No Boundaries

It had started to snow lightly around DC.

Hunter ran ahead of us. “I like this one.” He pointed to a thick Fraser fir.

“That’s the one?” Hawk asked.

“I think so.” I touched the needles on the tree. “It’s perfect.”

Hawk hauled it onto his shoulder as if it weighed the same as a bag of pinecones. Was there anything this man couldn’t do? He had just taken his team to the next round of playoffs and now he was making a little boy’s dreams come true.

“Let’s get it home.”

We followed behind him as he carried the tree to the makeshift counter at the tree farm.

By the time we got the tree into the loft all of us were freezing. The snow had made a blanket on the streets.

I rushed ahead, clearing a path for the enormous tree in front of the arched window.

Hawk rested it on the floor, adjusting the tree stand until we all agreed it was straight. He tested it a few times to make sure it wouldn’t fall.

Hunter stood in awe. “Wow. That’s the biggest tree I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s yours. You know that, bud?”

The child circled the tree from one side to the other. “When we put the lights on, I bet they’ll be able to see it from the White House.”

Hawk and I laughed. “Not quite, honey.”

“We need a fire in here,” Hawk offered.

“And some dinner. No one has eaten.” I started for the kitchen, while Hawk worked on the fireplace.

Hunter grabbed a box of lights from the plastic tub of decorations I had hauled over from my house.

I looked out on the living room. At the boys, buried in their own projects. My heart swelled. The tears came easily.

Hawk looked up. “You ok, baby?”

I nodded. “Better than I’ve ever been.”

He left the small flame that had started in the fireplace. He cupped my cheeks with his cold hands. “Good.”

“I don’t know how all this happened.” I let him wipe one of the tears away with his thumb.

“I think it started when you wore a pair of shorts that were too damn short.” He grabbed my ass.

I giggled. “Ok, maybe.”

How had a backroom bar hookup turn into this? There was more love and family in this loft than I’d ever experienced in my life. It was a Christmas card. A movie set. It was my life with Hawk and Hunter.

Hunter stuck out his tongue, trying to untangle one of the strands of lights. I laughed harder.

“Do you see him?”

Hawk shook his head. “Not right now. All I see is a sexy woman that I can’t wait to spend my night with.”

My chest seized with lust and love and something I couldn’t explain. I wanted this man in ways I couldn’t explain.

“After we decorate the tree.” I eyed him.