Never Tied Down (The Never Duet #2)(70)
When it was time to turn in, we showed Kevin, Sharon, and Rachel to their rooms, then I led Kalli to my childhood bedroom where she spent an hour showing me exactly how grateful she was for my surprise, while I forced her to remain silent as I made her come multiple times with various parts of my body.
The next morning, Kalli woke up like a child, excitedly shaking me awake, telling me it was Christmas morning. I groaned and got out of bed, laughing as she threw her hair into a messy bun and went to wake up her sister.
We found my mom in the kitchen preparing her famous and traditional Christmas morning casserole for breakfast. The table filled with my and Kalli’s family, and throughout the entire meal, her hand was on my thigh under the table.
Afterward, we moved to the family room, all finding places to sit around the Christmas tree. I took the overstuffed club chair near the window and Kalli sat on a big pillow on the floor between my knees. Rachel volunteered to be Santa and spent a few minutes passing out presents to everyone, and I smiled every time she brought one to Kalli. She hadn’t expected to be spoiled by my parents, but I knew Ma and Pops loved her and wouldn’t let her spend Christmas here without a pile of gifts.
Once they were all delivered, the mass opening of presents commenced. I watched as Kalli received concert tickets from Halah, along with a pair of sunglasses that apparently were very much “in” at that moment. The gift from my dad to her was a simple gold charm bracelet, which Halah also received. I saw the way Kalli paused when she realized my dad had given her the same gift he’d given his own daughter, and she smiled shyly as he winked at her.
I got the typical gifts from Ma and Pops—some baseball tickets and necessities; socks and underwear. I rolled my eyes at my mother’s gifts, but Kalli laughed in a way that said she thought it was cute my mom still bought me underwear for Christmas.
Kalli finally got to the gift I put under the tree for her and I made her turn around and face me when she opened it. It was a small box and anyone would have guessed it was jewelry. She took the bow off, slid the top off the box, and then pulled out the velvet box that lay inside. She gave me a half grin, but then returned her eyes to the gift as she lifted the lid.
Her eyes went soft when she saw it, and her mouth turned down into the cutest pout, then her eyes snapped up to me.
“Riot, it’s beautiful. Thank you.” She dropped her hands to her lap but reached up and gave me a short and sweet kiss, attempting to be polite in front of our families, but before she could fall away from me completely, I gripped the back of her neck and held her mouth close to mine, looking her right in the eye.
“That necklace is a combination of two things, Kalli. A heart and an infinity symbol. You’ve got my heart, and I want you to know you’ve got it forever.” I brought her lips back to mine and gave her a kiss more suitable to my liking. It wasn’t inappropriate, but it was definitely more than a peck. I’d take more from her later when I got her alone.
“It’s the most beautiful necklace I’ve ever seen. I’ll wear it all the time.” I heard her voice go hoarse and I could see in her eyes she was getting emotional. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a happy day with no crying. Not yet, at least. So I let her go and she turned back around, but then asked me to help her clasp the necklace. I swept a few strands of straw-colored hair to the side which had escaped her bun, then took the ends of the necklace from her and clasped it, letting it fall around her neck once I was finished. She fingered the pendant, then leaned all the way back, her head in my lap, face pointed toward me, and I leaned down to kiss her again.
“I love you,” she whispered when I ended the kiss.
“I love you too, baby.”
Presents continued and I laughed when my sister got me the matching pair of sunglasses to Kalli’s, only more masculine.
“Now you guys can match. It’s going to be adorable.” Halah was way too excited about our eyewear, but I thanked her sincerely because I knew, as silly as it was, she’d put a lot of thought into our gifts. And the sunglasses were really nice.
Toward the end of the gift portion of the morning, my ma stood up and brought a gift to Kalli that hadn’t been under the tree. It was a shallow box, rectangular, and it looked to be a little heavy.
“Kalli, I wanted to give this to you and tell you, from the bottom of my heart, I hope it brings you nothing but happiness. And I hope you understand why I did what I did.”
“Ma? What did you do?” I asked, suddenly a little nervous about the box sitting in Kalli’s lap.
“It’ll be okay,” Pops said, gently patting my mother’s knee as she took her seat again.
I watched as Kalli unwrapped what seemed to be a photo album, but when she opened the first page, even I was stunned.
Laid out in the pages of that photo album were pictures of Marcus, but it wasn’t just the pictures, it was the way the photos were so artfully displayed. These were not photos only put on pages, these were pages specially created to bring out the meaning of the photo.
“Did you make this, Ma?”
She nodded and then quickly wiped her hand under one eye, catching a tear before it fell down her cheek. I looked down again and Kalli was flipping through the pages of the book like she was looking at priceless art. Marcus was smiling up at us, laughing even. He was running through a field, playing video games, even Monopoly. Some of the pictures included Kalli, a few had Nancy and Mr. Bob.