Page 53 of Stocking Stuffers
She laughed, her eyes twinkling and her breath frosting in the cold air. “I’m really good at first impressions.”
He pressed their foreheads together. “You’re so brave. Coming here, standing on that stage.”
“Your sister told me that was your favorite Christmas song. Which is silly. The best Christmas song is obviously ‘Good King Wenceslas.’”
He laughed. He should have realized Valerie had a hand in this. “Obviously. It wouldn’t have been as romantic, though.”
“And you’re Mr. Romance. I had a lot to live up to.”
He threaded his fingers into her hair. It was slightly crunchy with hair product, and he enjoyed the texture against his palms. “You don’t have to live up to anything. You need to be yourself. You’re pretty miraculous just as you are.”
“Even as a Scrooge?”
She slipped her hands to his stomach and gripped his sides.
He melted in her hold. “Especially as a Scrooge. Keeps me on my mistletoes.”
A crack of a laugh burst from her. “That was horrible.”
“You liked it.”
“I did.” She crowded her body into his, and he realized they were swaying to the beat.
“Sasha, it feels like I’m finally right where I’m meant to be.”
“I think you are.” She tilted her head slightly to kiss his cheek, then the hinge of his jaw. He gripped her hips and drew her closer. She whispered in his ear. “So once this merry shindig is over, I think we should head back to my place. Maybe we can start making our own Christmas traditions. You know, watch a couple Christmas horror movies, bake a fruitcake, role play Santa and his naughty elf.”
Perry grinned, happiness making him reckless. He lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder. Her peals of laughter made him walk faster. “Let’s go, naughty elf. Time to leave,” he said.
“Who says I’m the elf? I’m the one with all the toys!”
Perry stopped in his tracks and set her back on her feet on the top step of the gazebo. “That is so true.” Then he kissed her, long and lingering, until they were both grinning and alight with joy.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Sasha handed Perry his fuzzy red Christmas stocking before flopping over in bed to kiss his hipbone. She knew, after a year together, that it would make him shudder. And it did. His head also hitched back, his fingers finding a home in her short hair. Dim, wintery morning light filtered in through Perry’s apartment window, illuminating his bare skin. The window was frosted from the cold air, but this year they weren’t lucky enough to have a white Christmas.
After a few seconds, he said, “Let me grab your stocking. It’s under my bed.”
She gladly rolled off his legs because she was thrilled about this new tradition. She hadn’t been excited about getting presents since she was a kid, but the thought of what Perry might have stuffed her stocking with was enough to make her bubbly with eagerness.
Really, this whole holiday season had proven her to be the epitome of eagerness, from choosing trees at a Christmas tree farm to ice skating in the city to a date at the symphony to hear the Gay Men’s Chorus Christmas Concert. Seeing Perry’s pure love and celebration of the season had made her feel like a child discovering Santa’s workshop, all fervor and hope and happiness.
And now, here they were on Christmas morning, and Sasha hadn’t once felt the suffocating pressure of the holidays, not like in the past. Plus, this year, there were stockings!
Perry leaned over the side of his queen-sized bed, giving her a smoking view of his back and ass, which she grabbed, of course, before he reappeared with a green Christmas stocking filled to the brim with presents. She sat cross-legged on the bed, her flannel nightie riding up around her thighs, and smiled at her beautiful boyfriend.
He grinned lazily back.
“God, Christmas is the best,” he said.
“Oh yeah? Why?”
“Well, for one, you bought me my favorite lube.” He pulled the bottle out of the top of his stocking. “Two, I have three whole days off before I’m due back at the nursery.”
Sasha smiled and rubbed his leg happily. Perry had gotten a part-time job at Boon’s Nursery and Tree Farm shortly after the New Year. He’d been supplementing that income with seasonal accounting work for a personal tax company in addition to attending classes, which he loved. Last week, he and Sasha had started on a business plan for his own company. That was still years away but filled her with excitement and pride for his dreams. She couldn’t wait to see them come to fruition.
