My chest loosens just enough to breathe normally. “Good girl.”
If I’m not mistaken, her knees buckle a little.
CHAPTER 14
The last ornament finds its place among the branches. The team photo turned into a tiny snow globe.
We survived. Even found our rhythm, a combination of his precision and my creativity.
“Perfect,” Spence murmurs behind me.
I step back to admire our work, and somehow I end up against his chest. His arms come around me naturally, likethey've done this a thousand times before. Like my body was designed to fit exactly here.
His chin settles on top of my head, and everything in me goes quiet.
Not the nervous quiet of waiting for something bad. Not the tense quiet of hyper-vigilance. Just... peace. Deep and bone-settling and utterly foreign.
“You okay?” His voice rumbles through his chest into my back.
“Yeah.” I am. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I'm more than okay.
The tree glows in front of us, twelve feet of magic. Every ornament we hung together tells a story. Some of them we made up, some of them are real. All of them feel like threads in a fabric we wove together.
“It's beautiful,” I whisper asI Wish it Could be Christmas Everydayplays overhead through the sound system.
“Very.”
But when I tilt my head to look up at him, he's not watching the tree. He's watching me.
Heat blooms in my chest, spreads through my limbs. I’m being held like I'm precious, like I'm exactly where I belong. The feeling is addictive.
Spencer McCallister is dangerous in the best way.
Justice protected me. Kept me safe when there was no one else. But this is different.
This man isn't just guarding my body.
He's protecting something deeper.
My heart. My hope.
The fragile, newly forming belief that maybe I can have this. That maybe I'm allowed to want it.
I shift in his arms, turning to face him. His hands settle on my hips, keeping me close.
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
“That you're making this really hard.”
One corner of his mouth lifts. “Good.”
“I know, I know. Anticipation.” I step back, biting my lip to hide my smile. “Actually, I have an idea.”
His eyes narrow. “Why does that sound dangerous?”
“The pool. And the hot tub.” I'm already moving toward the hallway. “All that driving today, then decorating. I'm twisted up. A soak would feel amazing.”
He chuckles darkly.
