Page 30 of Forever Your Touch (Manwhore #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY

“Come on, I’m not going to let you fall.”

Jo shook her head, stubborn as the day she was born. There was no freaking way she was going out there. It was snowing. There was ice. She’d just started to walk semi-decently and he wanted her to risk falling and undoing all the healing she’d managed.

Nope. Not gonna happen.

“Josephine Marie Maxwell, get your ass out here.”

“Mason Xavier Kincaid, no. You get your ass in here.”

“Your surprise requires you to come outside. I have something special planned.”

She shook her head. The girls behind her were laughing, but they didn’t know what kind of klutz she was.

Mason sighed dramatically and came up the steps.

Without warning, he bent and threw her over his shoulder.

She shrieked and the girls inside burst out laughing.

Mason deposited her in his truck and then went back inside, carrying her coat, gloves, and a toboggan.

The dreaded cane was in his other hand. She had to use it to walk with and she hated it.

“No fair,” she growled when he got in.

Instead of answering her, he reached over and snapped her seatbelt in place.

“There’s a cup of hot chocolate for you.

” He gestured to the McDonald’s cup. It was her favorite hot chocolate much to Mason’s disgust. His entire family really.

They all made theirs from scratch - not the Swiss Miss powered kind either.

They made it out of real chocolate. She wasn’t that good in a kitchen.

She’d boil the milk over and set something on fire.

She took the blanket lying beside her and covered her legs with it.

He knew how cold she got. New York was so much colder than California.

Mason kept telling her she’d get used to the falling temperatures, but she wasn’t buying what he was selling.

The man grew up in Russia. Of course the cold didn’t bother him.

“You left my purse.”

“You don’t need your purse where we’re going, moye dragotsennyy.”

“You know I hate surprises.”

“You love my surprises.”

“Do not.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate. She did love his surprises, but he didn’t need to know that.

He hummed and turned the radio on to his favorite country channel. Jo had never been the biggest country music fan, but she found herself tuning into it more and more. Mason’s fault.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

When they pulled into the Kincaid family neighborhood, she got even more curious.

She expected them to stop at Viktor’s, but they drove a little further down to a different house.

It had the same wood and stone inflections as Viktor’s but there were more touches of modern design to this particular house.

“Where are we?”

“Kade’s.” Mason parked behind Kade’s SUV and unsnapped her seatbelt. “Put your coat on, Josephine. You’re going to need it.”

She did as he told her, adding the gloves and hat for good measure. He opened her door and pulled her out, letting her slide down his body.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hi,” she whispered back, suddenly shy for some reason.

He leaned in until his forehead rested against hers. “You good?”

She nodded.

He kissed her, the softest kiss he’d ever given her and she’d have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her up. He could rob her of her sanity with a normal kiss, but when he got this gentle, it became impossible to think straight.

“You ready for Christmas with the family?”

“Christmas? That’s not for another two weeks, Mason.”

“Yeah, but you’re going back to California for Christmas break and I wanted to do something special for you.”

He was so sweet.

“What does Christmas with the family entail?”

“We’re gathering at the eldest son’s house to decorate the tree, have a big dinner, and watch Christmas cartoons with the kids. Plus there might be a snowball fight or two thrown in the mix. This is the first big snow of the season.”

“Uh…”

He laughed. “Don’t worry, Jojo. I’ll protect you.”

“Can I sit the snowball fight out?”

“Nope. Kincaid family rules. We all participate.”

“I’m not a Kincaid.”

“You’re mine, Josephine, and that’s all that matters to the family. You’re as much of a Kincaid to them as Lily, Becca, Angel, and Sara are. I love you so the entire fam loves you.”

She blinked. This family…they took her in without question because of Mason. They never so much as batted an eye. They loved her. She didn’t doubt that any more than she doubted she loved all of them.

“Come on. Let’s get inside. I’m sure the kids are gonna want to go outside. We’re the last ones to arrive.”

True to his words, as soon as they walked through the door, Delia and Mateo dived bombed them, demanding to go outside and build snowmen.

This wasn’t her first time seeing snow. When she was nine, her parents had loaded them up and taken them skiing one Christmas. She’d fallen and broken her ankle. Her and snow were not BFF’s. No way, no how. Ice was her mortal enemy.

The entire family geared up and went out back.

Kade had enough land for three houses encased in his fence.

The whole thing was covered in eight inches of snow.

This could be an epic failure resulting in a trip to the ER for her, but when little Mateo took her hand and asked for help with his snowman, her heart melted.

She nodded and carefully made her way down the steps, clutching her cane like her life depended on it.

Mateo was patient. He waited on her and didn’t rush. He was as sweet as Mason.

“My snowman is going to be this big.” Delia jumped and put her hand up, indicating a snowman at least twice her size. “Uncle Mason said so.”

“ Non, chica . Mine is going to be moye grande ,” Mateo said. “Aunt Jo is helping me.”

Delia stuck her tongue out at him and Mason dunked her in a snow bank.

She came up squealing, her gray eyes so bright, they shone like the brightest star in the night sky.

It took Jo a moment to realize Mateo had called her Aunt Jo. She looked to his mother who had tears in her eyes. Angel gave Jo a watery smile and her heart melted all over again. He was such a good boy.

“Come on, sweetie, let’s go show them how to build a snowman.”

For the next three hours, they played outside and Jo had a blast. She fell more times than she could count, but the snow broke her fall. All of the men tried to catch her every time, too, but there was no saving her.

The Kincaid elders arrived during the middle of the madness. None of them joined in, but they sat on the back porch and laughed at the nonsense going on.

Mason told everyone they were skipping dinner, so they decided to decorate the tree first. Jo soon saw why.

Once the lights were up, the kids grew all solemn.

Mason watched his girl carefully. He hoped this wasn’t too soon for her, but Sara insisted. When the kids opened the black box that held the special ornaments, he grew apprehensive.

The first ones they put up were his mama’s and papa’s and babushka’s.

Each unique ornament had their names inscribed on them.

They were hand crafted in Russia and given to Angel by his mama to keep the tradition going.

It was something she started when Kade was born.

All the wives and the children had their own too.

Jo smiled as she watched all the ornaments go up. She oohed and ahhed over them. Mason couldn’t stop smiling because she was smiling. Family meant as much to her as it did to him.

It was Mateo who handed the next ornament to Jo. She looked down at it and her expression was priceless. Mason would never forget the look of wonder on her face as she ran her fingertips over it. Tiny blue roses decorated the bulb and her full name was engraved on it.

“This is for me?” she whispered.

Sara hugged her. “You’re as much a part of this family as the rest of us honey. Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful.” Her tone kept that awed, hushed tone. “I love it.”

“Put it on the tree!” Mateo tugged her hand and she gripped her cane tightly when she stood. “Right here.” Mateo pointed to the spot beside Mason’s.

She glanced at him and he couldn’t have loved her more if his life depended on it.

Mateo had taken to her more than he had anyone else in the family.

Well, aside from Conner, but that was a whole other story.

That little boy’s love was precious and hard to come by.

Jo had won him over without even trying.

She put her ornament on the tree and Mateo tugged on her hand. He crooked his finger at her and she bent down. The kid planted a kiss on her cheek and ran back to his mother.

Everyone stared, shocked.

But they knew better than to make a big deal of it. They started putting more ornaments on the tree.

“Was that your surprise?” she asked when she sat back down next to him.

“No, baby, I have something else planned. As soon as the ornaments are up, we’ll go find your surprise.”

By the time they left, it was well past dark, but he’d planned for this. His brothers helped him come up earlier and set everything up for them. Mason just hoped she liked her surprise.

They were driving on the land the Kincaid’s owned.

Nik had bought up every single piece of unoccupied land around the neighborhood he could.

They were thinking of trying to buy the other residents out, but so far they hadn’t gone that route.

He wouldn’t put it past his brothers to do just that, though.

“Mason?” she asked curiously when he stopped the truck in the middle of nowhere.

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course.”

“Then just go with it, baby.”

He jumped out of the truck and got the picnic basket Sara gave him right before they left. It held their dinner. He came around and opened Jo’s door, giving her his back. “Hop on, Josephine.”

It took her two attempts to climb on, but once he had her secured, he shut the door and started the ten minute walk to the clearing. He only hoped she loved it.

Jo leaned her head against his, inhaling his scent. She loved the way he smelled. Like honey and sandalwood. She needed to find out what kind of aftershave he used so she could buy it and spritz her room when she was lonely.

As they trudged deeper into the woods, the more she relaxed. Her entire body was boneless when they rounded a corner and the entire area ahead was ablaze with multicolored Christmas lights. Every single tree was decorated, encasing the two chairs and firepit in its own little private circle.

“Mason,” she whispered.

He didn’t say anything, just let her slide off his back and set about building a fire in the firepit. Once that was done, he made her sit down. She’d been too busy looking at her very own festival of lights.

She’d told him she was looking forward to going to the one her hometown always put on.

This didn’t have all the different shapes of course, but it was just as beautiful and way more special.

It must have taken him hours to get this set up.

She heard a generator running in the background and that answered her question of how all the lights were working.

It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her. The time and care he’d put into planning this astounded her. She blinked back tears when he squatted in front of her and rubbed her hands to get them warm.

“Do you like it, baby?”

It was too much and she burst into tears.

“Hey now, what’s wrong?” His expression morphed into alarm and she cried harder. How had she resisted it this long.

“Josephine, tell me what’s wrong.”

She shook her head. “It’s beautiful, Mase, just beautiful.”

“Then why are you crying, sweetheart?”

“Because I love you!” She threw herself at him and hugged him so tight, she had to have cut his air off. “I love you so fucking much, Mason.”

He laughed. “That’s good because I love you too, Jojo. I love you so fucking much.”

She heard the sheer joy in his voice. She’d seen his face every single time he told her he loved her and she didn’t say it back, but he never pushed, he never got mad, and he always put her first. She should have told him weeks ago how much she loved him, but she was afraid.

Afraid she’d get lost again and end up back where she started, with a man who forgot about her.

But that wasn’t Mason. It would never be Mason.

She should have told him she loved him sooner.

“Hush.” He bent his head and dropped a swift kiss to her lips. “Don’t worry about what was, Josephine, only what is. You and me, baby. That’s all you got to worry about. Now, do you want your presents`?”

“Presents?” She laughed at his squirrely expression. “The Christmas ornament and then all this is present enough Mason. I don’t need anything else.”

“I know, but I want you to have presents. You deserve presents every single day.”

He reached into the backpack laying beside the other chair and withdrew a box wrapped in shiny blue paper with a big silver bow on it. “Merry Christmas, Josephine.”

She took the box and opened it, revealing a diamond and blue sapphire bracelet. Her breath caught at how it sparkled in the firelight.

“Do you like it?” he asked shyly.

“I love it, Mason.” Her hand shook when she tried to get it out.

“Let me.” He brushed her hand away and took the delicate bracelet out of the box and snapped it closed around her wrist.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Not nearly as beautiful as you.” He kissed her again and she started to cry.

“Hey, now, no more tears. You’re giving me a complex.”

She laughed. “I love you so much.”

He winked. “Of course you do. There’s no resisting all this.” He waved at himself as he always did. “It was written in the stars, baby. You and me, we were always inevitable.”

He was still the cockiest man she knew too.

“Let’s eat. I’m starved. It’s Mama’s baked ham and Babby’s baklava. You couldn’t ask for more.

She watched him dish out food and pour them both a tall glass of sparking grape juice. He sat down in the Adirondack chair beside hers and kicked his feet out towards the fire.

“Mason?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you happy?”

“More than I’ve ever been in my entire life, Josephine. I couldn’t ask for better than I have right now. Well, if my Papa would get better, that’d be awesome too.”

She took his hand and squeezed it. She refused to tell him everything was going to be fine because with cancer, you just never knew. But what she could do was be there for him through it all. And she planned on doing it too. He was always there for her and in this she could be his rock.

“Now eat before your food gets colder than it already is.”

She smiled and dug in, surrounded by thousands of twinkling lights and a love so deep, she didn’t think anything would ever compare to it.

She was good and truly happy.

And she’d stay that way. Mason would make sure of it.

Thank God for Mason Xavier Kincaid.

** Make sure to read the rest of Jo and Mason’s story in Mason (Kincaid Security & Investigations #3)