Authors: Moira Rogers

A Peyton Family Christmas (5 page)

“
You're
mine,” she murmured as she crawled up his body. “Mine,
baby.”

“
Forever,”
he agreed in a raspy whisper. “You and me.”

They
had to pull back the covers, and they couldn't leave the
Christmas lights on all night. For now, though, she wasn't
about to move from the cradle of his arm. “Derek?”

“
Yeah,
honey?”

“
If
you needed for us to spend more time in New Orleans, you'd tell
me, right?”

He
sighed softly and shifted her until she was nestled against his side.
“Michelle needs you. Right now, I think Kat needs me to let her
breathe. And I'm trying. But if that changes, I'll tell
you.”

She
exhaled a shaky sigh of relief. “You've given up so much
to be here. I worry that it's
too
much.”

“
Things
don't matter. Places don't matter.” A finger under
her chin tilted her head back. “You brought Kat here, and you
gave me a kick to go see Andrew. They're the ones who matter.
And since I haven't given them up, I haven't lost a damn
thing.”

“
I'm
glad.” Someday, Michelle wouldn't need her to be on hand
so much, and they could find their own space for good, whether it
meant staying in the house Derek would build, moving back to New
Orleans, or even another place entirely.

A
little bit of wrangling got the blankets out from under them. Derek
smoothed the covers down and curled around her. “Your sister is
one of ours. So is Kat. We'll take care of them together.”

She
smiled and tucked her face against his shoulder. “Did Mahalia
give you a stern lecture about how long we avoided each other?”

“
Nope.
I distracted her before she really got going. That's the secret
to avoiding her stern lectures, you know.”

“
Damn,
I should have figured that out.”

“
I'm
tricky,” he murmured around a yawn. “Damn. I think I'm
getting old.”

“
No,
you're justâ” The clock in the front room began to
chime the hour, a long, slow succession of twelve deep rings. “Merry
Christmas, darling.”

He
pulled her closer. “Merry Christmas, Nicky.”

She
craned her neck to look out the window and smiled when she caught
sight of the white flakes drifting against the glass. “It's
snowing again.”

“
It's
always snowâ” Derek sat up so abruptly he nearly spilled
her off the bed. “Damn it, I almost forgot your present.”

Nick
rolled upright, laughing. “No, you didn't.”

“
The
most important one, then.” Instead of leaving the bed, he
leaned over and jerked open the bedside table. After a few moments of
digging, he surfaced with a simple white envelope, which he handed to
her in silence.

Inside
was a folder containing pages featuring a travel agent's
logoâand itinerary information. “We're going to
Barbados?”

“
Over
Kat's spring break,” he confirmed, sounding the tiniest
bit nervous. “Your father's already made arrangements for
Michelle and Luciano to come, too. Just family. And a beach.”

A
word on the reservations confirmation caught her eye, and she sucked
in a breath as she realized what he was saying. “Our wedding?”

“
If
you want something else, somewhere else, we can change it. Any of it.
I just thoughtâwhy wait?”

Why
wait?
He'd
planned the entire thing to be precisely what she'd talked
about, the perfect way to confirm what they'd already begunâa
life togetherâbut his nervousness was unmistakable. “It's
just right,” she hurriedly reassured him. “Exactly what I
wanted.”

“
Thank
God.” Derek flopped back against the bed, heaving a sigh. “I
told Kat, and she asked me if I was an idiot. So I got worried.”

Nick
shook her head and laid the open folder on his stomach so she could
examine the tickets and brochures. “If you'd planned some
sort of stuffy formal affair, I might be asking you the same thing.
But this... This is
awesome
.”

“
Not
going to kill me for making arrangements for our wedding, then?”

“
What?
No.” She leaned over and kissed him. “I gave you house
plans, baby. This is arguably less presumptuous.”

“
Maybe.”
He caught her lower lip between his teeth with an amused noise. “It's
okay. You're cute when you're presumptuous.”

“
Mmm,
but will I still be cute when I'm an old married woman?”

“
Nope.
You'll be mine.”

It
didn't get any better than hearing him lay claim to her the way
she had with him. Nick held his gaze as she gathered the papers and
tossed them on the nightstand. “How tired
are
you?”

Derek
stretched his arms over his head, then rolled from the bed. “You
owe me a run. A race. To the creek and back, and the winner gets
whatever they want.”

She
reclined there on her side, crossing one leg over the other as she
pretended to consider his proposition. “When you decide to
embrace your inner wolf, you don't mess around.”

“
I
don't have to hate it anymore.” His smile lit up his
whole face, even those bright blue eyes that watched her like she was
the best thing in the world. “You made it okay. You made it
fun.”

His
happiness matched her own, and both warmed her so thoroughly she
probably could have braved the icy chill outside the guest house
without the benefit of fur. “
We
made it fun. We're crazy in love, remember?”

“
In
love and crazy,” he agreed, backing toward the door. “Come
on, Nicole Peyton. Get wolfy with me.”

She
climbed off the bed and followed. “I'm smaller and
faster, so I'm bound to win. Or is that what you're
counting on?”

“
Maybe
I'm counting on the fact that you like getting caught.”
Derek hauled open the front door, letting in a burst of cold air.
“Run.”

Nick
knelt and shifted, using the bump of magic to fuel a charge past
Derek and out the door. It would take him precious moments to secure
the door and follow, but she knew he would.

She did, after
all, love getting caught.

THE END

A Peyton
Family Christmas

This story is set
between
Crossroads
&
Deadlock
in the Southern Arcana series. For more information visit
http://www.moirarogers.com/southern-arcana