Page 22 of Tied and Tangled

“How do you do that?” I asked in awe the moment he pulled away. Not that he went too far. He stayed close enough for us to share the same air. His breath smelled like the coffee we’d shared after lunch.

“Do what?” he asked, kissing the tip of my nose as the pad of his thumb skimmed my jaw. I broke eye contact, but he tilted my head up, “Do what?”

“Make me want you,” I whispered and watched, completely mesmerized, as his face transformed. Masculine pride and something else washed over his handsome features.

“If it makes you feel better, all you have to do is breathe and I want you,” he confessed in a tone low enough for my ears only. “Let’s get these decorations so we can get home fast. I need you, and I don’t think fingering you in the middle of the Christmas decorations would go down well with management.” My eyes widened as the image played out in my head.

“I wish I had worn a skirt,” I whispered back, and he growled.

“I do, too,” he grunted.

“Okay. We’ll hurry.” I grinned, pulling back. “Oh! Do you have stockings?”

“Stockings?” His brows rose to his hairline, and then his eyes dropped down to my legs. “Let’s get you some.”

“No!” I laughed, patting his chest. “You know, stockings? For the mantle? Where you put treats and stuff in?”

“I’m sure we have a box somewhere but…” He hesitated, and I just watched him for a moment. “Let’s get new ones. Four of them,” he suggested, and I swear it felt like my feet were no longer touching the ground. Four of them. He’d said four when they were three of them. Did that mean he was including me in the four?

“Four?” I repeated, and he nodded.

“Yeah. Four. You, me, and the girls,” he confirmed. I looked down at the ground to make sure I really wasn’t floating.

You, me, and the girls.

Just like that, he was handing me my entire Christmas list in one small five-word sentence.You, me, and the girls.

I smiled, but I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Before he could mention something, I moved out of his embrace and looked for the aisle that had the stockings. I picked out a couple and showed him. “Which of these do you like?” I asked, and his shoulders relaxed.

“The white ones.” He pointed. “With the gold threading.”

“Those are perfect,” I whispered. As I grabbed four and put them into the cart he was pushing, I wasn’t going to overthink it.

Aiden was being nice by including me. Thoughtful. I picked up a gingerbread house with four little gingerbread people in the front window and smiled. Polite. That’s what he was being. He wasn’t subtly giving me a hint about joining his family. I was helping him decorate the house to have it ready for when the girls returned from their grandmother’s place. That was it.

I’d grown up with six women. I knew the biggest mistake a woman could do was read too much into something a man said off-hand. And I was not going to do that.

“They have a matching gingerbread train,” he pointed out, and I smiled. “Get the house so we can go home.” He winked, kissing the top of my head before taking the house from my hands and adding it to the cart full of Christmas things. Home. Yeah, not reading into what he was saying was going to be hard.

We’d had a full day, and it was still early.

After a night of orgasm after orgasm, we had slept in. I hadn’t slept in till after eleven since middle school. I texted my mom and let her know I wouldn’t be home and not to worry. Before falling soundly asleep, Aiden had asked me to stay over, and I couldn’t say no. I was surprised to see him watching me when I’d woken up this morning with no rush of having to get to work. Instead, he’d cuffed me to the bed and kissed my entire body from head to foot and everything in between.

Twice.

We showered together, and he had suggested we go out to get a tree and decorations to deck the house out before the girls returned.

“Color or white lights?” he asked as we moved down the aisle that had nothing but lights.

“What do you like?” I asked, but he was already shaking his head.

“I wanna know what you like.”

“Warm white,” I answered and added, “Twinkling lights. There is something magical about them.”

“Magical, huh?” he asked as he grabbed a couple of boxes and added them to the cart. “Star or angel?”

“None.” By the look he gave me, I had surprised him.