Page 40 of Missiletoe
“Don’t be so pushy, Trix. I wasn’t going to forget about you.” Paris said fondly as he buckled himself in.
When he started the truck, I asked, “Where are we going?”
“My apartment.” Paris tucked me right up against his warm body before driving us away.
“Um, I don’t want to pee in your cereal, Paris, but that’s the first place my family will come for us.”
“My impression of your family is that nowhere is far enough to hide, so we aren’t going to. If you want to stay with me, you’ll stay.”
“And if I don’t want to stay with you?” I asked, not because I was worried or anything. I was perfectly happy where I was and didn’t see that changing any time soon. My question was fueled by pure curiosity and the desire to learn more about my new person
Paris tensed and didn’t answer. Which I supposed was an answer in and of itself.
A happy thrill went through me because Paris’s nonanswer had just given me something that his hugs and consensual kidnapping hadn’t.
Hope.
Maybe he wasn’t too pure and good for me. Maybe all my worry and stress over being too fucked up and weird for him had been for nothing. Maybe I could have Paris without creating a mind ray that forced him to stay with me.
Not that I’d been planning to, but I could have.
I was a content passenger as we drove through the night with me snuggled between Paris and his big black dog.
After a while Paris broke the silence. “I wouldn’t stop you from going wherever you wanted.”
“But?” I asked because he had a huge but on his face, and he clearly needed to set it free.
“But I want you to let me go with you and keep you safe,” Paris finished with a heavy sigh.
“That’s okay then.” As long as he didn’t bring that floozy Sylvia with him. We were going to need to talk about her soon, but I wasn’t ready to pop our happy bubble.
It seemed impossible that we’d known each other for less than a day. The time we’d been separated had felt like months, and I wanted to wallow in him for a while longer before getting into the deep stuff.
I got a wonderful idea. “Can we go see the Christmas lights on Main Street?”
It had been such an undertaking to get anyone to take me to see them because we’d all been insanely busy.
A lot of people had needed killing recently, so Baz had been in and out constantly, Gareth too. Apple and Adam were still in their honeymoon phase, and I didn’t want to interrupt them by asking them to take me.
Don’t even get me started on Vale. He hates Christmas so much you’d think that it tries to stab him in the asshole every chance it gets.
“I would love that,” Paris said and made the turn that would take us into town just like that.
I hadn’t had to beg, bargain, or cry. Paris just did it like he had all the time in the world, and there was nothing he wanted more than to spend it on me. A thrill of energy went through me, and I started bouncing in my seat.
“Okay, so we have to get hot chocolate, and buy a fuzzy scarf for everyone, even the people who aren’t here. Baz needs a new one, Gareth doesn’t but he should still have one anyway so he won’t feel left out, and Vale is going to get the pinkest, sparkliest one I can find because we are mad at him right now. Apple and Adam have about three dozen scarves because Apple is insane about making sure Adam doesn’t get cold, but I’ll get them matching ones anyway.”
The bouncing intensified as I began to wonder what kind of scarf to get Paris. It would need to be very long.
Before I was able to start grilling Paris on his scarf preferences, I was stopped by a jaw-popping yawn.
Fuckcakes. I couldn’t get sleepy; I had stuff to do!
I didn’t even get a chance to panic before Paris dropped a heavy, comforting hand on my head and began to stroke my hair.
It was like being hit with a tranquilizer dart. My system reset, and my mind settled instantly. Without even trying, my body stopped bouncing, and I melted into Paris's side.
His hand drifted from my hair to my hip and gave me a nice, squooshy side hug. “Do I get a scarf too?”
