Page 75 of The Santa Rules
I throw my head back in laughter. “Fuck, I love you.”
My pulse quickens as the biggest smile lights up her face. “You love me?”
I slide my hand into her hair, pulling her close to me. “I really fucking do. I love your patience, your kindness, how much you care about everyone around you, even when they don’t deserve it. I love the way you love my daughter. There’s not a thing about you that I’m not wildly, madly, deeply in love with. And now I’m going to kiss you before you can make a dick joke.”
Her laughter is cut short when I press my lips against hers, and then I’m wrapping my arms around her as I pull her body flush with mine. The kiss is slow and tender, erasing everything around us so that there’s only us and this moment that feels bigger than both of us.
When we pull back, breathless and panting, I lean my forehead against hers.
“I can’t help but notice you didn’t mention Lefty and Righty in your little speech,” she says, and I bark out a laugh. “Seriously, though, when I talked to you at that PTO meeting, you were so raw and vulnerable. I could tell how much Avery meant to you, and I think part of me fell in love with you at that moment. But you barely cracked a smile back then, and it became my mission to bring joy to both of your lives. Because I love you too, more than I could ever express with words.”
And that’s exactly what she’s done. She’s brought us joy. And laughter. And the magic of Santa. But more than all of that, she brought me back to life, and I will do everything in my power to show her how grateful I am.
CHAPTER 24
BELLA
“Are you ready for your next Santa lesson?”
I lead Hardy into the kitchen where my Aunt Delilah is pulling ingredients out of the fridge. He looks at the baking tools on the island. “What the hell is this?” he asks, holding up the penis cookie cutter.
“It’s a penis. You’re an EMT, shouldn’t you know that?” I say with a wink.
The answering scowl on his face is priceless. “I know it’s a penis. Jesus Christ.”
“He is the reason for the season!” Aunt Delilah chimes in.
He shakes his head, growing more frustrated at our antics. “I thought you said we were making cookies. What do you need this for?” he asks, holding the cookie cutter by the tip, waving the balls around while he speaks.
How the fuck do I explain this? I’m madly in love with this man, he just told me he loves me, and I don’t want him to regret that decision. And even though I’m slightly worried my brand of crazy will scare him off, I opt for honesty. If this relationship is going to last between us, he needs to know what he’s in for with me. And my crazy sorta aunt.
“When I had a bachelorette party back in the day, my maidof honor got penis-shaped everything, including that cookie cutter in your hand.”
“I was her maid of honor.” Delilah pokes her head out of the fridge.
“More like maid of dishonor.” I laugh as she sets a carton of eggs on the counter.
She smiles back at me. “I wear the title proudly.”
“The point?” he says, trying to rein us back in as his eyes shift toward the hallway, probably looking for Avery. But I’m undeterred since Isaac knows to distract her while we give him our cookie history.
“Honey, you have your big meaty paw wrapped around the point of that thing. Just look at the way you’re gripping that shaft.” Delilah cackles, and I lose it.
He drops the cookie cutter onto the counter, crossing his arms. “For fuck’s sake.”
Wiping the tears from my eyes, I continue, “Anyway, I tucked all the penis paraphernalia in a box in the basement so Isaac wouldn’t find it.”
Delilah shakes her head in agreement. “Poor thing didn’t want to traumatize the boy.”
“A few years ago, around Christmas, I sent Isaac down there to get my cookie cutters so we could make Christmas cookies. And since men seem to have such a hard time locating things that are clearly labeled…”
“And right in front of them,” Delilah adds.
“Exactly. He couldn’t find them. Despite the see-through bin clearly labeled ‘cookie cutters,’ my genius of a kid opens four boxes, all of them also clearly labeled with their contents, until he finds the gem of a cookie cutter you were just stroking.”
He straightens. “I was not stroking it.”
Delilah unwraps the butters, plopping them into the mixing bowl. “There was some stroking going on.”
