Chapter 19
nineteen
. . .
Wells
A Very McCoy Christmas
“You look adorable.”
Adorable? For fuck’s sake, my girl thinks I look adorable?
Puppies are adorable. Cute kids are adorable. Hell, bunnies are adorable.
The guy who made her come on his face just a few hours ago isn’t fucking adorable.
Rosalie giggles when I shoot her a look, tucking her long, dark hair behind her ears as she shrugs. “What? You do!”
She’s the one who looks adorable, sporting a Santa hat and a pair of reindeer slippers that are too damn big for her feet.
Part of me wants to haul her to me and kiss the fuck out of her, showing her just how “adorable” I am. She makes it easy to forget we’re with my entire family, surrounded by a flurry of chaos in the living room of my parents’ cabin.
Tomorrow, we head back to Mistletoe Falls.
Our three days at the cabin are up, and even though I sure as hell never thought I’d say it…
I wish we could stay longer. Could have just a few more days of faking it, spending our nights wrapped up together in front of the fire, me exhausting her until she falls asleep on top of me after talking for half the night.
Just like we did last night.
It’s ironic that I dreaded coming here this year. Being around my family during the holidays is as exhausting as it is fun because of everyone’s interest in my love life, yet… I’d take this over whatever’s waiting for us back at home.
“She’s right, Wells-y. You look adorbs,” Zander says from beside me, lifting his beer in the air with a shit-eating smirk. “Stripes are your thing, for sure.”
Fucker.
I’m about to tell him to fuck right off when Isla chimes in from across from us, “Honestly, I can’t even believe he’s wearing them right now. I think the only reason that he did it is because Rosalie’s here.”
Rosalie’s eyes widen. “Wait, so you’re telling me that Wells actually isn’t a matching pajama kind of guy? I’m shocked. Who would’ve thought?”
Chloe laughs out loud, causing me to roll my eyes, despite my lip curving into a grin against my will.
If my siblings weren’t giving me shit, then something would be wrong. It’s just what we do. But at the end of the day, even if the better part of it was making fun of me because of stupid shit, they’d tear the world down for me if that’s what I needed.
When my injury happened and I had to have the surgery that put me down for weeks, I couldn’t keep them away.
Even when I desperately attempted to push everyone away.
I swear they had a damn schedule between the five of them.
But they showed up. No matter what. When I was a dick, when I said shit I didn’t mean because I was hurting, when I didn’t say a word to anyone the entire time they were there.
They looked past it because they knew that wasn’t really who I am, and they pulled me out of the dark despite it.
“I still can’t believe Mom got us all matching pajamas to wear like we’re five again and not in our forties. Well, most of us,” Isla adds with a shake of her head, bringing the glass of eggnog to her lips.
“Yeah, but I mean, at least they’re comfy, and they could be uglier,” her husband, Ryan, chirps from his spot on the floor, where he’s rocking his and Isla’s newborn baby girl, who is fast asleep, sucking on a pacifier.
How she’s sleeping through the amount of chaos in this living room is beyond me, but hey, one thing I’ve learned as an uncle is that kids are resilient. Way more so than most adults I know.
I slide my arm around Rosalie’s shoulder and pull her into my side. For no other reason than wanting to touch her. Plus, since my family thinks we’re really dating, the more touching, the better.
She’s about to be introduced to possibly the most chaotic McCoy tradition of all of them. Not that I’m worried because she seems to fit in with my family like she’s been here for years and isn’t just meeting them for the first time.
After spending a lazy morning in bed and then the hockey game, she baked cookies with Mom, my sisters, and the kids, and afterward, back at the cabin, she couldn’t stop talking about how much fun she had.
How much she loved being around my family.
It made my chest feel tight, something unfamiliar brewing beneath the surface.
I knew that they’d love her; I just didn’t think that I’d love it this much.
“Alright! The time has come,” Pops says from the front of the room, of course wearing the same matching pajamas as the rest of us, except his are looking a bit more tight around the belly. Being happy and old, as he likes to say. “Time for the McCoy Wrap Battle!”
I glance down at Rosalie, and her eyes are wide with excitement, her brow arched in question.
“It’s… fun?”
She laughs, shoulders shaking where I’ve got my arm slung around her. “A little hesitant to believe you when it comes to fun, Wells.”
“Well, guess you’ll just have to trust me.” Sliding my arm off her, I stand from the couch and turn, offering her my hand. When she slides her soft palm in mine, I turn back to Pops.
“We’ve got a volunteer.”
He smiles widely, glancing over at Rosalie, who’s looking like a deer caught in headlights.
I lower my mouth to her ear. “Don’t worry, baby. You know how much I hate to lose.”
Her elbow hits my rib, and I grunt as she laughs, her eyes shining with amusement. “That is not what I’m worried about!’
“Okay, first up, we’ve got Rosalie and Wells and… Scarlett and Amelia. Let’s go. Chop-chop,” Mom says, walking over to my sibling and taking their glasses of eggnog away mid-sip.
Scarlett groans, “Damn, Mom, that’s cold.”
“You can have eggnog after the game,” she chides, sounding more like she’s talking to a child than a grown woman, and I can’t help but chuckle.
When we get to the front of the living room, Pops turns to Rosalie and gives her a quick rundown since it’s her first time playing.
“Alright, sweetheart, this is what us McCoys like to call Wrap Battle. And the winners tonight have a special prize that Katherine and I picked out ourselves. Tried to keep it for myself, but my beautiful wife said that wasn’t allowed.
” He laughs, shooting her a wink. “The goal is to take those rolls of wrapping paper and wrap Wells here up, tape and all, before Scarlett wraps Amelia!”
She looks up at me with a smirk. “Hm. So Wells is the present this year?”
Pops laughs, shooting her a wink before he walks over to my sister and hands her the roll of wrapping paper.
Once he’s out of earshot, I lean down, letting my lips brush against the lobe of her ear, something that I’ve noticed never fails to make her shiver. “Be a good girl and make sure that we win, and I’ll gladly be your present, baby. Although I’d rather be the one doing the unwrapping later.”
“Wells!” she mutters, gaze bouncing around the room like someone overheard me. “We’re around your family. Can you not talk like that with them right there!”
A pink flush is spreading down her cheeks, and fuck, a bolt of satisfaction runs through me. Every time I say something even slightly dirty to her, she blushes like this.
I fucking love it. Makes me want to say even more scandalous shit to her.
“Thought that was the point.” I wink, and she just shakes her head with a roll of her eyes. I can see the smile playing at her lips that she’s trying to hide. “Why, baby, is it turning you on? Thinking about all of the things I plan to do to you when we get back to the cabin?”
“No.” Freaking yes.
I chuckle. “Better make sure we win, then.”
Stepping away, I walk over to the spot where Pops wants us and cross my arms over my chest. I can feel her stare from over here, and it only makes me grin harder.
Christ, I love riling her up. Rosalie Sullivan is sugar and spice, and I love every single bit of both sides of her.
And right now? She’s not annoyed as she’s pretending so hard to be. She’s turned on.
We might not know each other well yet, as well as a real couple would. But in the short time that I’ve known her, I’ve learned a few things about her.
Including how responsive she is to those filthy words. And with just the barest touch, she comes alive.
She subtly presses her thighs together, likely recalling the way I fucked her hard against the wall in the shower right before coming here.
We were almost late because then she dropped to her knees and took me down her throat so deep I thought my fucking legs were going to give out.
I had to clutch the wall so I didn’t end up on the floor.
This girl and her mouth, for all of the reasons, might actually be the death of me.
Pops cups his hands around his mouth to be heard over the loud chatter. “Okay, we’re going to give you four a couple of minutes to talk strategy, and then it’s go time! When we set the timer, whoever wraps their partner first wins!”
Rosalie walks over, eyes squinting in concentration while she chews the edge of her lip contemplatively. “Why couldn’t it be me instead of you? You’re freaking huge.”
I grin. “Fuck yeah, I am.”
“You’re ridiculous.” She huffs a laugh, shaking her head as she glances back at my parents.
“I love how excited your parents are for this. And just… how excited they are to be around all their children and grandchildren. I don’t think I’ve seen that smile slip off your mom’s face since we got here. ”
They’re sharing a cup of eggnog, whispering back and forth in between their laughter. I’m sure they’ve already picked who they think will win, and the money’s on me. As it should be.
What? I was a professional hockey player—playing to win is in my blood. Doesn’t just stop on the ice.
“It’s the one and only thing she asks for. It feels like nothing, and honestly, the very bare minimum we can do to make her this happy.” I shrug as we both stare over at my parents until Rosalie turns back to me with a smile of her own. One that has my pulse pounding. She’s so fucking pretty.
“She asked me today while we were baking when we were going to have a baby. Said she’s not getting any younger, and we’d make pretty ones.”
Jesus Christ. Intrusive questions skipped me and went straight to Rosalie.
“Shit. I’m sorry. What did you say?”
Her plump lips curve into a smirk. “That I think you secretly have a breeding kink, so probably sooner rather than later.”
My eyes are about to come out of my fucking head when she giggles, stepping in close and sliding her hand along my chest. She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip before she says, “Just kidding. I told her that I had no idea, but she’d be the first to know when the time came. What else do you think I’d say, Wells?”
“For fuck’s sake, Rosalie.”
She snorts and lifts a brow. “But I’m not wrong about your secret kink. Do I need to remind you about last night?”
Heat licks at my spine as I recall it, and honestly? I’m ready to go back to the cabin for a repeat.
All night long.
“Not my fault you have a perfect pussy that I just want to keep shoving my cum back inside. Fuck, now I’m going to have a hard-on during this damn wrapping competition,” I mutter, drawing another laugh from her. “I’m ready to spend the night buried inside of you, baby. Let’s leave. Right now.”
She rises on the tips of her toes and lifts her mouth to mine, grazing my lips in a whisper of a kiss, then says, “Sorry, no can do. I’ve got a competition to win.”
Then she turns back to my family, those hips swaying in those tight pajama pants, leaving me with half a hard-on. And wondering how the fuck I am ever going to go back to the way it was before.