Chapter 4
The rest of Christmas Eve is much more relaxing as we hang out and listen to Christmas songs. The guys set up a poker game across the room at a table in front of the bar. Aiden and Luke get their building blocks out and start building houses and cars and spaceships.
The little girls—Ava, twins Emerly and Everly, and Mia—sit on a rug and play with a variety of toys, from colorful blocks to dolls to race cars. Jamie joins them, sitting on the floor with Hazel propped up on his lap so she can participate, too.
The rest of us are passing little Henry around. He’s sound asleep and a perfect little angel.
More hot chocolate appears, courtesy of Elly. Cookies in the evening. She spoils us rotten.
When it’s my turn to hold Henry, I can’t stop staring down at his sweet little face.
He has a perfect nose and a darling mouth.
His hair is the same rich auburn shade as Jamie’s, and I suspect he’s going to be his Daddy’s mini-me.
Holding a newborn makes me think of having another baby.
I imagine more than a few moms in this house are thinking the same thing.
In a family with seven adult siblings, it’s not unusual to accumulate a lot of grandkids. Even though we haven’t discussed it, I’m pretty sure Shane would be amenable to the idea of us having another one.
Elly comes out of the kitchen holding a platter piled high with chocolate chip cookies, a big glass of milk, and a bunch of carrots with the long, frilly greens still attached. George pulls a small table to the side of the Christmas tree, and Elly sets the goodies down.
Aiden and Luke crowd around the display.
“Who are these for?” Luke asks.
“The cookies and milk are for Santa,” Aiden says.
“And the carrots are for his reindeer,” Elly adds.
“Do you think Santa will come tonight?” Luke asks Elly. “It’s snowing so hard, I don’t think he’ll be able to.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Elly says with a smile. “I think Santa can do anything he puts his mind to.”
* * *
As the evening winds down, parents start taking the kids upstairs to put them in bed. I hand Henry back to Molly, who’s about to give him a bottle, and walk over to the poker table.
Shane looks like he’s having fun, and if the stack of coins in front of him is any indication, he’s having a good night. I step up behind him, wrap my arms around his shoulders, and lean in to whisper, “I’m taking the kids up to bed now.”
He glances back at me. “I’ll join you just as soon as this round ends.”
“You can stay if you want.” I press a kiss to the side of his neck. “I don’t want to interfere with your winning streak.”
“He’s cheating,” Jake says. “He has to be. No one has that kind of luck. I just haven’t discovered how yet.”
“It’s not luck,” Shane says. “It’s skill.”
Jake wads up a napkin and lobs it at Shane’s head.
“I’ll be right up, sweetheart,” he tells me.
Ava is half asleep in Mom’s arms, so scooping her up is no problem. Luke, on the other hand, puts up a bit of a fuss because he doesn’t want to leave Aiden’s side.
“Luke,” Shane says from across the room, using his stern no-nonsense parenting voice. “It’s bedtime. Go upstairs with your mother. I’ll be up soon.”
I take both kids up to our room and get them ready for bed. They’re both too tired for baths tonight, so those will have to wait until tomorrow. After I nurse Ava and read them both bedtimes stories, I hear Shane enter our bedroom.
He pops his head through the connecting nursery door. “Sorry. That took longer than I expected. And then I washed up in our bathroom.”
“It’s okay. We’re all good here.”
Shane comes into the kids’ room just in time for nighttime kisses and to tuck Luke into his toddler bed. “I’ll take over here, so you can get ready for bed.”
On my way out of the kids’ room, I hear Luke ask, “Daddy?”
“Yes, Luke?”
“Am I still in trouble?”
“No.”
“Are you mad at me?”
There’s a pause, a hesitation on Shane’s part. And then he says, “I’m not mad at you, no. But you made Mama cry today. Are you happy about that?”
“No.”
“Then don’t do it again, okay? We have a new house rule. You can’t go outside unless an adult goes with you, got it? This is a big property, and there are places where kids could get hurt if they don’t have a grown-up with them.”
“Okay. I won’t do it again. Will you read me a story?”
“Didn’t Mama already read you a story?”
“Yeah, but I want you to read to me, too.”
“All right. Which book do you want?”
While Shane reads Luke a story, I return to our room and get myself ready for bed. By the time I’m leaving the bathroom, I find Shane in our bed, leaning against the headboard. His chest is bare, and I imagine the rest of him is, too.
“Is Luke asleep?” I ask as I pull down the covers on my side of the bed and slide in. Ava was already sound asleep when Shane arrived.
“Yeah. He didn’t even make it through one book. I’m not surprised. He was exhausted from his Arctic adventure earlier today.”
Shane switches off the bedside lamp before he rolls onto his side to face me and strokes my cheek. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment all day,” he admits. “Just you and me, alone.” He leans in and kisses me lightly.
It’s a gentle kiss, not demanding anything, not asking for anything. “How did you make out playing poker?”
“I won two hundred bucks.”
I laugh softly. “Does Jake still think you’re cheating?”
“Nah. He knows better. He just likes to razz me when I beat him.”
I press my hand to his chest, right over his heart, and he covers my hand with his.
“Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?” he asks.
“Not since dinner.”
“Well, I do.” He kisses me again.
I scoot closer to him and slide one of my bare legs between his. He groans quietly as he reaches for me.
“Both kids are asleep?” I ask once more, wanting to confirm.
“They were when I left them.”
But we both know that’s not a guarantee. Ava, especially, has trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep when she’s in a different bed. And Luke’s still a bit worked up over the events of this afternoon.
I feel Shane’s warm hands clutching my hips as he draws me closer.
“Do we risk it?” I ask. We’ve been interrupted on numerous occasions since we had kids. It’s nothing new.
Shane chuckles quietly against my temple. “I say yes. I’ve been waiting all evening to get you to myself.”
He kisses me then, tasting like peppermint toothpaste.
“You stole my toothpaste again.”
He laughs, his breath warm against my throat as he moves down to press his lips against my pulse point. “I forgot to bring mine.”
He trails kisses down my neck, past my clavicle, to the swell of my left breast. His warm hand slides down my torso to the junction between my legs. Automatically, I open them for him, and he quickly finds what he’s looking for.
I moan when his finger slides between my legs. He rims my opening first, gathering my slick arousal, before he zeroes in on my clitoris and begins teasing me with gentle circles.
When his lips part over my left nipple, and he draws the peak into his mouth, I gasp as I arch my back.
And then he freezes when we hear Ava whimpering in the other room.
Shane lifts his face, pausing to listen, and when her cries grow louder, he presses his forehead to my chest and groans. “This is not my day.”
“Daddy?” Luke walks up to the side of our bed. “Sissy’s crying. She woke me up.”
“Of course, she did,” Shane mutters as he quickly pulls the bedding up to my neck. He kisses my cheek. “I’ll see if I can get her settled down again.”
Fortunately, Shane still has his boxers on, so he slips out of bed and leads Luke by the hand back to the kids’ room. Just before they pass through the doorway, he glances back at me with a rueful smile on his face. “Please wait up for me.”
Nodding, I smile, but I know our kids. This isn’t going to turn out the way he hopes.
Shane returns to our bed a while later, with Ava. He lays her in bed between us, and she cuddles up to me.
“Mom-mom-mom,” she whimpers as she nuzzles my arm.
“I tried,” he says. “She wouldn’t stop asking for you.”
Immediately, Ava settles down beside me, sighing as she closes her eyes. Her little hand clutches strands of my hair.
“I imagine she’ll doze off in a few minutes,” I whisper. “What about Luke?”
“He fell right back to sleep while I was rocking Ava.” He reaches over to brush my cheek. “You should be asleep, too. You can barely keep your eyes open. I’ll stay up, and when she’s asleep, I’ll take her back to her crib.”
I must doze off because a little while later I stir as I feel Shane lift Ava off the mattress. My eyes are so heavy I can’t keep them open.
Not long after, he returns to our bed, settling himself beneath the covers. I turn to him and slip my arm around his waist. His body is warm and comforting, and he smells so good my body stirs in response. I want him, but I’m so sleepy.
Shane kisses my forehead. “Go to sleep, sweetheart.”
* * *
When I open my eyes again, sunlight is just starting to peak through a crack in the drapes. Surprisingly, after all the excitement and chaos we experienced yesterday, I feel rested. Once Shane got Ava settled back in her crib, we had no more complaints from our kids in the night, thank goodness.
My bladder is full, so I slip out of bed and move quietly to the bathroom to take care of business. While I’m in there, I brush my teeth and hair.
When I step out of the bathroom, I walk over to the door that adjoins our room with the kids’ room. I press my ear to the closed door and listen for a moment. I hear nothing. The kids are still asleep.
When I turn toward our bed, I notice Shane is lying on his back, awake. He holds his arms out to me, and I return to bed and join him under the covers.
He rolls us so that I’m lying beneath him. “Mmm,” he murmurs as he kisses me. “Minty. The kids are asleep?”
“At the moment, yes, but I can’t guarantee for how long.”
He smiles. “I’m willing to risk it.”
“You’d have to be quick. Real quick.”
He frowns. “I think you just insulted my manhood.”
I stifle a laugh. “I’m serious, Shane. We have to hurry. They’ll—”
Before I can say another word, Shane covers my mouth with his, cutting off what I was going to say.
He slides a hand between my thighs and nudges them apart.
His middle finger slips easily into my already wet opening, and he locates my happy spot with unerring accuracy.
He knows my body like the back of his hand, and he knows this is the quickest way to make me come.
Even when we’re in a rush, he sees to my pleasure first.
I feel my climax sneaking up on me and start squirming. When my inevitable whimpers start, he swallows them down, muting any noises I make as he rubs my g-spot with single-minded focus.
As my orgasm hits me like a wave, my thigh muscles tighten.
I clamp my legs together, trapping his hand, as pleasure sweeps through me like liquid fire.
He waits until my body relaxes before he seeks his own pleasure, spreading my legs once more and sinking deep inside me in one fluid stroke.
The way he fills me is so perfect, I gasp.
He begins moving, thrusting long and deep. I bend my knees, cradling him between my thighs. He reaches between us to stroke my clitoris, which sends shivers through me. My body is heating up like a furnace, and my insides are melting.
Suddenly, his body tightens, and he thrusts one last time, so deeply he hits my cervix. He crushes his mouth against mine and bites back a cry as his orgasm rips through him.
Shane collapses on me and rolls us onto our sides so he’s not crushing me. He holds me to him, both arms around me, and presses a kiss to my forehead.
We lie quietly for a while, just holding each other. Shane skims his hands over my waist and hips and down my thigh. He murmurs to me, telling me how much he loves me. “Next time,” he whispers as he peppers kisses on my face, “I’m going to take hours.”
As soon as we hear quiet voices coming from the kids’ room, he sits up and quickly pulls on his boxers.
He’s decent just in time, because a moment later we hear Luke call, “Daddy? Mama?”
“That’s my cue,” Shane says as he stands. He grabs a pair of gray sweats off a nearby chair, as well as a T-shirt, and quickly dresses. “I’ll change Ava’s diaper and get them both ready while you get dressed. Then we can go downstairs and let the festivities begin.”
I sit up, and the sheet falls to my lap. Shane leans in to kiss me, cupping one of my breasts. “I’ll bring Ava to you first because she’s going to want to nurse.”
When Shane deposits Ava in my arms, he leans down to kiss me. “When we get home, I’m going to take my time. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.” He winks. “Very slow. Every inch. Until you melt into a puddle.”
Luke tugs on Shane’s hand. “Come on, Daddy! We have to go downstairs to see if Santa came last night.”
I smile as he picks up Luke, and the two of them head out the door.