“Oh, you two,” Gramps remarks with a grin, and we all laugh.
“What’d you get the man, Sky Baby?” Mom asks.
My cheeks grow warmer. “It’s kind of lame in comparison.”
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” Reed says as I stand up.
Might as well get this over with.I dash to the Christmas tree behind the couch, then return in seconds with a gift in hand. Reed beams at me, and, after I nod, he begins to unwrap it. In moments, the large book in his hands is revealed.
“What is this?”
I look at the PC, then at my feet on the floor. “It’s like…like a scrapbook. Some photos I’ve taken over the past three months.”
When I glance at my boyfriend, his face is delicately neutral as he leafs through the album. The family murmurs in awe over the video phone, but I wait on bated breath for Reed to say something.
My mouth is dry when I finally break our silence. “I thought, ‘what does Reed not have?’ and well, I barely see any pictures here in the house. So, like…”
Reed holds up a page with a selfie that he and I took during a picnic. Then he turns the page to reveal a photo of him and Aisen at the Institute. “This…this is…”
I gulp. “Merry Christmas?”
After a beat, Reed closes the book and wipes his eyes. “This is beautiful,” he rasps.
The relief in my heart feels like a deep breath after staying underwater for too long. Reed moves closer to me and holds me by my waist. “Thank you, Skyler. It’s amazing. Stupendous. I’ve never had anything like you…I mean, like this,” he whispers.
“You’re welcome, baby,” I reply in a low voice.
“Aww!” My family says on the laptop, thus shattering the moment. We break apart, and I promptly close the laptop. Then, I pull Reed’s face into mine and kiss him hard.
“Hey! Where’d you go?” Eartha asks from the closed PC.
“Technical difficulties!” I shout, then go back to making out with my boyfriend. I ignore my family’s laughter and disapproval as I kiss Reed on this perfect Christmas night.
An hour later, we’re parked at a nearby beach. Other than the occasional string of holiday lights on a neighborhood house, the only illumination comes from the stars.
“There is…one other part of my Christmas gift,” Reed says from the driver’s seat.
“Really?” I cleaned my whole body in the bathroom before we left, just in case his gift involves some full-body intimacy.
“Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” I whisper.
Five minutes later, we’re walking down to the water. Sand gets in my shoes, but I don’t care. Despite the nippy December air, I’m not cold in my Christmas sweater and jeans. Holding Reed’s hand always keeps me warm.
When we’re almost at the water, Reed toes off his shoes, and I do the same. With our feet in the shallow waves, all we can see is the brilliant cosmos and its reflection in the ocean. We’re the only two people to exist.
“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he murmurs. “Way before I thought I had enough room in my life or heart for someone as special as you, Skyler.”
How can I even respond to that?This all seems so momentous, so intimate, and nervousness thrums through me. “Uh…s-s-same.”
Reed turns and holds my hands. “I want to make love to you.”
I nod quickly. “Yeah. Okay. Here? It might not be the most comfortable.”
Reed steps back into the water, letting go of my hands. In the darkness, I watch as his form turns purple and his appendages sway in the ankle-deep water.
Gone is the Reed I know. Now, the kraken stands before me. “I want to make love like this,” he says in a low, sexy tone.
