Page 33 of The Boyfriend Material Novellas

“I believe this was your fantasy.” There’s a gleam in his eye, a knowing sort of look. “How’s reality living up to it?”

I tap my chin, surveying the living room and the windows that show off the first flakes of falling snow. “Hmm. If memory serves, I didn’t tell you the rest of the fantasy I had that night.”

He closes the distance, loops an arm around my waist, and tugs me closer. “Tell me now.”

“Well, it involves you decorating all the tallest branches, stringing the lights, and, pretty please, hanging up all the Christmas decorations in the rest of my apartment.”

He growls at me. “Not what I was hoping to hear.”

“Oh, wait. I forgot something.” I stand on tiptoe and whisper in his ear.

And boy, does that man make fast work of the decorating so we can turn off all the lights save the blinking ones on the tree.

Nat King Cole plays softly from the speakers as Vaughn brings me to the couch and makes love to me while the snow falls and blue-and-white bulbs wink on and off.

What can I say? This woman has Christmas sex fantasies, and this man is fulfilling them.

Every. Single. One.

Including the classic snow-day fantasy.

We wake up to twelve inches that drifted down overnight.

Yes, I make jokes about twelve inches.

But mostly we hunker down together. The city is nearly shut down, so we both work from home, making calls, answering emails, and then ignoring calls and emails because being naked is so much more fun.

“Best snow day ever,” he says that night in the shower.

“Yes, and you’ve worn me out so much I need a day off tomorrow,” I say, teasing him.

“Sorry, not sorry.”

That night, we slide under the covers, and he draws his fingertips down my shoulder, kissing me as he goes. “Quinn . . .?”

“Yes?”

He props himself up on his elbow, looking at me. “Have I ever told you about the time I broke my diet in a truly spectacular fashion?”

I laugh. “I didn’t realize you were on one.”

He slashes a hand through the air. “Total woman fast. Complete romance-free diet. I was zero women, zero dates, zero romance.”

“You’re hard-core.”

He nods exaggeratedly. “All the way. All or nothing. I was on the nothing side for the last year. And now . . .”

My chest warms. “And now?”

His eyes lock with mine. “I’m on theallside.”

My whole body is glowing, lit from head to toe with so many bright and powerful emotions. “I’m on the same side.”

It’s blissful and painful to spend another night in his arms, wishing I could make the next month last forever.

Of course, I can’t. And perhaps that’s why I feel free to tell him what’s going on in my heart. Maybe that’s the unexpected benefit of an expiration date—you can be more honest with nothing to lose.

“Hey, you,” I whisper when I turn off the lights.

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