Lori was in the shower when I got back, good thing too because after all the talk about her, I highly considered telling her on the way back. It would be romantic, right? The Christmas season, hot chocolate and pumpkin spice scented everything is good, right? What did I know?

I hid—in plain sight, in their living room with her gift on my lap. A noise off to the side startled me, but then Theo announced himself.

“Hey son, Lori is upstairs.” He gruffed.

“Oh, I know.” I turned to him.

He had obviously just woken up, his hair was disheveled, his shirt wrinkled and his flannel pants bunched up. It would have been odd, seeing him this casual but Theo was like a second dad to me.

“What’s that?” He gestured to the wrapped box as he shuffled into the kitchen.

“My mom got this for Lori.” I explained.

He hadn’t said anything in a while but he was moving around the kitchen, probably making dinner.

“Crap!” Theo exclaimed suddenly.

I turned around to see the kitchen smoked up like a pub. He noticed me staring and laughed at himself.

“I guess I’m ordering pizza for dinner.” He joked, I laughed along with him.

“What is that smell?” Lori leaned over the banister. I looked up, all she wore was a towel. She must have absolutely no idea how I felt because she wouldn’t do stuff like that, right?

“I burned lasagna.” Theo answered.

“The oven ready ones? Really dad?” She grinned. Theo shook his head and started dialing.

“Dillon, I need your help.” She looked right at me and then hobbled off to her room, her towel barely came past her ass.

Theo was talking on the phone when I followed her upstairs. I went into her room, shut the door behind me and pressed up against it like I was trying to be as far from her as possible.

“Oh, is that what your mom got me?” She smiled up at me and crossed the room. She tugged her hair out of the bow it was in and it flowed right down her shoulders. Her blue eyes were bright, big and cute. My breath was officially taken away.

“Yeah.”

She grabbed it and set it on the bed.

I gingerly stepped around the room until I sat on the edge of her bed. She went to her dresser on the opposite wall. I tore my gaze away when she grabbed a pair of panties and tugged them on under her towel. She grabbed a t-shirt and tossed it on, not removing her towel until it was past her shoulders. Her back was to me and I looked back too soon, in one hot and frustrating second I saw her bare back, smooth and her hips round. I saw the swell of her breasts on the side just before her shirt fell. Actually, it was my shirt so it fit her like a dress.

“That’s my shirt.” I cleared my throat, my voice came out deep and raspy.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” She said, not sorry at all. She smiled and sat next to me, curling her legs up under her as she reached for her gift.

“How was it? Seeing your mom.” She asked, her voice serious.

“Good. Really good actually. I miss talking to her, and seeing her.”

“You could be seeing her right now.” Her brow cocked as she shot me a pointed look.

“Yeah, with a bitter taste in my mouth from my father ruining things like he always does when I’m home. I’ll see them on Christmas…by the way, are you coming with us to Aspen again?” The corner of her mouth tugged into a smile.

“I thought you’d never ask. Carrie told me today that she would be with Ryan and dad has to work. New Year’s means fireworks, which means fire, so.” She looked away, her expression somber. I knew how much it hurt that Theo had to work on almost every important holiday. Apparently, he had to fight for Christmas to be his day off.

“Yeah, I get it. We leave the thirty-first…open your gift.” I nudged her knee with my hand. Mistake. Her skin was soft, and irresistibly hard to pull away.

“Okay.”

She tore the wrapping paper quickly; a box was sealed with a tape. She tore it with her nail and tossed the cover off.

“Whoa.” She breathed. She held up a chiffon, purple dress that looked on the older side of fashion. A piece of paper fell from it and she read it, smiling as she went along.

“What did it say?”

She opened her mouth to speak but her voice croaked instead. Concern flooded me when she started crying.

“Are you okay?” I touched her forearm softly.

“Oh, yeah. No, I’m fine. Look.” She wiped her falling tears with a smile and watched me read it.

Lori,

This dress was your mother’s. Well, it was mine too but the story is we saw this dress in the mall one day, way back in high school and we both wanted it. Badly. But it was the very last one. So, we split it and had shared custody of it. We used to trade when we came home from college and even after that. I’m giving it to you now because your mother would have wanted you to have it. I know she would have. Carrie isn’t a dress person. She is so proud of you and of the woman you’ve become, so am I. I miss her every day; this dress was the last thing I had of her but it belongs to you now. Congratulations, I love you.

-Natalie.

“My mom is very sentimental.”

Lori laughed through her tears.

“Yeah. I can’t wait to wear this.” She stood on her knees on the bed and laid the dress over her.

“It’s beautiful.” You’re beautiful. I stared at her. She smiled and nodded.

She wiped the last of her tears and hugged me, I was taken aback for a second but I hugged her back. My arms went around her waist tightly. I inhaled her scent and laughed immediately.

“Hey, Cheesecake.” She giggled and pulled away, much to my disappointment.

“Shut up, it’s the best shampoo out there.” I shook my head, laughing at her. It was like she ran through my head in slow motion, her full lips curling up in a smile, her eyes gleaming, her skin glowing, freckles fanning her nose and cheeks…breath taken away again.

“Sure, I believe you.”

She giggled and got up to hang the dress in her closet.

“When are you leaving for the party?” I asked her.

“Uh…nine. So I’m not there too early.” I nodded. I considered going with her again but I knew I would just make a fool of myself, do something stupid and probably end up taking another girl home. For some reason, I just wasn’t in the mood for a random hook up. Lori not only made me want something serious, I wanted her. Problem was I cared about her too much to mess things up, and I trust myself to do that.

“Oh, okay. Did you still go to the library?” She gasped and leapt across the room.

“Yeah, and they had the new James Patterson books.” She dug through her bag and brought out three new books, adding them to her book shelf.

“You know you just have to return those.” I laughed.

She shook her head and came back to sit next to me.

“No, I saw them at the library and then decided to buy them. I dream of owning all his books one day.” She sighed.

“How many are there?” She shot me a look, as if I should know the answer to this question already.

“Hundreds.”

“Oh.”

“Hey, you guys want some pizza!” Theo called from down stairs.

“Yeah!” Lori called back.

She stood and tossed on a pair of leggings—wasn’t any better than her bare legs because it just made her ass look better. She walked in front of me and my gaze was right on her the whole time. When I sat at the table I was uncomfortably pressing out of my jeans.

“Dad, you always get this.” Lori grabbed a few slices of the alfredo spinach pizza.

“It’s my favorite, kid.” He nudged her shoulder playfully and sat across from me.

Lori was on my right side. They exchanged conversation as they ate. It was obvious how much they loved each other, it never felt like that in my house. With my mom, sure. But my dad…not so much.

“Well, I’m old so I’m going to bed. See you guys.” He kissed Lori’s forehead and nodded at me before retreating to his bedroom. Lori cleaned up and then we sat back in the living room.

We continued with Grey’s Anatomy, on the season where they try and buy the hospital. It’s more stressful to watch than all the other ones, surprisingly. Lori casually rested on my shoulder, she didn’t mean anything by it but every time she touched me it just felt intimate. More so than when I’m sleeping with someone. I was barely touching her with my arm around her, but it was enough for me. It had to be, because I didn’t want to trade this for anything.

“I’m going to start getting ready.” She left after a few episodes.

I sat on the couch, feeling like a chum. I should just go and tell her, ‘don’t go to the party, stay with me because I’m in love with you.’ I’m a good size, but I just don’t have the balls for that.

She was gone for about an hour, it never took her long. When she came back down and stood in front of me, I had to physically cover my erection with a pillow. A pillow.

“I look okay, right?”

She went for a casual look, and it was fucking hot. She wore boyfriend style jeans—really, they’re just my jeans that she stole and cut up in the right places. Her top was a gray, V-neck crop top, but it was loose on her, showing off her stomach. She wore a long charm necklace and had a little braid on the side of her head.

“Yeah, you look great.” I tried to say as casually as possible.

“Okay, good.”

She went to the mirror off of their dining room to look at herself again.

“You seem really anxious about this party…is it because of Tommy?” She came back and sat in the love seat.

“No, I just don’t want to make a fool of myself.” I laughed.

“You won’t. just be yourself—you’re amazing.” I hadn’t meant to say the last part out loud but she didn’t dwell on it too much.

“Thanks.” And that bothered me again. It just makes me feel like she has this big wall up that I can’t even bulldoze through, no matter how hard I try.

She got up to get a coat from the coat closet.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t…I don’t know.” She giggled and scurried out the door, quickly tossing me a wave behind her. I stared after her like an idiot.