Page 33 of The Bookworm Who Stole Christmas
Carrying the tree into the building, I realize I don’t have tinsel, a star, lights, or… any of it. “Erm, Parker?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I don’t have anything to go on the tree.”
“Ben?” Parker hollers, glancing around the store.
I jump slightly at his raised voice.
“Yeah, man?” a tall, blond guy who can’t be any more than twenty says as he walks out from behind a door.
Parker nods to the tree. “You got lights and tinsel?”
“Sure do. Any particular color?” Ben asks, walking to a display unit.
“Erm, red and green?” It comes out more of a question because, honestly? I have no idea what colors these things come in. Red and green are the usual ones, right?
Ben comes back a minute later, laden with a variety of things. “This should get you started. First tree?” he asks me.
I nod, the whole situation feeling rather bizarre.
Paying for our items, Parker carries the tree out to the car while I amble behind, my arms loaded to the max with all our other purchases.
“Well, getting a tree was not at the top of the list of things I thought we would be doing tonight,” I mumble to myself as I plate up our food.
After we got back, Parker unloaded the car while I finished dinner. I’d prepped most of the beef stew before he’d picked me up, so it didn’t take long to make the final adjustments.
At one point, I poked my head out of the kitchen to see what he was up to and found Arty curled on his lap, purring away. My heart melted at the sight. Arty’s just as grumpy as I am and doesn’t like other people, so the fact that he’s taken to Parker caused my heart to grow another size bigger. I quickly went back to messing around in the kitchen before I asked him to stay and never leave.
Parker walks into the kitchen, his bulky frame looking large in my small apartment. “Something smells good.” He leans down to kiss me, nestling his head in my neck. “Foodsmells good, too.”
“You got jokes,” I tease while rolling my eyes.
“You have no idea, sweetheart.”
It doesn’t take us long to eat; apparently, picking out a Christmas tree really works up an appetite. Once we’re done, Parker insists on clearing up while I sit watching him, a glass of wine in hand. I tried to protest, but he argued that I cooked, so he should clean. I get to watch him, his sleeves rolled up and moving around my kitchen looking like a domestic god, so I’d say life is pretty good right about now.
“Where’s Amelia tonight?” I ask, taking a mouthful of my drink to rouse me from my lustful daydreaming.
Parker looks back at me, his eyebrow raised and his hands still in the bowl.
I nod and laugh. “She’s with your mom.”
“Bingo,” he says, smiling. “I did ask her to come tonight, but she said it was a date and didn’t want to be a third wheel.” He shrugs. “I think it was because she wanted to watchKPop Demon Huntersfor the hundredth time without me moaning at her to put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket.”
“She’s a good kid,” I murmur. “You’ve done a great job with her.”
“Thank you,” he replies, turning round and wiping his hands on the cloth. “Though I feel like I’m failing her a lot of the time. She spends so much time with my mom and dad—” He cuts himself off, blowing out a breath.
“Amelia adores you, Parker. You’re doing the best you can. Plus, she’s a thirteen-year-old girl; she doesn’t want to be hanging out with her old man.” I wink, hiding my smile behind the rim of my glass.
Parker gasps and flicks water at me.
“Ahhhh,” I scream,shielding my face from his attack.
“I’ll give you old man,” he jokes, coming toward me, a wide smile on his face.
“Truce. I surrender,” I exclaim, standing up and running for the kitchen door. His resounding laughter follows me as I race into the living room.
