Chapter Seventeen
“It’s a dumb tradition,” Topher said, plopping down on the couch next to Jamie.
“Was that a whine?” Jamie asked in a faux-casual tone that didn’t cover the warning in his question.
“No,” Topher said quickly, wriggling as she thought of the wonderfully intense spanking she’d gotten two days ago. “Maybe.”
He laughed, reaching over and hauling her onto his lap. Smiling, she relaxed against him. It was late on Christmas Eve, and the entire huge house was theirs. After Charlie’s arrest, the Golfinis and Topher’s parents had packed up and left within the hour. Pushing away any guilty thoughts of sending her parents away right before Christmas, Topher decided to just enjoy the absence of annoying people. She’d spent the past two days with Jamie, Jules and Danny—who was surprisingly fun to hang out with when Barb was no longer around and Topher was no longer pretending to date him.
Tonight, though, they were really, truly alone. Jules and Danny had gone to Chicago to spend the night with Danny’s paternal grandparents, and all the staff had been given the week off. It was a treat to be able to sit in Jamie’s lap in the library, or kiss him in the kitchen, or give him his long-awaited rain-check blow job in his study, and not have to worry about people seeing or hearing or knocking on the door.
“Just one?” Topher pressed. “Can we open just one each?”
Jamie eyed her with amusement for a long moment before agreeing. “Fine. One. But the rest of the presents have to wait until tomorrow morning.”
Topher barely heard the rest, since she was scrambling off his lap and rushing to grab the wrapped gift she’d put under the small tree that she and Jules had set up in the library. The towering, professionally decorated tree in the foyer was beautiful, but it lacked the warmth that this squatty pine had, covered in multi-colored lights and bulbs and a few homely ornaments that Danny had constructed when he was a kid.
Rushing back over to Jamie, she straddled his lap and offered him the package. “Here. I’ve been dying to give this to you. Open it. Hurry! I can’t take waiting any longer!”
Instead of tearing into the paper, he eyed her over the top of the gift. “It arrived this morning. You haven’t been waiting that long.”
“Whatever.” She flapped her hands in a hurry-up motion. “It felt like forever. Come ooonnn, Jamie-Bear! Open it!”
With an amused snort, he eased the paper off his gift. Of course, Jamie couldn’t rip the wrapping like any normal person. Instead, he carefully peeled the tape off of the paper.
“OMG, Jamie.” She pressed her hands to her eyes as if in agony. “This is taking years. You are making me crazy. Rip it! Just tear into it!”
That only made him go slower. By the teasing look in his eye, he was intentionally dragging things out to make her insane. Finally, though, he unfolded the paper and looked at the book he’d uncovered.
“Carson Quest? He’s my favorite author.” His smile turned puzzled and then delighted as he turned over the book and looked at the front. “Ice Crusher? This isn’t supposed to be out until next April. How’d you get a copy?”
“My friend, Amanda, is an editor for his publisher—in a different department—so I called her and begged and promised her my firstborn, and she managed to get an advance copy!” She bounced a little, so excited that she could finally tell him about it. “I saw all of his books over there on the first day I was here.” She gestured toward the bookshelf where everything Carson Quest had ever written was lined up, worn from frequent reading. “As soon as she had this copy in her hands, Amanda overnighted it to me, but I was still worried that it wouldn’t come before Christmas.”
“Thank you.” He hugged her against him. The hug turned into a kiss, and the kiss turned into intense making-out, but Topher managed to pull away.
“Wait,” she gasped, breathing hard. When she saw how Jamie’s face was tight with desire, she almost leaned in again, but she managed to stop herself. “My present.”
With a groan, Jamie leaned back and shut his eyes for a long moment. “Your present. Okay.” He stood up suddenly, placing her on her feet as he did so. After carefully moving his new book from the couch where it had fallen during their make-out session to a low table nearby, Jamie took her hand and led her out of the library.
“Where are we going?” Topher asked as she followed him. “If your answer is the bedroom, I have to warn you that sex is not considered a present. Okay, so maybe it is a present, but I’d also like another kind of present, since I can get the sex-gift pretty much anytime I ask for it, and not just at Christmas, so—”
At the front door, he kissed her hard, cutting off the rest of her presents-versus-sex-presents speech. “It’s a non-sex present,” he assured her. “We need to go outside for it.”
“Outside?” she repeated, renewed curiosity sparking again. “What is it?”
“Put your boots and coat on and you’ll see.”
She could tell he was trying to sound stern, but Topher was pretty sure Jamie was just as excited as she was. Hurrying to stuff her feet in her boots, she held her arms out so Jamie could slide her coat on. As Jamie put on his own outerwear, Topher grabbed a hat and mittens and hurried outside.
It had gotten colder, and the porchlight reflected off a few swirling snowflakes. Distracted briefly by the chill and the beautiful winter night, Topher paused, looking up at the sky. Jamie stood behind her and wrapped her in his arms.
“Merry Christmas, Jamie-Bear,” she said, still staring at the flakes dancing above her head.
He gave her an upside-down kiss, blocking her view of the sky. Topher didn’t mind. She’d rather look at Jamie than anything else.
“Merry Christmas, Tophie.”
They smiled at each other until Jamie moved toward the barn, tugging her along with him. Instead of going inside, though, they detoured around the building and walked to the south pasture entrance. She was just a few feet away when she saw Popcorn was waiting for them right inside the gate. His black coat matched the night, and only his white blaze stood out in the darkness. He made a chuff sound in greeting.
Puzzled, Topher gave Jamie a sideways glance. “Did you hide my present all the way out here? If so, you’re overestimating my gift-finding skills. I don’t have the attention span to be a good hide-and-seek player.”
“Popcorn’s your present.” Jamie gestured toward the pony. It was the first time Topher had ever heard Jamie sound uncertain.
“Popcorn? You’re giving me Popcorn?” She stared at the pony and then at Jamie and then at the pony again.
“Yes. If you’d been patient and waited until tomorrow morning for your gift, then he would’ve had a red bow around his neck and everything.”
“Really?” Tears crowded in her eyes. “He’s mine?”
“He’s yours.”
Disappointment dimmed her initial excitement. “I can’t afford to keep him. Horse board around LA is crazy expensive, and I can barely afford to keep myself fed, much less a small pig of a pony. No offense, Popcorn.”
“I’ll be buying a horse property,” Jamie said. “He can stay there. It’ll give you extra incentive to visit me.”
Topher threw herself at Jamie, hugging him so hard she heard him grunt at the impact. “Thank you! I can’t believe you’re giving me Popcorn! You’re the absolute best present-giver in the entire universe!” Pulling back, she swiped at her eyes, but tears kept leaking out, making her cheeks cold. “And I just got you a book.”
“I like my book.” He wiped at her cheeks, doing a much better job at it than she had, and she grinned at him. Happiness expanded inside of her, filling every empty space and crevice until she knew she’d explode if she didn’t let it out.
“Thank you!” She gave Jamie another quick, tight hug. “As if I needed more incentive to spend every spare second with you. I’m going to ride my pony now.” Not bothering to open the gate, she climbed over the top. Since Popcorn was conveniently standing right next to it, she lowered herself onto his back.
“Tophie!” Jamie’s voice was amused and stern at the same time, and she loved it. “You’re not going to ride in the dark.”
“Just a quick one,” she promised, urging Popcorn to walk away from the gate. “Get in here and grab a horse so you can ride with us.”
“Tophie,” he growled, but he did as she suggested, hopping up on Ghost, who’d wandered over from the hay feeder, probably in search of treats.
They started across the pasture, keeping their horses at an ambling walk so they didn’t trip or step in a gopher hole in the darkness. The snowflakes thickened, falling to cling to Popcorn’s mane and Topher’s eyelashes. She reached out a hand toward Jamie, and he took it in his warm one. With the snow falling around them, they rode in silence through the night, hand in hand.
Turning her head to look at Jamie’s profile, Topher thought that she would burst with happiness. Things were so, so good, and they were only going to get better.
With Jamie and Popcorn in LA with her, how could they not?
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