Page 35 of Baby, It’s Hotter Inside

“Annie Fitzpatrick, I’m in love with you. And I suspect I have been for years. I’m scared as fuck about getting everything with you wrong and not being able to provide or be a good father, but I want to be with you. I want to have a family with you.”

I’m crying now, but I don’t even care. “You love me?”

“Yeah, baby, I do. So fucking much. I know I don’t deserve you. That you deserve a better man, a more complete man. But I’m a selfish ass and I want you to be mine.”

“I don’t want anyone but you. I love you too.”

epilogue

Kris

One year later

I stand in front of our Christmas tree which is decorated with blue and silver lights, tiny menorah’s and dreidels. We’ve made our own holiday, blending parts of both of us. I look down in my arms at our four-month old son, Asher, as I tell him about our various family traditions.

I hear the stairs creak behind us and turn to see my gorgeous wife.

“Morning, Beautiful.”

She gives me a quick kiss, then kisses the baby’s head. He has wisps of black hair, like hers, but he has my eyes.

“You didn’t wake me,” she says.

“I wanted you to sleep. How are you feeling?”

Her hand goes to her stomach and she smiles. “I’m okay. We might need to lock down that super sperm of yours though after this little nugget comes along.”

Yep, we’re pregnant again. Annie’s photography and cover design business is booming and yours truly has been on a handful of covers. As have some of my co-workers from the security company where I now work.

“Merry Christmas,” Annie says.

“Merry Christmas, baby, I love you.”

Asher starts to fuss in my arms and my wife reaches for him. “He’s hungry.”

“You’re perfect, babe,” I tell her.

She rolls her eyes, but smiles. “Kris, I left my phone upstairs. Is your ringer on?”

“Yes. We’ll know the minute Brock calls us.”

“Only Ginger would go into labor on Christmas Eve.”

I stand by the tree and watch the love of my life nurse our perfect son while she’s growing our next child. I’m the luckiest son of a bitch there ever was.

snowed in with the grump

Jackie

This year, all I want for Christmas is to not see my ex-boyfriend’s wife flashing her baby bump all around town. When my best friend gifts me a week at a mountain cabin, I jump at the chance to get out of Saddle Creek for the holidays. Except instead of solitude and hot cocoa, I find the last thing I expect: Luca Daniels.

Not only is Luca the hottest guy I’ve ever known, but he’s also my best friend’s older brother. Apparently, he thinks the cabin is his for the week. But this is my vacation and I’m too stubborn to leave. If he finds my infectious Christmas joy annoying, then he can choke on a sugar plum! We’ve never gotten along and could legitimately argue about anything. So color me surprised when we’re snowed in together, and I realize the line between love and hate just might be thinner than the stripes on a candy cane.

chapter twenty-one

Jackie

When I was ten years old, the one thing I wanted, more than anything else for Christmas, was that beauty doll salon head. Even at that tender age, I already knew I wanted to be a hair stylist and I wanted to practice. Especially since I’d already gotten in trouble for giving the dog a trim and braiding my baby sister’s hair so tightly, it made her cry.