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Kaitlyn

I zipped the side of my suitcase and sat beside it on the bed. There were nervous jitters, and then there was what I was experiencing.

Cole walked into the room and I stared at him. His arms strained against his shirt. For a quick second my nerves melted as I watched him cross the floor toward me. His eyes tinted with desire as they dropped toward my breasts. I took a heavy breath. This man did things to me I couldn’t explain. Things he had been doing since I was sixteen.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

I tapped the side of my carr

y-on. “I’ve learned my lesson. All the presents are going with us on the plane. I’m not taking any chances with everyone’s gifts.”

They were packed tightly in my bag, wrapped in layers of bubble wrap. My boots were also tucked inside. They were the most special gift Cole had given me and I wasn’t about to check those with my regular luggage. He had officially christened me as a Texas resident with those boots.

His hand slid to my stomach. “I meant are you ready to tell your family when we get there.”

I sighed. “Oh. That. We’re going to tell them? Do we have to?”

The bed bowed as he sat next to me. He brushed the hair from my neck, kissing it. His body was warm. I loved every hard muscular inch of it.

“We decided a long time ago.” He palmed my belly. “I wish they already knew you were pregnant.”

I smiled, running my hand over his. “Christmas seems like the perfect time. Ryan is less likely to punch you again. And my parents are always so happy at the holidays.”

Cole chuckled. “Baby, I know you think there’s a way to soften the blow, but the fact is I knocked you up. I don’t know that there is enough tinsel to distract them from how this happened. Ryan’s still my best friend, and you’re still his little sister.”

I leaned into his shoulder. “They’re going to freak out, aren’t they?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Then maybe we should have our first Christmas here as a family.” I’d thrown the idea out a few times as a joke, but right now it seemed like the best solution.

My parents were conservative. They tried to pretend Cole and I didn’t live together. It didn’t matter we had been together seven months. They put on blinders.

“Kaitlyn, if anyone has anything to worry about, it’s me. Come on. Grayson’s bags are already in the car. I don’t want to rush at the airport. And he’s two—he’s going to want to stop ten times on the way.”

At certain times the Marine in Cole surfaced, even though he had left the Corps almost two years ago. He was never late. He had a saying, something about being punctual was the same as being late. I couldn’t disagree more.

We rose to our feet, but not before he crushed his mouth against mine. I reached on my toes, wrapping my hands around his neck. His tongue flicked against mine and a small whimper escaped through my lips.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he growled.

I blushed, loving how he adored my pregnant body. My hormones were on over-drive. If he wasn’t so set on getting to the terminal early, I’d step out of my sweater and jeans and show him how much I loved him.

The sunlight from the window caught my ring. The diamond threw rainbows on the wall. “My parents will understand why I want to wait for the wedding. Tell me that’s the right decision,” I pleaded. I clung to his neck as if I could draw the strength I needed from him.

And I could. For the last several months Cole had supported me through everything. He was seven years older. And I’d been in love with him since I was a teenager.

He kissed me again. “You’re having my baby. Of course they’ll understand. You are the bride. If you want to wait until next fall, then that’s what we’re going to do. No one blames you for not wanting to have a holiday wedding. I sure as hell don’t.”

I sighed. “Good because I want to do all the Christmas things with you. And Grayson.” It was Grayson’s first Christmas without his mother. She was in London at a poetry immersion school. “We can go to the pageant at church and make cookies. There’s the neighborhood luminaries and we have to go to Winter Village.” The nerves started to fade.

Cole chuckled. “I’ve spent Christmas with your family before.”

I pinched my lips together to make them extra pouty. “I know, but not like this. Not as mine.”

“Yours?” His eyebrows rose. “I thought it was the other way around.” He gripped my ass hard and I squealed.

“Do that again,” I purred.

He brought his mouth over mine and I inhaled the kiss. I thought he might devour me. Kiss me until I was breathless. I lost my balance with these kinds of kisses.

“This Christmas is going to be different, darlin’.”

I nodded. “We’re starting our own family. Our own traditions. Together. What are some of the things you used to do? The years Ryan didn’t bring you home with him?” I pressed.

Cole took a slight step backward and rubbed the scruff on his jaw.

“I didn’t grow up like you did with parents who decorated and did the whole tree thing. I had Pops. Christmas was small with my grandfather.”

“And he didn’t put up a tree?” I asked.

I couldn’t imagine Cole growing up like that. I hadn’t thought about whether Christmas was a painful time of year for him either. Maybe he would rather skip the whole thing. But I knew for Grayson’s sake he wouldn’t do that. He wanted his son to have Christmas.

“We had a tree, but it was one of those table-top ones and it’s not like I had a fireplace, so there wasn’t a chance Santa was going to visit.”

My jaw dropped. “What? Are you telling me Santa Claus did not visit you when you lived with Pops?”

He stood and reached for my suitcase. “Let’s get this loaded in the car. We can talk about Santa later.”

I wasn’t quite ready to walk out of the bedroom. Grayson was on the couch watching cartoons.

“Do you remember anything about Christmas with your parents? Did they believe in Santa?” I couldn’t drop this. It was a revelation about Cole’s past that was bigger than almost anything else he had told me. I stood rooted by the bed, praying his parents had enlisted Santa’s help every year. That Cole knew there was something magical about Christmas.

“I was eight. I don’t remember much about those early Christmases. But, yes Santa visited. I had a stocking, and we had a tree. All that traditional stuff. I’ve got pictures around here somewhere.” His crystal blue eyes looked misty, but I knew Cole wasn’t going to crack reminiscing about his childhood holidays. He always glossed over the topic.

“I want you to have that again.” I pulled on his arm, holding him back in our bedroom.

“It’s not about me anymore.” He shook his head. “It’s about Grayson and our baby. They will have the perfect Christmas. I don’t worry about what I need.”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t going to argue with him about Santa or how sad I was that the holidays didn’t lift him up like they did me. We’d have time when we got to my parents’ house. We needed to get away from the palm trees and the tropical beach weather in South Padre. It would feel more like Christmas once we made it to North Carolina.

I followed him along the narrow hallway. We had so much ahead of us. Planning the perfect Christmas was only part of the equation. We had to break the news of my pregnancy and engagement to my family. I wanted to skip that part of the trip, but I promised Cole I would tell them the news.

I checked the ticket times and made sure I had everything in my purse and Grayson’s travel bag one more time. I looked up from the counter.

“Grayson, it’s time to go,” I called.