Page 20 of One Snowy Seduction
“My staff received Christmas bonuses before I left. And I mailed Aunt Renee’s and the cousins their gifts earlier this month. I’m done with my shopping.” Except now, he wanted to give Teesha something. The first year they were in college, they were so broke and neither of them had wanted to go home so soon after arriving at school. They’d relished that time away from their families, and so they’d had their first Christmas dinner at the apartment Teesha shared with two roommates, because both the other girls had gone home for the holidays. Their meal had been box stuffing, canned corn, green beans and the oven stuffer roaster chicken they’d managed to scrape up enough money to buy. There’d been no gift exchange that first year, just the meal and an evening of playing video games.
Their sophomore year, he’d gone to her house for Christmas and had one of the biggest meals he’d ever devoured. There’d been so many gifts under the Christmas tree. Her family had been boisterous and fun and they’d both given each other the same cordless mouse they’d been eyeing in one of their computer magazines. They’d insisted that great minds actually did think alike at that point.
The next year, they’d gone to his aunt’s house for Christmas and Kendrick had prayed his aunt and cousins wouldn’t embarrass him. They hadn’t and Aunt Renee had really taken to Teesha. As for Teesha, she’d been the best. Knowing all she knew about his family she’d seemed just as at home with them in his aunt’s tiny dining room eating a much smaller dinner than Teesha’s mother had prepared the year before. There weren’t a lot of gifts under the tree at his aunt’s house either, but Kendrick had given Teesha a blouse he’d seen her looking at in a store at the mall. She’d given him a watch that he still had to this day in a box on his dresser.
“That’s great that you give your staff bonuses,” she said, bringing his thoughts back to the present. “I’m sure they’re very appreciative.”
“They work really hard throughout the year. I like to show them gratitude for their dedication,” he said. “Why don’t you get that one? You keep going back to it so you must like it.”
She pulled the very light gray sweater off the rack and held it up. “It’s pretty. My mom’s not big on a lot of color so this would be perfect for her. And it’s so soft. I think she’d love it.”
He nodded. “So get it.”
She looked at the price tag and shook her head. “Nah. There are some chocolates over there in a lovely glass box. She’ll like that too.”
Twenty minutes later they were still in that shop and Teesha hadn’t bought anything. She’d just kept circling around going from one thing to another, giving one excuse after another why she didn’t want to get a certain item. It hadn’t taken long for Kendrick to realize she was checking the price of each item. That reminded him that she was unemployed. She’d mentioned yesterday that she had another paycheck and some vacation pay coming in the next weeks from the county, but he suspected she was tight on cash at the moment.
“I’m going to get these,” she said finally and held up the box of chocolates for her mother and a tie for her father.
“Great,” he said. “Why don’t you head to the register. I think I saw something over there I want to get for Aunt Renee.”
She looked at him quizzically. “I thought you already mailed her gift.”
“I did, but I thought I saw something else she might like.”
With a nod she left him and Kendrick retraced their steps throughout the store. When he met her at the register a few moments later, she looked down at his purchases then back up to him. “You’re buying your aunt a hat?”
He grinned. “Not this type of hat. I’d be able to hear her cussing me out all the way in London. No, you said your dad would like this fedora to wear to church and that your mother would look nice in this sweater. So I’m getting it for them. You can take it home with you and tell them I said hello and Merry Christmas.”
For a few seconds he thought she was going to insist he put the items back. To which he would’ve argued she was being silly, but he probably would’ve done so in the end because his intention wasn’t to irritate her.
“Oh,” she said looking down at the items. “That’ll be nice.
“I think they liked you more than they liked me sometimes,” she said and he nodded to the salesperson to ring the items up. “Especially my dad because he was certain you were keeping all the guys away from me at school.”
“Nah,” he replied as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. “I wasn’t that smart back then.”
In the past couple of days, he’d been thinking of how foolish he’d been to not at least try to pursue a more intimate relationship with Teesha when they were in college. Maybe if they were together back then, the internship debacle wouldn’t have ended the way it had. But none of that mattered now, she was here with him and he intended to make that count.
By the time they made it back to the chalet they were exhausted. Too tired to do anything other than shower and get ready for bed.
“I’m hungry,” she said when they’d climbed onto the bed and he’d reached for the remote to the television. “I don’t know what that fancy meal was you ordered for us at that restaurant, but it wasn’t filling at all.”
“You just liked the way the waiter pronounced it in French. Chicken and potatoes ain’t fancy at all.”
She was sitting in the center of the bed, her legs tucked under her, the robe she’d grabbed in the bathroom belted loosely at her waist. Under that robe she was naked, as was their sleeping preference. When the robe gaped a bit and he caught a glimpse of the swell of her breast he almost said he didn’t want to watch television or eat anything.
He pulled on his boxer briefs and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Kendrick went downstairs and returned moments later with the new charcuterie board and two bottles of water. She’d been laying across the bed by that point and she clapped when he arrived.
“You’re such a goof,” he said and set the waters on the nightstand. Then he climbed onto the bed, placing the board of cheeses, meats, vegetables and fruits on the bed.
She immediately reached for the grapes, grabbing a few and popping them into her mouth.
“So,” he said and picked up a couple of mini carrots from the board. He leaned back against the pillows. “Tell me about your new game.”
“Oh my goodness! You’re gonna freak when you hear this, it’s so fantastic,” she said as she chewed and then sat up and crossed her legs in front of her.
