My girl is a breath of fresh air.
“I like spoiling you. And those things are selfishly for me too. I’m hoping that means I get to see you more.”
“That’s not why I’m with you, Holden.”
“All the more reason to do so.” I lean over the small stack of presents and press my lips to hers. “Now, how are we going to do this? One at a time or all at once?”
“I say we go one at a time. You first.” She points at the pile of gifts with my name on them.
Grabbing the first gift, I slowly pull off the ribbon and begin to tear at the paper. When I lift the lid from the box, I sift through the tissue paper and pull out a jersey. A Blaze jersey. I hold it up, take in the front before turning to look at the back, and my name, Bailey, is embroidered on the back. “How did you get this?”
“So, I might have called in a favor to my uncle Drew.”
“When did you have time to do that?”
“I might have shot him a text a couple of days ago and asked if the orders for your replicas had come in yet. I know they ordered during the off-season, and I was hopeful yours was included in that order since he knew of the trade.”
I stare at the jersey and try to remember the anger I had when I found out I was traded. I haven’t even stepped foot onto the field with my new team, but already the Blaze feels like home. Maybe it’s my hometown, and maybe it’s the girl sitting across from me. Either way, the anger is gone, and dare I say, it’s replaced with happiness. I’m more content at this moment, in this time in my life, than I can ever remember being in the past.
“Thank you, Parker,” I say, my voice a little higher than normal.
“There’s something else in there.” She smiles.
I reach into the box and pull out another jersey. This one is much smaller than the one before it. “That one’s mine,” she says, leaning over to grab it from me. She holds it to her chest. “I have to represent, right?”
“You’re damn right you do.” I lean forward, and she meets me halfway for a kiss that has my cock twitching in my jeans.
“Your turn.” I pull away from her lips before I toss her over my shoulder and carry her to my room.
She smiles and reaches for the smallest box. I watch her as she opens the scarf and gloves. “I love them. Thank you so much. You know they actually match that coat I was looking at the other day. Maybe I’ll go back and see if it’s still there.”
Her comment has me biting down on my cheek. I can’t wait until she opens the coat. “Open another one,” I tell her, anxious for her to choose the largest of the packages.
“Nope. It’s your turn.”
Reaching for another box, I tear at the paper much faster this time and inside is a Blaze ball cap. “You heard Uncle Lee razzing me about not supporting my team tonight. I love it. Thank you.”
“I did hear him. I almost cornered him and told him that I had you covered but decided not to.”
“It’s perfect. Thank you.”
She reaches for another box, and this time, it’s the perfume I bought her. She sprays a little on the inside of her wrist and offers it to me to smell. We go back and forth like this a few more times. I open a set of pajamas with baseballs all over them and a sweater. Parker opens the pair of small gold hoop earrings and the Blaze sweatshirt that I had my name and number added in a heat press to the back at the mall.
“Last one,” I say, pushing the large box toward her.
“You’ve already gotten me too much,” she protests.
“Just open it, sweet pea.” Doing as I say, she reaches for the box and rips it into the paper. When she pulls off the lid and reaches in to pull out the coat, she gasps.
“H-How? How did you know?” she asks, hugging the coat to her chest and staring at me.
“I didn’t. I was looking at coats, and the saleslady said it was popular and that a young lady was eyeing for a long time just before me. I showed her your picture, and she confirmed it was you. So I bought it.”
“You’re something else, Holden. I can’t believe you were able to track down the exact coat I was looking at. I don’t even need it. I have so many, but I really love it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She climbs over the boxes, and I open my arms for her as she settles on my lap. She links her hands behind my neck and pulls me into a kiss. I want to get lost in it, in her, but we’re not done yet.
“I have one more gift. This one is for both of us as well.”
Her blue eyes light up. I reach behind me, where I shoved the small box, and hand it to her. “What is it?”
“Open it.” She pulls the lid from the small box and lifts the ornament. I watch as she traces over our names and the year, and the words, our first Christmas. “I thought maybe we could start our own tradition.”
“Ornaments?”
“Yeah, one for every year.”
“You know you’re talking about the future, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
“You’re making it impossible for both my head and my heart not to get attached to you.”
“Perfect. Once your soul is on board, you’ll be caught up to where I am.”
“And where’s that?”
“You’re not ready to hear it. Not yet,” I say before softly pressing my lips to hers.
“We should put this on the tree.” She stands and offers me her hand, pulling me from the floor. “It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb on this matching tree.” She laughs as she chooses a branch in the middle to hang the ornament. They’re all matching, just like you would see at a department store, but I’m hoping that’s going to change. We have years to add our own personal ornaments. Maybe we’ll get a special tree just for sentimental decorations.
“Well, we’re just going to have to buy another tree just for our ornaments.”
“That’s silly.”
“Is it? There are all kinds of life-changing events that we can purchase ornaments for.”
“Oh, Holden.” She wraps her arms around my waist and buries her face in my chest. I return her embrace and savor the moment. I never want to forget what this feels like. It’s not the house, or the tree, or the new furniture, but the woman in my arms who makes this place feel like home.
“Will you stay?” I ask.
With her head tilted back, she smiles up at me. “I’d love to.”
That smile of hers has my heart constricting in my chest. “Let me lock up and turn off the tree.”
“We should clean up first.”
“Nah, leave it. It will be here tomorrow. Right now, all I want to do is hold you.” That’s not entirely true. I want to do more than hold her, but no way am I going to make her feel pressured. “Go on up and get ready. I’ll be right there.”
She nods and stands on her tiptoes, her lips meeting with mine. “Thank you for an amazing day, Holden.”
I swallow hard. “We have many more ahead of us.” After another quick kiss, I pull away from her. She heads upstairs, and I make sure the house is locked up and turn off the tree. The past three days have been crazy getting everything set up to be here, but this moment was worth it all. I wouldn’t change a single second of any of it.