The Stocking Was Hung(32)

Just as everyone thought, Reggie won by a landslide and has been carrying his little trophy with a gold Christmas tree on top of it all around the house since then. And miracle of all miracles, Noel let me sleep in the bed with her last night.

Which brings me to my current problem. Getting an excellent blow job and giving her two orgasms started me on the path to completely falling for her. Sleeping all night with her wrapped up in my arms made me realize I am one hundred percent in love with this woman. I want to hold her every night, I want to wake up to her every morning, and I don’t even care if her crazy family comes as a package deal. I want it all. The good, the bad, the crazy, and the messy. I just want her, however I can get her. If she doesn’t want marriage, fine. I will be perfectly content to just have her with me, by my side for the rest of my life.

God, I am such a *.

I finish getting ready, throwing on the one pair of black dress pants I had in my duffle and the dark red, button down shirt Noel picked out for me when we were at the mall and join everyone downstairs for Christmas Eve dinner.

The dining room table is covered in a red tablecloth with holly leaves stitched down the center, a large red poinsettia plant stands tall in the middle surrounded by green and red candles in glass jars. Christmas music plays faintly from the living room while everyone sits back in their chairs with full stomachs and smiles on their faces. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie—my mouth waters all over again even though I’m so full someone might have to roll me out of this room and carry me up to bed.

As the soft hum of conversation floats around the table, I glance at Noel sitting beside me, laughing at something her brother said and my heart thumps faster in my chest.

She’s so f*cking beautiful when she smiles.

Her head suddenly turns and her eyes meet mine, her smile turning up a few more notches.

“Don’t get any ideas, mister. This magical dress is staying on until everyone goes to bed,” she whispers under her breath.

I glance at that green dress, the one that molds her body perfectly and made me so hard when she first came out of the dressing room wearing it that I acted like a cave man and shoved her back inside so I could touch her.

“So, Leon, you haven’t said anything about work since you’ve been here. How’s it going?” her father asks.

Noel coughs uncomfortably and quickly picks up her glass of wine to take a sip.

“Fine. Good. It’s fine,” she rushes the words out, setting her wine glass back on the table.

“Can we talk about what’s really important?” her mother speaks. “When are you two getting married? I mean, a year is a long time. Longer than you’ve ever dated anyone, honey. What’s the hold-up, Logan?”

Her eyes narrow on me from across the table and I shift uncomfortably in my seat while Nicholas covers his mouth to hide his smile.

“Mom, seriously,” Noel complains.

“Seriously what? I’m just asking a simple question. I thought we’d be planning a wedding while you were home,” her mother complains with a sigh.

“Come on, Mom, leave her alone,” Nicholas says, finally sticking up for his sister and moving up a few notches on my “favorite person” chart.

“I just want both my children to be happy, is that too much to ask? I’m going to die soon.”

Everyone’s heads whip toward Bev in shock.

“Mom! Are you sick?” Noel asks in a scared whisper.

“Well, no, not at this moment. But I could get sick. And I could die. I could die without ever seeing my daughter settle down and be happily married,” she replies in a huff.

“Oh, for f*ck’s sake,” Nicholas mutters, picking up his own wine glass and downing the entire thing.

“How about everyone just stop worrying about Noel and let her figure things out on her own?” I suggest.

Reggie points his finger at me angrily. “You defiled Santa’s Workshop. Your opinion is invalid!”

I shrink back in my seat, wishing I would have kept my mouth shut.

“Is she not sexing it up enough, Logan? Is that why you haven’t asked yet?” Bev questions, looking back at me.

Your daughter’s * tastes like sugar cookies and she has a mouth like a Hoover vacuum. She sexes it up just fine.

“Uhhhh,” I mutter instead of stating what I’m thinking.

“I left some pornographic movies on your nightstand and one of my negligees to spice things up a bit. Maybe that will help,” Bev announces.

“Mom, there will never be a time when that sentence is in any way appropriate for you to say to me,” Noel informs her with a grimace of disgust.

I rest my hand on top of her thigh under the table and give it a comforting squeeze, even though I’m the one who needs comforting right now before I throw up all that delicious food I inhaled.

“I’ll have you know I have very good taste in sexy nighties. I get them on sale at Victoria’s Secret,” Bev tells her with a wink.

“You want to know what Victoria’s Secret is?” Reggie asks, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. “She charges an arm and a leg for a scrap of fabric that doesn’t stay on for more than five minutes. Why, back in my day, all a woman had to do was get naked to turn a man on. Now they need snaps and zippers and whips and whoozits. This world is going to shit when a man can’t just be happy with boobs.”