Page 79 of Holiday Unscripted
“That would be you.” Jack pushes me to the middle of the floor and I’m surrounded now with some of the men and Gavin.
“You should catch this,” I tell him and he smirks.
“I plan on it, since it’s customary for the person who catches the bouquet and the person who catches the garter to dance with each other.” The minute he says the words, I want to throat punch him. He claps his hands together and I just look at him. “Been trying to catch her attention all night.”
I don’t listen to anything else because the emcee is counting down. Gavin beside me moves side to side, as if he’s getting ready to run a play in football. He bounces up and down on his feet, and when the garter flies through the air, I move my hand up and he may be wider than me but I’m taller, so it falls right in my hand.
Joshua turns around and howls with laughter when I hold up the garter hanging on my finger. I walk over to him and tuck it back in the pocket on his tux. “You can keep that. Thank you very much.” I slap his chest, turning and seeing Elizabeth on the side laughing and shaking her head.
“You just had to, didn’t you?” she teases me and I smile at her.
“How else would I get you to dance with me again?” I tease her, pulling her to me and bending my head to her ear. “You can thank me later.”
CHAPTER 31
Elizabeth
THE FIRST NOEL
December 25th
Merry Christmas
I hear sniffing next to my face before I feel Whiskey’s nose in my eyeball. I moan and turn my face to the other side. I don’t know why I expect him to walk away but I do. He doesn’t. Instead, I now hear him sniffing my hair and licking my neck. “No.” I lift my hand and give a little laugh when his nose feels like it’s in my ear. “Whiskey,” I say his name and he immediately jumps on the bed, stepping on my legs to get over to the other side.
“Whiskey,” Nate grumbles in a sleepy voice, “down.” Instead of getting down off the bed, all he does is move excitedly to his side of the bed. “What is wrong with you?” I open my eyes to see Nate on his back with Whiskey on top of him as he pets his head.
“He probably knows it’s Christmas and I got him some special treats under the tree.” I lift my hand up to rub his neck. “Is that why you are all excited?” I turn on my side and Nate’s hand that is under the cover moves to my leg where he rubs it softly. “You want to open your presents?” I ask him and he gets off of Nate and jumps off the bed.
“Great,” Nate complains, “now he’s really awake.”
I laugh as he tosses the covers off him and gets up. His naked body is on full display as he reaches down for the boxers he took off last night after our shower and before sliding into bed after he put out Whiskey one more time. “Come on.” He rubs his hands through his hair and looks at me.
“Merry Christmas, Nate.” I smile at him and he puts one knee in the bed, followed by his hands on the bed before kissing my lips.
“Merry Christmas, beautiful,” he replies softly, giving me one more kiss before moving off and walking out of the door. I hear Whiskey trample down the stairs and toss the covers off myself and stretch. Swinging my legs off the side of the bed, I get up and head to the bathroom. Last night, as soon as we got home, I took off the makeup and took a shower. My hair now looks like a rat’s nest and I have some black smudges under my eyes, even though I took off the makeup and then took a shower. I clean up my face with a wet washcloth, grabbing my pajama bottoms and one of Nate’s shirts before heading downstairs.
The smell of coffee lingers in the air and the bright sun from outside fills the kitchen. “It’s so bright out.”
“It’s almost eleven,” he reports and I gasp.
“No wonder he was all over us,” I say, walking to the back door and looking out at Whiskey jumping into the little snow that is left on the ground before running away and then back again.
“Yeah,” Nate says, “definitely wouldn’t be able to do that if he was a puppy.”
“I’ve never had a puppy,” I admit to him.
“Would you want a puppy?” he asks me and I shrug. “It’s lots of work at the beginning, and not something that should be done if you aren’t home.”
“Yeah.” I go to the door when Whiskey charges over to the door and I open it, the cool air hitting me right away. “Maybe that’s why I never got one. I work long hours and it would be silly to have a puppy and not give it enough attention.” Whiskey runs in and heads straight for his food bowl. I walk toward Nate, who is standing right in front of the coffee machine. My arms wrap around his waist as I kiss his bare back, I close my eyes for a moment. “Are you tired?”
“Not as tired as I should be.” He puts one hand on my hand on his stomach. “Do you want to do presents before or after breakfast?”
“I have to admit something to you. I hate Christmas.”
“I don’t think that’s a secret, baby,” he says softly, his chuckle warming my soul. My stomach flutters from the sound of it.
“I wasn’t finished, Nate.” I let go of him and he turns around, his chest to mine. His hand comes up and he holds my hips, making sure I don’t go anywhere. I put my hands on his chest, my fingers moving back and forth. “What I was going to say is, I hate Christmas, but I love presents.”
