“Come here, I have blankets.” She holds her arms out, opening up the blankets, and I pick her up, sit on a snow-covered outdoor chair, and cuddle her in my lap. “Now you’re going to get wet.”
“I want to take you inside where it’s warm, but I have a feeling you’ll fight me on that.”
“Can we sit out here for just a little while?” Her voice is soft in the stillness of the snow falling around us. “It’s so pretty.”
“You do know that you can watch this from literally any window in the house.”
“It’s not the same.” She drags her knuckles down my cheek. “Were you mad that Willow and I drank too much last night?”
“Of course not. You weren’t hurting anyone. I’m just glad that you had fun and that Willow has finally come around.”
She nods and rests her forehead against my cheek, snuggling close. “I like her a lot.”
“I’m glad. She’s not so bad.”
“She told me a lot of things.”
I scowl. “Seems she has a big mouth.”
“I don’t think it was anything you wouldn’t have told me yourself.” She kisses my cheek, and it soothes my soul. “Just more about Ray and Debbie and how much you all loved them.”
“Yeah, we loved them, baby.” I kiss her head and lift her in my arms, taking her inside. “It’s too cold to sit out here, but we’ll watch from the sofa.”
“Okay.”
She holds on tight as I walk through the house to the living room and take the wet blankets off her, then bundle her in dry ones and go upstairs to change my wet clothes.
When I get back, she’s leaning on the arm of the couch closest to the windows, her eyes glued to the huge flakes falling.
“You’ve seen lots of snow before,” I remind her as I sit next to her and wrap my arms around her.
“It’s always magical, and there’s something extra special about the first snowfall of the year. It gets dirty so fast in the city. I bet it’s gorgeous here for a long time.”
“Hm.” I kiss the crown of her head, enjoying the quiet with her.
“Gideon?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“I’d like to ask you a question, but I don’t want to upset you or hurt you.”
I frown down at her and tip her chin up. “You can ask me anything. No guarantee that I’ll answer.”
Her lips tip up in a smirk. “Your standard response. Okay then.”
She takes a deep breath, as if she’s gathering her courage, and I press a kiss to her forehead. I haven’t been able to keep my hands off her. And for as long as she’s here, Iwon’tstop touching her.
Because for now, she’smine.
“What happened to your biological family, big guy?”
I sigh and push my fingers into her damp hair, brushing it back from her face.
“It’s not a good story, Lena.”
“I’m trying to get to know you, and I feel like that’s kind of a big deal.”
Fuck.I hate talking about this. I haven’t inyears. Since I was interviewing for the Secret Service, and it was brought up in that meeting.
