Page 19 of His Christmas Gift

The bed set was new and apparently when she said a couple more pillows, she meant half a dozen couples, but he didn’t care. She could spend every penny he had, and he’d simply find a way to make more for her to spend. Never before had he been this willing to open his wallet, let alone his heart to a woman, but there was no denying that Melissa had him completely.

“Not too girly for you?” she questioned clinging to his shoulders when he lifted her into his arms. A laugh slipping from her lips when he tossed her down onto the mountain of pillows on the bed before following her down onto them.

“Not with you in the bed with me,” he stated, teasing her into forgetting about the rest of the work to be done on the Christmas tree and enjoying their new bedding together.

∞∞∞

Melissa slipped downstairs, the sky dark, and the lights from the strands she wove in with the garland twinkling merrily. They’d enjoyed a playful dinner earlier before Jasper had stolen her back upstairs to the library, laying her down on the rug after lighting the fire and taking out one of the new books she’d purchased.

He’d read with her snuggled back against his chest until they both needed more than the light touches and caresses. He hadn’t bothered moving them from the library before stripping her and she’d whispered to him the fantasy she’d seen in her mind’s eye as she’d set up the room earlier the day before of just that.

Once they had strength back, they’d gone to the bedroom, taking a shower before falling into bed to do it all over again. She’d woken about thirty minutes ago, unable to fall back asleep, and she hadn’t the heart to wake Jasper. He looked far too peaceful to do that, so instead, she’d come down to finish the tree.

She grabbed the step ladder once the ornaments were all hung in order to place the angel atop it. She’d gotten a slightly larger tree than she would have back home, but it was far too gorgeous not to purchase it. The hint of white on the branches was perfect with the soft pink and gold décor, giving the twinkling white lights a luminous look.

She stretched up to set the angel, but she was a little too short to reach on the step she was on, the only one left was the top and she didn’t know how safe it was to attempt it alone. She started to move back down the steps when arms slid around her waist and behind her knees, lifting her from it.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack, princess?” Jasper questioned staring down at her, his heart racing.

“No, I didn’t think the tree was that tall,” she mused snuggling deeper into his hold.

“Why on earth are you down here at this time of night anyway?” he asked moving them to the couch to sit, keeping hold of her. His mind whirled with might have been if he hadn’t found her down here. It was pure panic, fear of what he would become without her. He would be completely miserable, a jerk to the world because it’d taken his heart from him.

That was what Missy was to him, his heart, his everything, and he couldn’t begin to give her up, risk something happening to her to take her from him. Nothing was going to come between them, he wouldn’t let it.

“I couldn’t sleep, you were zonked, and I knew the tree wasn’t finished yet.” She smiled at the way he shook his head at her. “I don’t like leaving things undone.”

“No, you jump straight in and go full force until it’s finished,” he mused dropping a kiss onto her temple. “I love that but sometimes it’s okay to wait, especially when it means you getting out of our nice warm bed to come downstairs to finish a tree no one but us will see before it would be finished.”

“Mmm, that has a nice ring to it.” She sighed enjoying the warmth of his skin in the slightly chilled room.

“What does?” Jasper said feeling his body wake swiftly at the feel of her hands against his chest.

“Our bed,” she stated, and he couldn’t resist her lips and stealing the smile from them.

He let the kiss linger until he knew the only options were to take her here or to take her upstairs, and their bed sounded much nicer than the couch. He slipped her off his lap, taking the angel before moving to the step ladder, easily reaching the top of the tree on the second step of it, and let her instruct him on how to turn it.

“Perfect,” she said, and he stepped back behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist taking in the perfection of his world right here.

“This is perfect,” he stated before sweeping her up into his arms taking her back to bed.

They headed out to do some Christmas shopping for his mother, Fred, and his kids the next afternoon, and Jasper moved them into a little boutique when he saw her gaze slip to a dress in the window. He knew she liked it, but she’d never say anything about it.

“What are we doing?” she asked as an associate took notice of them and headed their direction.

“You need some more dresses. I have a ton of events coming up and I’m not about to go without you. That one in the front would be gorgeous on you,” he stated not letting her argue when he relayed their needs to the woman. She gathered a dozen options for Melissa to try on and he sat back enjoying a cup of coffee watching her as she did.

“I really don’t need that many,” Melissa said when the woman went back to get another set of them for her to try.

“I have eight events starting with our company Christmas party, princess. That red lace one would be gorgeous for it,” he added, and she had to concede that it was a wonderful choice. “Not counting Christmas at my house, there are seven other events through New Year’s and then we have the investors’ dinner. That’s nine outfits, plus Christmas.”

“Alright but we don’t have to buy all of them here today, do we?” she said thinking of the items in her closet at home she’d prefer over some of these.

“No, we don’t,” he agreed but still convinced her to try on a couple others, letting them leave with three dresses that she had liked including the red one.

She sent a message to Jordan, asking her to send her a few things from her closet that night and thanks to photo texts, she was able to get three more dresses and several outfits that would work for when Jasper’s mother and stepfamily arrived. Jordan let her know when the package would arrive, a courier service due to the jewelry she insisted on including, but Melissa was thankfully at the house when it arrived. It allowed her to put the box away before heading to finish the arrangements for the Christmas party.

The week slipped past them quickly and she moved pieces from the other bedroom a little at a time so Jasper wouldn’t realize she hadn’t gone shopping for most of the articles appearing in her wardrobe. She was steaming a few wrinkles out of the dress she was debating wearing for Christmas dinner with his family, when he came home, stopping to see what she’d added today.

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