Page 13 of Christmas with Saint

I sat up and looked at him as my lower body ached. “What is it?”

“I have to go to the office. Davey’s been texting.”

“Okay,” I said, trying to play it cool, but his sudden change in demeanor had me worried.

“You’re freaking out,” he said, forcing me to admit that I was.

“A little.”

“Let me handle Davey.”

He tried to sound like he had it all under control, but I knew Saint better than that. He didn’t. He was nervous and possibly second-guessing every single thing we’d done in the last twenty-four hours. His relationship with my brother was one of the most important things in his life, and I couldn’t pretend like it wasn’t.

That was when I realized that I hadn’t thought any of this through. Not really. Not what it might all mean. I’d only known what I wanted, which was him. But what if getting it ruined everything else in the process? Or worse, what if in the light of day, Saint thought we’d made a mistake? I’d never be able to look him in the face again, and I’d lose one of my oldest and most trusted friends.

Saint pushed the sheets off of his body and stood up tall, his arms stretching over his body before he reached for the clothes from yesterday instead of the ones I’d stolen from him.

At least I’ll get to keep those, I thought to myself.

What if that was all he left me with?

“You’ll tell him about us?” I pushed because I was suddenly afraid to lose him and craved some kind of clarification into what we were now.

His blue eyes swept over the room before landing on mine. “I will.” He nodded, and I felt myself relax only slightly.

“Today?” I continued to press him.

If what had happened between us was as life-changing as I considered it to be, there was no reason to wait. Everyone was going to find out soon enough.

“I’m not sure,” he said, and my expression must have matched my disappointment because Saint was back on the bed, caressing my face. “Please understand, Ivy. I’ll tell him. I just have to pick the right time.”

“But Christmas is only three days away,” I said as if he didn’t know this information already.

Saint and his father always came to our house for Christmas dinner. It was going to be incredibly awkward now. Chalk that up to another thing I hadn’t considered before diving headfirst into the shower with Saint.

I watched him swallow hard, his head shaking slightly.

“I know.”

“I won’t be able to pretend that I don’t belong to you. Everyone at that table will know you’ve been inside me.”

I was a piss-poor liar, and since I’d never been able to hide my feelings for Saint, I figured there was no way I’d be able to keep the fact that we’d finally done the deed from my family. They’d see it written all over my face.

A grin spread across his cheeks, those dimples making an appearance. He leaned closer to me and pressed a kiss to my mouth. When he tried to pull away, I grabbed the back of his head and kissed him again.

What if this was the last kiss he ever gave me?

“I’ll tell your brother.”

“Before Christmas dinner,” I pushed, but he didn’t agree. He ignored my statement altogether.

“Call you later, love.”

And just like that, Saint walked out of my room and out of my apartment. I stayed in the bed until I heard his car start and drive off.

When I finally pulled myself together and walked into my kitchen, I noticed that he’d neatly folded our two costumes from last night. I knew that I needed to give them back to Cori, but a part of me wanted to put them in a memory box and hold on to them forever.

I’d never look at a Santa costume the same way again.

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