Page 335 of Under Her Skin

“Hey, why don’t we talk about how we’re going to get my parents to chill out over us?” I say, to steer away from the subject ofMeagan.

“I talked to your mother,” he says, making me freakout.

“What? Did you call her? Blaine, damnit!”

“Chill, baby! She called me. And I told her about the money I’d give them in an amount we could mutually agree on. I invited them for Christmas, and she said she’d talk to yourdad.”

“She called you?” I ask as I try to stop shaking with the anger that has risen up in me like molten lava in avolcano.

“Yes. Right after I got off the phone with you. She called, and I was not about to not answer the call, even if it was your father calling to cuss me out some more,” he says, and now I feel badly that Dad cussed himout.

Running my hand over his shoulder, I apologize, “Baby, I’m sorry. I got mad toofast.”

“As usual,” he says, and I punch him in thearm.

“Oww,” I whine, as that was a mistake.His bicep is like arock!

“Ha,” he laughs. “Maybe don’t punchme.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I rub my hand as we pull into the driveway of the estate. “So how did Momact?”

“Nice. I think she’ll smooth things over, and hopefully, they’ll decide to join us tomorrow. But for tonight, it’s just me and you, baby. I hope you’re ready for one hell of a romantic ChristmasEve.”

“What all do you have planned, my personal Santa?” I rake my nails along his arm andpurr.

“You sound a little naughty there, my personal sexy elf. And my plans will be revealed one at a time. First, let’s get this thing parked and into the house. A nice, hot bath is in order, I would think, to relax you for the fun and festivities of the night,” He stops the car, and I can see a glow in his light-browneyes.

“I think you’re going to make this the most memorable Christmas Eveever.”

Getting out of the car, he comes around and gets my door open before I even get my seatbelt off. As he helps me out, he pulls me right up into his arms. “I’m going to treat you like my queen tonight. I want you to know how much I really love and care aboutyou.”

Wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders, I lean my head against his wide chest. “Blaine, you make me feel loved and cared for every day. I can’t imagine a day where I would doubt your feelings for me. I hope you can feel that coming from me as well. I love you more than you will ever understand. If I never got another thing in my entire life, I’d never complain, because I have you and that’s a gift initself.”

The house is warm as he takes me inside. “I’ve made a fire in the den, where we’ll be spending the evening. It’s nice and cozy in there, and I can’t wait to give you the gift I got you. But first things first. To the tub with you, mysweet.”

Relaxing in his arms has never beeneasier!

Chapter6

BLAINE

When I was a boy, things were vastly different at Christmas time than they are now. Pops would wrap our presents in the paper from the Sunday comics of the local newspaper. We would eat a canned ham for our Christmas dinner, along with mac and cheese and green beans. Nothing fancy atall.

Our presents would be things that we could use. New bags of underwear and socks for all three of us. A new set of pens and pencils for school. And every year we would get a brand-new coat. Our stockings were filled with fresh fruit—never any candy. I don’t know what pops aversion to giving us candy was, but we got it very rarely fromhim.

There was never any mention from any of us as to why Santa never came to our house. I had friends whose families made huge deals out of Santa bringing their gifts in the dead of night while they all slept. It just never was that way at ourhouse.

I suppose pops was too busy working and taking care of us that he didn’t think about doing things like waiting for us to go to sleep on Christmas Eve before he brought out the presents and put them under thetree.

Holding Delaney as we lay out on a blanket on the floor in front of the fireplace, with Christmas lights blinking happily on the tall Christmas tree off to one side, has me thinking about thefuture.

“You know, I think tonight is the night I want to make up the ideas of how our family will spend this night. What kind of traditions did your family have for this night,baby?”

She’s lying between my legs as I lean my back against the sofa. We’ve donned our matching Christmas PJ’s, which are red with candy canes all over them. Her hands move up and down my thighs as she says, “On Christmas Eve nights, we’d go to my Gammy’s house. She and Pawpaw would make us dinner. Usually pot roast. They were my father’s mom and dad. His other two brothers would come most of the time, too, with theirfamilies.”

“That sounds nice,” I say as I pull her hair over to one side and press my lips to the side of her neck. “What do you think we shoulddo?”

“Something like this. Spend the night here with our kids. If you wanted to invite your brother and sister and what will one day be their families, then you could,” she says, then turns in my arms and sits in my lap sideways so she can look atme.