Travis

I wake to the bed shifting beside me. I roll and reach for her, catching her around the waist before she can leave the bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask before planting a wet kiss on her bare shoulder. Liv sighs and relaxes into me.

“I should get back before Hannah wakes,” she murmurs, and I stiffen behind her. She’s leaving already, long before the sun has begun to rise.

My mind begins to go in different directions, but I tap it down, refusing to allow myself to doubt what’s transpired between us.

But the truth is, I don’t know what to expect, and after everything we’ve been through, the last thing I want is to let her leave my bed. I swallow hard, feeling the asshole in me wanting this to be nothing more than a one-night stand, but the man inside of me knows it’s the start of something more.

“How long is your ex going to be in town?” I ask, trying to figure out how to broach the subject.

“Until tomorrow. He needs to get back to work. I didn’t know he was coming, but he’s been missing Hannah,” she explains.

“He good to her?”

“When it comes to Hannah, it’s the one thing he always got right. He’s a natural at the dad thing.”

“Good, she deserves that.” I nod. “She’s a good kid.”

“Yeah, even on the days she’s seven going on sixteen.” She sighs with a smile on her lips. I shift on the bed, pulling her into my lap, where she settles. Our hands find some way to touch one another, caressing and rubbing, like they’ve done it for years.

The room grows silent, but it doesn’t take long for the elephant in the room to finally rear its ugly head.

“Travis…” Her voice comes out nervous and shaky. “About last night…”

“Yeah,” I say softly and find her hand to lace our fingers together. I’m not ready to let go. She tightens her hold on me, and I relax.

“I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

“Electric.” I nod.

“I was married for eight years, but even before Parker, there was never anyone who made me feel the way you do. It’s not just the sex either—”

“It’s all of it,” I interject, knowing the feeling she’s describing all too well. I’ve lived the life of a bachelor, but she’s the only woman to ever affect me this way. “It’s the same for me.”

“What does it mean?” she asks, twisting in my arms to look me in the eyes.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. All I can think about is how perfect she looks first thing in the morning with sex hair and crystal-blue eyes. “But I’d like to find out.”

“It’s more than sex.” She nods.

“What do you want, Liv?” I ask knowing what I want, and that’s to wake up every morning with her in my arms like this.

Mine!

Shit, where did that come from?

It’s true, though. From the moment I laid eyes on her, she has been mine. Only I wasn’t ready to admit it until now.

“I don’t know.” She shrugs, and I feel the sting of her words but try to remain calm. She’s recently divorced. Maybe she needs time. “But I’d be a fool if I said I didn’t want to explore it with you. Can we go slow?”

“We can do that,” I agree, feeling a surge of happiness bloom in my chest, but knowing full well I’m not going to go slow. She’s mine, and the sooner she learns to accept it, the sooner we can start our lives together.

“Are you sure? I’m a single mom, Trav, and I come with a whole lot of crazy.”

“One of the things I like best about you is that you’re a single mother.” I pull her in tighter and nuzzle her neck, brushing my lips against the soft skin. “I was raised by a single mother. All I wanted for her is to find someone who’d love her the way she deserved. Sadly, she never got over my father.”

“I’m sorry. Some loves are hard to give up.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I swallow, thinking about the emptiness I know I’d feel if Liv walked away from me. It’s difficult for me to imagine my mother feeling that way about my father. After all, he nearly broke her. “He split Christmas Eve. Didn’t say good-bye. Took whatever money we had, said he was going to buy me a gift or two, but never came back. She took it hard, blamed herself.”

“How old were you?”

“I was five.”

“Betty said terrible things happened to your family around the holidays,” she explains. “Is that when it started for you?”

“Yeah. What did Betty tell you exactly?”

“About your grandfather, and the Christmas you broke you’re your arm. She didn’t get personal, but it was enough for me to understand why you’re a grinch.” I cringe at the name, even though it describes me perfectly. “Unfortunately, it’s my favorite time of the year.”

I hear the concern in her voice and the question in her statement. Can it work between us, given we’re on two separate ends of the spectrum? She doesn’t celebrate simply for her daughter, and I’ve seen the flair she chooses to celebrate the holiday with. It comes down to me and whether I can live with a holiday that carries a lot of hurt for me.

“I walked in on my ex-wife with another man. In our bed, on Christmas Eve, four years ago,” I start, feeling the need to share in my chest. I’ve haven’t talked to anyone about what happened, but she makes me want to live in the now instead of holding on to the past. “I worked at a law firm in Atlanta, and like any ambitious young man, was trying to make partner. Caroline, my ex-wife, knew my career came first, and she knew I didn’t like celebrating Christmas, so it was no surprise to her when I told her I’d be working through the holiday. She never complained, but I wanted to do something special. I planned a romantic getaway, a surprise. Turns out we both got a surprise that night.”

“Fuck,” she swears and turns in my arms. “Is that what brought you here?”

“Betty needed the help, and I needed a fresh start.” I nod. “Law was my mother’s idea, but it never felt right to me. Put me under the hood of a car, and it’s like I’m home.”

“I walked in on Parker with someone else. His assistant, Carter. I thought it might break me, but it actually freed me.” She takes a breath, and I can’t help feeling kindred to her. We were both living a life not meant for us, but it brought us here, to this moment. “This town is our fresh start, too.”

When I look in her eyes, all the hurt and the pain disappear. All the fears and the anger I felt fade away until there is nothing left but her and me. The way it should have been that first day.

“Liv, nothing good comes out of the holidays for me.” My voice feels foreign in my throat as the realization of something good happening hits me in the chest, warming me even more. “But that was before you moved in next door.”

“Sounds like someone might believe in Christmas miracles.”

I lean down, touching my forehead to hers. “I’m starting to.”

“So, slow and steady,” she murmurs, her lips seeking mine out.

“Slow and steady,” I agree, but not before adding. “A fresh start.”

She smiles, opening her mouth to me, deepening the kiss.

And together, we make a silent vow to make every Christmas as good as this one.

The Christmas something good finally happened.

The Christmas she moved in next door.