Naughty or Nice

She nods and bites her lip as I smack her on the ass and we walk out the door.

The drive to my parents’ place is quick, but I fidget the whole way over. When we get to the road that leads to the house, the car stops and I get out. I turn around and hold my hand to help Claudia out of the car and she looks at me funny.

“Why did we stop here?” She takes my hand and steps out then looks around at all the snow coming down.

The long driveway is lined with large trees and all of them have been strung with Christmas lights. It’s early morning, but they still sparkle and twinkle in the snowy fog.

“It’s so beautiful, I wanted to walk with you for part of it,” I say, taking her hand, and she smiles at me as we make our way to the house.

“Oh look! Someone made a snowman,” Claudia says when we get closer.

“Really?” I say as I look to where she’s pointing.

“It’s adorable. Let’s go look at it.”

We walk over and see a snowman that’s as big as she is with a cute little top hat. It’s even got a carrot nose with a coal smile and eyes. She’s grinning as she walks up to look at it. After a moment I see her squint like she’s trying to see something.

“That’s weird,” she says, and I move beside her.

“What?” I ask.

“There’s something around the carrot.” I stand and wait as she takes a step closer to the snowman. “Oh my god.”

She puts her hands over her mouth, and when she turns around I drop to one knee in the snow. She looks behind me and she gasps as she sees the lights in the tree spell out Marry Me.

“Claudia Chambers, I love you and will always love you until the day I die. You are my soulmate and my forever. Be my wife and make me the happiest man on earth.”

“Brian,” she whispers as I reach up and take the ring off the snowman’s nose. I place it on her finger and she gasps again when she sees the rock.

“Say yes, beautiful.”

“Are you kidding me? Of course, yes. Yes forever, yes until the end of time. I love you so much.”

She crashes into my arms and we roll onto the snowy ground. I kiss her madly and somewhere in the distance I hear the cheers of my family. She laughs as I pick her up in my arms and carry her to the house. We’re covered in snow and our cheeks are rosy, but my soul is so full it might just burst.

“Can we get married today?” I ask, and she laughs at me.

“I’m pretty sure we have to file for a marriage license,” she says as she kisses my cheek.

“Okay then, but I want it soon.”

“Deal,” she says, and I hug her close.

I didn’t think I could love her more, but the moment she said yes, I married her in my heart. Holding her in my arms is every dream I’ve ever had come to life and I can’t wait to begin our next chapter.

Epilogue

Claudia

Eight years later…

“I’m sorry it took so long to get you here,” Brian says as he comes up behind me and passes me a glass of champagne.

“That might have something to do with our four kids at home and the fact that you couldn’t stop getting me pregnant,” I say when he clinks his glass to mine.

His hand goes around my waist and he holds me close as we stare out into the lights of Paris. My dream of coming here finally came true and it’s all because of my wonderful husband. Yes, he might keep me pregnant every chance he gets, but I have to admit that I have just as hard of a time keeping my hands to myself. Our attraction to one another has only grown over time, and it sounds cliché, but every time really is like the first.

My possessive man always knows exactly what I need and he’s all too eager to give it to me. Whether it’s washing clothes or cooking dinner for the whole family, he’s stepping in by my side. From what I hear he’s a rare exception, but when I look at his parents’ marriage and his sister Sage’s, I can’t help but think this is just the way things are. I know I’m lucky, but that’s not because of what Brian does for me, it’s because of his soul.

He was right the first time we had dinner together. Soulmates are a feeling, and when you know you know; and the first moment I laid eyes on him I knew. I gave a poor attempt of trying to fight it, but in the end, he knew I’d give in.