Changing Course (Wrecked and Ruined #1)(75)

"They love me?"

"Gorgeous, everyone loves you." Everyone but you, I sadly think to myself.

"You sure they won't care?" I ask.

"I swear. Mom already took Kara downstairs. You're all mine for the rest of the night."

"I like the way that sounds, but don't get any ideas. I might be willing to let them assume I'm easy, but I'm not going to prove it."

"There is nothing easy about you, Jesse James." He squeezes me tighter than necessary. I know he's trying to convey something to me with this hug, but I've done enough reading into Brett for one day.

"Get a room!" Erin yells from the end of the hallway with a huge grin on her face. She's propped up against the doorway like she's been watching us for a while.

"Excuse me for a minute," Brett says, releasing me and charging down the hallway.

"Shit!" Erin yelps as Brett tackles her. They wrestle around in the hallway for a few minutes until Erin's husband, Jack, walks out shirtless in his Christmas pajamas pants.

Unable to maneuver around them, he casually steps over the fighting siblings. This must not be anything shocking to him. He doesn't even acknowledge it. He just points to the bathroom and asks, "Is anyone in there?"

When Brett and Erin finish the Christmas Royal Rumble, they both stand and I can't help laughing at them. Eric and I fight, but we aren't playful wrestlers. This funny relationship they have makes me smile.

"Bed time." He walks over to me like a caveman, and slings me over his shoulder.

I wave goodnight to his ecstatic sister as she bounces on the balls of her feet. I guess they really do love me.





Jesse

CURLED UP against Brett, the morning arrives all too soon. "Merry Christmas, gorgeous," he whispers into my ear, sending chill bumps down my body.

"Merry Christmas, Brett." I place a kiss to his throat.

As if on cue, I hear the patter of feet running up the stairs, and a myriad of knocks on the door.

"Uncle Brett, wake up! Santa came. It's present time!" The kids sprint off to wake up the rest of the sleepy adults.

"Come on, you heard them. Santa came." Brett's excitement is infectious, and even though I'm tired and nowhere near ready to crawl out from under the warm blankets, I get excited right along with him.

"Point me to the coffee," I say, dragging myself to my feet.

"Pointing you to a hairbrush might be more useful," he says, smoothing down my sleep-mussed hair.

"Excellent point. I should freshen up. I'll meet you downstairs."

"I'll have the coffee waiting." He kisses my forehead and walks away.

I use the few minutes to dig out the bag of gifts for him and his family. Kara and I weren't sure what to get them, but Brett assured me they all loved coffee. So we utilized our Nell's employee discount. I bought them all nice insulated travel mugs and Kara bought fancy flavored coffees. It's nice and it fit into our budgets, thanks to Nell practically giving them to us at cost.

"Babe, you coming? I'm not going to be able to hold the kids off the presents much longer. There is about to be a riot down here," Brett shouts from the bottom of the stairs. After a quick stop at the bathroom, I head down to my first ever Sharp Family Christmas.



AFTER THE kids finish opening the room full of presents, Erin and Leah let the older ones go down to the basement to play one of the video games they received. Like a well-oiled machine, Mr. Sharp stands up and starts passing out Christmas gifts to all the adults. By the time he's done, I have an intimidating pile stacked in front of me. Hmm, maybe I should have bought these people more than travel mugs. I look over and catch Kara's eyes as she sits on the floor clapping at her mountain of gifts like one of the kids.

"Okay Jess, you go first," Brett says, placing a beautifully wrapped box on my lap.

I'm mortified that everyone is going to watch me as I open presents. I hate being the center of attention. Worse yet, I'm going to have to watch them all one by one open my crappy mugs. Instead of immediately ripping open the box, I begin to chew on my thumb nail. Suddenly, I’m very uncomfortable and wishing I could skip this and go downstairs to play video games too.

"Gorgeous, relax," Brett whispers into my ear as his family looks on.

Fantastic, they are going to think I'm crazy for freezing up about a silly gift exchange. I suck in a quick breath and plaster on a smile as I tear through the wrapping paper.

"Oh my God," I say staring down at the brand new laptop in my arms. Crap! "You bought me a laptop?" I ask.

The horror of him buying me something so extravagant must show on my face because his smile quickly disappears.

"You said your old one broke."

"You bought me a computer?" I repeat a little louder.

"It's just a present, Jesse. Stop over-thinking it. It's Christmas, babe," he tries to reassure me before I hit full freak-out mode.

"Brett, I can't accept this. I, um...I can't. This is too much."

"Gorgeous, take a deep breath. I bought you a computer because I wanted you to have one. Stop thinking about the price tag. This isn't about money, this is about me wanting you to have a computer for school."

"Good job, honey. That's a really nice one," his mom tries to defuse an obviously awkward conversation.