She gasps. “It’s beautiful.”
“Very,” I say, my eyes finding her instead of the tree. She glides towards me, and I wrap her up in my arms. The soft glow from the fire and twinkling lights dance across her skin, and I take her mouth with mine.
Pulling away, I push my hand into my pocket and pull out a small velvet box. “I got you something.”
“A present?”
“Yeah, I saw it, and it reminded me of you.”
“But Christmas isn’t for a couple of days,” she says. “I didn’t get you?—”
“I don’t need a present,” I say. “Open it.”
She takes it from me, her fingers gently grazing mine and sending a shock through my body. She flips it open, revealing a white gold necklace. A dainty, diamond-encrusted snowflake pendant sits at the center.
“I love it,” she says. “You didn’t have to get me…”
“I wanted you to have something to remember our time here by.”
“But what if we wake up on Christmas and the necklace is lost with this town?”
I laugh. “I guess that’s a possibility, but it was a risk I was willing to take.”
She runs her thumb over the small snowflake.
“Here, turn around.”
She gathers her hair to the side, and I carefully remove the silver chain she always wears from her neck, replacing it with the gift from me. Dipping forward, I wrap my arms around her and press my lips to her delicate skin. She tilts her head to the side, and I trail soft kisses up toward her ear, making her hum in return.
“Stop…” She giggles as my facial hair tickles her skin. “There is one more thing we haven’t done yet.” She flips around, taking the necklace from me. “Lie down,” she says as she places it on the coffee table.
“Lie down?”
“Just do it,” she scolds.
Walking over, she takes my hand and guides me down to the floor so that we’re lying shoulder to shoulder under the tree. “Now, look up,” she says.
The lights twinkling above cast a romantic glow over us. She reaches over to take my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine, and my heart leaps in my chest. Turning my head, I’m surprised to find she’s looking at me.
Without another word, our mouths crash together, and I feel the happiest I think I’ve ever felt.
She pulls away, smiling.
“So, what’s the next part of this date?”
“A movie.”
“Do I get to pick?”
I nod.
She pops up and moves to the couch, so I follow. Grabbing the remote off the coffee table, she flips until she findsThe Grinch.
“Have you ever seen this one?” she asks, settling down on the couch and into the crook of my arm.
“Nope.”
She gasps. “You’ve never seen your biopic? What a Christmas travesty.”
