My shoulders slump toward her, and I wrap my arms around her waist and bury my face in her neck. “Please don’t leave,” I murmur. “I should’ve asked you sooner. I should’ve begged you to stay.” Pressing my lips into her throat, I inhale her scent and sigh against her silky skin.
Only twenty minutes, and I missed her like hell.
She turns in her seat, and after a little readjusting, her knees bracket my body, and her arms circle my shoulders. “I was coming back.”
“What?” The word leaves me on a gasp. “Really?”
“Yes.” She laughs softly. “But I sure like you begging on your knees for me.”
I cup her face between my palms. “I’ll be on my knees for you every day.”
Her smile lights up my chest as I swallow my nerves, focusing on the foreign words that want to burst from my lips. Saying them to her doesn’t feel nearly as frightening as I expected. It feels completely natural.
“I love you, Lena. I love your smiles and your sass, your feisty attitude and your sweet one too. I love every bit of you, and I want all of it, forever.” I suck in a deep breath, and it’s even easier this time as I say it again. “I love you.”
Tears glisten on her cheeks as she smiles. “Really?”
I kiss her jaw gently before bringing my mouth to hers. “You brought life to my tiny, cold heart, and it’s yours. It’s been yours for so long, and it always will be.”
The sweetest, most soul-fulfilling whisper comes from her lips. “I love you too.”
Those words slot themselves inside my chest and land with a relievedwhoosh.
I’ve been searching for something to fill that spot for my entire life, and it’s finallyhere.
It’s Lena. She was meant to fit there all along.
Reaching around her to turn off the car, I pull her out. She squeals with laughter as I grab her by the waist and sling her over my shoulder. I grip her thigh tight as I cross the parking lot and walk up the steps to Gary and Joe’s cabin. The urgency in my knock rips through the air as Lena wiggles in my grip.
I slide my hand up her thigh, resting it against the soft curve of her ass just as Gary opens the door.
His eyes flare wide as he takes in the scene. “Carolers usually sing for us,” he deadpans, leaning his shoulder on the doorframe.
Lena giggles before her raspy voice starts behind me. “We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry—”
She chokes off as my palm lands with a playful smack on her ass, and I bite my lips to keep from laughing as Gary’s eyebrows shoot up.
“I’m assuming the cabin is still rented under my name?” I can’t help my smug smile.
“It’s all yours. We thought you two might be back.” Gary gives me a wink and a knowing grin.
“Perfect.” I nod.
“Merry Christmas,” Lena calls as I turn around. She presses into my back to lift up as I make my way down the steps. “See you later.”
Gary laughs. “Honestly, I hope not. You guys can stay there as long as you want.”
“Thank you,” I shout over my shoulder with a wave, grabbing a handful of her ass this time to hold her steady.
I don’t even want to stop touching her long enough to rescue Lena’s car from the snowbank or drive mine across the property, so I grab the pie and walk to the cabin with her over my shoulder. The strings of lights around the railing are like a beacon, calling me forward past the field of trees and the sleigh where I played Santa.
When I reach the door, my hands are full of pie and Lena’s curves, so I turn and tell her the code to punch into the lock. Then we step inside our cabin, and I kick the door shut behind me. The pie is set on the kitchen counter, and I drop Lena onto her back on the bed. She lands with a sigh, her hair fanned out across the bed like a dream.
Her eyes are still puffy from crying, and I want to kiss her all night for the trouble she went through.
I kneel between her ankles, sliding my hands up her buttery-soft leggings. “This was never one night for me. It was one moment of meeting you that turned into one week with your family that turned into ten years of dreaming of you. Fuckone night. I want them all.”
She nods as she sits up and shrugs out of her jacket, throwing it to the ground. I toss mine on top of hers and fall into her arms, exactly where I’m meant to be.
