Chapter 18
BELLA
Oh fuck, the chair.
“We should pick up some cleaner while we’re out,” I say.
He just shakes his head and smirks. “We got this,” he says, reaching over to squeeze my thigh.
I place a hand on top of his, forcing him to leave it there. “We? Is there a we now? Are you finally ready to admit that I wore you down?” I wiggle my eyebrows.
“I tried to fight it, but it’s useless. I’m drawn to you. Your humor, your heart, your…”
“Hot pocket?” I offer.
His laughter is infectious. “Hot pocket?”
“You had a whole H theme going there, I figured you were looking for another word for my lady parts.”
“You’ve got a great one. Best I’ve ever had, but I’m not really into reducing women to their reproductive organs despite the dirty shit that comes out of my mouth in the moment. There’s so much more to you than really good sex.”
“I think that’s the nicest thing a man has ever said to me,” I admit softly. Why is my voice so quiet? Am I going to cry? Holy shit, I’m going to cry.
“That’s the bare minimum, Bella. What kind of fuckwads have you been with that don’t recognize how incredible you are? Actually, don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter who treated you badly before me. I’m here now, and I’m going to try my best to give you everything you deserve.”
A small sniffle escapes despite my best effort to contain it, and I blink rapidly as I try to hold in the rest. I can feel Hardy’s eyes on me, and he squeezes my thigh in silent support.
“I don’t think you understand how much I needed to hear that. I’ve always been treated as an afterthought by the men in my life. It’s probably why I use humor as a defense mechanism. They can’t laugh at you if you laugh at yourself first.”
“I know that you don’t need a man in your life. But I hope that if you allow me to be in yours, it’s because you chose me. I want to be the person you choose.”
“Not that I’m not loving this road trip confession, but what changed? I feel like you were so hot and cold the past week.”
“I talked to Avery this morning, and she not only gave me the girlfriend green light, but she also picked you specifically to be my girlfriend.”
My head whips in his direction, trying to determine if he’s kidding. “So, we can make it official?”
“I’m pretty sure we already have with as much time as we’ve been spending together. And I don’t know if Ned’s a big gossip or not, but you totally moaned right before he knocked. I’m pretty sure he knew what we were up to on the other side of the door.”
Letting go of his grip on my leg, I bury my head in my hands. “He’s the worst. The whole town will know by the time we get home.”
Just then, my phone buzzes in my coat pocket, and I fish it out.
Aunt Delilah
Heard you and a certain firefighter finally bumped uglies
Oh my God, how did you know that? It literally just happened
“What was that gasp about?” Hardy asks, his gaze fixed on the road as we approach Denver traffic.
“My aunt just asked me if we fucked.”
He coughs, pounding on his chest to clear it. “I’m sorry, what? Your aunt?”
“Yeah, Principal Adams.”
“Your aunt is the principal?” It’s kinda cute how high his voice gets when he’s surprised.
“She’s not technically my aunt.”
He looks confused. “Didn’t you just refer to her as your aunt?”
“She’s like an aunt. She and my mom were best friends, and even though I was eighteen when she died, Delilah practically raised me after that.”
My phone buzzes again.
Just heard a rumor from Ned that Hardy was at your house, but you confirmed the boinking
“Shit. How could I fall for that?” I mumble to myself.
“Fall for what? I need you to fill in more details here,” he says, turning on his blinker as we pull into the parking lot of a strip mall.
“Ned already ran his big mouth and Delilah just texted.”
“Why does my daughter’s principal want to know if we hooked up? Did Ned tell her we did?”
“Delilah kinda led me to believe that she knew we hooked up and then I accidentally admitted it. But it’s okay. She already gave me the go-ahead.”
He drops his head onto the steering wheel. “I will never get used to this, will I? How all up in your business small towns can be?”
“It grows on you.”
An hour later we’re walking through the aisle of a large retail store, looking for items for Avery.
I grab a Santa hat with a bell on the end and place it on Hardy’s head. Which is not an easy feat given he’s so much taller than me.
“Maybe you could wear that later for round two?” I say against his ear.
“Is that the last item from your text thread? Santa okay finger pointing at sparkly nuts?”
I place a hand on my heart. “Ah, you remembered. And I totally plan to bang you in the whole suit, I’ve just had trouble finding one in your size.”
“Given the order of those texts, it would seem that Santa was pointing at the nuts, so I think you should wear the hat since I have the nuts.” He places the hat on my head.
“Oh, I’m down for that too. Just not in the chair. It needs to dry after we clean it.”
We stop in the cleaning aisle, deciding a bottle of upholstery cleaner will be our best bet, before heading to the toy aisle to grab the last of Avery’s gifts.
“What did Isaac say Avery wanted from Santa?” he asks, as I look through the figurines, a cute pigeon set catching my eye.
“Lemme pull up my text thread with him.” I scroll through my phone until I find my thread with Isaac. “She told Isaac she wants some kind of sparkly princess castle.”
“The ultimate sparkle princess palace with all the dolls you could ever want, batteries not included,” he says like he’s reciting straight from a commercial.
“That’s the one, I think. She was kinda cryptic with Isaac.”
“I think she has suspicions that I’m Santa and she’s being vague on purpose because Santa would just know what she was talking about. Also, I remember her asking Lydie for that and her telling Avery that it was too expensive.”
“So clearly Santa has to bring it if we want her to believe. Did you decide what Santa tier you want to do?”
“I honestly have no idea,” he says, scratching his neck.
“What did Lydie used to do? We could aim to make it similar.”
“She would pick a couple items off her list, but then she’d always throw in something extra, something Avery didn’t ask for specifically but would absolutely love. But it was never anything as big as what she’s asking for this year. Can I do that?”
“The beauty of The Santa Rules is you can change tiers at any time. You can do it if your kids are misbehaving, or if your financial situation changes, or your beliefs. Anything really. We could stick to something close to what Lydie did and slowly add to or subtract from it over time. But if Avery’s asking Santa for something big, you could put her on that tier for this year and then talk to her later if you decide you want Santa to bring smaller or cheaper items. Later you can reframe it to shift the focus off getting big ticket items.”
“Won’t that make her suspicious?”
“Not if you say something like, ‘We’re fortunate to be able to buy our own gifts for each other and we don’t need Santa to bring us as much, so we opted into a different tier.
’ This way, Santa still brings a gift, but the emphasis isn’t on all the stuff Santa can bring her.
You can frame it like Santa is really busy too, and the less he brings us, the quicker he can deliver all the presents, and we want to make sure everyone gets a gift to open on Christmas. ”
“What did you do?”
“Well, I wanted credit for the gifts I bought Isaac, but Jake would always throw money at him. We were on a high tier when we were married, but after the divorce, I had to explain that each parent can decide what they want Santa to bring into their own houses. Honestly, it saved my ass and bought me another year of him believing. And I used The Santa Rules to explain why his Christmas looked different at his dad’s.
I just told him his dad was still learning how to use the app.
And I moved to a different tier since my new house was smaller, and I didn’t have room for too much, since I knew his dad would still buy him tons of shit. ”
Hardy locates the sparkly palace amid a sea of pink and adds it to the cart. “I think this is my only option this year, but I like what you said about focusing more on giving back to others and only getting something small from Santa.”
We walk through another aisle, and Hardy tosses a few blind bags into the cart.
“Oh, I love those! Really gets the blood flowing when you don’t know what’s inside. But once you rip that thing open and see that it’s the rare collectable you’re missing? BAM! Dopamine!”
He holds up the blind bag, a smirk curling one side of his face. “You mean these kids’ toys?”
“They bring me joy,” I say as he leans into me and I boop him on the nose.
His warm hand wraps around my waist as he leans in to kiss me. The feel of his lips on mine sends a wave of lust coursing through my body as I slide a hand up his chest to hold his face.
A throat clears behind us, and we break apart, moving out of the way for the impatient person walking by when I hear a familiar judgy, nasal voice.
“Bella? Funny seeing you here. With your student’s parent. Sucking face in the toy aisle.” Amber’s arms are crossed, an eyebrow raised as she looks me up and down, disdain dripping in her tone.
I feel Hardy’s body tense as he takes a step toward her, but I tug him back, stepping in front of him and pulling his arms around me like we’re posing for a prom photo.
“Amber. I would say it’s nice to see you, but it’s not.”
“Babe,” a voice slurs from behind her, and I see Chuck walking up.
Hardy’s grip on me tightens as Chuck’s eyes look me over from head to toe. “Bella, what a pleasant surprise.”
I wish I could say the same, but his attention creeps me out. I don’t know what Amber sees in him, and I have no clue what teenage me saw in him, but I made a lot of mistakes after my mom died when I was trying to grieve and figure out who I was.
Amber looks between us and slaps Chuck in the gut. She turns back to me and props her hand on her hip, flicking the hair from her ponytail off her collar. “Shouldn’t you two be working on the workshop?”
“Just picking up some last-minute items.” It’s not technically a lie. “We really should be going.” I thread a hand through Hardy’s as I lead us away from them. I don’t have to look back to know he’s giving Chuck some serious side-eye as we pass.
We quickly head to the checkout, and at Hardy’s request, I grab some sodas for the road while he starts scanning items in self-checkout.
After we load everything into the back of his truck, I climb in the cab and wait for him to return the cart.
As soon as his ass hits the seat and he closes his door, he turns to me right as I’m tugging his collar.
With our noses pressed against the other’s, he smiles against my lips. “Guess we had the same idea.”
I nod as he presses his lips to mine and steals the breath from my lungs. The kiss is deep and slow as he takes his time exploring my mouth. His hands are gentle, holding my face as if it’s the most precious thing to him.
I let out a sigh when he pulls back. “What was that for?”
His penetrating gaze is intense as he stares at me with so much longing, I can’t help but look away, trying to gather my thoughts.
Hands still on my cheeks, he tilts my head up, forcing me to look at him, but he doesn’t say anything, not with his mouth anyway.
His eyes are a different story. It’s as though he’s trying to process a lifetime of feelings, willing me to see the rawest part of who he is.
And even though he doesn’t answer my question with words, I can almost hear his thoughts as his eyes continue to shift between mine, like he’s unsure which one to focus on because he’s too close.
You matter to me.
I will protect you.
I’m falling for you.
Oh shit, does he love me? Do I love him?
A loud knock at the window startles us. We look over to find Chuck leering, giving us a thumbs-up that feels like a cheap assessment of a moment that’s entirely too big to explain with words.
“I hate that guy,” Hardy mutters out of the side of his mouth.
“I know you do,” I say, grabbing his cheek to shift his focus back to me. “Thank you.”
His brows pinch in confusion. “For what?”
“For letting me fight my own battle in there. I could feel the anger and tension in your body. Most guys would have gone all alpha on him and gotten in his face. And younger me would have thrived off that. But now that I’m older and wiser, I can pick my own battles, and I appreciate your silent support. ”
“I’ve known a lot of guys like him. Running his mouth, looking for a fight.
But I have a little girl to look out for, and I’m all she has.
If I lose my temper and punch him, she suffers while I go to jail.
He’s not worth losing her over. And after you told me how you handed Amber her ass the other day, I was kinda hoping for my own front-row seat for round two. ”
I pull him in for another kiss, and there’s another knock on the window as Chuck makes a finger-in-the-hole gesture followed by another thumbs-up.
“Okay, I need to get away from this douche canoe. I only have so much self-control.”
“Agreed.”