There with You (Adair Family 2)

I placed my presents for them next to Thane’s and put Thane’s in the pile from his family. He’d disappeared as I perfected the arrangement and snapped a photograph to send to Robyn. The presents overflowed past the tree, and the bike Lewis had asked for was propped against the wall with a big red and green bow on it.

Eilidh’s big present from Santa was the Arendelle Castle from Disney’s Frozen, along with dolls to go with it. She was going to adore it.

Excited about seeing the kids’ reactions in the morning, it took me a minute to realize Thane was watching me.

“What is it?” I whispered.

He shook his head, approaching the tree with a Christmas gift bag in his hand. “You just … you’re really into this.”

“Christmas is all about kids. The first year I realized Santa wasn’t real, the magic went away. But … this is the first time I’ve felt it since I was a child. I’m excited they’re excited.”

Thane stared at me, his expression unreadable.

“What is it?” I repeated.

He shook his head and placed the gift bag down near the presents. I could see a couple of wrapped parcels inside.

“Where did that come from?”

Thane turned and winked at me. “Santa.”

“Are those for me?”

He grinned. “I couldn’t not buy you a Christmas present or two.”

Staring at them greedily, I whispered, “What are they?”

His soft laughter filled my ears as he wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me back against his chest. “You’ll have to wait until the morning to find out like all the other good girls and boys.”

Desire flashed through me, sudden and intense, and I blamed my damn hormones and the utter irony of how turned on I got when I couldn’t do anything about it.

Well … I could do something about it.

Turning around his arms, I looped mine around his neck. “We’re done here. Time for bed.”

“Already?” He frowned. “You don’t want to sit for a bit?”

“I’m tired,” I lied.

His disappointment was adorable and made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I loved he wanted alone time with me, even when it wasn’t about sex. The stubborn man definitely cared about me. I just had to get him to admit it. But not during Christmas. The holiday was all about Eilidh and Lewis.

Taking the kids’ filled stockings upstairs, we crept into their rooms to drape them over the end of the beds as was tradition among the Adairs. I held my breath the entire time, afraid I’d wake them.

When we were done, Eilidh and Lewis none the wiser, we stopped outside Thane’s bedroom door, and he sighed before whispering, “I guess this is good night, then.”

Smirking, I pushed him through his bedroom door. “Not quite.”

Thane’s eyes lit up as he stumbled backward into the room. “I thought you couldn’t.”

I closed the door behind us and lowered myself to my knees in front of him. “I can’t … but that doesn’t mean I can’t give you an early Christmas present.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, his expression darkening with need as I unzipped him. “What did I do to deserve this?”

I couldn’t answer. I was too busy making his Christmas Eve extremely memorable.

Afterward, as Thane tried to catch his breath, exerted not just by my generous mouth but by the effort of being quiet, he pulled me to my feet and pushed me toward the bed. “You’re sleeping with me tonight.”

Shocked, I gaped at him. Since I’d moved into the house, Thane had always visited my bed at night and left after we made love. We’d not spent the night sleeping in each other’s arms since the morning after we’d made love all night. And even then, we’d only fallen asleep together out of pure exhaustion.

I suspected I knew why Thane never stayed the night with me, even though my insecurities wanted me to think he was using me. However, I didn’t believe that.

Not now.

Now that I knew how Fran died.

I suspected Thane was afraid to go to sleep with me in the bed with him because of how he’d found Fran. And that broke my freaking heart.

“Are you sure?” I tried to keep his hands at bay as he attempted to undress me, wanting to make certain he wasn’t pushing himself beyond the boundaries he’d needed for so long.

Emotion roiled in his gaze alongside a fierceness. “Yes.”

“The kids will wake up first, though.”

“They won’t. They’ve never woken up before seven on Christmas Day. You know they’re good sleepers. And I’ll wake you up early so you can slip out.”

“Thane—”

He kissed me, cutting me off, then murmured against my lips, “I just want to hold you.”

When he undressed me down to my underwear, no bra, I quirked an eyebrow, my heart pounding in my chest. “Really?”

Thane gave me that boyishly wicked smile as he pushed me onto the bed. “If I can’t be inside you, I can at least feel you naked against me.”