We were spending Christmas Day at the MacGregor farm so we were keeping Christmas Eve for ourselves. I still had a million things to do. I’d been perfecting my lasagna game on Cal’s brothers for the last two weeks. I was pretty sure the last batch in my passenger seat was going to knock my fiancé’s socks off.
It wasn’t that I was a bad cook, I was just very regimented. It wasn’t fun for me. I could create any color in the rainbow on a head of hair, but ask me to be creative with ingredients and I froze. Luckily, Callum was a decent cook and even better at ordering take-out.
But it was our first official Christmas together, and I really wanted it to be special. And naked was definitely on the menu for dessert. Especially since our little insomniac had finally learned how to sleep through the night.
Mostly.
I pulled in the circular drive to my spot. A garage was in the future plans, but for now, we still parked outside. Cal’s Supra was tarped and tucked under our carport waiting for spring. He’d wanted to sell it when I’d told him we were pregnant, but I secretly loved that stupid penis mobile.
Surprisingly, his SUV wasn’t here. He must have taken the baby out to do some last-minute shopping.
I grabbed the insulated bag that held my precious lasagna and headed for the front steps. I still couldn’t believe this was our place. I’d managed to get those traditional bulbs for the roofline in the sale of the house. I mean, really, what was the previous owner going to do with them? It was like they were made for the house.
Each bulb was tucked perfectly into the gingerbread lace along the gables and roofline, as well as the trim and corbels. I’d done a staggering amount of research to make sure any outside renovations kept up with the age of the house. Callum had gotten into the deep dive of research—way past me. The professor in him geeked out and found levels of history to our house I didn’t even know how to find.
Then he’d done a painting of the house with me on the porch wearing his white dress shirt for my birthday. He could be very sweet at times. I had a feeling he was working on something else for Christmas. He hadn’t let me in his studio for the last few weeks.
Just as I got to the steps, twin beams of light came up the drive. Cal’s Mazda SUV slowed around our circular drive. He waved at me then parked.
I set the lasagna down on the steps and went to meet him.
He hopped out and I got a little zing. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to how sexy my guy was. He had a gray tweed jacket on over a soft black cashmere sweater and jeans. To accent his professor chic, he was wearing his pageboy hat. It shouldn’t have worked, but I had one hot teacher-slash-artist for a lover. And soon-to-be husband.
“Hey there. I was hoping I’d beat you home.” He drew me in for a quick kiss.
“Well, hello there yourself. You taste like…chocolate.”
There were enough lights on our house to light up a street so I could plainly see the flush rising up his neck. “I had to pick up a few last-minute presents. Faith and I had a date at the diner.”
“You had Greta’s chocolate cream pie, didn’t you?”
He held up a finger. “I did. But…” He leaned back into the SUV and pulled out a bag. “I brought a whole pie home for Christmas.”
“Okay. Forgiven.” I took the bag and peeked inside. “Anything else for me in there?”
“Different bag and not until tomorrow.”
“Mean.”
He grinned at me. Then the piercing scream of our daughter tried to shatter glass. He crossed his eyes and put his other bags down. He opened the door to the backseat. “Faith Mistletoe MacGregor, what is your malfunction?”
I laughed and peeked around the window to wiggle my fingers at Faith. “Hello, love. Are you giving your daddy trouble?”
“Only because she’s not the center of attention for five seconds.”
Faith giggled and grabbed Cal’s beard.
“Ouch.” He untwisted her fingers and finally got the five point harness undone. Just like a champ, he had her swaddled into the blanket we always kept in the car. Coats and carseats didn’t work anymore with all the new laws.
I flipped back the edge of the blanket so she could see me. “Boo.”
Faith’s laugh bubbled out along with some drool. I had a feeling teething was going to be in our future sooner rather than later. Cal hiked her onto his shoulder and grabbed her bag, handing it off to me.
Weighed down with all our bags, we trudged up to the front steps.
“What’s this?” He pointed at the insulated container on the porch.
“Nothing.”
“Hmm.” He gave me a narrow-eyed look and opened the door for me.
Before I could get through the door, he gave me a quick, hot kiss.
He glanced up at the mistletoe.
“That’s new.” I couldn’t stop the smile even as Faith howled out her disgust at being bundled up.
“Okay, okay. I’m moving as fast as I can.” We headed inside and Cal whipped off her blanket and slung it on the couch. “I may have put a few decorations up.”
I automatically picked up the blanket and folded it. “We have decorations everywhere.”
“Yeah, just a few.” He bounced Faith a few times to get her giggling again as he undid her sweater.
I glanced at the archways to each room from the foyer. There were lit up bows of evergreen tacked up with a little dangling bit of mistletoe for each. “Really?”
“What? It’s the Christmas spirit.”
“You don’t need an excuse to kiss me, sir.”
“No, but I don’t mind the extra bonus kisses.” He picked up two of the shopping bags and dropped them by the tree.
I followed, picking up the baby things he’d left laying around. Before we got into the kitchen, he swung me around into his arms with Faith. He planted a kiss on Faith’s ruddy cheeks then one on my laughing mouth.
“Did you eat?” He went right for the fridge and took out a bottle for Faith. We had a nice schedule down for her, and it seemed to help her sleeping habits.
Callum was a very good father. Between the research he’d done—books on baby to childhood development littered our bedroom and another dozen were scattered in his office—and his precise schedule, we had a damn happy baby on our hands.
And a happy mom. I didn’t worry about leaving him alone with her. Callum had stepped up and then some. His studio was a study in chaos, but when it came to our baby, he was as organized as…well, a teacher.
Guess I’d gotten the best of both worlds there.
I picked up the cap from the bottle and put it in the sterilizer. Well, some things were still chaos. And personally, the fact that he wasn’t perfect was a relief. I certainly wasn’t.
He’d settled with the baby at the kitchen table. He propped up her bottle with his thumb and took off his hat, tossing it on the table. “Did you want to feed her?”
I moved to kiss her goose-down fluffy blond curls then threaded my fingers through his wild hat hair. “Nah, you guys are all settled. I’ll just put some stuff away.”
He snagged the loop on my jeans and dragged me back. He lifted his chin toward the holly berries mixed with mistletoe hanging from the chandelier. “Pay your toll first.”