Page 37 of Christmas for Keeps

CHAPTER12

Zach

After our nap,we made sandwiches and started decorating the house. While Connor worked on finding the right place for the large number of holiday knickknacks I’d made and bought, I hung lights in the windows. I saved my studio for last, and when I went back downstairs, Connor had transformed the great room from a cozy living space into a magical wonderland. The tree blazed in glory, and decorations were everywhere. Frank Sinatra—or was it Bing Crosby?—sang about how cold it was outside, and a fire had the room nice and toasty.

I went to Con for a kiss, relaxing into his arms and delighting in the drag of his tongue across my lips. Then we settled on the sofa, where he leaned against my shoulder. “You have such a beautiful place,” he said. “It must be a dream living here.”

“It’s awesome, and you make it more wonderful than ever. You did a terrific job decorating the place, but your beauty puts the ornaments to shame.”

He play-smacked my tummy. “Corny, silly, and very sweet.”

I leaned over to warm up his lips. Between pecks, I said, “Honest… sincere… and very true.”

“Oh, you.” He lay down with his head on my lap, and I rested a hand on his chest.

“I love being with you,” he said.

Glints of red, gold, yellow, blue, and green sparkled in his hair, reflecting the lights on the tree. I ran my fingers through it while we listened to the music. “Your hair’s as soft as ever.”

“I love when you play with it.”

I nodded, and we reverted to silence. He closed his eyes while I ran my fingers through his hair and massaged his temples. The playlist stopped, and the only sounds were the crackle of the fire and our occasional contented sighs. “How are you feeling about things so far?” I asked. “About us?”

“Fantastic. You?”

“Awesome.” We’d talked about the same thing a few hours earlier, but it was fine. We were both insecure because we were so eager for things to work out. “I know it’s early to ask, but do you think we can make a go of things?”

A hopeful smile worked its way across his lips. “Call me a romantic, but I think love can conquer all. Like you said earlier, if we try our best to make things work, they will. But if we’re half-hearted about it, we’ll fail.”

“I couldn’t possibly be half-hearted about you,” I said. “And I don’t want us to fail.”

“We’ll succeed, then, because I’ll give it everything I’ve got.”

After leaning over for a kiss, I said, “We have lots of details to consider, things to work out.”

“One step at a time.” Connor caressed my face. “We’ll keep working until things are exactly the way we want them to be.”

* * *

It wasthe first night of Hanukkah, something I knew even as a nonobservant Jew. Con had set my grandmother’s menorah on a table near the front window, so we lit the first candle. He understood the brief ceremony because we’d done it when we were together.

“This is always so beautiful,” he said afterward, while we watched the candle burn. “I don’t want to get ahead of things and jinx us, but I’d be incredibly happy to do this with you every year.”

I broke into a grin. “Count me in. It would be a great way to remember finding each other again.”

After a Hanukkah kiss—perhaps our thousandth of the day—we defrosted some frozen chili before heading outside to see the lights I’d strung in the windows. The moment we stepped out the door, we were both entranced. The bright stars turned the snow into a shimmering sea of white, and the window lights added a festive glow. As we made our way around the yard, we held each other tightly, taking it all in. Our breath plumed in the frigid air, but with Connor in my arms, I could have stayed there all night.

* * *

For the secondmorning in a row, I woke to find Con asleep beside me. I was still tired because after an evening ofMario Kart, we’d been up late pleasing each other in every way we could imagine. I reached for my phone on the bedside table to check the time—9:30 a.m.—and when I rolled back over, his eyes were open.

“Morning, handsome,” he croaked out. “I almost forgot how perfect it is to wake up with you.” He snuggled closer and buried his nose in my armpit, inhaling deeply.

“Stop, Con! That’s got to be gross after how hard you worked me.”

After another deep breath, he looked up with a grin. “I love how you smell after a hard day’s work.”

I tousled his adorably messy hair. “You mean a hardnight’swork.”

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