I leaned down and kissed Belle, slow and sure, right there on the sidewalk.
When we pulled apart, I rested my forehead against hers.“Merry Christmas,” I murmured.
Belle smiled.“Merry Christmas, Saint.”She leaned back, and then her eyes bugged out.“The boys!”she exclaimed.“I told them they had to wait in the truck until I knew if you were going to let us in or not.”
I handed her back the box and stepped around her.“As if I was going to tell you to leave, Belle.”I stalked to her truck, where Salt and Pepper were both looking out the window at me.Pepper was bouncing up and down, and Salt, swear to God, was smiling at me.
I opened the door, and they both sounded out like I was the best thing since processed cheese.
Pepper hit me first as his paws slammed into my chest hard enough to rock me back a step.I caught him automatically and laughed as he tried to lick my face like he hadn’t seen me in years instead of twenty-four hours.
“Alright, alright,” I muttered.“Missed you too, buddy.”
Salt came next, slower, more deliberate.He looked up at me and then pressed his head into my thigh like he was making a point.
I rested a hand on his neck and scratched behind his ears.“Yeah,” I said quietly.“I know.”
“Traitors.Both of you,” Belle called from the sidewalk.
Pepper immediately abandoned me to circle her legs with his nub wagging like he was powered by pure joy.Salt stayed put, leaning against me.
I straightened and nodded toward the house.“Come on.Before Mom comes back out.”
Like she heard her name, the front door opened.
“Well?”Mom called.“Are we coming inside, or are you two planning to hold Christmas on the sidewalk?”
Belle laughed, the sound eased something tight in my chest.“We’re coming.”
Mom’s eyes landed on the dogs and lit up.“Oh, thank goodness,” she said.“I was worried you left them at home.”
“As if,” Belle said, offended on their behalf.
Pepper took that as his cue to sprint past us and straight up the steps like he owned the place.Salt followed at a more dignified pace, but he was just as excited to be part of Christmas.
Mom laughed and shook her head, then headed in after them.“I swear, those dogs act like they’ve been invited here their whole lives.”She paused in the doorway and looked back at us.“I’m putting the ham on the table.Doors open.Come in when you’re ready.”
She disappeared inside, leaving the door cracked just enough for warm light to spill out onto the snow-dusted porch.
Belle didn’t move.
For a second, neither did I.
She looked up at me, with her cheeks pink from the cold, and her eyes bright in that way that told me she was feeling everything all at once.Hope.Nerves.That quiet fear that came right before stepping into something that mattered.
“So,” she said softly, “are we going in?”
I didn’t answer with words.
I stepped forward, slid my hands around her waist, and pulled her into me.
Belle gasped as I kissed her.
Not careful.Not tentative.This wasn’t the kind of kiss you used to test the ground.This was the kind you gave when you already knew where you stood.
Her hands fisted in my cut, like she needed something solid to hold onto, and I felt it everywhere.The way she melted into me, the way her breath hitched, the way the world narrowed down to just us and the steady certainty between us.
The cold didn’t matter.
