“I know and I love you for that. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, honestly.” Her excitement quickly disappeared.
He brushed a lock of her auburn hair away from her face. “You were doing fine,” he lied.
“Oh, bullshit. You called me irresponsible plenty of times. In fact, you yelled at me for it, too.”
“You found your way.” Which was not a lie. It took her a bit but she went from a spoiled brat to being solidly grounded. Even though she resisted for way too long, she finally discovered the appeal of a small town.
“Your family helped,” she whispered, her fingers walking down his naked chest and beginning to wake up his cock again.
“My family loves you.” And that also was very true.
“And I love them.”
“Actually, it’s not my family, it’s ours. You are just as much a part of them as if you were born into the family.”
Amanda snorted softly. “Luckily I wasn’t because as our well-spoken, expressive daughter would say, ‘Eww!’”
Max chuckled and then mimicked Hannah, “Yeah, eww. Gross!”
She planted her hand on his lower belly. “You know how much I love you?”
He played along. “No, how much?”
She shifted until she was settled between his legs, a naughty smile directed at him. “Do you want me to tell you? Or show you?”
“Both?”
His wife was so fucking beautiful. Those boudoir pictures were special and he’d cherish them, but he preferred her in person. No makeup, no fancy hair style, no sexy lingerie needed. He only needed her.
Forever.
Part Three Christmas Day
Chapter Nine Max & Amanda
Max held the door open for Amanda and, as she and Chaos squeezed past him, he grabbed her ass.
“Oh, look at you, old man, last night wasn’t enough to wear you out? You better save up some of that energy for Fiji.” She had a hard time not running around the house squealing with excitement like one of the kids.
In fact, the kids didn’t know yet that they were staying with their grandparents for the next two weeks. If he had told them, her present would never have been kept a surprise from her.
Her kids were horrible at keeping secrets. That was a fact. Amanda learned the hard way when she’d say, “Don’t tell your father!” and then they’d go blab to him as soon as he got home.
Tattletales.
Plus, they probably would’ve moped around the house about not being able to go with them.
Amanda’s smile grew to epic proportions.
“You might want to turn down that blinding smile so it doesn’t tip off our children.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
Her husband helped her remove her coat and put it into the closet along with his. All the presents they had bought, for their own kids and everyone else, should already be stacked under the tree the kids decorated yesterday.
Except for Greg’s. The rescue puppy was in a crate in the Boneyard Bakery, since that outbuilding was heated. They had picked her up a little while ago from her foster home and Amanda couldn’t wait to see Greg’s face when they brought her into the house.
As she went to follow a slower moving Chaos, Max snagged her wrist and pulled her to a halt.
She glanced at him over her shoulder, her brows pinned together. “What?”
“Remember that first Christmas when you were a big pain in my ass?”
“I remember that first Christmas when you were a big pain in my ass. Always in my business and trying to take control of my life.”
“I don’t remember it that way.”
“Of course you don’t. You even told me what to wear Christmas day. So, what about it?”
His eyes rolled upward.
So did Amanda’s. “Oh.”
He jerked on her wrist, pulling her into him. “We had our first kiss under the mistletoe in this very house.”
Was it their first? She couldn’t remember. Back then she’d had all kinds of sexy dreams about the frustrating man. They most likely kissed in one of those first. “The beginning of the end,” she muttered.
“You probably fell in love with me the moment our lips met.”
“I don’t remember you being drunk that night, nor are you drunk right now, so does dementia run in your family?”
“My parents are as sharp as tacks.”
“That they are, thankfully. So, you should remember how I resisted.”
His lips twisted. “You didn’t resist. I thought you would swallow me whole.”
“Bullshit,” she whispered as he lowered his head.
“You couldn’t get enough of me,” he murmured.
“I couldn’t get away from you fast enough.”
“Bullshit,” he echoed in a whisper as he dropped his lips to hers.
He closed the gap and she tolerated him kissing her for a few seconds... Okay, like a minute. Or two.
Until they heard the loud, deep clearing of a throat. That got Max’s tongue out of her mouth and back into his own, but he smiled against her lips. “If you ignore him, he’ll go away.”
“That didn’t work with you,” she whispered back.
“Your children are about to bust their seams waiting to open presents,” her father-in-law announced.
Max lifted his head. “Did Mom make breakfast?”
“You should have been here earlier if you wanted breakfast,” Ron told him sternly.
Max glanced at this watch. “It’s only eight.”
“And your children, along with your nephews and Greg, had your mother and me up at five in their excitement to see what Santa brought.”
“Is everybody else here?” Max asked his father. They already knew they weren’t because they hadn’t seen their cars parked outside. But, of course, Max was stubborn just like Ron, so her husband was making a point.
“Not yet. But they’re losing one present for every fifteen minutes they’re late. Except for Matt and Carly, since they’re dealing with an infant.”
“We should all get a late pass since we are dealing with your sons,” Amanda
