Christmas Wish

by Jill Sanders

  The first thing he did when they stepped into the house was wrap his arms around Laura and hold onto her. Feeling her shiver, he hoisted her up into his arms and carried her into his bathroom.

  “I feel like the only thing that can warm me is you,” he said as he gently pulled their borrowed clothes off them. He stepped under the hot spray with her body pressed against his, and his control slipped. He started to show her just how he felt about her.

  It was as if his hands moved on their own accord, taking what he needed from her while enjoying those sexy little pleasure sounds that she made. The more his need grew, the more demanding he was. He pushed her against the tile wall, hoisted her up, and pinned her between him and the wall as he fully embedded himself into her heat.

  There had never been anything equal to the pleasure she gave him. Her skin felt so wonderful rubbing up against his, the feeling of her breasts in his hands, her lips sliding over his own. It was all so much, but he kept trying to wait for the signs that she’d gotten to her pleasure. Only when he felt her tighten around him and cry out his name did he allow himself to let go of everything.

  “That was a first.” Laura sighed against his shoulder.

  “Hm?” he asked, holding them both up against the shower wall.

  “First time in the shower.” She leaned her head back and rested it on the tile. He noticed her wince when she bumped the spot on the back of her head where the vase had connected.

  “You’re hurting.” He gathered her up again and sat on the shower bench with her in his lap.

  “I’m fine.” She smiled up at him. “Just tired.” She rested her head against his, and he realized there was still a little dried blood in her hair. For the next few minutes, he carefully shampooed her hair, removing all the caked blood from her long blonde locks.

  “I could just fall asleep here, in your arms,” she said with a sign.

  “Then do. I’ll take care of you,” he promised as he used the sprayer to rinse the shampoo from her hair.

  “Hmm, I’m sort of hungry.” She glanced up at him. “You don’t happen to have any chocolate in the house, do you?”

  He chuckled and nodded, then quickly scooped her up and turned off the water.

  He enjoyed drying her with the oversized towels that had been one of his first purchases for the place.

  “Here.” He pulled out a pair of his sweats and handed them to her, then pulled on another pair himself. “You relax back. I’ll go hunt us up some chocolate.”

  She didn’t waste any time. After pulling on the sweats, she crawled under the blankets and pulled them up to her chin.

  “I’ll start a fire in here first.” He sidetracked and lit a fire in the fireplace. He’d warmed up a little, but still, it was as if his core was a few degrees too low. Warming his hands for a moment to make sure the fire took off, he glanced over and noticed that Laura was watching him.

  “Thanks,” she said softly, “for saving me.”

  He smiled and felt his heart swell with love. “Any time.”

  Ten minutes later, he walked back into the bedroom holding a tray of mugs filled with hot chocolate and a bowl of chocolate mousse topped with cool whip.

  Her entire face was under the covers.

  “You okay in there?” he asked, pulling back the blankets.

  She cracked open her eyes and nodded. “I’m still so cold.”

  He touched her forehead and realized she was burning up.

  “Yeah, the doctor said you might have a fever after the mild hypothermia.” Thankfully, he had the Tylenol ready. The doctor had mentioned they both might need to take some.

  “What about you?” she asked through chattering teeth.

  “I feel fine,” he lied and figured he’d take a Tylenol with his hot chocolate.

  “Mmm,” she said when she noticed the mugs. “Hot cocoa?” She sat up, bringing the blankets with her.

  He handed her the mug and then took his own and clicked it against hers. “To cheating death,” he said soberly.

  “To life,” she corrected. “And all the years still ahead of us.”

  “I like that better. I love you,” he said after taking a sip and making sure she’d swallowed the pill.

  “I love you too. But if you don’t get in this bed and warm me up soon, I may have to crawl over to the fireplace.” She smiled. “Or get a dog to snuggle up to.”

  He chuckled and made sure not to spill his drink as he crawled under the blankets with her.

  Once her head was back on his shoulder and they were watching the fire from across the room, he sighed.

  They sat for a moment, listening to the hiss and crackle of the logs burning in the fireplace. The soothing sound lulled him and allowed him to think.

  She broke into the silence. “Do you think it was your father’s doing?”

  He’d been thinking the same thing. If it wasn’t his father, it was an uncanny coincidence.

  “I’m determined to get to the bottom of it. Regardless.” He thought about the driver’s family. Somewhere, someone was getting a visit from the police about their daughter, sister, or mother not coming home, and he was pretty sure it was all his fault.

  Chapter 17

  They spent as much of the following day in bed as they could. At one point, after he’d made them grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch, they’d showered and dressed for dinner at her brother’s.

  She still felt a little groggy, and her head hurt when she tried to comb and style her hair, but she kept telling herself that she was extremely lucky to be alive. Just thinking that the woman who’d stood on her doorstep last night to greet her hadn’t been so lucky had her appreciating every ache.

  Thanksgiving dinner at her brother’s was a quiet event. They were there to celebrate everything they were thankful for and for the announcement of Amy’s pregnancy.

  Laura tried to put on a happy face. She smiled and laughed along with her family. But under it all, she kept replaying the night before. Replaying the fact that Simon’s father could very well be behind the death of the driver.

  When the subject was brought up by Logan, Simon informed them all that his security on them would be doubled.

  “I let my guard down for one night and, because of it, someone won’t be spending the holidays with her family today. Won’t be spending Christmas with the people she loves.” He glanced over at her. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to Laura.” He squeezed her hand and then glanced around the room. “Or any of you.”

  “Do you think the senator would go to such great lengths?” her mother asked Simon.

  Simon shrugged. “I’m not willing to take the risk,” he said, then turned back to her. “I was hoping that, at least…” He cleared his throat and his face heated. “Not how I wanted to do this, but I was hoping you’d move in with me.”

  She smiled and felt her heart jump. “Of course, I will.”

  His dark eyebrows shot up. “Today?”

  She laughed. “You can hire a moving company. I’ll have to break my lease.”

  “Done,” he said quickly and hugged her.

  “Now, let’s celebrate.” Amy stood up and disappeared into the kitchen, then came back with a large cake. The evening returned to the lighter mood and she was thankful for her family. Thankful for everything she had.

  “I can help you move some of your things over to Simon’s place tomorrow,” Logan suggested.

  Her eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to help me? Move?”

  Logan nudged her toe under the table. “If I remember correctly, I moved all of your stuff last time.”

  She smiled. “That’s because the time before that, you abandoned me.”

  Logan laughed. “We were on our honeymoon.”

  “Excuses.” She rolled her eyes as she smiled. Then she quickly added, “I’ll take the help.”

  “I could probably rustle up some other help. Aiden and the guys,” Logan said with a shrug.

&nbs
p; “We can hire…” Simon started to say.

  “I don’t have that much stuff,” she admitted. “Your bed is better than the one I have, so mine can be sold or hauled down to the junkyard.” She shrugged. “I have a few nice things that could benefit your place, but other than that, I hadn’t focused on getting nice things. Not while I was stuck renting. There was never any use.”

  “If you’re sure?” Simon asked her.

  “I am.” She relaxed. “Actually, most of my things are still in boxes from my last move. I only moved into my apartment four months ago.”

  Then she wondered how she was going to move Simon’s Christmas gift. She’d have to sneak it past him and find a place to hide it until she could finish the thing. She’d taken a few pictures of them last night when they’d been in Idaho Springs and had wanted to get them printed out. Now, however, she didn’t want those memories to be the focus. A woman had lost her life shortly after they’d had such an enjoyable time.

  As Simon drove them back to his place, she wondered about the driver.

  “Do you think you can find out about the limo driver? It would be nice to do something for her family,” she said as she watched the rain fall.

  The snow had all but melted away during the warm day and now the rain washed away the last of the sand that had been laid out on the roads.

  “Yeah, I’ve already put in a call to find out,” he said as they pulled in front of the garage. “When I find out, we’ll make sure to do something. Together.” He shut off the engine.

  “Simon, I’m thankful that you were there for me. I don’t know what I would’ve done…”

  “You wouldn’t have been put in that position if I wasn’t there,” he said in a low tone.

  “Hey.” She took his hand in hers. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. The blame lies solely on whoever caused the accident.” She searched his eyes.

  She noticed the moment he gave up the fight and nodded. “I know you’re right.” He leaned over and kissed her.

  That night, in his arms, she thought about what she could do to show him how much it meant to her that he was back in her life. So far, since he’d returned, she’d tried to fight off the attraction and had made him jump through hoops to win her back, but the truth was, he’d never lost her.

  All these years that she’d been waiting for him, she’d still considered herself his. She would always be his.

  The following day was filled with boxes and moving. She’d texted her brother early that morning and asked him to move the picture board over to his place. She’d given him a spare key to her place when she’d moved in, and he’d run over and had it removed before she and Simon arrived to start moving her things.

  Once they’d moved all of her small items over to the big house, she decided that there wasn’t anything else worth saving and scheduled a local charity to come to pick up the rest of her things.

  “For someone so good at decorating homes, I would have thought that you’d want to hang onto more of your things,” Simon said once he unloaded the last of her boxes into the house.

  “I never really got into decorating for myself,” she admitted. “I always spent my extra money on clothes instead.”

  He chuckled. “I remember you have a clothes addiction.”

  She nudged his shoulder. “Take that back,” she teased. “It’s not an addiction so much as a hobby.”

  He laughed. “Right.” He motioned to all the boxes sitting in front of the large walk-in closet. “These are all clothes, right?”

  She laughed. “Okay, it’s an addiction.”

  He pulled her into his arms. “So, now that you’re here, I have some rules.” He pulled out a small key ring and dangled it in front of her.

  She laughed. “Okay, shoot.”

  “I get the left side of the bed.” He frowned. “Or the right side… I guess it depends on where you’re at. Whatever side you’re on, that’s where I’ll be.”

  She smiled. “Anything else?”

  He nodded. “I’ll expect you to conserve water…”

  She laughed. “Meaning… we’ll shower together?”

  “Exactly.” He chuckled.

  “Then we should carpool as well,” she suggested.

  “Now you’re getting it.” He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. “Welcome home,” he said softly.

  For the rest of the weekend, he helped her unpack all of her things. Since the main bedroom closet was massive, there was plenty of room for her things next to his.

  When they were done unloading the boxes, she talked him into working on painting the dining room. It was a god-awful shade of mint green and needed to be the next to receive fresh paint.

  She’d chosen a soft grey, and had decided to paint the wainscoting white again.

  By the time they were done Sunday evening, the room looked brand new and very modern. She even found a few pictures among her things that accented the colors, and they hung up in the room.

  First thing Monday morning, they headed down to the facility. The hope was that they would be overseeing the work on assembling all the furniture. That is if the place passed the final inspection, which was set for that morning.

  When they arrived, she busied herself with overseeing the delivery from Albert’s Furniture, making sure each piece went in the correct room. She hadn’t realized just how much they’d ordered until another massive truck arrived after they had finished unloading the first semi.

  When Simon found her, she was opening a box that looked like it had been dropped to ensure that the lamp inside hadn’t been damaged.

  “So?” she asked him. “Did we pass?”

  He shrugged. “With a few minor adjustments they’re making now on the electric in the office, and the HVAC getting some adjustments, yes.”

  She squealed and hugged him. “Congratulations. Does this mean we can start unpacking for real?”

  “This was the CO. Our certificate of occupancy. We can technically unload and start setting everything up. We haven’t officially received approval for our certificate of family foster care yet. The kids and staff won’t be able to move in until we do.”

  “So, what I’m hearing is… I can get to work?” she asked with a smile.

  He chuckled. “Have at it.” He motioned towards the boxes. “I’ll call for backup and have a crew here to help out.”

  “Thanks.” She lifted up to her toes and kissed him.

  “Thank you. Now, what do you need help with?”

  They spent most of their time that day unpackaging items. When the crew arrived and started putting bed frames and furniture together, she stood back and directed the work and answered questions. At one point, Simon disappeared and came back with a sandwich and coffee for her. They sat out on one of the new balconies overlooking the grounds and ate lunch.

  “There’s going to be a soccer field there. The playground and basketball courts will be there.” He pointed out each section. “I’m even thinking of creating a skate park.”

  She laughed. “I remember the one time you tried to skateboard.”

  He groaned. “Okay, so just because I’m not good at something doesn’t mean that other kids aren’t.”

  She reached over and took his hand in hers. “This is all so amazing.” She felt her heart swell.

  He looked down at their joined hands. “I found out the name of our driver,” he said, avoiding her eyes. “Kayla Smith.” He glanced up at her. “She was a single mother to a two-year-old daughter named Lilith. Kayla was working two jobs just to pay rent on her tiny one-bedroom place off Colfax.”

  Laura felt tears flood her eyes. “What will happen to Lilith?” she asked, her heart breaking for the little girl.

  “The authorities are looking for Kayla’s family.”

  “Where is the girl now?” she asked, her heart going out to a little girl who had just lost her entire world.

  “Right now? Foster care.” He sighed.

  “Simon.” She touched his h
and. “What can we do to help?”

  He looked around and nodded. “We’re doing it. Getting this place open is our highest priority. When I hear more about the situation, I’ll see if we can have her moved here.”

  Laura shook her head. “That’s not good enough.” She wiped a tear from her face. “Somehow, we’re responsible.”

  “I know,” he said softly. “I’ll see what else can be done.”

  “Thank you.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the winter air. She could tell instantly that they were due for more snow. Lots of it, according to the chilly northern breeze.

  Just the thought of that little two-year-old spending Christmas in foster care broke Laura’s heart. She’d been there when her mother had died. If only she hadn’t lost consciousness. She could have crawled out of the limo herself while Simon had helped Kayla.

  Her mind raced at all the possibilities as her heart ached for the little girl who was now all alone in the world.

  Chapter 18

  Over the next two weeks, he and Laura spent the majority of their time down at the facility. She’d started on the bedrooms on the third floor and slowly worked her way down to the staff areas.

  By the beginning of the second week, he moved Barbara and the rest of the staff over to help setup their own spaces.

  Every day when he walked through the front doors of the facility, he was surprised at how quickly the place was coming together. The staff had started decorating for the holiday grand-opening party they were planning for the children.

  The new security system had a few bugs to work out and, on several occasions, the police or fire department had shown up without the system going off. But this served as a way for them to share the grand opening to the crews, who happily spread the news to their families and friends.

  The party was going to be complete with a jolly Santa Claus, played by himself, and a huge sleigh.

  He’d spent a few nights online with Laura, picking out presents for each of the kids that were scheduled to move into the facility two days before Christmas.

  They were still waiting for the final approval on the certificate of foster care, and he’d pulled as many strings as he could so the entire thing didn’t unravel in front of his face.