Chapter 41
JAYDEN
The super late night has left us half-asleep this morning. Thankfully, our family rule bans getting up before nine on Christmas Day. The Sire is a terrible morning person, and when Momma battled the big C, she needed every minute of rest. Besides, waiting amps up the excitement.
“Merry Christmas, Hotshot,” Finley says around her toothbrush at the same time Eli calls from the shower, “Happy Christmas, Sugar Cookie.”
I’m torn on who to watch when he cleans the condensation off the glass and gives me a jolly grin. I’m desperate to soak up every second of today.
Our first Christmas.
Together.
Giddiness ricochets through me.
Then, Eli steps out of the shower, water dripping down his ivory skin, and my heart loses all sense of rhythm when he pulls his towel from the rail and wraps it low on his hips. The plush cloth does nothing to hide the bulge of his thick dick as he crosses to me.
Every line of his body is cut to shit. Strong muscles over solid bones with thick veins vined around them.
Yeah, he’s gorgeous. And every cell in me knows how lucky I am that he’s mine.
That they’re mine.
Because Finley is equally as breathtaking in her cute, candy cane-striped, skin-tight, tank and shorts pajamas. The red lace trim skims the toned curve of her ass…
“Keep looking at our girl like that and we’re not leaving this room today,” Eli says with a playful bite, kissing my shoulder.
Before I can answer, he saunters to Fin. Eli takes the blister pack from her fumbling fingers, kisses her forehead, and pops her birth control pill onto her tongue.
Last night was crazy hot. The thought of putting a baby in Fin was primal. I’ve never been so turned on.
One day, we’re doing it for real. One day, we’re going to fuck a baby into our girl, and it’ll be one of the best days of our lives. But we’re not there yet. There’s still so much to unpack. So many firsts to explore together.
“Are you gonna stand there ogling us all day?” Fin’s eyes meet mine in the mirror while Eli brushes his teeth.
Where his wet body is pressed to hers, the thin cotton of her pajamas goes translucent.
Zero imagination required.
“Want to help me wash my back? Or wash my hair?”
“That’s not even a question.”
Eli shakes his head, his toothpaste-coated grin growing bigger as I strip Fin’s tank, and while she shimmies her shorts down her hips, I palm her tits.
I know how much he loves them. Eli is a total boob guy, and our girl digs it. Finley goes feral for the way he sucks and bites at her plump tits, and I fucking die at the breathy mewls that gurgle in her throat when she’s overwhelmed by the sensation.
Yeah, now my dick is rising to the occasion.
Finley rolls my boxer briefs down, and I guide her into the shower with a “We won’t be long” over my shoulder.
“You’ve got ten minutes before I go hunting for tea without you,” he says. “And they better be the best ten minutes of your life since you’re making me wait to give you your present.”
“What is my present?” I peer out of the shower to find him backing into the bedroom with a smug grin.
“If I leave this room before you’re ready, you’ll be asking me all day until we make it back in here.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I groan, fully aware that I’ve created a monster, and any other person would be pissed at themselves.
Not me.
I can’t get enough of this lighthearted, audacious side of Eli. So damn bossy that I want to rile him just to watch him let loose on me.
“Don’t do it,” Fin warns, looping her hands around my neck, tugging me under the spray. “We’ll both pay for it, and I want my present.”
“I can give you my present now.” I press her to the tile and claim her mouth, rolling my hips so my groin ruts her flat stomach.
“How sore are you?”
On her tiptoes, she kisses my ear. “Like I was perfectly stuffed only hours ago.”
I chuckle at the sexy rake of her voice, and she adds, “Last night was incredible.”
“Yeah.”
“I love feeling you and Eli come inside me. Of having a part of the two of you buried deep in me.”
“Fin…”
“Being around your family and seeing Summer pregnant… How happy and beautiful the kids are and how she talks about carrying her husband’s baby…” Those baby blues soften. “I know we’re not ready yet. But I know that I want it.”
“Yeah, those little devils get under your skin,” I say, brushing wet hair from her face as water slicks it against her cheek.
“It’s not the kids, Jayden. It’s you and Eli. The two of you make me want all these things I despised. Things I never knew I wanted or could want.” She licks water from her lips like it’s life.
Maybe it is. I hope this—us—is our eternal life.
Her fingers massage my scalp. “I know we were fooling around last night, but—”
“It turned me the fuck on to imagine you pregnant with our baby.”
“When you and Eli were rubbing my belly, it did things to me, and I’m not sure what that means or what it says about me.”
“That you want a baby fucked into you,” I say, watching an adorable flush bloom on her cheeks. “Hell, I’m into it, too, and I had no idea until last night.”
“Really? I’m pretty certain that you’ve deliberately honed your dirty grin to impregnate any woman that looks at you,” Finley chuckles while I squeeze shampoo onto her hair and work it in.
“Finley-James, you’re the only woman that’s ever going to carry this family’s babies.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I turn her to face the wall while I sud the lengths of her hair.
I love the feel of it tangled around my fingers so damn much that, coupled with the baby talk, I’m having a really hard time keeping the baby-maker down. And when she pushes her ass up into me, restraint taps out.
***
“Aren’t we meant to open presents with everyone?” Finley asks when I hand her and Eli the small boxes with part of my gift, keeping the other two.
Not gonna lie—it’s a present to me, too.
“Not these ones,” I say, shuffling back on the bed as Eli sets a near-matching box in front of me and says, “This is from Finley and me.”
“Okay, so if we’re opening gifts now, I want to give you mine, too.
” She disappears into the closet and returns with two glittery nutcracker-wrapped boxes with different ribbons.
“This one is yours,” she says, handing Eli the one with the green ribbon, before holding out the one with the blue ribbon to me. “And this one is yours.”
I place it in front of my crossed legs as she and Eli join me on the bed. “How about I open your joint gift, and you open mine?”
Finley pats his thigh, pulling a cute face at Eli. “Okay!”
I love how excited she is while the three of us open our boxes at the same time in hurried silence. The quiet grows heavier as I stare down at the key in my box and then glance up to find them staring at the key in each of theirs.
“Snap,” Fin giggles as Eli sighs in relief. “I guess that’s a yes all round.”
A laugh bursts out of me. Bouncing between us. Because of course they’d have the same idea about us moving in together. We’ve spent the majority of our time back and forth between our apartments. At least living on the same floor across the way from each other makes it less sketchy and awkward.
But still, it’s not official, and I want it to be.
“So this one is for you,” Eli says, producing a small jewelry box for Finley, then an envelope for me. “And for you.”
Fin opens hers first and gasps. “It’s beautiful, Eli.”
She lifts the gold necklace—an anatomical heart with a cluster of gems.
“They’re our birthstones,” she coos, placing it in my hand and pointing them out. “Peridot for August.” With a flicker of her eyes to mine, she gives me a heart-stopping smile. “For you. Then there’s amethyst for February and me… and aquamarine for March and Eli.”
“They’re also our colors,” I say as she lifts her hair and Eli clasps the chain around her neck.
“Thank you, Love,” she whispers into his ear with a kiss. “It’s perfect.”
It is. Like her. And on her, it looks gorgeous.
“Open your present,” Eli tells me, settling beside me.
I can sense he’s eager for me to do it. His hands are clasped tight as he braces over his thighs. Squirming.
Eli Sylkes is squirming for me.
And if I weren’t curious about what’s got him like this, I would hang out opening his present for a little bit longer.
Instead, I slit the top of the envelope open with my finger as he watches me closely.
“Holy shit!” I pull out a VIP invite and blink to be sure. “Where did you… How?”
“I know people.” Eli grins at me. “Well, I know Lex, and he knows people. Which is basically the same thing.”
Finley leans forward. Nose crinkled. “What is it?”
“Every New Year’s Eve, this group of DJs plays an exclusive gig, invite only. Until this year, they’ve only played in Europe.” I focus back on Eli. “How did you even know about it? How the hell did Lex get a private suite?”
Eli shrugs, like it’s no big deal when the waitlist is insane. Days away from the big night, and there are fuckers still trying to sell their souls for an invite.
“I heard you and Matheo talking about it a while back. You were literally frothing at the mouth.” He’s so happy with himself that I want to bite at the perma-smirk on his lips.
“This is insane. Thank you,” I say, kissing his cheek as I pass him my present.
“What is it?” He turns the wrapped cube, painfully carefully, then opens the box to the rare Casio watch I outbid him on. He’s hunted it forever. When he mentioned the auction, I knew I had to get it.
“It was you,” he says, mock glare failing to smother that gleeful smile.
“Yep,” I chirp as he studies the face. “Best money I’ve ever spent. I mean, I was right there bidding next to you.”
“You’re so damn lucky I love you.” Fuck me, he’s all bashful and flushed as he puts the watch on his wrist and points out all its features. “It’s incredible to think that people would listen to music on this.”
“On that watch?” Fin tilts his wrist, dubious.
“Yep, on this watch.” He shows the clip-on with the headphone jack. “You plug your headphones in here, and this guy”—he taps the motion graphic under the time—“moves in time to the music.”
The goofy joy on his face is making my chest do all kinds of crazy shit.
“Thank you,” is all he says with a soft kiss to my shoulder while I give Fin her present.
I watch her raptly, unwrapping the paper. When she opens the box, I tap the bracelet on my wrist so that hers vibrates along with the one in my back pocket.
“Here, let me put it on you,” I say, threading the bracelet onto her wrist. Once I’ve pulled the rope tight, I give the gold disk in the middle a tap, so that my bracelet vibrates. “Anytime you miss us, you can tap your wrist, and we’ll know.”
“That’s… it’s… JJ, it’s so thoughtful.” Tears swim in her eyes as she laces our fingers together.
Using my other hand, I pull Eli’s bracelet from my back pocket and give it to him. He hasn’t put it on yet, and both mine and Fin’s bracelets are vibrating.
“It works both ways.” I tap Finley’s and he leans into us.
“It’s so freaking neat,” he smiles, holding his wrist beside ours.
While Fin’s is gold with a chocolate-colored rope, mine and Eli’s are brushed black steel with black rope and a black disk.
“I love it.” Finley squeezes my hand, lifting it to press a kiss to it.
The three of us sit marveling at our wrists with the occasional tap. I can see why my parents always give each other their presents in private. The moment is emotionally charged and, although it’s happy, it feels too intimate to share with anyone else.
“Okay, open mine now. Open,” Fin claps, “Open!”
Eli tears into his. His laugh dies the second he sees what’s inside.
“I heard Connie tell you to keep a gratitude journal. I know you were looking for one, so I made it for you.”
Fuck, I think she’s broken him.
Eli doesn’t speak or move for the longest moment.
His eyes are glued to the navy cover that’s illustrated in metallic ink.
A willow tree branches across the dark blue cardstock, and tangled in its branches are different colored Polaroid outlines with small drawings.
His initials are carved into the thick tree trunk in block letters, and beneath it is a quote written in a sweet scroll.
I have to resist the urge to lean closer to read what it says. This is a space moment, and as much as my soul aches to reach out to him, I focus on opening my present instead.
The instant I set eyes on the deep green journal in my hands, my chest squeezes around my lungs.
My heart skitters while I trace the gold book stack on the middle of the cover with a banner wrapped around it and my initials etched in it.
I’m speechless, reading all my favorite quotes on book spreads and fluttering pages.
But the words that make it impossible to hold back my emotions are hers.
Framing my initials in her feminine scroll.
I found my soul between your pages. Eternal sunshine between your lines.
When my stinging stare finds Finely’s, she gives me a coy smile.
“It’s a reading journal. I know you’re still going to highlight, annotate, and tab, but you can keep track of it all in here.” Her hand rests over mine on the cover.
“It’s…” I swallow, corralling words. “Perfect.”
“Yes,” Eli breathes at last, setting his journal on his thigh and taking Fin’s other hand. “It’s perfect.”
Peering at the cover, I take in each of the drawings—angel wings, his jersey, the Hollywood sign, the beach, and above the willow tree, there’s a comet with a Nanotyrannus standing on top of it.
That’s me.
Finley put me on there.
I know she can draw from what I’ve seen of her journal and the mural she painted for her boss, but this is another level of talent. It’s another level of thoughtfulness, and as I read the quote beneath Eli’s initials, I’m floored for him.
For all my broken bones, my spirit remains unbreakable.
Damn, Finley has no idea what those words mean to Eli. She has no real understanding of how true they are. Still, she wrote them because every beat of his heart is her own.
They’re one perfect, beautiful heart.
My heart.
And I won’t ever let them go.