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“It’s cold,” I interject. “I can start your car and get it warming for you if you’d like. Give you a few more minutes together.”
Her head shakes. “That’s all right. I’ve already overstayed my allotted time.” She opens her arms, welcoming December into a hug. “This was…nice.”
“Yes,” December whispers, squeezing her mother tight, “it was.”
A chill weasels its way inside when we open the door, then December and I wait under the arch while her mother meanders down the driveway to her car in the blackness of night.
“You okay?” I murmur, tucking my arm around my Dece and looking down into her serene face.
Her head tilts forward. “I’m relieved.” She nestles against me, clinging. “So relieved.”
Letting tension free, I ease and bend to kiss her forehead.
“Oh,” she says, before I can consider stealing a deeper kiss.
I nuzzle. “Mm?”
December lifts her finger, directing my attention away from her soft cheek. “Mom has a light out.”
I blink. Pulling free of my fiancée, I look at the woman’s headlights while she checks something in her visor mirror. Sure enough. One’s out. “That’s not good,” I mutter, unwinding from around December and stepping out into the cold. Once I’m at the driveway, I wave to get Mrs. Rosier’s attention, and she tenses, cracking her window.
“Yes?”
I toss my thumb toward the hood of her car. “Your passenger headlight’s out.”
Her lashes flutter, the action so similar to December’s. “Oh. Thank you. I’ll get that checked.”
Gruff, I shake my head. “It’s cloudy tonight. Pop your hood and cut the engine. It might just be loose, and I can fix it now in a few seconds.”
Her brows lower, but she obliges, so I round to the front of her vehicle, find the latch, and prop the hood to take a look.
In a minute, I’m done, the light comes on when her vehicle starts, and she thanks me again before backing out into the road. Wiping my hands off on my jeans, I wait until she’s out of sight before I face my parents’ home again.
The glow from the front windows mingles with the flickering Christmas lights trimming the roof. Centermost in the scene, my Dece stands in the entryway, leaning against the closed front door.
Expression soft, she watches me, so I approach, stopping a foot from her to murmur, “What’s that look for?”
Her head shakes. “Just in love, is all.”
I arch a brow. “Oh, yeah? That’s all, huh?”
Slipping from beside the wreath on the door, she sinks into my arms, an angel garbed in the twinkle of the multi-colored lights strung all around us. Her hand reaches for my face, so I bend to let her kiss me. Her breath heats my skin, and I draw her closer, craving it.
Voice rough, I say, “Everything went well?”
“Yes.”
“Thank—” I swear, puddling my fingers in her hair. “Sorry that I was on my very best behavior. I got nervous.”
She giggles into my mouth, and the vibrations tickle my soul. “I noticed. You’re such a sweetheart. I think you’ve tricked me.”
“Tricked you?”
“Into thinking you’re all big and bad. I swear it’s the shoulders. I’ve been fooled. You’re just a pile of extra-sugary jello.”
Forgetting that my entire immediate family is inside, I slam my babygirl against the wall, pinning her little wrists above her head against the siding. “Go on. Goad me.”
“You’re just soo gentle.”
