Once again, Ben Harland was outvoted by the females in his life.

“Cookies,” said his daughter, Jade.

“Cookies,” said his stepdaughter, Zoe.

“Woof,” barked Sparky, their spoiled rotten rescue dog, momentarily pausing in the grooming of her hindquarters to agree that cookies were the way to go.

“Cookies, amore mio,” agreed Kezia, rising on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his jaw. “Very simple, idiota-proof iced cookies. Let’s not forget last year’s gingerbread house disaster.”

Ben grinned down at his gorgeous wife—who was gonna owe him an early Christmas present after the girls were in bed, compensation for his damaged manhood taking point on the festive baking this afternoon. Not that he was complaining too much. Tucked inside their warm house with his three favorite people in the world while the wind howled outside, Ben couldn’t ask for more. Even if every strand of tinsel in a hundred mile radius had found its way into their living room, and their Christmas tree with its abundance of fairy lights could probably be seen from the Mainland across the Foveaux Strait.

“Who’re you calling an idiot?” He bent his head and, adding an exaggerated smoochy sound, kissed her full on the mouth.

“Ew, get a room, you guys.”

Ben ignored his daughter’s high-pitched voice followed by Zoe’s retching sounds and slipped Kez some tongue. She hummed in amusement, briefly tangling her tongue with his before squeezing his biceps and pulling away.

“You’re an idiota for starting something you can’t finish,” she whispered.

That comment earned his wife a smile meant to send her running for the phone to see if the girls could spend an afternoon with Gran or one of Ben’s sisters. “Oh, I can finish it, babe.”

Her husky laughter had tingles speeding up and down his spine, the kind of tingles that in different circumstances would’ve been a catalyst for him to scoop up his petite wife and go all caveman on her sexy ass.

“Behave,” she said and slapped his butt. “Let’s make Santa some cookies.”

“Mama.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “No one in this family believes in Santa anymore. That’s for little kids and babies.”

Ben did his utmost to quash his smile and prevent his eyes from meeting Kezia’s. If they glanced at each other now…

“Cookies it is, then,” he said. “Just don’t blame me if they come out burned to a crisp.”

“You’re as bad as Auntie Piper,” said Jade.

She followed him into the kitchen and ducked under his arms when he opened the pantry door, grabbing the container of sugar off the shelf.

“Last time she baked cookies, me and Zoe tried to feed them to Donny but even he wouldn’t eat them,” Jade added, her little cherub mouth turning down and her eyes growing shiny. “Sparky really misses Donny.”

Zoe rushed to Jade’s side and slipped an arm around her shoulder. “Don’t cry, Jadey. We’ll make some extra cookies and give them to Auntie Piper and Uncle West and Michaela after caroling tonight.”

Jade shot Ben a side-eye. “You’re coming caroling, too, aren’t you?”

“Of course he is,” Kez said before Ben could object. “Your dad has a very fine singing voice.” Her teeth mashed down on her lower lip as if she were keeping a laugh from escaping, but she couldn’t conceal the sparkle in her dark eyes.

“Yay,” Zoe said, bouncing on her toes.

“Yay,” Jade said, picking up Sparky and kissing the top of her head. “We can take turns carrying Sparky in her costume.”

The mutt’s little red Santa doggy outfit complete with pom-pom Santa hat.

Kill. Me. Now.

Something on his face must’ve alerted Kez he was about to make a break for the wild outdoors as she grabbed his hand. “The girls enjoy dressing her up. Be thankful they don’t want to give you a makeover.”

“I am thankful,” he muttered.

Her eyes twinkled again. “It’s good for their fine motor skills getting a wriggly, licking dog into a costume. One could look at it as banking these skills for the future.”

A future which kept looking brighter and filled with joy each and every day. There were worse things than carrying a pup around the streets of Oban with his wife and two kids. What they were, he couldn’t think of at that point in time, because Kez smiled at him again. Yep, he was simply the luckiest, most thankful man on Stewart Island.