~~~
Travis and Roman worked until just before dark. They trimmed, shaped, and collected boughs for wreaths until they had a pile of boughs taller than Travis, and almost as tall as Roman. When they’d had enough of that for one day, they went into the workshop and found that Libby had finished the arch. So, they’d put that up and also attached the giant candy cane cutouts to the supports for the arch on either side of the entrance.
“What else do you have to do?” Roman asked, standing back and looking at their handiwork.
“Gotta decorate with Christmas lights, across the arch, and down each candy cane, across the top of the fence in both directions. And the house, too. Have to get all the decorations up on the house. Needs to look like Christmas blew up,” Travis said.
“Okay. I’ll be back tomorrow to help you with that,” Roman said.
“You sure? You don’t have anything you need to do with Riley?” Travis asked.
“Naw. We finished for the holidays. I'm trying to stay busy,” Roman answered. “Keep my mind off things.”
“You talked to her?” Travis asked.
Roman shook his head slowly. “I’ll try again on the way home.”
“She’ll answer at some point. Don’t give up. She must be dealing with something, ya know?” Travis said.
“Yeah,” Roman answered, not sounding totally convinced.
“Hey, seriously. Don’t give up. She called you first, remember? Ya’ll were talking pretty regular weren’t you?” Travis asked.
“Pretty much. Not every day, but a few times a week. Getting to know each other,” Roman answered.
“And…”
“She quit answering,” Roman said.
“And you haven’t heard from her again?” Travis asked.
“She did leave me a message saying that she would be out of pocket for a while, had some things happening she needed to take care of, but not to worry.”
“Well, there you go. Give her some space and she’ll let you know when she can talk again,” Travis said, hoping he was being encouraging.
“I’m trying,” Roman answered. “Think I’ll head on home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Okay. Drive safe,” Travis said. He stood watching Roman get in his truck and drive away. He felt sorry for his friend. It wasn’t that long ago he was feeling just as lost as Roman was now. Travis turned his attention to his home. He could see the welcoming glow of the lights inside through the curtains in the windows. He started walking toward it. The whole house felt different knowing Libby was inside it. This was what he wanted every single day for the rest of his life. To know that his woman was inside their home, waiting for him, secure in the knowledge that home was their safe place.
He opened the door and stepped inside, almost moaning in pleasure at the smell of vanilla, cinnamon, and bananas from the Christmas cookies and banana bread and cupcakes that she’d been baking all afternoon. “Libby? I’m home, honey!”
Chapter 11
Maia stepped over the boxes, bags, wrapping paper, and bows strewn about the living room floor. She was in full Christmas wrap mode. There were only about three weeks until Christmas, and she already had the guys outside decorating the house. While they were doing that, and Sebastian was napping, she decided to get as much wrapped as she could.
“Baby, you wanna come take a look?” Riley said, after opening the door and sticking his head inside.
“Sure,” Maia answered, looking up from the big Paw Patrol Christmas wrapped box she’d just finished with. She got to her feet, then picked up the box, moving to the corner behind her with the others she’d already wrapped. Maia set the box down and turned back around to find Riley still exactly where he was, the door cracked open, his hand on the doorknob, leaning over with a goofy grin on his face as he stared at the place her ass had been before she turned to face him.
“Really?” she asked.
Riley’s eyes popped up to meet her sarcastic gaze. “I can’t help it, baby. I see you in those yoga pants, bending over like that, and it just does something to me,” he said, grinning at her.
“Yeah, I know what it does to you,” she said, walking toward him.
When she got within reach, he straightened up and reached for her wrist, pulling her in to a hug. Riley held her against him while he grinned down at her. “Yes, you do. And you like it when looking at what’s mine does that to me.”
Maia went up on her tiptoes at the same time he lowered his face so she could reach. She kissed him, then nipped his lower lip.
Riley’s Panther rumbled in pleasure and Riley lightly slapped her ass. “Mmm, you looking for trouble, woman,” he warned playfully on a growl.
“So are you,” she warned, slapping his ass in return.
“Can ya’ll possibly keep your hands off each other long enough to come look at the dang lights?” Lucas asked from outside.
“No. We can’t. And if we could, we wouldn’t, just because it irritates you so much,” Maia answered, walking past Riley and out onto the porch after grabbing up the baby monitor sitting on the side table right inside the front door.
Riley started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Maia asked, looking at him over her shoulder.
“That sounded so much like your daddy,” Riley answered, still laughing.
“Well, I am my Daddy’s daughter,” she teased as she sashayed off the porch and down into the yard to get a good look at the decorations.
Lucas stood halfway between Maia and Riley. He looked over at Riley who was taking his time joining his mate in their front yard to survey their lights and characters they were putting up. “Don’t that make you nervous? I mean just the teeniest little bit?”
“Naw, she loves me,” Riley answered, finally coming to a stop beside Maia.
“You know they say love is blind,” Lazarus snarked from his place up on the roof.
“Yes, the hell it is,” Lucas agreed a little too forcefully.
“I love it!” Maia said, looking up at the roof.
“It’s like you wanted it?” Riley asked.
“Exactly as I wanted. Ya’ll did a great job,” she said, looking up at the roof. There was now a blow up chimney on the roof complete with a Grinch in a Santa suit, and he was holding onto a Christmas tree that appeared to be half in, half out of the chimney.
“Cristie’s going to love it! The Grinch is her favorite,” Maia said, smiling happily.
“She’s going to be very excited,” Riley agreed.
Maia looked around. “Hey, where’s Roman?” she asked.
“He asked right after we got back if he could take the truck. I didn’t think to ask where he was going,” Lucas answered.
“Hmm. If he’s not back tonight, let me know,” Riley said. “Been worried about him lately since Talie’s gone radio silent.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s nearby. He said if he wasn’t home by the time somebody needed the truck, to call and he’d head on back right away,” Lucas said.
“Alright, at least it sounds like he’s still local,” Maia said.