“I figured we could use it for our next road trip.”
“Oh my God. Natalie, this is awesome, sweetheart, thank you.” He kissed me on the lips, and I nuzzled into him. “Now my turn.”
He pulled out a larger box that I had eyeballed when he put it in the trunk of his car. I unwrapped the packaging and opened the box. In it was a pair of diamond earrings sitting on top of a red silk dress. It all looked very luxurious.
“I had my sister help me out. I figured you could wear it for New Year’s.”
“Wow, Jet, it's beautiful, and I think you outdid yourself. Diamond earrings?”
“You deserve it, believe me. Let's see them on.”
I took them out of the box, and slipped them into my ears. I felt like a queen wearing them, and I threw myself into his arms.
“You look beautiful, Natalie.”
“Thank you Jet. I love it all.”
We returned to the living room to settle in with my family and watch a movie for the evening.
Chapter Eight
Jet
Christmas with Natalie couldn't have been any better. I had been nervous at first about meeting her parents, but they were the kindest, most down-to-earth people I had ever met. Being around them was nothing like my family, which at times could feel stuffy, especially if it was one of their dinner parties. I was actually having a really good time there, and I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing holiday. That brings me to Natalie; how on earth did someone like me find a girl like her? She was just so incredible. She was naturally nurturing and loving toward everyone in her life. And beautiful, my God, the girl was more beautiful than she would ever realize. I loved waking up to her in my arms, and it was something that I had never thought I wanted. I used to be fine with picking up random girls at the bar, and the last thing I wanted was a relationship. And here I was in one, and I now couldn't imagine why I ever liked one-night stands when I could have perfection in my arms every night.
We had decided that morning that we were going to go ice skating for the day. I hadn't been skating in years. I used to play hockey with my brother when we were kids, but I stopped playing once I got involved with wrestling. I ended up borrowing her dad’s skates, and she grabbed her own pair, and we headed out to the frozen pond behind her parents’ house.
Ice skating had been a favorite pastime of Natalie’s while she was growing up, so it was no surprise to me when she got onto the rink and skated around like she had been doing it her whole life. She spun around gracefully like a dancer, and I was in awe when I watched her. I, on the other hand, was an embarrassment to the sport. I don't know that I had been that great at it as a kid, but I was far worse at it as an adult. Maybe that was why I gave it up for wrestling. I probably wasn't that good at it in the first place.
But Natalie, as usual, gave me a run for my money on the rink. As I wobbled around on skates that were a size too big for me, she skated around like she was in a musical. I tried to chase her down at one point and wiped out, falling flat on my ass.
She skated over to me, laughing. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
“I feel like I bruised my ass, so I'm going to say no. It probably wouldn't be the best thing in the world for me to injure myself here doing something I'm clearly not good at.”
She was still laughing when she said to me, “It would be a crime if your MMA career was destroyed because of that time you twisted your ankle while skating.”
I couldn't help but laugh along with her; she was rather charming whe
n she was cutting me down.
“Okay, how about we go back and get some hot chocolate?” she suggested.
“On one condition.”
“What's that?”
“There better be marshmallows.”
“Oh, I think I can arrange that.”
She helped me up from the ice, and I rubbed my sore ass, thinking I was probably going to have an embarrassing bruise on it the next day. We made our way back to the house, where we took off our skates and headed into the warmth of the house.
We went into the kitchen, where Natalie's mom was puttering around, arranging things to make dinner. Natalie plugged in the kettle to boil some water for the hot chocolate. She pulled mugs out of the cupboard and added chocolate powder. She also heated up some milk, and added it to the mugs as well. She continued stirring, and when the kettle popped, she added hot water, and put in marshmallows for the finishing touch.
“There ya go. One hot chocolate to ease all your troubles.”
I smiled. “Thank you, it looks delicious.”