A Very Merry Hockey Holiday (Assassins #6.5)(20)

Stretching, since this wasn’t the first time her little guy had done this, she said, “What, honey?”

“Santa came!”

She smiled as she cuddled into him. She needed the comfort because when she was out of the bed, it would mean that she was spending Christmas without Jude. She really didn’t want to accept that, but Sawyer was wiggling and then was dragging her out of the bed.

“Come on, Claire-bear! Santa came!”

“I know, buddy, but I don’t want to,” she complained, kissing his hands.

“But you have to!” he protested, pulling her.

Knowing that he was going away and that Phillip and Reese were probably waiting on her, she got out of bed with a huff. “You owe me hot chocolate, kid.”

“With peppers!”

She smiled. “Yes, with peppermint.”

She took his hand and they made their way through to the kitchen where Reese was standing.

“Merry Christmas, honey.”

Claire shrugged. “Be way merrier if Jude were here.”

Reese smiled as she shrugged. “Don’t be a Grinch.”

Claire giggled as Sawyer said, “Yeah, don’t be a Grinch!”

“Claire being a Grinch?” Phillip asked, coming into the kitchen with a coffee cup in hand. “Maybe we should send her to the North Pole?”

Sawyer agreed. “Yeah, Santa needs to put the Christmas in her!”

“Sorry, I’m a little down. I’ll perk up, give me hot chocolate,” she said, picking up her little guy just as Reese handed her a cup. Music was playing, which wasn’t odd, but the song made her a little sad. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was the song, and usually she liked it, but today she could do without hearing it.

“You have to be happy. Santa brought you something,” Sawyer said.

She scoffed. “Santa always skips me.”

“Nooooooo, not this time, come on!” He wiggled and she put him down. He pulled her into the living room, and when her eyes caught sight of the present, she squealed. Sitting by the tree with a huge red bow on his head was Jude.

“Jude!”

His face broke out in a grin as he stood, catching her as she jumped into his arms. Covering his mouth with hers, she kissed him deeply as her heart came out of her chest. Holding her close, he smiled against her lips as he spun her around. Pulling back, he grinned down at her, the bow falling into his sweet, gorgeous eyes. Elated, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“They canceled the game because no one can fly into New York, it’s snowing so bad. So instead of going back to California with the guys, I came home. You wanted me under your tree, so that’s where I wanted to be.”

Kissing him again, she wrapped her arms around his neck and almost started to cry. Kissing her jaw, he then kissed her nose and smiled, his heart beating against hers. She couldn’t get over how gorgeous he was, and he was all hers. She had missed him so much and he was there. In the flesh, on Christmas with her. There could be a million gifts under the tree, but the most important gift was looking deep into her eyes with his arms holding her tight to him.

“Merry Christmas, Claire.”

She grinned as she looked into the eyes of her forever. “Merry Christmas, indeed.”





The Adler residence not only looked like Santa crapped all over it with Christmas decorations but it also looked like a tornado had gone through it. Wrapping paper and toys covered every square inch of their living room, but Shea Adler didn’t care.

His family was happy.

Like they had done for the last seven years, they woke up at the butt-crack of dawn and surrounded the tree, passing out gifts. With each year, it became more hectic though. When it had been just him and his gorgeous wife, Elli, it was easy but consisted of a lot of sex under the tree. Then Shelli came, again easy. Then Posey, still easy, but when the twins came, things started to get a little rowdy. By the time Quinn came, it was a mess. Lots of tearing of wrapping paper and lots of screaming, but he didn’t care. The kids were always happy.

And he actually liked the chaos.

“Mommy, I love it! Thank you! Daddy, you’re the greatest!” Shelli exclaimed as she held up her new iPad.

“But I want an iPad, Daddy!” Posey complained.

“Open the box, honey,” Shea said softly. She did then gave him a sheepish grin.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she giggled, holding up her iPad.

“You’re welcome, honey,” he said as Elli leaned against him.

She looked gorgeous with her hair a mess and in his big Assassins tee with long pants. Her feet were covered by the new reindeer socks Quinn had gotten her. She had on earmuffs the girls had given her and also gloves the twins had picked out.

“Warm and toasty?” he asked and she grinned.

“Oh yes, my kiddos give the best gifts, don’t you think?”

He chuckled as she looked him over. He was wearing a big, bright purple scarf that the girls had selected, along with knee-high hockey socks that the twins had gotten him, and reindeer slippers. He looked like a total loser, but he wore his gifts with pride. “I say I think you are right.”

She smiled before leaning up to press her lips to his. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned her forehead against his jaw as they watched the kids tear open presents and cheer when they got something they wanted. He always loved when they got clothes though. Their faces were priceless. Especially Owen’s. He didn’t hold anything back and made sure they all knew that a gift wasn’t what he wanted. Shelli was kind and always thanked them for things even if she didn’t want it. Which didn’t happen a lot.