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Great.One brother thinks I can’t manage birth control, and the other thinks I’m being hypnotized and controlled. What had I done to give them so little confidence in me? Wasn’t I managing a career on my own on the other side of the mountains? It’s not like I was *cough* living at home and still working with Mom and Dad. I opened my mouth to say that before thinking better of it.

Jimmy held up his hands. “Whoa. No mentalist capabilities here. Melena and I make a good team, and we’re choosing to make a life together. Nothing more dramatic than that.”

Liar. I was impressed. There was something more dramatic, but maybe not something I needed to worry my family with right away.

My dad finally got in the game. He’d been silently watching but couldn’t hold back any longer. “What do you do to support yourself?” he asked.

Jimmy focused in on my dad, giving strong eye contact. “Sir, I’m a firefighter with Tacoma FD.”

“Are you an adrenaline junky?” my dad asked.

I winced at the stereotype, but Jimmy shook his head. “No, sir.”

My mom chose her moment to go in for the kill, after the rest had softened us up. “So, you’re coming home for Christmas to visit, right? We can meet your new husband and spend some quality time with you. We don’t want to miss any more special days.”

Excuses eluded me. Jimmy smiled back at my mother and said nothing. The traitor. I wrapped up the call as soon as humanly possible.

Jimmy smiled at me. “They seemed...nice.”

Yeah. The pause said it all. They were nice. Usually. I loved my family. I just hadn’t prepared them well. Or at all. They were within rights to have questions and be hurt.

“Still want to be married to me?” I asked.

He smiled. “For sure.”

“Enough to drive to eastern Washington at Christmas?”

“If I can get the time off. Usually I work Christmas.”

“There is a Santa!”

“I can probably get the time off if you want to.”

“No, that excuse works perfectly. Have I told you lately you’re the best?”

His gaze met mine and I smiled. His smile in return made his dark eyes sparkle. My gaze traveled down his body. If Santa looked like Jimmy, there’d be a lot of very good girls over the age of twenty believing in him. More than his handsome exterior, the heart it housed made mine flutter. For someone I’d known for only a few weeks, he’d gone out on a limb for me in so many ways. It was easy to imagine him bursting into a burning building to save the day, ever the hero. My smile faded. I didn’t need someone else to prop me up. I wanted to stand on my own. It wasn’t his job to save me. But maybe I could stand beside him.