Skin Deep

She also exchanged gifts with the guys and even bought Doug a new chew toy. It was in the shape of a rubber chicken but it was stuffed and had its stretchy wings clasped together and long chicken legs. She showed us how you put your finger in the clasped wings and pull back on the legs before letting go and the thing took off like a slingshot, cock-a-doodle-dooing all the way.



Luke and I laughed and nudged each other speculatively when Brandon and Jackson both cornered Allie under the mistletoe, kissing her breathless before they let her leave. She stumbled to her car, looking dazed, sitting there for a minute shaking her head before shrugging, waving goodbye to me, and pulling away.



We woke up Christmas morning early because Brandon was pounding on our door like a five year old, hollering, “Wake up! Its Christmas! Open presents! Now!”



Luke rolled over me, kissing me gently and whispering, “Merry Christmas, baby. Our very first Christmas together…I love you.”



“Mmmm…Merry Christmas to you, too, my love. I love you so much…” I whispered back.



We kissed softly for a few minutes before the pounding started at the door again. “If you guys aren’t out of that bed and downstairs in five minutes, I’m coming in and it wont be pretty!” Brandon hollered.



We laughed and got out of bed, stumbling bleary eyed down the stairs to sit on the couch by a blinking, sleepy-eyed Jackson who was glaring at Brandon between blinks. Brandon was practically hopping with excitement as he started doling out presents to everyone, making a pile for himself by the coffee table. Doug even had a growing pile on the floor in front of him, between his outstretched paws.



Once all the presents were handed out that needed to be, we started opening. Even Doug got into the spirit, selecting one of his gifts before holding it between his paws and tearing the paper off with his teeth. The one he picked turned out to be a huge rawhide bone that I had gotten him, so I assume he’d been able to smell it through the wrap and that’s why he picked it. I helped him with the rest of his before I opened any more of mine.



Jackson had gotten me a gorgeous red cable knit cashmere sweater with a cowl neck and a kick ass pair of black skinny jeans. He admitted that he had snuck into my closet and looked at my sizes so he could get it right.



Brandon had gotten me a beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings, which I told him was too much. He just blushed and told me to shut up and enjoy them.



I opened Luke’s presents last. He’d gotten me a gift card to Victoria’s Secret (who’s she kidding anyway? She doesn’t have any secrets left…) which I figured was more of a gift for him; a beautiful gold necklace with a diamond pendent; and in the last box was a card that said simply, ‘Go to the laundry room.’



I looked at him quizzically, but he just smiled, giving nothing away. I got up and walked into the laundry room, smiling at Brandon and Jackson who were still thanking me for their gifts. I’d gotten Jackson a large framed black and white picture of the Los Angeles downtown skyline at night. I’d told him it was for his new house, just in case he missed the big city now that he’d moved back. I’d also given him a couple new button down work shirts.



I’d gotten Brandon a new bottle of his favorite cologne, because he’d mentioned that he was running low in passing one day. I’d also gotten him a couple new long sleeved t-shirts with funny sayings on them.



Luke was the hardest one to buy for and had taken me the longest to figure something out. I’d finally bought him a couple new Henley’s, a pair of jeans, and four tickets for the Jeff Dunham show tomorrow night in Dayton. Yes, four, because I couldn’t leave the other two out, especially because they all sit around and watch the DVD’s of the guy all the time and laugh their asses off.



I walked into the laundry room as directed and found another small box. I opened it and found another note. This one said, ‘I love you. You’ll find it with Hairy.’ I paused for a moment, completely confused before it struck me that Hairy could be Doug. I headed back into the living room to find the guys all sitting on the couch, Brandon and Jackson smirking and Luke looking like he was about to puke. Weird.



I turned to find Doug sitting pretty-as-you-please in the oversized armchair, with a basket handle clamped between his jaws. I quirked an eyebrow and walked over to him. I tried to take the basket from him but he wouldn’t let it go, so I settled for opening it instead. When I folded back the lid, there was a note taped to it that said, ‘Well?’ Even more confused, I reached into the basket and pulled out a little white box. My heart started pounding as I opened it to find an absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous princess cut diamond ring. It had to be at least a carat, and had probably another carat’s worth of round diamonds framing the square of the center stone and extending down the sides of the white gold band.



I took the ring out of the box with shaking fingers and looked up at Luke. I gasped as he stood up, walked over to me, got down on one knee…and repeated the question written on the card that Doug was holding on the basket.



“Well?”



“Seriously?” I asked. “That’s how you’re gonna do it?”



He nodded. “I’m not taking no for an answer, so you might as well put it on and just say yes…” he drawled.



I made him wait for two hours. Okay, I lied. It was more like two minutes. But hey, he went to Jared, and he got the Neil Lane collection, and, truth be told, my dad had actually kinda proposed to my mom like that back in the day. So I said yes.



Chapter 21



After everyone cleaned up their presents and got ready, we all headed over to my mom and dad’s house. Jackson had spoken to his mom on the way over, and she had expressed how sad she was that he hadn’t come back to her house for Christmas, but she understood why he hadn’t. He’d been in meetings almost nonstop with work and with the builders for his house, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was staying with us, we probably wouldn’t see him, either.



While he was talking to his mom, I had called Allie to tell her the news. I had to pull the phone away from my ear because she shrieked so loudly, and we talked for a minute longer before I finally was able to get off the phone, promising that she would get to see the ring A.S.A.P.



We pulled up and the kids came running out, still in their pajamas, which got them yelled at for being out in the snow with no coat or clothes. I ushered them back in the house and the guys followed, all carting the bags and bags of gifts that we had for everyone.



Once we’d all opened our gifts, cleaned up, and helped mom get Christmas dinner on the table, we all sat down and ate. Calland for once was on his best behavior, with the exception of his outburst at the table when he was the first to notice my ring. I’d begged the guys not to say anything and they’d reluctantly agreed, figuring that I’d be shouting it to the rooftops, but I just wanted to see how long it would take them to notice.



I had been reaching for more macaroni and cheese when Calland, with a mouthful of food, hollered, “What the fuck is that?” before grabbing my hand, knocking macaroni all over the table. “Holy shit, Emma, did you knock off a jewelry store? Are you-” he turned to Luke. “Did you propose to my sister?”



Luke had nodded and my mom and sisters had squealed and surrounded me to see the ring. I can’t believe no one had noticed it earlier because I kept staring at it, honestly just loving the way it sparkled and shined on my finger.