Forty-One
Stacy
We do get into the hot tub.
As a matter of fact, we get in multiple, multiple times over the course of the next few days at the cabin.
At this point, there’s no way Reece can associate that hot tub with Tashia anymore. Not after the absolutely vile things we’ve done to each other in it, on top of it, and near it.
This has been the best. Christmas. Break. Ever.
I feel like I may have to go repent for my sins when we get back to the city, though.
I wake up in Reece’s arms on Christmas morning.
The soft glow of the morning light is streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows as we nuzzle up together in the plush, king sized bed.
Reece plants lazy kisses on my cheeks, my lips, my eyelids as I slowly wake up.
It’s comfortable, it’s gentle as I finally push my eyes open.
Reece is peering down at me already, the flecks of blue and brown in his green eyes particularity notable in the morning light.
The smile that breaks across my lips is real, genuine.
There’s only one word that can sum up how I feel right now, how I feel with Reece: peaceful .
I’m so at peace with this man, so comfortable nestled under the white duvet, so happy, it almost scares me.
Almost.
But my feelings for Reece aren’t scaring me like they used to. I trust him with me, trust him with my heart. I feel safe, I feel at home. He feels like home.
If this isn’t what being in love feels like, I don’t know what is.
“Merry Christmas,” Reece murmurs before dropping another kiss onto my forehead.
I giggle as I revel in the warm, beautiful feeling. “Merry Christmas to you.”
Reece lifts the comforter to glance down at my body. “Is my present waking up to Stacy Dunn naked in my bed?” he asks, looking back up with a wolfish grin on his face.
I scoff. “You know I got you real gifts.”
“I don’t want anything else,” he promises, leaning down to press a kiss to my collarbone. “You’re more than enough.”
“Well, tough shit.” I push off the bed, wandering to my beige luggage in the corner of the room.
My hands shake a little bit as I pull out the thin gift I packed for Reece, wrapped in shimmery, red paper and tied up with a curly, white ribbon.
I make my way back to the bed, plopping down and handing him the present.
I hope I didn’t overstep. I hope he sees the sentiment behind the gift and doesn’t think it’s too much.
Reece warily takes the gift. “Stace, I thought all our presents were under the tree?”
“The others are,” I tell him. “This one’s… special.”
And it’s true. I have a nice bottle of his signature cologne, a new watch, a handsome sweater, tickets to a Blue Jackets game, and a pair of Reece’s favorite workout pants wrapped up under the tree in the living room.
There are eons of mysterious boxes wrapped in snowman paper with my name written on them and two stockings chucked full of peanut butter cups and chocolate truffles for the both of us.
But this gift is different.
Reece hesitates, eyeing the gift as he turns the rectangle over in his hands.
“Just open it,” I beg as I pull the duvet up around my body.
Reece surrenders, sticking his index finger in the slit of the paper and gliding it up to rip it open. He pulls the brown leather journal from the paper, gently running his hand over the front as he marvels at the high quality material.
He swallows, grazing his thumb over the engraving at the bottom before looking up at me. “LLL?” he asks.
I smile. “Yeah. Live like Lance.”
Reece blinks at me a few times, saying nothing as his tears start to well up. He bites his lip, looking down at the journal again and flipping through the pristine pages.
“I’ve seen the journal on your bedside table,” I whisper. “It’s looking a little worse for wear so I figured you could use a nice, new one. I’m sorry if I overstepped, I thought it’d be a nice—”
“I love it,” he interrupts me, his voice low as he thumbs through the paper. He glances up at me, rolling his lips before whispering, “You’re going to be all over these pages, Stace.”
“You write about me?”
“All the time,” he answers immediately.
I bite back a smile. “You have that much to say about me?”
“I could write a novel about you.”
I chuckle in disbelief, shaking my head slightly. “It’s so crazy when you say those things to me.”
“Why’s that?”
I hesitate, gnawing on my lip. “All my life, I felt second best no matter how hard I tried. I’ve always fallen short.
But you…” I shake my head again. “You make me feel like enough. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m enough just the way I am.
I don’t feel like second best when it comes to you, I feel… like I’m more.”
“You are more,” he assures me fervently. “You’re enough. More than enough. Stace, you’ll never be second best to me. You’ll always come first and there’s no competition. You… you’re it for me, angel.”
Tears are burning the backs of my eyes as I nod at his feverish promises.
I open my mouth to respond but Reece stops me before I can.
My breath catches as he sets the journal down on the bedside table, crawling over to me and yanking on my legs.
He wraps them around his waist, smothering me with his lips before I get the chance to breathe as he lays us back against the mattress.
“Reece.” His name sounds like a plea on my lips as he pushes inside of me, his strong hands holding my thigh and tangling in my hair.
“I’ll never run out of things to say about you, angel,” he breathes, setting a steady, languid pace. “You’re everything. Everything .”
All the words I want to say dissipate from my mind as Reece notches his hips forward, burying his face in the crook of my neck. It’s slow, it’s methodical, it’s everything beautiful and tragic and treacherous and overwhelming all at once.
It’s love.
Reece is sure and steady, pulling my nipple into his mouth while he takes care of my body. It’s not rushed or dirty, it’s something else entirely. Something that’s bringing me to the brink of tears.
“Reece,” I sob, running my fingernails down his back while the heat in my gut grows.
“I’m here, Stace.” Reece presses a kiss to the shell of my ear. “I’ll always be here.”
This man. His words. His heart. His mind.
I love it all.
I love him .
“Don’t stop,” I beg.
I don’t know what I’m begging for. Whether I don’t want him to stop what he’s doing to my body or to my heart, I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t mind if he kept both things up forever.
“Never,” he promises, tugging on my bottom lip with his teeth.
My toes curl, my eyes squeezing shut while a whimper falls from my mouth. “Reece, I’m close.”
“Watch me,” he whispers. “I want to see those beautiful eyes while you come apart for me.”
My eyes snap open in response, just in time for an orgasm to slam into my body. The world seems to pause as my back bows off the mattress, each one of my senses invaded by Reece Taylor.
“That’s my girl.” Reece kisses my face as I come down, jutting his hips forward to chase his own release.
Reece rolls off of me with a groan, panting as he recovers before pulling me into his body. We lapse into comfortable, peaceful silence. Reece strokes the skin of my back and kisses my hair as we gently fall back into sleep the same way the snow’s falling outside.
The same way we’re falling in love.
?
Our Christmas night kisses are sleepy. We had a full day of gifts, of Christmas cookies and a slightly successful Christmas dinner. We watched three Christmas movies, made a couple of snow angels, and built a fire in the fireplace to end the night.
We have to leave in the morning to get ready for Nashville but for now, we’re back in the bed that we started this beautiful day in.
We’re dozing off in between soft kisses and sweet nothing’s, the light from the moon reflecting off the snow streaming in through the window.
It’s still, both inside and out as Reece pulls my back flush against his front.
I can barely keep my eyes open as Reece presses a final kiss to my cheek. Sleep is coming, fast and hard, and I’m so drowsy that I almost think I imagine Reece’s muttered words.
“… What?” I ask, my voice a low murmur in the dark.
Reece takes a heavy pause before whispering, “I said I love you, angel.”
Even with sleep pulling me under, my heart soars. A smile breaks across my face and, even though I can’t push my eyes open, I whisper back, “I love you, too, Reece Taylor.”