“Are you mad that I was nosy and found them?”
“Not at all.”
“Even after all the stuff with Thea?”
Sighing heavily, I walk to the opposite wall and adjust one of the snowflakes now covered in claw marks. “Thea and I talked. Andby talked I mean she talked at me before she got on a plane and went back to Canada. She gave me an ultimatum.”
“Which is?”
“End things with you or she will.”
Snow’s face crumples immediately. “Xander… coming between you and your sister? That’s not?—”
“Hush.” I’m by her side in an instant, my hands on her shoulders. “I don’t deal with ultimatums. I told her this is my life. My choice. I don’t need people making decisions for me because I’m not a robot that needs programming. I’m a person making my own choices based on my own feelings and what I want out of life.”
Snow tilts her head to one side and her soft hair gently caresses my hand. “You have such a… unique way with words.”
“Bad unique?”
Her head shakes. “Not at all. It’s just so odd having a real conversation. Sometimes, it reminds me of how old you are.”
My brow lifts as my hands fall away. “Excuse me?”
Snow nudges into me with a smile. “Just that you’re mature, that’s all. A man who knows what he wants and isn’t bent by anyone else. Better than a stupidboywho values gambling over time with his girlfriend.”
“How anyone could spend time wasting money with a girlfriend as beautiful as you at home is beyond me.”
She leans close, placing one hand into my tie. “Is that your roundabout way of calling me your girlfriend?”
“Do you want that label?” I ask as every part of me screams thatgirlfriendisn’t important enough for what she means to me.
Anything more than that, though, will likely scare her away.
“I like it,” Snow declares. “I like it a lot.”
Pizza arrives not long after, but we end up getting distracted by the cats and a handful of leftover decorations.
By the time my hallway, bathroom, and bedroom are decorated with streamers, holly wreaths, and candy canes, the pizza is cold.
Not that either of us cares as we sit on the kitchen floor leaning against counters and munching on said cold pizza.
Willow curls up on Snow’s lap while Tiger and Rustle fight over who gets to sit inside the pizza box lid.
Snow laughs softly as she watches them, nibbling around the crust of her slice.
“What is Christmas like for you?” I ask, watching her.
“Like… spiritually, or…?”
“However.”
“Hmm. I guess… It was big when I was a kid and then nothing when I was a teen. My parents were excited to follow tours again as soon as I turned fourteen, so I was taking care of myself a lot.” Her brow wrinkles slightly. “But when I studied hard and got this job, had disposable money and stuff, I started going all out.”
“Every year?”
“Mhm. There’s just… I can’t explain it.”
“Try me.”
