Chapter 36
36
Sienna
“I think the tree needs more tinsel.”
Asher put his feet up on the coffee table, watching me work while sipping his coffee. He’d done the heavy lifting: driving for the tree, cutting the tree, carting the tree home, and setting it up in the stand by the window. The rest was up to me.
“Babe, you put any more tinsel on that thing it will start to pick up radio signals.”
I turned to catch him smiling.
“I’m glad I amuse you. This tree is significant, Ash. This is the first Christmas tree I’ve had in eight years. And it’s our first one together. We need to make good memories.”
“Sienna, you just standing there with tinsel in your hands, wearing them fucking sexy yoga pants, looking all adorable is making good memories for me.”
My insides instantly turned to mush.
I set my handful of tinsel down and climbed up on my man. “I need to worship you now, so brace.”
“Set my coffee down.” He handed the mug to me. “I need both hands free for this bracing.”
I stretched to set it on the end table while Asher’s hands went to their favorite place: my ass.
I needed his mouth on mine. It was the best way to forget the past and banish the nightmares that followed us both home from Arizona.
Asher had dealt with it all in his own way, which included several trips to The Firing Line to banish some ghosts. I’d gone with him on a few of those trips, finding the time spent there cathartic. It had helped me to release some anger and residual guilt, but nothing made the moments when I’d lingered too long on what had happened go away. Guess with time, things would fade. We just needed time.
In the last two months, we’d had a lot of naked pancake time. Sharing our souls helped too. My father had moved out of our old family home and was now living in Florida with his lady friend who had shown up on his doorstep the day Asher and I had brought him home. Evelyn made him happy and so I was happy too.
I had to remember that my dad had his own ghosts and staying in the house he’d shared with my mother had finally taken its toll. We all needed to move on with living.
Asher’s tongue swirled with mine, building into hunger. Feeling him make love to me made the bad things better. It made me feel alive. Loved. And I wanted to give that all back to him.
“I think you need to take me back to the bedroom,” I said on his mouth.
Asher smiled on my lips. “That so?”
I drew his bottom lip into my mouth and nodded.
He spanked my butt. “I think I want to give you your present first.”
“You are my present. I want to unwrap you.”
“Hold that thought.” He shifted to reach into his back pocket and pulled out a white envelope. He put it in my hands.
I shifted my body over his very prominent erection. “What’s this?”
Asher squeezed my thighs. “Open it.”
I slid my finger under the flap. Inside was paper. I opened it up.
My heart thudded over in my chest, reading what it said. “We’re going to Fiji? Are you serious?”
Asher smiled wide. “Thought maybe we could celebrate.” He reached into another pocket.
“You know I love you more than anything in this world. We’ve been through a lot, but there isn’t anyone else I would have wanted by my side. I thought about how I’d do this, but everything just seemed corny. You, me, our first Christmas tree… I want to give you a lifetime of Christmases.”
He held out his hand to me. My breath caught in my throat.
In the middle of his palm was a beautiful diamond ring.
“Syla Sienna Tatum, will you marry me?”
I stared directly into those beautiful, magical honeycomb brown eyes. “Asher Hayes, I fell in love with you a long time ago. You’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Yes, I would be honored to be your wife.”