Page 15 of Christmas Craving
“You were right,” I said. “Although it helps to have someone here to enjoy it with me.”
She gave me an affectionate squeeze around the waist that made my throat feel tight. Lanie was so open, so free with her touches, and even though I knew it was crazy, every minute I spent with her made the dark places inside me recede. I already felt incredibly comfortable with her, although I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t going to think about it now though. I was having too much fun to worry.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
“We drink some adult hot chocolate by the tree while we admire our work,” she said in a voice that implied that implied that the answer was obvious.
“I don’t have hot chocolate.”
“Shocker,” she teased. “I’ll go get mine from next door. You do have whiskey though, right?”
“Of course.”
It cost two hundred dollars a bottle, but sure, we could put it in hot chocolate.
When Lanie came back she made hot chocolate in a pan on the stove, adding a generous shot of whiskey to each cup before dropping a handful of mini marshmallows on the top.
“Mm, this is perfect,” she said as we sat on the floor, neither of us wanting to displace Arthur who’d stretched out on the couch, taking most of the space with his giant body. We leaned against the couch while the dog snored behind us, staring at the tree and talking. We talked all the way through two mugs of hot chocolate, until we were both getting sleepy.
“I should go walk Arthur,” Lanie finally said regretfully. “Otherwise he’ll wake me up in the middle of the night having to pee.”
“I’ll go with you,” I said, not wanting to let her out of my sight. Not yet.
It was after ten and the streets were eerily quiet as we trailed behind Arthur, waiting while he either sniffed or peed oneverything we passed. It was chilly outside, cold enough that we could see our breath, but at least it wasn’t raining. We let Arthur take his time.
At some point I grabbed Lanie’s hand in mine, threading our fingers together, the move completely natural. I had a sudden vision of a lifetime of walks like this, our fingers intertwined. It was a good vision.
“Will you sleep over?” I asked.
She gave me a look. “Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
It was a fair question. Lanie was surprisingly astute. I never, and I mean never, had a woman sleep over. I never slept over with them either. Yet I couldn’t fathom going to bed tonight without this woman cuddled up right next to me, not after what we’d shared earlier.
“I am sure.”
I opened my mouth to give her my usual speech – that this was only for tonight, that I only did casual, that I wasn’t interested in a relationship, but I couldn’t get the words out. Probably because they weren’t true. Us spending the night together meant something. I just wasn’t sure we were ready to talk about that yet.
“Okay then, we’d love to sleep over,” Lanie said, giving my hand a squeeze.
“We?”
She shot me a teasing look. “You know Arthur and I are a package deal right now, right? If I leave him alone he’ll eat Amy and John’s couch or something.”
“Okay, but he can’t sleep on the bed with us.”
“Of course not,” she said. “We’ll make him sleep in the hallway.”
Sure enough, when I woke up the next morning there were three of us in the bed. Lanie was squeezed in the middle, with me on one side and Arthur on the other side. The dog opened one eye, looking at me over Lanie’s head like he was daring me to say something.
With a sigh, I sat up.
“Where are you going?” Lanie asked sleepily.
“To make coffee.”
She grabbed my hand. “I’ve got a better idea.”
“What?” I asked.
