Chapter 24
twenty-four
. . .
Leo
S he’s beautiful. Perfect. The sweetest, the funniest, the best.
And she’s going to be mine.
I’m certain of it. Still, when Greg appears by my calf, gazing up at me with slitted eyes as Caroline nears the end of the holiday poem, I experience a wave of foreboding.
What if she doesn’t believe me?
What if Vivian manages to keep us apart for a month or more? Eventually, the truth will come out, but in the meantime, my hell spawn of an ex could steal more of the time that belongs to us.
I don’t want to miss out on another minute with Caroline. I’ve waited a lifetime for her. I don’t want to waste a second of the time we have left. I want to be there for her, loving her, supporting her, healing the hurt her cousin has caused and building the life of our dreams.
Together.
Oh, calm down, Satan says with a twitch of his tail. She loves you. You love her. Everything is going to be just fine. Now, pet me, loser. I’ve missed you.
I crouch down, rubbing between his ears, summoning a rumble from his chest. He’s purring. For me . It’s a holiday miracle, and I decide to take it as a sign that he’s right. Everything is going to be fine.
I’m going to get the girl. I have to. Not even a world as cruel as this one can sometimes be would conspire to keep us apart—not when this is clearly destiny.
Destiny? Seriously? Greg chuckles, but he’s still purring as he adds, Does Caroline know you’re a cheesy, melodramatic weirdo?
“Does she know you’re a brat with a bad attitude?” I whisper beneath my breath.
He grins, his golden eyes dancing. Yes, but she loves me anyway. Good luck, dork. He saunters a few steps away before glancing back at me over his shoulder. Oh, and tell Vivian she can kiss my fat, orange ass, would you? She’s pretending she doesn’t recognize the treasure she left behind.
“You are a treasure,” I assure him as the rest of the room breaks into applause.
What can I say? I’m feeling the love, even for my diabolical cat.
After all, he’s been through the wringer with Vivian, too. We have that in common. But it’s our love for Caroline that finally put us on the same team. Love is always stronger than hate.
I do my best to remember that as the library slowly clears, until only the key players in tonight’s drama are in the room.
“I’ll take the kids out to the lobby,” Vivian’s husband says, shooting daggers my way as he scoops their one-year-old into his arms and ushers an adorable toddler with blond curls out of the room in front of him. “Call me if you need me, Viv. I can be here in sixty seconds or less.” He pauses in the doorway, adding beneath his breath, “And I know karate. Like…a lot of karate. I don’t want to use it, but I will if I have to.”
Sympathy for this apparently decent man flooding my chest, I nod. “Understood. I mean your family no harm. I promise.”
His narrowed gaze shifts from my face to Vivian’s and back again, clearly unconvinced. But then, I know what it’s like to be trapped in Vivian’s alternate version of reality.
I’m just grateful I woke up before I was in his position, married to a stranger with two kids to raise with a pathological liar.
“It’s okay, Frank. I’ll be okay. Caroline and Kayla have my back,” Vivian says, her voice wobbling as she performs “fear” for her husband. “Take Gilly to use the big boy potty and change Greer’s diaper. I’ll meet you in the lobby as soon as I can.”
With one last menacing glance my way, he leaves, and I’m finally free to say the words I’ve been holding in. “It’s over Vivian. Tell Caroline the truth or I will.”
Vivian huffs. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”
“We broke up eleven months before Gilbert was born,” I say, pushing on when Vivian tries to cut in, “A full eleven months, longer than any human pregnancy on record. I checked her social media to get his birth date after Kayla told me what was going on. He looks like a sweet kid, but he’s not mine. There’s no possible way he could be.”
Caroline’s expression spasms with relief as Kayla sucks in a scandalized breath.
“Oh my God.” Kayla spins to face Vivian. “You monster, what is wrong with you? How could you?”
“He’s lying,” Vivian says, her breath coming faster as she flaps an arm my way. “That’s what he does. He lies! He’s a master manipulator, Caroline. You know me. You know I would never lie about something as serious as?—”
“You lied about Greg,” Caroline says, her cheeks flushing pink as she steps off the platform beside the tree. “You said he was dead, Vivian. Dead! But he’s right there. Just like I tried to tell you.” She motions to where Satan is perched on the sideboard amidst the cookie remnants, cleaning himself with a smug expression. “Greg, get down. We’ve talked about this. No cats on the furniture, especially when there’s food involved.”
Greg ignores her, confirming he’s still an asshole, though a more loving, supportive one than he was before.
“That’s not Greg. I told you when you texted me the picture last week—I’ve never seen that cat in my life,” Vivian says, sounding remarkably convincing.
But Caroline has her number, and so do I.
“Stop it, Vivian,” I say, keeping my volume low. I don’t want to upset her family if I can help it. I just want her out of the way. “It’s over. Everyone here knows better than to believe a word out of your mouth.”
“We certainly do,” Kayla says, crossing her arms with a huff. “I mean, lying about a cat is one thing, but a child? Your own baby? Are you actually and literally and completely insane?”
Tears spring into Vivian’s eyes as her innocent victim mask dissolves. “I’m sorry! I just couldn’t let it happen. I couldn’t let Caroline fall for Leo. He’s not a good guy, Caroline. I was trying to protect you. I was trying to spare you the pain and suffering I felt when he broke my heart. I love you too much to let you get hurt like that.”
Caroline winces. “Stop, Vivian. Just…stop. I may not have known Leo long, but he’s never done anything to abuse my trust. Sadly, I can’t say the same for you.”
“But I?—”
Caroline cuts her cousin off with a hand in the air and a sharp, “That’s it. We’re done here. I’m not going to tell Frank or the rest of the family anything right away. But moving forward, I won’t be covering for you. The truth about Leo and Greg and everything else is going to come out. Before it does, I suggest you get your house in order.”
“And get some professional help,” Kayla mutters.
Amen, Greg adds, swiping his paw across the sideboard, sending an abandoned glass of milk tumbling off the edge, right onto Vivian’s black wool pants.
“Oh my God!” She gasps as the milk drips down her thigh. “Greg,” she whispers, shooting a wounded gaze his way.
He responds with bared fangs and a menacing hiss that sends Vivian running from the room and out into the lobby.
“Good job, Greg,” Kayla says, hustling over to scoop the chubby beast into her arms. She kisses his head as she murmurs, “Let’s get you a treat in the kitchen for being such a good boy.” Kayla shoots a grin Caroline’s way. “I’m so happy for you. He’s a keeper, girl. No doubt in my mind!” Shifting her focus to me, she adds, “Welcome to the family, Leo.”
Satan purrs, grinning as Kayla starts for the door. Kiss her, idiot. You know you want to.
“I do,” I agree, closing the distance to the woman I’ve missed like a dominant limb.
“You do what?” she asks, her breath rushing out as I pull her against me.
“I love you,” I say. “Let’s never be apart again.”
She loops her arms around my neck with a happy sigh. “Sounds like a plan. Thanks for riding to the rescue.”
“Thanks for rescuing me right back,” I say, and then I kiss her and it’s magic— the way it always is with her.
We kiss until we’re breathless and clinging to each other in the candlelight, and I can’t wait another moment to be alone with her.
“I have a room,” I murmur between kisses. “Ainsley and Trevor booked me into the Snowman Suite for three nights. They heard a storm was coming and want us to be snowed in with nothing to do but each other.”
Caroline hums against my lips. “Best friends ever. Kayla, too.”
“Absolutely We should name our first child after her. Even if it’s a boy.”
She pulls back, studying me with a mixture of awe and affection that I want to keep on her face forever. “Do you really want to have babies with me, Mr. Fenton?”
“I want to have everything with you, woman,” I say, love for her pumping through my veins with a steady warmth that makes me certain I don’t have to hold back. “I want forever and a day and family and fun and all your orgasms. Every single one.”
She laughs, her eyes shining with emotion as she whispers, “I want that, too. And I want a promise from you.”
I nod. “Anything.”
“Promise me we’ll never let anyone come between us again.” She rests her hand against my face, and that simple touch makes me feel more loved than I ever have before. “We’re a team. United. Unbreakable. No matter what comes next.”
“No matter what,” I echo.
We come together again, lips meeting slow and steady, sealing our vow with a kiss. And then she leads me to the front desk, where we collect the key to the Snowman Suite from a beaming Kayla and a sassy-as-ever Greg.
Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, he calls after us.
Glancing over my shoulder, I shoot back, “Considering you’re neutered, buddy, I think that might be a problem.”
Greg cackles, That’s what you think, Sad Sack. Your boy’s been tapping ass left and right in this one Tomcat town. Come spring, you’re going to be a grandpa. Probably several times over.
“Shit,” I mutter.
Caroline arches a brow. “What’s wrong?”
“I think Vivian might have lied about Greg being neutered, too.”
She hums thoughtfully. “It’s possible, I guess.” Her lips quirk up as she adds, “Or you might possibly, just possibly…be imagining things. As clever as Greg is, I don’t think he actually has telepathic powers of conversation he employs solely to torture you.”
That’s what she thinks, Greg crows gleefully before leaping off the front desk and prowling toward the giant tree near the fireplace. Now, scram, you two. I have ornaments to destroy. That angel at the top has been taunting me for days. It’s time to settle the score with that winged creep, once and for all.
I sigh, shaking my head as I turn back to Caroline. “Well, either way, there’s nothing we can do about it now. I’ll look around for a local vet as soon they’re open after the holiday, and we can take things from there.”
Oh no, you won’t, Greg calls from the base of the tree. Touch my stuff, and I’ll touch your stuff. With my claws. You’ll be a eunuch by Valentine’s Day.
Ignoring the horny menace I unintentionally unleashed upon the innocent female cats of Reindeer Corners, I follow Caroline down the hall to our room, where we shut the door and come together with twin sighs of relief.
“I thought I’d never squeeze your ass again,” I say, gripping the twin swells of her delicious backside as we kiss our way across the thick carpet toward the bed in the corner. “I was so broken up about it, I could barely function.”
“Me, too,” she says gripping the bottom of my sweater and dragging it up and over my head. She tosses it aside and pulls me close again, murmuring, “Everything felt wrong and stupid without you. I was considering moving into a cave and becoming a crusty hermit.”
“No way,” I say, bunching the bottom of her sweater dress—the black one I bought for her, a fact that gave me hope as soon as I walked in the door—in my hands. “You’d be a hot hermit.”
She arches a dubious brow, holding my gaze as I draw the fabric up to her ribs, seconds away from unwrapping the only present I want this holiday season. “Says the man who’s never seen me first thing in the morning.”
“I can’t wait to see you first thing in the morning,” I say, joy flooding through me at the thought…and at the sight of her now standing in front of me in nothing but a black lace bra and tiny panties. “Let’s go to sleep right now, so morning will come faster.”
She laughs as she steps away, propping a teasing hand on her hip. “Yeah? Right now? Do not pass go, do not rip off the rest of our clothes and bang like frisky reindeer?”
I hum beneath my breath, intrigued. “And how do frisky reindeer bang, Ms. Cane?”
“How about I show you, Mr. Fenton,” she says, her eyes dancing as she tackles me onto the bed.
And then her lips are on mine and our hands are everywhere and I’m the happiest man on the Eastern Seaboard. Hell, probably the Western Seaboard, too. My friends in L.A. are all overworked and miserable, pawns in the Hollywood game ninety-nine percent of us will never win.
But I don’t need Hollywood or reality television or a writing gig on a sketch show like the ones I loved as a younger man.
All I need is her, my girl, my other half, my best friend.
As I cup her breasts in my hands, worshipping her nipples with my mouth as she sinks down on my cock, every slick, sweet inch of her a miracle I vow never to take for granted, I’m whole. With Caroline rocking on top of me, her silky hair falling around my face and her soft moans like a choir of angels in my ears, I lack nothing. I could live on her kiss, leap mountains in a single bound fueled only by the memory of her pussy gripping me tight as she comes.
“Leo! Oh God, Leo. Damn, you feel so good,” she cries, clinging to me as her body pulses around my cock.
I roll on top of her, devouring every sexy sound spilling from her lips as I urge her legs tighter around my waist. I take her harder, deeper, promising with every thrust of my hips that I’m hers and she’s mine and I’m never going to leave her lonely again.
I come an embarrassingly short time later, crying out her name as my cock jerks inside her. “Sorry,” I pant, kissing her forehead. “I’ll last longer next time.”
“You did just fine,” she says, smoothing my hair from my forehead with a dreamy smile. “I certainly have no complaints.”
“No?” I ask, grinning down at her as she giggles.
“No. I’m all good. I feel a little drunk, honestly. Can you get drunk on orgasms?”
“I don’t know,” I say, arching a brow as I slide lower, moving beneath the covers. “Why don’t we find out?”
I spend the next fifteen minutes swearing fealty to her pussy with my mouth, making her come until her thighs are trembling on either side of my face.
“Break,” she finally pants, tugging gently at my hair. “I need a break. It’s too much. Too much goodness.”
Poking my head out from under the covers, I demand, “Too much goodness? I don’t think that’s a thing, Caroline.”
She glances down at me, shaking her head with a rush of breath. “Look at you. You’re like a Viking after a raid, all flushed and triumphant.”
I grin. “Are you saying I ransacked your pussy and set fire to your outbuildings?”
She laughs. “Yes! Then you plundered the ashes for treasure.”
“And I found it.” I rise over her, kissing her throat, sighing at the feel of her pulse thudding solidly against my lips. Every breath, every beat of her heart feels like a miracle. I’ve never been so grateful for the simple fact that another person is alive and lying next to me. And if that isn’t reason enough to throw caution to the wind, I don’t know what is. “Let’s get married.”
“When? Tomorrow?”
“Yes,” I say, rolling onto my side and tucking her against me. “Tomorrow sounds good.”
“Might be hard to find a justice of the peace on Christmas Day with a snowstorm rolling in.”
I grunt. “Then the next day.”
“How about New Year’s Eve? That gives us a little more time to plan and convince my parents this isn’t wildly impulsive. And my mom will want to plan a big meal. She loves a wedding brunch.”
I lift my head, gazing down at her in the dim light from the bathroom. “Are you serious? Are we serious?”
“I think we are,” she murmurs, with a sweet smile that goes straight to my heart. “What’s the worst that can happen? We crash and burn six months in after having lots of wild, passionate sex?”
“Never.” I shake my head. “Six months won’t be nearly enough. I’m going to need you for a lot longer than that.”
“Like…forever, maybe?”
“Forever might get close,” I whisper, kissing her slow and deep.
We make love again before adjourning to the swankiest bathroom I’ve ever seen, where we run a bath in the giant jacuzzi overlooking the back of the inn. We soak in the hot bubbles, watching the snow begin to fall, and I start to think maybe small-town life wouldn’t be so bad.
“I could get used to this,” I say, rubbing my thumb deeper into the arch of her foot beneath the water. “Should I make plans to move up here? We could look for a place close to the inn and your parents, maybe?”
Caroline smiles. “Hell, no. New York City, baby. I’ll start packing my bags tomorrow.”
I laugh. “Yeah? You’re sure? I mean, I’m a city boy, but I’m sure I could find something to do in Christmas town.”
“You’d be fed up with fudge by February and going stir crazy from the lack of intellectual or cultural stimulation by March. By April, you’d be wandering naked in the fields, trying to talk the cows into doing something interesting enough to film for television.”
I grunt. “I would not. I’d keep my clothes on while I talked to the cows. I’m sure it’s still fucking freezing up here in April.”
She grins. “So freezing. And muddy and gross with no break in the misery in sight until the end of May. I’ll always love this place, and want to visit as often as possible, but I’m ready for something new.” She lifts a slim shoulder. “And maybe a career change. I may not be a reality star in the making, but I loved being on set. Working behind the scenes seems like fun.”
“We could work on something together,” I say, excited at the thought. “Unless you think you’d get sick of me. Working and living together can be a lot.”
“I want a lot,” she says, sliding closer. “I want as much of you as I can get.”
She proves it by straddling my hips, rocking against me as we kiss until I’m forced to rise out of the water and take her on the fluffy bathmat.
Hours later, when we’re finally too tired to talk and bang and dream, we fall asleep in the heavenly cloud of a bed. And when I wake up the next morning, she’s still there, and she’s beautiful, the way I knew she would be.
Beautiful and happy and mine.