Page 76 of The Truths We Seek

“Husband,” he chuckles. “Bruno, yes his actual name is Bruno, he and I, we don’t want for much. A vacation would be nice. We haven’t gone anywhere since the girls were little, but once they’re away at college, who knows? He is going to shit a brick when he realizes how empty the house is going to be. He’s going to want me to quit or something nuts.”

“Would you?” I ask pensively.

He nods, patting my hand as I loop it through his arm. “If he really wanted it, I’d do it in a heartbeat. You do what you can for the people you love.”

* * *

The lights on the tree are twinkling, music plays softly in the background, and the entire gang is here. The presents beneath the tree are spilling out into the whole room, and despite there being no small humans, the magic of Christmas is truly alive.

Mama Meyer is overjoyed at having all of her children here. Tina, Yen, and Tonio are all here too. Bruno would have been but I demanded he take the day off. Even Carlos took the day off to be with his family.

“Merry Christmas, Kitten,” Meyer murmurs as he sneaks in behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he rests his chin on my shoulder. “I hope Santa brought you something you asked for.”

“I didn’t ask for anything,” I tell him with a smile. “I already have everything I could possibly want.

“Well, I still owe you a present from your birthday, which, if it’s okay with you, is going to be a Christmas present, but I do have a replacement gift from your birthday.”

“You didn’t have to replace—”

“Shhhhh,” he says, cutting me off. He stands up, his arms disappear from my waist before coming over my head moments later and I catch a glint of something shiny before I feel something cold on my throat. “A beautiful woman deserves beautiful adornments. This is just a little something, so I am always close to your thoughts.”

“Like you leave them.” I laugh and move my hair to the side so he can latch the clasp. Once he’s done, I press my fingers against my throat before turning to face him. “Thank you.”

“You haven’t even seen it,” he says, chuckling.

“I don’t need to, I already know I’ll love it. Just like I know I love you.”

“I love you too, Kitten,” he whispers against my neck before kissing me.

Shae makes a gagging noise from behind us and I break the kiss, laughing. “Enough of that shit already. Let’s do presents!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

MEYER

“Why are we back here?” Quinn asks as I pull the car to a stop outside the warehouse. She didn’t know who else was here when I brought her to see Harper, but today, she finds out.

“You know that birthday present that wasn’t quite ready, so we agreed to bump it to Christmas?” She nods and fingers the chain around her neck, but still looks entirely confused. “Well, this is it.”

Without another word, I climb from the car, move around it to open her door, and offer her a hand to climb out.

“I still don’t understand.”

I smirk as I kiss her hand. “Oh, I know.”

Leading her inside, a slither of doubt creeps in that maybe this was a terrible idea, but after everything, I thought that this should be her choice.

The door to the warehouse opens before we reach it and Rob walks out.

“Okay, so now I’m really confused.” I chuckle at her again and shake my head before turning to Rob.

“All good?” I ask and he nods, tapping his bag.

“Everything removed, kept steady for you till now. Let me know if you need anything else.” He smiles at Quinn once he’s finished then leaves without another word.

Also, not what he signed up for when he agreed to be my private doctor, but my friend has long since stopped questioning much of anything. I guess being friends with me for this long will do that to a guy.

“Thank you,” I call out as he reaches his car before turning my attention back to the woman beside me. This might be the only thing I’ve questioned this much about her since she arrived; if this is the right move.