Kenji grinned up at him before climbing inside.
Qylar got in and turned the SUV on. “Time for Pho.”
“How are we getting that tree into the house?”
Qylar chuckled. “We’ll figure that out later.”
“Just remember,” Kenji said. “You said you wanted to rest tonight. I don’t think this is that.”
Qylar eyed him. “Getting it down is a lot easier than getting it up.”
“If you say so.”
Fuck, he sure as hell hoped so. No way was he asking his pregnant mate to carry an enormous twenty-foot tree. Being able to use his tentacles would make lifesomuch easier.
CHAPTER 19
Kenji cuddled closer, resting his head on Qylar’s shoulder, their feet propped up after a long, long evening. A fire roared in the hearth, his belly was full of pho, and he cradled his first official mug of hot cocoa for the season, smiling at the warm feeling inside. After a struggle, Qylar had gotten the tree inside—refusing Kenji’s help. Pregnant mates apparently weren’t allowed to lift in Qylar’s opinion. While he hadn’t come out and said the reason why Kenji couldn’t help, the way his gaze had strayed to the swell hidden under layers when he’d virulently refused, it had been rather obvious.
The tree now stood toward the back of the living room, in the middle of the widest window wall and nearly reached the ceiling. As soon as anyone walked through the front door, it would be the first thing they saw. They’d only just gotten it into a stand, which Qylarhadlet him help assemble after he’d struggled to get it just right. They still had to decorate it, but the blue spruce was already quite lovely with its bright needles and the scent it put off filled the house with the aroma of Christmas.
Kenji couldn’t remember if he’d ever had a real tree in his life. There had been a lot of Christmases without them. One older foster couple had tried their best with a ceramic one with colored lights because they hadn’t had the steam at their age to put up a full tree, real or otherwise. That had been his favorite couple. If Nora hadn’t passed unexpectedly and Thomas hadn’t been too overwrought to care for him, he might’ve gotten to stay there longer than the year he’d gotten.
Most of the homes and centers had erected tiny, cheap tinsel trees if they did at all. A real one wasn’t something he recalled, and he was pretty sure he would have.
While it wasn’t his first Christmas ever, it definitely felt like it was. A live tree, all the trimmings, a raging fire, cocoa… this was the real deal. He’d been sucked into one of those Hallmark Christmas romance movies, and he was just fine with that.
“What’s going on in that head of yours? I can hear you thinking all the way over here.”
“All the way?”Kenji asked, grinning to himself. “Your head’s only a few inches away, you goof.”
“Not close enough,” Qylar whispered against his ear. He dropped a kiss on Kenji’s cheek. “What has you so quiet and contemplative?”
“I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever had a live tree before and pretty sure I never have.”
“Only the plastic ones, hmm?”
“If we had one at all,” Kenji murmured. He forced a smile. “But we have one this year, so that’s a vast improvement.” He snuggled closer.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what were Christmases like growing up?”
Kenji stared down at his mug. He was having a wonderful moment and really didn’t want to dwell in those thoughts any longer. “Let’s leave those in the past and focus on this one. It’s already better than any I’ve had, and I’m excited to be here with you to share it.”
Qylar gently tugged his chin and forced him to meet his gaze. He searched Kenji’s face a moment before dropping a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m excited to share it here with you, too.”
They sat together in the quiet, listening to the logs pop and crackle, and Kenji couldn’t remember ever feeling so at peace. When the fire died out, Qylar led him upstairs to bed. His body quickened lying beside his mate, but he ignored the pangs of need and opted for rest instead to appease the man holding him.
When he awoke in the night and the pangs grew too incessant, though, he’d awoken Qylar with desperate kisses and made love under the light of the moon and stars. By morning, Kenji woke up late, the bedroom glaringly bright. He lifted off Qylar’s chest and saw nothing but white outside.
“Qylar, Qylar!” Kenji said, shaking his mate awake. “Look outside!”
Qylar’s eyes popped open. After a deep inhale and a few blinks, he looked to the wall behind the bed and back to Kenji. A slow smile spread across his face. “You’ve gotten your snow.”
Kenji jumped out of bed, dragged his pajama bottoms out from where they’d gotten lodged at the foot of the bed, and snatched the sweater he’d borrowed from Alex the afternoon before. After a quick trip to empty his bladder, he shoved his feet into a pairof too big slippers and raced downstairs before Qylar was barely out of bed.
Once down, he ran to the back door that led to the firepit he’d spied outside and whipped the door open. A wave of cold and a fresh scent he’d never smelled before hit him in the face. He dragged in a frigid breath and sighed as he let it out. Snow. It was gorgeous, heavily dusting the trees and covering the ground by several inches already. Big, fat flakes fell from the sky, making it hard to see very far.
While it was cold, it wasn’t as cold as he’d expected it to be. He walked out onto the river stones that formed a patio area and took a few steps until he’d reached the edge of the narrow awning that prevented the weather from getting inside. Reaching out, he caught a few flakes on his palm and brought them closer for inspection. They were larger than he’d expected. Where were the delicate, lacy things he’d seen depicted his entire life?
