“There’s something about her, El. I don’t know what it’ll become but I’m not walking away.”
Ellie grinned up at him like he’d just given her a beautiful present. “When you want something and it matters, do you ever?”
She had a point. And he had a promise to keep before he went to find Maisie.
“You want to go grab your helmet, Ash?”
Asher looked up from the screen, yawned. “I wanna watch a movie.”
“Okay. Maybe I’ll go wrap some presents.” Partial truths. He had things to wrap but if he got distractedunwrappingMaisie…
“We got you a fun present, Uncle Nick. It’s—”
“A secret,” Ellie said over her son.
Asher’s cheeks went red. “I know.”
Nick kissed his sister’s cheek then walked to his nephew and ruffled his hair. “Close call, buddy.”
“Nick.”
Looking back at Ellie from the bottom of the stairs, he waited.
“I love you.”
“Me, too.”
Upstairs, he opened the door to his bedroom and stepped in. His heart jumped; a little hop inside of his chest. Maisie sat on his floor in the middle of a wrapping command station.
“You take your wrapping seriously,” he said, closing the door behind him.
She gave him a soft smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Hope it’s okay I brought my stuff in here. I thought you might need help wrapping yours.”
Nick put his hands on his hips and gave her a teasingly affronted look. “That seems sexist.”
Her laughter made him happy. “It wasn’t meant to. Jake’s the best wrapper I know. It was more because you’re a hockey player.”
It was his turn to laugh and as he did, he closed the distance between them.
He sank down onto the floor, not even trying to cross his legs because that was a useless endeavor. Instead, he picked up a roll of wrapping paper and looked at it.
“You got themed wrapping paper?” There were Grinches all over it.
Her next smile got a little closer to her eyes. “That one’s for your presents.”
He wondered if she was joking or if she’d really gotten him a present. He’d found something in the store they went to and texted Colt to grab it for him while he was in there.
Colton had sent him back a text asking if he should question why Nick was buying Maisie a present. That’s when Maisie had found him in the alley.
Nick dropped the paper and reached out, placed his hands on her hips, and yanked her into his lap.
“You’re my present and it definitely doesn’t need to be wrapped,” he whispered just before he curled his hand around the back of her neck and brought her face closer, their foreheads touching. He’d never liked just beingnearsomeone so much.
Maisie’s lips grazed his softly and just that gentle touch was enough to ignite his desire for this woman. Both of his hands shifted up into her hair, tugging her closer so their mouths could fuse in a way that quieted his brain. All he heard was their labored breathing, her sweet sighs, that little hitch in her breath, and the low groan thatleft her when he moved one hand down over the gentle curve of her breast.
Paper crumpled as his legs relaxed and she moved to straddle his hips.
The knock on the door had him pulling back abruptly. Maisie leaned away, slipped off his lap, and went back to her own space.
