The last few Christmases had been difficult for me. It’d been Declan’s favorite time of the year—the entire two weeks we got off school for winter break. He’d been like a little kid jazzed up on caffeine and sugar for sixteen days straight. So many of my best memories of him were from over the holidays. Other than the anniversary of the crash, it was when I felt his loss the most. It felt like forever since I’d been able to get into the Christmas mood.

This year was different because it was my first with Faith, and I was determined to make it special for her. She deserved the best, but she’d never really gotten it before. No mounds of presents under a big Christmas tree when she was little. Hell, she’d been lucky to get a tree at all, let alone gifts. I wanted her to have it all, and I went a little overboard organizing it.

Between ordering a tree, picking out decorations, buying presents, and pestering my mom to bake a bunch of cookies, I channeled some serious holiday spirit. There had even been one moment when I’d been decorating the tree when I thought to myself that Declan would’ve been proud. It was the first time since he’d died that I’d been able to think about him at Christmas time without wanting to gamble. Faith had given that to me, and it was better than any gift money could buy.

It made everything I’d pulled together for our first holiday as a couple pale in comparison.

Corey, my best friend and partner in crime for the past few years, didn’t seem to agree. “Dude. It looks like Christmas threw up in here. Are you sure you don’t want to pull down some of this shit before Faith gets here and clues into the fact that she’s dating an insane person?”

I shoved my elbow into his side. “Fuck off.”

“You better be careful or else that’s going to be the last thing you say to me before I leave your ass and head to Europe.”

“I still can’t believe you picked this semester to study in Italy and fucked up your graduation plans.”

He swept his arm in an arc. “At least I’ll be able to escape the Winter Wonderland you set up in our living room.”

“Our?” I quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Hey! I’ve lived here ever since your parents bought the place. That makes it mine as much as yours, right?”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, man.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, it was worth a shot.”

“But I’ll let you lay claim to your bedroom if you want. It’ll still be here if you hate Italy and want to come back early.”

“Hate Italy?” He reared back in feigned shock. “I was only kinda joking when I said Faith was dating an insane person, but now I realize how right I was. A whole country full of hot babes with sexy accents? What’s not to love?”

Coming from any other guy, I would’ve believed it. But Corey had gone through a rough breakup over the summer and hadn’t dated anyone else since then. When he’d told me about the semester in Italy, I’d wondered if he was doing it to put half the world between him and his ex. He seemed excited, and I hadn’t wanted to ruin it for him so I kept my trap shut. But I still wanted him to know I had his back, even if half the world separated us too.

“Well, if you decide boring American accents are more your thing, the offer still stands.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” He slapped me on the back before picking up his backpack and rolling his suitcase to the door. “But if the impossible somehow happens, I’ll call first because I’d hate to come back and find out you’ve replaced me with a new roomie.”

“Do you really think I’m going to replace you?”

“With your hot-as-fuck girlfriend? Hell yeah, I do!”

“Dude,” I chuckled, shaking my head. “It’s been like six weeks. She’s not moving in any time soon.”

He swung the door open and turned his head to look at me over his shoulder. “I’m gonna remind you that you said that when I get back and you two are living together.”

I laughed it off at the time, but Corey’s parting words were all I thought about for the next two days. To the point where I almost convinced myself to wrap a spare key and put it under the tree for Faith as an extra present. But then I came to my senses. I figured if she wasn’t comfortable enough with me yet to have sex, then she would freak the fuck out if I asked her to move in with me. So when she came over on Christmas Eve—since I’d convinced my parents to settle for us coming over on Christmas morning—there weren’t any gifts for her to open that would send her running.

Everything else was as perfect as I could make it when I opened the door to her. Holiday music was playing through the sound system. The lights on the tree were lit. Christmas cookies were spread out on the kitchen counter. And I had eggnog spiked with bourbon in the fridge. It wasn’t a favorite of mine, but I had to get it because Faith had somehow never tried it before. “Ho ho ho.”

“Well, hello there.” Her entire face lit up with pleasure when she saw the Santa hat on my head. It had a sprig of mistletoe hanging from a ball on the end. “Is that a hint that I’m supposed to kiss Santa?”

“Definitely.”

“Earn your kiss.” She shoved a big, rectangular-shaped present into my hands. “By putting this under the tree for me.”

“For me?”

“Yup.”

“Maybe we should do presents first. Since I’m not sure I can handle the torture of wondering what’s under this wrapping paper.” I gave the package a little shake as I walked over to the tree, but it didn’t make any rattling noises. When I turned back around, Faith was standing just inside the door, laughing her ass off. “What?”

“I’m going to have to tell Christine to change your nickname from ‘hottie’ to ‘Mr. Hypocritical’ since you get so much enjoyment out of keeping our plans a secret for most of our dates.”

“Hottie, huh?” I flashed her a grin. “I’d hate to give up such a great nickname.

“It would be a shame,” she agreed.

“But it’s not just that I’m dying to know what you picked out for me. It’s also that I’d like to give you at least one of your presents now so we can use it later.”

“Fine. Twist my arm and make me open a present,” she sighed before moving into the living room and twirling around to take in all of the decorations I’d put up. “Holy shit. Please tell me you didn’t get me anything else because this”—she did another slow circle—“is the perfect gift.”

“I hate to disappoint.” I didn’t sound even the tiniest bit sincere since I didn’t mean it. “But plenty of those presents under the tree are for you.”

“What? No!” she gasped, going over to the tree and dropping to her knees. “You went overboard. It’s too much. Way, way too much.”

“Most of them are random, small things so you have stuff to unwrap in the morning.” Since we were heading over to my parents’ for breakfast, she’d agreed to spend the night at my place. For the first time. “But your real gift is what I want you to open now.”

“I guess we could each open one present now, and save the others for tomorrow.”

I didn’t give her the chance to second-guess her agreement and moved to her side. I pulled the biggest present out from under the tree and set it in front of her. “Open this one.”

She ripped into the wrapping paper and gasped when she saw what was inside. “An ice cream maker?”

“Yup, I thought we could make pumpkin ice cream for later.”

“Pumpkin, huh?” she laughed. “I guess I won’t feel bad about the extra presents in the morning since I have a couple more for you too, and it seems my big present is as much for you as it is for me.”

“I bought the ingredients for chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, too.”

“The same flavors from our ice cream making date,” she whispered, leaning into me and sliding her hand around the base of my skull to tug my face towards hers. When she pressed her lips against mine, I forgot all about the presents until she pulled away from me and handed me the rectangular package she’d had me put under the tree.

“Shopping for the guy who has everything and is so damn thoughtful that you want to give him the perfect gift because you know that’s what he’s going to get you is hard.”

I pressed a fingertip against her lips to stop her rambling. “I’m sure I’ll love it. Whatever it is. Because it’s from you.”

“And you clearly have excellent taste since you picked me.”

She narrowed her pretty brown eyes at me. “Stop being so cute while I’m super nervous about how you’re going to react to what I got you.”

“There’s only one way to fix that.” I tore the paper off my present, revealing a piece of artwork in shades of blue. It was a bit obscure, with vertical lines that had horizontal bars in staggered spots inside them. “It’s cool.”

“Remember when I asked you to do that cheek swab for my friend who was doing a research project on the efficacy of those ancestry websites?”

“Yeah.” It’d been an odd request, but I’d had people ask stranger things of me on campus.

“I lied. It wasn’t for a friend’s project,” she admitted, pointing at the blue lines. “It was for this; an artistic rendering of your DNA.”

“My DNA?”

“Yours.” She took a deep breath before she continued, “And Declan’s.”

I looked at the painting in stunned shock, reaching out to trace the lines with a trembling hand. “I didn’t know anything like this existed. I can’t believe you bought this for me.”

“Do you like it?”

I set the painting to the side and pulled Faith into my arms. “I fucking love it, baby.”

There weren’t enough words to explain to her how much her gift meant to me, so I showed her instead. I consumed her lips in a deep kiss, her soft curves molded against my chest. Her lips clung to mine, and she made a soft purring sound deep in her throat. I knew I needed to rein it in and pull away from her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not when my defenses were down because she’d blown them away with her gift.