Her stepdad looked at him. “Max Stranton. What are you doing here?”
“I’m Rory’s boyfriend,” he said so easily that Rory’s heart skipped a beat. “The storm slowed us down,” Max went on. “The roads were a mess.”
“You two okay?” her stepdad asked.
“Yes,” Max said. “But we stopped to help an older couple with a flat, and then my dog took off on us. Rory could’ve gotten a ride from the one car who’d stopped but she stayed to help me find Carl.”
Her stepdad looked at Rory.
“I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you,” she said, “but there was no way I could just take the ride and leave Max alone on the summit in the storm with his dog missing.”
“Of course not,” her stepdad said.
Rory blinked. Was that . . . understanding in her stepdad’s voice? Still stunned at that, she turned to Max when he said her name. He cupped the nape of her neck in a big palm and pulled her in for a quick but warm kiss. “Any time,” he said softly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Even if it’s in a few hours.”
She let out a half laugh that was more like a sob so she cut it off. “I already told you, I won’t cut your visit short—”
“Or yours,” her stepdad said. He’d left the front porch and had come closer. “Your mom and sisters are going to be thrilled you made it, Rory.”
She looked at him. “Really?”
He gestured with his chin and turned to the front door, where her mom and her three half sisters waited with welcoming smiles on their faces, waving. They were all still in their PJ’s, keeping them inside, but at their clear joy at seeing her she felt a lump in her throat.
“It’s Christmas,” her stepdad said quietly. “And you’re actually here. Merry Christmas, Rory. Welcome home. We’ll wait inside for you.” And then with one look at Max standing strong and tall at her side, he turned and headed back to the house.
Max pulled her into him. “Knew you could handle this.”
“How?” she asked in marvel. “I mean, I’ve been with me for twenty-three years and I still don’t get me.”
He let out a low laugh and pressed his forehead to hers. “I was a little slow on the uptake, but I’ve got you now and I don’t plan for that to change.”
Her breath caught. That sounded a whole lot like her greatest fantasy come true.
“There’s one more thing.” He nudged her face up. “I love you, Rory. I think I always have.”
Emotion flooded her and her knees wobbled. “I need to sit.”
Max urged her back a few steps to his still open truck. When she was once again in the passenger seat, he crouched in front of her. “Still with me?”
Her heart had started to pound. She’d never thought to hear the L-word from anyone, much less him, but there it was, out in the open. She should have known it would be like that with him. Honest. Straightforward. She looked into his eyes and nodded. “Still here.”
“Did you just nearly pass out when I told you my feelings?” he asked.
“No. I nearly passed out when I realized something.”
“What?”
“That I think feel the same way,” she whispered like this was a state secret, loving the way it made him smile all the way to his eyes, allowing her to access a well of courage she hadn’t known she’d had. She slid her fingers into his hair, which she now knew would make him purr like a cat, a big, wild cat. “I love you, Max.” She paused and then let out a small smile as she repeated his vow. “I think I always have.”
His low laugh warmed her to the far corners of her heart and he pulled her in for a tight squeeze. “I’ll be back for you. You going to be okay?”
She realized she’d been holding her breath again, for what she had no idea. For him to change his mind? Laugh? Take it all back? “So . . . that’s it?” she asked. “You love me, I love you, the end?”
“For now,” he said.
“And later?”
He lifted a shoulder. “We can talk about our next step.”
“Which would be . . . ?” she asked.
He kissed the tension away and then pulled back far enough to say, “Whatever you want.”
“What about what you want?” she asked, breathless. She was pretty sure he kissed her just to leave her in a state.
He stroked the hair from her face. “I want it all.”
Oh. Well, that sounded . . . promising. And exciting. She was so happy she yanked him in and kissed him until both of them were breathless. “Merry Christmas,” she whispered against his lips. “I’ll give you your real present later.”
He smiled sexily. “Sounds promising.”
She smiled back. “It is.”
Holiday Wishes
Chapter One
TO SAY Sean felt stressed was a huge understatement. Give him a cliff to scale or a bar brawl to break up. Hell, give him a freight train to try to outrun, anything but having to pull off being the best man for his brother Finn’s wedding—including but not limited to keeping said brother from losing his collective shit.
It’s not like Sean didn’t understand. Getting married was a big deal. Okay, so he didn’t fully understand, not really, but he wanted to. He really did. And how funny was that? Sean O’Riley, younger brother, hook-up king extraordinaire, was suddenly tired of the game and found himself aching for his own forever after.
“We almost there?” Finn asked him from the backseat of the vehicle Sean was driving.
“Yep.”
“And you double checked on our reservations?”
“Yep.”
“No, I’m serious, man,” Finn said. “Remember when you took me to Vegas and when we got there, every hotel was booked and we had to stay at the Magic-O motel?”
“Man, a guy screws up one time . . .”
“We had a stripper pole in our rooms, Sean.”
Sean sighed. “Okay, but to be fair, that was back when I was still in my stupid phase. I promise you that we have reservations—no stripper poles. I even double and triple checked, just like you asked me a hundred and one times. Pru, I hope you realize you’re marrying a nag.”
Pru, Finn’s fiancée, laughed from the shotgun position. “Hey, one of us has to be the nag in this relationship, and it isn’t me.”
Sean held up a palm and Pru leaned over the console to give him a high-five.
“Just so you know,” Sean said to Finn, “I didn’t pick this place, your woman did.”
“True story,” Pru said. “The B&B’s closed to the public this entire weekend. Sean booked the whole place for our bachelor/bachelorette party weekend extravaganza.”
“I superheroed this thing,” Sean said.
Finn snorted and let loose of a small smile because they both knew that for most of Sean’s childhood, that’s what he’d aspired to be, a superhero—sans tights though. Tights had never been Sean’s thing, especially after suffering through them for two seasons in high school football before he’d mercifully cracked his clavicle.