Amber was avoiding him.

At least that what it felt like early the next morning. She hadn't come out of her room, even though Bo was making a holy ruckus about the bike.

"I can't believe Santa got here in that wicked snowstorm." Bo sat on the bike, struggling to pedal on the living room carpet.

"Rudolph must've had his nose turned on high-beam," Jace returned. "How about I make some coffee before we open presents? Give Amber some time to wake up?"

Because he wanted her to do this with them. Needed her to be there.

He put the coffeepot on, then stood at the counter, staring at the winter wonderland outside the window. Yesterday's storm had brought almost a foot of pristine white powder.

Except where his footprints from this morning's errand to the barn had disrupted the white blanket. He'd thought of the perfect gift after all. It was now hidden in his bedroom, waiting for the right moment.

He just needed Amber to accept it.

He was no longer afraid of what might happen if a relationship with Amber went badly.

He was already in deep enough that if she decided to leave him, there would be a fair amount of grief involved.

So he'd determined to do everything he could to make her want to stay.

For good.

The scent of coffee wafted through the room. The machine stopped brewing, and the last of the coffee dripped into the pot.

Bo wouldn't wait for long.

"C'mon, Dad!" came the call from the living room.

Speaking of.

Choosing to be optimistic, Jace poured two mugs of coffee and carried them with him.

When he hit the living room, Bo was pulling Amber by the hand from the hallway.

"She was awake!" Bo crowed. "I knocked and everything, just to be polite."

At least his son hadn't cannonballed onto her bed the way he'd woken Jace this morning. He sent her a chagrined smile.

Her return smile was too quick. He barely caught it before it faded. Like last night, her gaze bounced away from his.

No way.

He wasn't letting his Christmas miracle escape.

He strode directly toward her, detouring only to set the mugs on the coffee table. Though she'd stopped behind the couch, Bo still held her hand, as if he—like Jace—thought she was going to make a run for it.

"Why don't you see what's in your stocking?" he told his son.

"Yes!" Bo abandoned his hold on Amber and raced around the couch, toward the floor in front of the tree where his Christmas sock bulged with goodies. He didn't look back.

Amber watched the boy with a small smile playing around her mouth. But when her gaze met Jace's, it was full of uncertainty.

That had to go.

He didn't care that Bo was in the room. This couldn't wait.

He closed the distance between them and swept her into his arms, brushing kisses on her cheek and forehead before seeking her lips. He kissed her until they were both breathless and she was clinging to his shoulders.

Then he leaned his forehead against hers.

Somewhere behind him, Bo was exclaiming over the small gifts from his stocking.

When Jace's eyes finally came into focus, he saw a single tear falling down her cheek.

He cupped her face, let his thumb sweep it away.

"Christmas morning is a time for families," he whispered. "You're a part of ours."

He saw the hope spring to her eyes. Saw her quickly bank it.

"You were right last night. It was late. If I'd had any brain cells left, I would've said something about how incredible you've been with Bo for the last eighteen months. It doesn't seem to matter that you didn't have a mother, because you're a natural." He shrugged. "Maybe spending so much time with other kids taught you how to be a good mom. It's the little things, you know.” He lowered his voice. “Like elves. Bo sees you as more than his nanny. And I do, too."

Another tear rolled down her cheek, and this time, he kissed it away.

And heard, "Whoa! Are you guys kissing?"

He turned, keeping Amber in his arms, to find Bo jumping on the couch.

Before he could even ask what his son thought, Bo was flinging both arms above his head.

"Yes! This is the best Christmas ever!"

Amber giggled and Jace squeezed her waist. He brushed a kiss into her hair.

"I guess that answers that."

Amber stood in the circle of Jace's arms, her lips still tingling from his kisses. She couldn't stop smiling, even if her heart was pounding out of her chest.

Bo went flying off the couch with a war whoop.

She turned her face up to Jace's. "If you want to know more about my childhood, I'll tell you."

He deserved know everything about the woman who was taking care of his son.

Maybe she'd been wrong to keep her past a secret all this time. She'd thought she was protecting herself, but...

Sometime during the sleepless night, she'd decided that her past didn't define her. She'd come through it, bruised and scarred in some ways, but she could choose how to act, who to be now.

Jace nuzzled the place where her neck met her shoulder, sending a delicious shiver down her spine.

"I want to know everything about you," he said, his lips burning her bare skin. "When you're ready to tell me."

That was sweet.

And so was his kiss.

Last night, she'd thought she'd lost the chance to be with Jace like this. She'd never been so glad to be wrong in her entire life.

"Enough kissing!" Bo's voice broke through the perfect moment.

Maybe made it perfect in another way.

Jace smiled against her mouth, and then she was smiling, too.

"Da-ad! Amber! Presents!"

And then Bo was there, burrowing into the little space between them. For a moment, he seemed content to be part of a three-way hug, but it didn't last.

He bounded away, climbed over the back of the couch. "Please!"

With a laugh, Jace finally let her go.

That was all right.

Because she saw the look he sent her way. There would be more kisses later.

Good-night kisses.

Good-morning kisses.

Secret kisses, snuck as she ducked into the laundry room.

Maybe one day... wedding kisses?

Jace grinned as if he were reading her mind. "All right, all right. But since Santa's already delivered you a big one, I think we should let Amber open the first gift."

She crossed the room, aiming for the mug of coffee Jace had brought. "That's not—"

"Sit." Jace pointed an index finger at her.

Bo was bouncing on his toes, his eyes wide and excited.

She folded her legs beneath her and took a spot between the coffee table and the Christmas tree.

But instead of going to the tree and the massive pile of gifts beneath, Jace disappeared down the hall, Bo trailing him.

Strange.

She sipped her coffee, getting a little lost in a daydream of the New Year's Eve kisses she might receive.

Until a tiny jingle, jingle, jingle brought her back to the present.

A golden-haired puppy raced from the hallway in a zigzag pattern.

She barely had time to stash her coffee on the table before it careened into her lap, stumbling on paws that were one size too big.

She picked it up, tubby tummy and all. "Who're you?"

The puppy immediately started licking her chin.

The single bell that had been attached to a red ribbon around his neck jangled as she nuzzled her nose against the puppy's.

"Jace, what—?"

Man and boy stood just beyond the hallway, watching with matching broad smiles. Jace had one hand resting on his son's shoulder.

"A family doesn't seem like a family without a dog," Jace said.

He nudged Bo toward the Christmas tree and sat next to her, letting his long legs stretch out on the floor. He took something out of his pocket.

He looked a little... nervous.

The puppy tumbled out of her lap and onto the floor between them.

"Here," Jace extended a small red collar to her. "Put it on him."

Now he sounded nervous.

She laughed as the puppy tried to wrestle her hands as she untied the jingle bell ribbon.

Jace clasped her hand when she reached for the collar. She looked up to fall into his eyes.

"This collar is a token of my promise to you."

She started to smile. He sounded so serious. Like he was saying vows—

Her breath caught in her chest as the enormity of what was happening hit.

Jace squeezed her hand in his.

"With this collar, I promise that he—and you, will always have a home here. Not only in my house, but in my heart."

She couldn't help the single tear that dripped down her cheek..

He was offering her so much more than she'd dared to hope for.

A home. His heart.

A family.

"I accept," she whispered. She leaned in, and Jace met her with a sweet kiss.

"Aaah, enough kissing!" But Bo was laughing.

And then a tiny growl preceded the puppy grabbing the hem of her shirt in his razor teeth and playing tug of war.

She broke away from Jace, laughing.

He chuckled, too, as he disengaged the puppy from her pajamas and quickly secured the collar on the squirming, wiggly body.

"All right, Bo. Presents. Go ahead."

The boy dove for the tree with abandon. The puppy quickly followed suit, sniffing the artificial branches.

Jace scooted until they were shoulder-to-shoulder.

Amber had never felt such deep contentment as this.

She watched as Bo ripped open wrapping paper from his gifts. The puppy wrestled and fought with the discarded paper and ribbons, clumsy with his big puppy feet.

And Jace wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they sipped their coffees.

She'd force herself away to give him his gift soon.

Maybe.

She felt like she could stay here forever.

He tipped his head toward hers. "He's going to need a name."

She considered the pup. "What about Prancer? After the reindeer."

She saw Jace's nose wrinkle out of the corner of her eye.

"If you want him to get beat up by all the other dogs. What about Buck? Or Kujo?"

She laughed. "There's no way something this fluffy is a Kujo."

"Grinch?" Jace suggested next.

"He's got too much Christmas spirit to be the Grinch."

Bo had set a used self-adhesive bow on top of the dog's head, and it shook and growled until the puppy pitched forward and rolled.

Bo dissolved into little-boy giggles.

Jace's thumb traced a pattern on her shoulder. "I'm definitely feeling like the Grinch on Christmas morning," he confessed. "My heart's too big for my chest."

She turned to gaze up into his face. "Me too."

"Want to know the only thing that could make this moment better?" He leaned toward her.

She nodded, expecting him to close the distance and kiss her.

But the sparkle in his eye said different. "My Christmas gift."

She laughed even as the puppy attacked her sock, catching her toe with his sharp teeth.

Jace joined in the fun, starting a tickle war that Bo was quick to join in.

They only stopped when she was pinned beneath Jace on the floor in the middle of wrapping paper mess.

Well, Bo was lying across his dad, still pounding his fists.

Jace's hands pinned her wrists to the floor.

Jace looked down on her with dancing eyes. "Do you surrender?"

Her heart? It'd been his for a long time.

The tickle war was another matter. In her peripheral vision, she saw the puppy gearing up for a pounce—on Jace's ear.

As he moved to protect his head from puppy teeth and claws, Amber freed her arms to tickle his sides.

He arched away, then returned with a roar. Bo laughed, arms coming around his dad's shoulders.

And Amber soon found herself in Jace's lap, barred in by his arms. The puppy had been distracted by a ribbon and bow.

Jace blew hot air on her ear, and she shivered.

"Surrender," he said.

She turned her head, her hair catching in his morning scruff.

"I'm already yours."

His lips were in her direct line of sight. She watched his smile spread. This dear man.

She was well and caught. And she never wanted to get loose again.

* * *

Find out what happens with Jace and Amber on Christmas Eve one year later… get the bonus story .