She plopped down on her butt close to the twinkling tree. We followed suit and sat down next to her to open more gifts together as a family.
We’d had a beautiful Christmas Eve at Lance and London’s home the evening before, sharing in their magical moment when they said their vows. And later we were going to Gemma’s house. But for a short time on Christmas morning, I was soaking up the time we had with just the three of us.
I glanced at my daughter and then Bronson.
My heart nearly burst with love.
“Now that’s a hideous sweater,”Bronson said, laughing hysterically.
I playfully socked him in his upper arm, hurting my hand more than anything else. “That’s the point, butthead.”
“Butthead? Wow. We really took it back to our childhood days. I recall you calling me that often back then.” Still laughing, he wrapped me up in his arms. “I’m not sure I can even kiss you with that thing on.”
He was full of shit and I knew it because he was so close, his lips a mere inch from mine and his eyes were full of need.
“I dare you not to,” I challenged, knowing full well he would lose.
Placing both hands on his chest, I slowly ran them down the valley of his abs, curving them as I went lower so my fingers were facing the ground and both palms could cup his growing erection behind the denim of his jeans.
A strangled groan slipped from his very kissable lips that I intended to have on mine.
“You cheat, Cupcake.”
He closed the last bit of space and his mouth captured mine, taking it prisoner and punishing it as he savored every taste right along with me. My eyes closed, pleasure rippled through my body and I didn’t want it to stop.
The doorbell rained on my parade and Bronson pulled back, my eyes fluttering open as reality kicked in. With just his mouth, my husband could send me into fantasy land where I forgot about everything around me.
“Guess you like the sweater, huh?” I managed to say softly.
He grinned. “You could be wearing a potato sack, no makeup, and your hair could be in disarray and I would still want you.”
I batted my lashes at him flirtatiously. “You say the sweetest things.”
Bronson gave me a quick kiss on the tip of my nose. “You know it, baby. I’ll grab the door and get Stormi moving so we can head out.”
When he left the room, I wondered who could possibly be here on Christmas day. Dressed in leggings and yes, my ugly Christmas sweater because that was the theme for Gemma’s party today, I ran in the bathroom to throw my hair up before heading out to the living room to see who was there.
There stood River, holding a big sack full of gifts.
But to my absolute shock, she wasn’t alone.
I froze, my gaze taking in, what I assumed by looking at them, were two teenagers. They must have been her kids, but every time she said her kids, I thought of Stormi or the young children that belonged to all of our friends. The boy and girl standing there, silent and looking like they wanted to be anywhere but at my house, were not little ones as I’d assumed.
Nervously, River thrust out the bag toward me and that got my feet moving closer to her. “I hope it’s okay I stopped by really quick, I wanted to give Stormi a couple gifts we bought for her.”
Taking the bag from her grasp, I smiled at Stormi, who with wild abandon, thrust herself against River and hugged her tight around her legs.
“For me? That’s awesome!” Stormi exclaimed.
River stumbled backward a tad but managed to stay upright. She laughed at my child’s untamed exuberance.
Suddenly, my daughter released River in a flash. “Oh wait,” she said as she rushed like a gush of wind toward the tree, grabbing what I knew was the gift she’d helped pick out.
“This is for you, Auntie River.” Stormi held out the small sparkly red bag with the silver bow on the side of it.
My sister looked down at the bag with astonishment. When her gaze came back to Stormi, then me, a sheen of tears filled her extraordinary violet-colored eyes.
“Open it, open it!” Stormi cheered, jumping up and down.
