In the background, the choir switched toWinter Wonderland.
I finished wrappingall of my Christmas presents, wanting to keep my body in motion for as long as possible. As soon as I relaxed and tried to lie down, I’d stiffen up from my fall with evil Santa. I was working on the bar between my kitchen and the living room while Aiden finished working through case files on the table, still having taken it over.
My cousin had arrived earlier to get his dog, and I wondered if I should get a pet of my own.
It was after nine at night, and we’d had a nice dinner of takeout pizza with Aiden’s team, whom I liked very much. They’d all left about an hour before, more than ready to work the next day, even though it was Sunday. I felt a kinship and warmth for this family Aiden had somehow put together while also pretending to be other people and being in danger the entire time.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, not looking up from his notes.
“Like I could use more ibuprofen,” I admitted, reaching for the icepack for my face again. The new bruise was a deep purple, looking all the worse compared to the light yellow one on my other cheekbone. I was at least an hour away from being able to take any more medication.
He glanced up, studying my face. “I’m not taking very good care of you.”
My grin felt lopsided because half of my face was frozen from the ice. “Not sure that’s your job, Ace.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said quietly. Then his gaze landed on my large stack of presents. “How do you keep everyone straight?”
I shrugged. “We usually just buy for our immediate family and have a drawing outside of that. Well, except for Lacey and Pauley—and friends. I don’t know. I should make a list.” Then I stared at him. “What about you?” The grandparents who’d taken him in while he was a teenager in Silverville had passed away. “Do you buy presents for your team?”
“No,” he said. “Well, not really. Sometimes we give gag gifts, but we’ve been too busy the last few years.”
“Do any of them have family?”
He nodded. “They all do—though nobody is married.”
“What have you done for the holidays since you left Silverville?” I asked, feeling for him. With my huge family, I couldn’t imagine not having anybody expecting me to be there during the holidays.
He shrugged. “Sometimes I’ve gone home with Saber to his family farm in Wyoming, and other times I’ve been with a girlfriend, or I’ve just worked. If I’ve been undercover at the time, I played whatever part I’d created.”
“Sounds lonely,” I murmured.
“Yeah.” He looked at the colorful wrapping paper again. “I guess so, but I didn’t realize it until now.”
I rubbed my chest. “I signed your name to my presents,” I blurted out.
He focused back on me. “Okay?”
I winced. “I didn’t know if I should or not, or where we were right now, but since you’re coming to the festivities, I figured you’d be covered?” Of course, with my family, that might be a declaration of something that wasn’t happening with us. Yet. If ever. “I don’t know. Was that a mistake?”
“No,” he said, stacking the case files. “But should I pay you for half or something?”
“No,” I hastened to say. This was awkward. Was it? Yeah, definitely. I might’ve overstepped, or maybe we should have that talk, but Jareth Davey was over our shoulders right now, and I couldn’t get my feet beneath me. My head and back hurt, and the ibuprofen had worn off, and I didn’t want to deal with emotions right now. Plus, if I was honest with myself, I didn’t know what I wanted to say yet. I sighed.
Aiden sat back and stretched, not releasing my gaze. “I’m not very good at this.”
I perked up. He was taking it seriously. “At what?”
“This.” He gestured to the Christmas tree and then the presents. “Being completely in somebody else’s life and having somebody in mine. Being included with a huge-ass family that is involved in everything.” He held up a hand. “I’m not complaining, but I am saying that it’s all new, and I don’t know what I’m doing.” At the end, he sounded thoughtful—and surprised.
It figured Aiden usually knew what he was doing. In fact, so far, it seemed like he was doing just fine with my family. “I know they can be overwhelming, and you’ve handled it all perfectly,” I admitted, realizing the truth of the statement. I’d seen more than one prospective suitor run for the hills after meeting my family. In fact, I wasn’t entirely sure that wasn’t the reason that Rory’s love had dumped him. “I don’t know what I’m doing, either.” Sure, I’d dated before and even brought men home to meet the family, but never anybody like Aiden.
There was nobody like Aiden.
He stood. “Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll meet with the team and come up with a game plan to take out Jareth Davey.”
I loved that idea. We both got ready for bed, and I gingerly stretched out, wincing as my hips ached.
“You okay?” Aiden asked sleepily.
