Page 272 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

The scars of my past that I thought had already written the ending to my story.

Yeah, I’d forever bear guilt and grief. It was carved in me. But I finally got that I couldn’t change the way I’d felt for Scarlett. It didn’t mean I wasn’t capable of it. I realized now that I did love her. Just not in the way that she’d needed me to.

Piper came around the kitchen counter, carefully balancing a charcuterie board that she placed on the coffee table. “There we go.”

“What can I do to help?” I asked as I peeked up at her.

She gave me the cutest little scowl. “You’re not supposed to be doing anything but sitting on the couch resting.”

“Then how am I supposed to check out all the awesome presents with my Finn if I’m all the way up there?”

Tenderness swept through her features. This woman who hadn’t left my side since I woke up in the hospital.

This woman who had been meant for me.

Drawn to me.

Our destinies colliding at the exact moment in time they were supposed to.

The only one to hold the power to spark to life what I thought was dead.

“I don’t want you to reinjure yourself,” she fretted.

I sent her a salacious, seductive grin. “I’m good as new, Pipes.”

I shifted around and climbed to standing.

Going for her.

Hands sliding to her hips so I could grip on. I leaned in close to her mouth and grated low, “And more than ready to get back to my favorite activity.”

Couldn’t wait to get back in her tight, delicious body.

Redness flushed her cheeks, heat rippling off her flesh. Her fingertips tapped across my collarbone. “I think Dr. Reynolds would have something to say about that.”

“Dr. Reynolds learned years ago we can’t be kept down. Someone tries to take us out, we come back ten times stronger.”

“Because you all are magnets for trouble.” It was a soft, adoring tease, and those fingertips fluttered up to my lips.

I kissed across them. “Told you I was the exact kind of trouble you needed.”

“And you were.” She glanced at the tree then back at me. Those arctic eyes flashed their warmth. “The best kind of gift I could ever be given.”

A sudden clatter echoed from outside, a faint, “Ho, ho, ho,” coming from the other side of the door as a fist banged against it.

I edged back, sending Piper a knowing grin before I turned my attention to Finn.

“Who in the world could that be?” I drew out as I moved for the door, still hobbling a bit. I opened it to Otto who was fully dressed in a Santa outfit, a fake beard on his face.

“Ho, ho, ho!” he called even louder as he came stomping into the cabin with a giant bag slung over his shoulder.

“Santa?!” Finn popped onto his feet. Excitement blazed from him as he bounced in the air. “You come see me?”

“That’s right. I heard there was a good little boy staying here. Wait, are you a good boy?” he asked, blue eyes glinting as he glanced at me and Piper.

“I a good boy.” Finn bobbed that precious head.

So fuckin’ cute it felt like my chest was going to implode.