Chapter Christmas
Christmas
Ethan
Iwake to winter sunlight filtering through the curtains and Desiree’s hand wrapped around my morning erection—the best Christmas gift I could ask for after last night’s promises.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispers, already sliding down my body.
“Dez—” My protest dies when her mouth closes over me. “Holy hell.”
She takes me deep, tracing every throbbing vein with her tongue.
I grip the sheets, fighting the urge to buck into the tight, velvety warmth of her throat.
Her mouth is a perfect, obscene torrent of wet heat and sloppy desire, saliva dripping down my shaft, embodying everything I’ve fantasized about.
“Wanted to do this last night,” she murmurs, pulling off just long enough to speak before taking me again. “Wanted to taste you.”
I thread my fingers through her braids, guiding her rhythm. She hums around me, the vibration sending jolts straight to my balls, and it nearly undoes me.
“Dez, I’m close—”
She doesn’t pull away. Just takes me deeper, hollowing her cheeks, her eyes meeting mine.
I come with a groan, my abs clenching as I spill down her throat, legs trembling and vision blurring with the force of it. She swallows every drop greedily, her throat muscles working around me in rhythmic pulses, milking every spasm.
When she emerges, looking thoroughly pleased with herself, I’m still trying to remember how to breathe.
“Good morning to you too,” I manage.
She wipes the corner of her mouth with her thumb. “I keep my promises.”
“DADDY! MOMMY! WAKE UP! IT’S Christmas!”
We both freeze as tiny footsteps approach. Desiree dives beside me while I yank the sheet higher.
Desiree covers her head with the blanket just as the three younger kids burst through the door, Bella leading the charge.
“Santa came!” Isa shouts. “There are presents everywhere!”
After making love last night, Desiree and I had crept downstairs to find Gina and Maverick already there, eating the cookies and milk the kids left for Santa.
We’d all hauled gifts in from the basement storage, laughing quietly as we arranged presents under the tree, four exhausted parents playing Santa while our kids slept.
Now, apparently, they’ve discovered the fruits of our labor.
I sit up, very aware that Desiree and I are both naked under these covers. “Okay, okay. Give us twenty minutes to get dressed. Go wake up your parents.”
“They’re already up!” Asher protests. “Even Gran is here!”
“Twenty minutes,” I repeat firmly. “Go start sorting presents.”
They thunder out, and Desiree emerges from the covers, braids wild and eyes wider. “Oh my God, Bella saw us in bed together!”
“So?” I pull her against me. “We’re her parents.”
“But—”
“No buts. You said yes last night. No more hiding.” I kiss her quickly. “Besides, she didn’t even question finding you here.”
“Because she’s five and focused on presents,” Desiree mutters, but she’s smiling.
We shower and dress quickly—me in sweatpants and a Christmas sweater, her in the jeans and sweater she’d brought from her room when we came back to bed last night. She looks fuckable.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she warns. “We have children waiting.”
“Later,” I promise, stealing one more kiss.
The living room is in disarray. The tree is now surrounded by a mountain of wrapped gifts, and five eager kids are practically vibrating with excitement.
“Finally!” Maverick grins from his spot on the couch, Gina tucked against his side. “Santa’s elves were getting restless.”
Gina’s mother, Malina, sits in the wingback chair, her husband Lucious perched on the arm beside her.
I’ve known them for years—they visit Gina and Maverick constantly from their place across town, and Malina’s cooked me more Sunday dinners than I can count.
But watching her shrewd gaze assess Desiree makes me suddenly nervous.
“Gran!” Bella rushes over, tugging Desiree by the hand. “This is my mommy! Mommy, this is Gran Malina and Mr. Luc!”
“Oh!” Desiree’s eyes widen, clearly caught off guard. “It’s so nice to meet you both.”
Malina’s face lights up as she takes Desiree’s hands, pulling her down to the ottoman. “Come here, baby. Let me look at you.” She studies Desiree’s face. “Oh, you’re even prettier than Bella said. That child hasn’t stopped talking about her mama all morning.”
“Really?” Desiree’s voice softens, glancing at Bella.
“Mm-hmm. ‘My mommy’s here for Christmas, my mommy made cookies with me, my mommy and daddy—’” Malina pauses, her gaze dropping to Desiree’s neck. Her eyebrows climb. “Oh my.” Her voice carries clearly across the room. “Gina, sweetheart, I think we’re gonna need to call pest control.”
“Pest control?” I ask warily.
“Mm-hmm.” Malina’s dark eyes sparkle with pure mischief as she gently turns Desiree’s chin, inspecting her neck with exaggerated concern. “It appears this poor child’s been absolutely devoured by... what you call them, Lucious? Love bugs?”
Lucious snorts into his coffee cup. Gina dissolves into delighted laughter, burying her face in Maverick’s shoulder.
Desiree’s hand flies to her neck. “Oh my God.”
“Very aggressive this season,” Lucious observes solemnly, his deep voice perfectly deadpan. “Must be something in the Winter Bay air.”
“It’s the Christmas spirit,” Maverick adds between laughter. “Really brings out the pests.”
Malina tsks sympathetically, patting Desiree’s knee even as her smile widens. “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. These particular bugs?” She cuts her eyes toward me with a knowing look. “They’re the good kind. The kind that stick around.”
“Mom,” Gina warns, but she’s grinning.
“Can we open presents now?” Bella bounces between us. “Please?”
“Breakfast first,” Malina declares, earning groans from all the kids. “Santa’s orders. Can’t open presents on empty stomachs.”
What follows is the fastest breakfast in history—kids inhaling pancakes and fruit at record speed. Desiree helps, moving around the kitchen like she belongs in this family. Because she does.
Finally, we adjourn to the living room for the main event. Organized chaos ensues as kids tear into presents with abandon. I’m more interested in watching Desiree’s face as Bella opens gift after gift.
“Enrick,” she whispers during a particularly loud moment, “this is too much.”
“She’s my only child,” I counter. “Look at her face.”
Bella is indeed radiant, showing off each present to her cousins with pure joy. But the best moment comes when she opens a small box from me.
“What is it?” She holds up the delicate silver necklace with a small ‘B’ pendant surrounded by tiny diamonds.
“Every princess needs jewelry,” I explain. “Want me to put it on?”
“Yes!” She scrambles over, holding up her hair.
“I have something for you,” I murmur, producing a wrapped box from behind the tree.
“Enrick, you didn’t have to—”
“Open it.”
She unwraps it carefully, gasping when it reveals multiple sets of keys, each tagged with an address.
“Enrick—what?”
“I own a few rental properties around Winter Bay,” I say simply. “The lake house, the place two streets over from Mav, the downtown condo. Pick whichever one feels right. It’s yours. For you and Bella.”
Her eyes well up. “You can’t just—”
“I can. I am.” I lean closer, lowering my voice. “You said you wanted to start over. So let’s do it right. You and Bella deserve a home here, close to family. Close to me.”
She stares at the keys, then at me. “You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“Mommy!” Bella appears, oblivious to the heavy moment. “Look what Asher got! A whole science kit!”
Desiree wipes her eyes quickly, laughing. “That’s wonderful, baby.”
“Too presumptuous? We can look at bigger homes or even build one from—”
She silences me with a kiss. “Thank you.”
I pull her closer. “Fair warning: I’m going to wife you so hard your head will spin.”
“Wife me?” She’s laughing now, her whole face lighting up. “Is that even a verb?”
“It is now.” I kiss her nose, then her cheek, unable to stop touching her. “I’m talking ring, vows, hyphenated last names if you want them—the whole thing. But I’ll give you time to catch up to where I already am.”
Her smile softens, turns tender. “How much time?”
“However long you need.” I thread my fingers through hers. “A year, two years, ten. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Mommy! Daddy!” Bella’s voice shatters the moment as she barrels toward us with Isa and Penny in tow. “Can we go sledding? Please please please? Uncle Mav said the hill’s perfect!”
“Did he now?” I raise an eyebrow at my brother across the room.
Maverick grins, completely unapologetic. “What? I’m not wrong.”
And just like that, we’re swept back into the beautiful chaos of family.
Throughout the day—building snowmen that actually stay upright, sledding races down the hill behind the house, hot chocolate breaks that turn into marshmallow wars—Desiree and I orbit each other.
Stolen kisses when the kids aren’t looking.
Hands finding each other in the crowd. Small touches that say I’m here, you’re here, we’re real.
By late afternoon, we’ve collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, exhausted and content. Bella and her cousins sprawl on the floor with their new toys, a sea of wrapping paper and ribbons still scattered around the tree.
I pull Desiree against my side, and she comes willingly, tucking herself into the curve of my body. She fits perfectly, like she was always meant to be there.
“You were right, you know,” I say quietly, my lips against her hair.
“About what?” She tilts her head to look up at me.
“Before Margot left.” I tighten my hold on her waist. “She told me she’d been waiting years for me to look at her the way I look at you.”
Desiree goes still against me. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
She shifts to face me more fully, tucking her legs underneath her, and I can see her processing. “What did you say to her?”
“I was too stunned to speak. Then she asked me not to.” I blow out a breath, scrubbing my free hand over my face. “She said we’re good, that we’ll always be good. Then she left.”
“But it changes things.” Desiree’s not asking, she’s stating a fact, her empathy for Margot written across her face. “She’s your best friend, Enrick. She’s been there for you and Bella all these years—”
“And I’ll always care about her as a friend,” I cut in.
I cup her face, making sure she’s looking at me when I say this.
“But that’s all it’s ever been for me, Desiree.
All it will ever be.” I stroke my thumb across her cheekbone, feeling the softness of her skin.
“The only woman I’ve ever wanted—the only woman I want now—is sitting right here. ”
“She must be hurting.”
“Probably. And that sucks. It does. But I can’t manufacture feelings I don’t have just to spare her pain.” I lean my forehead against hers, breathing her in. “I won’t lie to her. And I won’t lie to you.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, her hand coming up to rest against my chest, right over my heart. “Do you want her in your life? Still, I mean?”
The question I’ve been asking myself since her confession in the foyer.
“I don’t know,” I admit, and the honesty feels like relief. “Maybe with time and distance, we can rebuild some kind of friendship. But right now?” I pull her impossibly closer. “Right now, my focus is on you and Bella. On building our family, our life together. Everything else is secondary.”
“Daddy!” Bella appears at my knee like a summoned spirit, clutching her new unicorn doll. “Can Sparkle Princess sit with you and Mommy?”
“Of course, princess.” I reach down and pull her up between us. She settles in happily, immediately launching into an elaborate story about Sparkle Princess’s magical adventures.
Over Bella’s head, Desiree catches my eye. “Are we okay?”
“We’re perfect.”
Because we are. Margot’s confession doesn’t diminish what Desiree and I have. If anything, it makes it impossible to ignore how right this is, how complete I feel with her here.
Bella eventually gets bored with sitting still and runs off to show Isa her unicorn’s color-changing mane. The moment she’s gone, Desiree leans back into me with a sigh.
“Enrick?”
“Yeah, sweetness?”
“I’m glad I got stuck here with you.” Her voice is soft. “This has been the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
My throat tightens. I press a kiss to her temple, breathing in her scent. “I love you, Desiree Reynolds. No regrets, no doubts, no looking back.”
“Just forward,” she whispers.
“Just forward.” I tilt her chin up, capturing her mouth in a kiss.
“First Mom and Mr. Mav, and now them?” Mycah’s voice carries from across the room, dripping with teenage disgust.
“Gross!” Penny chimes in, but she’s smiling.
From the kitchen, Malina’s voice carries: “Gina, baby, those lovebugs are at it again! Might need industrial strength pest control!”
We break apart laughing, and Desiree buries her face in my shoulder, her whole body shaking with it. I hold her through it, this woman who’s given me everything I didn’t know I needed.
Yeah. This is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“Hey,” I murmur into her hair. “You know what this means, right?”
“What?”
“Next Christmas, we’re doing this at our own place.” I grin against her temple. “Wherever that ends up being. As long as it’s ours.”
She pulls back. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too, sweetness.” I kiss her again because I can, because she’s mine and I’m hers and we have all the time in the world to figure out the rest. “Me too.”