.” She turned and dug around in the bags. When she found it, she wound around the couch and set it in front of the left window beside the fireplace.
“Good choice,” I murmured as I went to work.
“How about some holiday music to get this party started?” Nelly hollered from the kitchen, and Piper linked her phone with the Bluetooth speaker that sat on the kitchen counter.
A second later, the cabin was filled with festive music.
The mood went light.
The fireplace crackled as the flames leapt in the hearth.
The whole time, Nelly sang from the kitchen as she prepared dinner, while Piper and I strung lights.
Our smiles soft and our gazes long.
Touches not quite covert since the only thing I wanted to do was get my hands all over her gorgeous body.
Laughter rang from Piper and Finn as she held him up so he could place ornaments on the tree, then she spun him around and started dancing with him in her arms when “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” came on.
The sight was nothing but sheer, unmitigated bliss.
Pulling and tugging on me.
Finn squealed, giggling out of control with his head tipped back as she spun him round and round, before Piper danced back my way with her son in her arms.
Their faces flushed and full of happiness.
A vision that punched me straight in the gut.
“Only the topper is left. Can you get it?” she gently asked Finn as she set him onto his feet, and he went tottering for where it sat on the coffee table.
A snow angel.
Raven had been there to help me pick everything out since I’d never ventured into this territory before and I figured I’d screw it all up. I saw it and knew it was perfect.
