Page 80 of Everything In Between
THIRTY
jersey
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25
“Jersey,”a sing-song voice whispers in my ear, startling me awake. I groan into the soft pillows and stretch. “Wake up, Jersey.”
Slowly, I flutter my eyelids open to see Hayes staring down at me, scruffy stubble lining his jaw and his eyes bright with excitement. I stretch again, fighting off the grin at seeing that level of affection in his eyes.
He leans down and presses a kiss to the tip of my nose. “Wakey, wakey.”
“Too early,” I mumble, still grinning despite the ungodly hour.
“It’s ten o’clock.” He laughs.
“Too early.”My eyes squeeze shut again and I will sleep to overtake me.
“It’s Christmas.” He runs his nose along my jaw before placing another kiss by the crook of my ear. “And there are cinnamon rolls waiting for you downstairs.”
I open one eye and my mouth involuntarily waters at the thought. “Cinnamon rolls?”
Hayes leans back and gives me another shit-eating grin. “Yup, but you gotta get out of bed if you want one.”
“Ugh, so mean,” I grumble. Despite myself, I toss back the covers and step into the bathroom so I can put in my contacts and wash away the remnants of sleep from my eyes.
When I emerge, Hayes is lounging on the bed, arms tucked behind his head. He eyes me with a smirk on his face.
“What?” I ask him, suspiciously.
“Nothing. Just like the sight of you walking around my bedroom, like it’s yours.”
My cheeks flush and I pull one of Hayes’s shirts out of his dresser as well as a pair of my own underwear from my drawer. His shirt swallows me, acting like a loose-fitting dress, falling past my hips. “So, about these cinnamon rolls?”
Hayes pushes himself off the bed, still limping quite a bit from the knee injury that’s only a few days old. He’s taken to hobbling around with his crutches and using me as a support whenever necessary—which suspiciously isall the time. I tend to think he likes to be touching me at every possible opportunity.
Not that I’m complaining.
Slowly, we make it down to the kitchen, passing by the living room on the way. I nearly stop dead in my tracks when I catch sight of his Christmas tree standing proudly next to the fireplace. It’s not the tree that’s giving me pause, or even the sight of Periwinkle sitting on the couch in a Santa hat and a red plaid sweater, but rather the presents sitting underneath.
“Hayes,” I say, breathlessly. He follows my line of sight and chuckles.
“Some are for my parents and Riley, too. They’ll be over later today to exchange gifts,” he answers my lingering, silent question. His parents stayed in town after his injury and are staying at a hotel not too far from his house. Riley flew into Milwaukee last night, and I can’t wait to meet her.
A sense of relief overcomes me. Hayes and I agreed to exchange Christmas presents this year, even though we’ve only officially been dating a few months. I definitely didn’t go overboard with my gifts, so I would’ve felt guilty if he had.
“Come on.” He tilts his head sideways. “Breakfast first, presents later.”
In the kitchen, I find a pan of melty cinnamon rolls waiting for us, along with some coffee. I plate up two of them each and place them on a tray along with mugs of coffee to take back into the living room so we can eat by the light of the glittering Christmas tree.
After Hayes settles in his seat, finding a comfortable position for his knee, we waste no time digging into the cinnamon rolls before they get cold.
“Oh my gosh,” I mutter, shooting him an impressed glance. “This is incredible.”
He chuckles and then leans forward, wiping his thumb along my bottom lip, collecting the icing that slipped from my bite. I track his movements, watching as he takes his thumb and sticks it in his mouth, licking the frosting off.
“You give me too much credit,” he says once he’s finished licking the frosting off his finger. “These are just the canned ones.”
“Well, they’re good anyway,” I say with a shrug, taking another bite.
