Chapter Thirty-One
Maddox
Two weeks later
”Wake up, sleepyhead,” I said. “It”s Christmas morning.”
Cami was sleeping on her belly, and despite the fact that I”d been kissing her shoulders for the past few minutes, she hadn”t opened her eyes. But me mentioning Christmas was all it took for them to fly open.
”Were you pretending to sleep?” I asked.
”No.” She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. ”I just thought I was dreaming about this really hot guy kissing my back.”
I growled. ”That hot guy better look like me.”
She stopped midyawn, smiling lazily. ”You’re unbelievable.”
“And very serious.”
”Well... I did have my back to him, so how would I know?”
I growled again. She leaned in, kissing my Adam’s apple. ”Of course it was you, silly. It”ll always be you. Always.”
Yeah, that”s right. This woman is going to be mine forever.
”Let’s hurry up. We”re supposed to be at Cade and Meredith”s house in an hour.”
”I don”t need a lot of time to get ready.”
I kissed her forehead and got out of bed. ”I”ll wait for you downstairs.”
”Okay.”
I stopped into the doorway, watching her climb out of bed and head into the shower. Waking up on Christmas Day next to this woman was one of the best things that had ever happened to me. It simply felt right, like we”d always been meant to do this.
As I went downstairs, I checked my emails out of habit. It was Christmas morning, so I wasn”t expecting any news from my team, but I did have an email from our lawyers. I”d gone after Bill with all I had, and it paid off. My team discovered a lot of dirt on him. He wasn”t going to get away with being a fucking idiot.
I made myself another coffee while I waited for Cami, grinning for no reason as I looked around the house. This was the first year that this place was actually decorated for Christmas.
Cami took the lead on that, and yet it still had a hotel feeling that I couldn”t shake off. I had a plan about that, too, but I wanted to discuss it with my woman first.
True to her word, she came down only half an hour later.
I smiled. ”You look adorable.”
”Thought I”d put on something Christmassy.” She was wearing a bright red dress and black tights.
I held her coat out for her.
”I don”t need that,” she said, waving her hand. ”We”re just going to the car.”
”Cami, it”s fucking freezing outside. I don”t want you to get sick.”
She narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth, clearly about to sass me. Then she probably realized I wasn”t going to give in on this.
”Okay. You”re probably right anyway.” She slipped her arms into the coat, then turned around. ”Let”s not forget the gifts.”
”That”s just not possible, babe.”
”Hey, don”t mock me.”
”I”m not.” We had at least a million bags.
When she”d asked me what I was buying my family for Christmas, I told her I usually just got everyone gift cards at Bloomingdale”s. She”d been shell-shocked by that and asked me if she could organize gifts. I agreed, figuring she’d simply buy chocolates or something and pair it with my gift cards. But no, my woman had gone all out. I didn”t even have a clue what was in each bag.
The drive to Cade and Meredith”s didn’t take very long.
”I”m surprised Jeannie agreed to not hosting Christmas.”
”That fight was a bloodbath, but eventually Gran agreed that since she”d hosted Thanksgiving, someone else could host Christmas.”
Everyone was gathering here. Only Samuel was missing because he was vacationing in Florida.
”This house is so lovely,” Cami said when we arrived. Some of my brothers” cars were here, so at least part of the gang was inside.
”It is. What exactly do you like about it?” I was making mental notes for the aforementioned plan.
”It”s modern but somehow cozy, at least from the outside.”
“It”s got a similar vibe inside,” I assured her as we walked to the front door.
”I really like big windows. That”s one of the reasons I love your house too.”
”But do you like this one more than mine?”
“The cozy factor is higher here.”
“I agree.”
The door swung open before we even rang the bell.
”Welcome,” Meredith exclaimed. She was smiling from ear to ear, and her eyes were a bit glassy.
Cade was right next to her. ”Babe, go easy, okay? You shouldn”t have started with the mulled wine in the morning.”
”I tasted it to make sure it didn’t need anything else. It was delicious, so I had a full cup. And I didn’t have breakfast... so yeah, it was an unfortunate combination.”
Cami was clearly fighting laughter, but I couldn’t hide my reaction.
Meredith glowered at me, then pointed at the bags. ”Are those gifts?” she asked.
”Yes.”
She whistled. ”Huh. We”re not getting the usual gift card this year, are we?”
”Thanks to Cami, no,” I said.
I made to put my hand on her lower back, but somehow it slipped to her ass, so I instinctively fondled her. Cami snapped her head in my direction, and I could already see a blush forming.
As we went inside the house, I heard Nick”s and Leo”s voices as well as my grandparents”. Ben was giggling, which meant Penny and Spencer were here too.
”The house already smells so nice,” Cami said.
”The beef is in the oven. And we”ve also got a lot of snacks to last us until lunch,” Meredith explained.
We left our coats in the entryway closet and went inside with all the gifts. There was a small tree in one corner of the room. There were already several other bags there. I tried to remember the previous Christmases. Am I the only one who ever bought gift cards? Honestly, I couldn”t even remember. Somehow, details like that never registered until Cami became such a huge part of my life.
As we set the bags down, Cami peered in the other ones.
”What are you doing?” I asked.
”Just trying to spy what gifts everyone else got,” she said.
Fuck, this woman was adorable, and I couldn”t believe she was mine. I grabbed her waist from behind, kissing her cheek. ”I fucking love you so much.”
She sucked in her breath, turning around and murmuring against my mouth, ”I love you too.”
”Oh, you lovebirds,” Leo said, coming up to us. ”How”s commuting between Essex and Boston treating you?”
”We”re managing fine,” Cami said. She was still in the process of renovating the space where she was opening her business. “For now, I’m flexible. But once I open the store, I’ll need to be in Essex every morning. I’m not looking forward to the mornings that I’ll wake up alone in my place.”
”That won”t be a problem once we move in—” I began, then groaned.
Her mouth curled up in a smile. ”Way to spring that on a girl.”
”Crap. I was going to do this in a better setting.”
”What’s better than Christmas Day? It”s like a gift opened itself,” she said.
I looked at Leo, who simply laughed. ”You know my brother. He always holds himself to high standards.”
”You don”t seem shocked,” I told him.
”I knew you were a goner from the moment you asked Aiden to draw up plans to preserve the forest.”
”Is that so?” Cami asked, and she leaned into me even more than before. Her body was soft against mine. ”Maybe it was just a negotiation tactic.”
Leo snorted. ”That”s a hard no. My brother doesn”t really negotiate. He just bulldozes his victims.”
Both Cami and I started laughing.
”Anyway, I’d tell you that ”I”m your man and will help you find a house,” but clearly I”ve been failing you for the past few years.”
“You failed at finding a place in Boston. Maybe you”ll have better luck looking for one in Essex.”
This time his eyes bulged.
Cami straightened up and faced me. ”Wait, what? You actually want to move to Essex?”
”Why not? It makes sense.”
”Fuck my life, I never thought you’d end up liking a small town,” Leo said. ”Though I actually have some properties in mind that you might like.”
“What’s that I hear? Leo”s going to help you find a house in Essex?” Gran asked, coming up to us. Granddad was right next to her.
”Exactly,” I said, glancing at Cami. She was looking at me with soft eyes. ”I can see why you like to live there. We really love it, and it”s not far at all from Boston.”
My grandparents smiled widely. ”I’m so glad to see you two happy,” Gran said.
“So are we.” I kissed Cami’s hand.
I wasn’t just happy—I was ecstatic. Growing up, I”d never realized that couple life could be this way. Mom was in distress whenever Dad wasn’t in Maine, which was most of the time. After they broke up, I overheard her telling her best friend, ”Well, I never thought I”d say it, but I actually prefer being single.” And she”d been single ever since.
She was in Dubai right now. As for Dad, he”d kept his word and hadn”t started any more trouble. My contact in Australia told me that he”d already received a permit to start his new hotel, so I wasn’t expecting surprises any time soon.
The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house.
”Oh my God, are we the last ones?” Natalie exclaimed.
”Babe, relax,” Jake said. ” Colton will be the last one. He said he’s on his way.”
”Gabe isn”t here yet either,” I said loudly.
”He is now,” Jake replied from the hallway.
More voices joined them. I detected Colton”s, too, so the whole gang was here.
”All right, everyone,” Cade said. ”Let”s move to the dining area. We”ve got some snacks out.”
”I smell beef,” Gabe said.
”That”s the main course,” Meredith warned, and I barely held back my laughter.
”Uh-huh,” Gabe said.
”And no, you”re not allowed to do a quality-control check like last year.”
Now I started to laugh in earnest.
”What happened last year?” Cami asked.
”Gabe ended up eating a lot of the roast beef. Gran was up in arms,” I explained as the group slowly moved to the dining room. It was just Cami and me by the tree now.
She fixed her eyes on me. ”You didn”t tell me you wanted to move to Essex.”
”Well, as I said”—I skimmed my hand up from her waist to cup her face—”I was hoping to share that in a more appropriate environment.”
”You mean a romantic one?” she asked.
“That’s right.”
She rose on her tiptoes and put her arms around my neck. ”For me, there is nothing more romantic than spending Christmas with your family. I like that you want to share every part of your life with me.”
”I do,” I admitted. More than I”d ever thought I could. And I planned to share so much more.
I had one more trick up my sleeve, but I knew I”d better distract her or I risked just spilling my guts and spoiling the surprise—again. I was liable to lose my wits if I was alone with her for too long, so I stepped back.
”Come on, gorgeous. Let”s join the others before Gabe eats all the finger foods and we’re left with nothing.”
She giggled. ”You Whitley brothers are competitive about everything, aren”t you?”
“You know it.”