Unexpected Gifts (4 page)

“Cassie?” His tone was hesitant and worried.
She’d never heard him sound like that before, and it forced her to
glance at him.

Grabbing her hand, he laced their fingers
together. “Did I push too hard last night?” he asked. “Push you
into something you didn’t want? Or weren’t ready for?”

The uncertainty in his expression cut at
her, and she tightened her hand on his. “No. That’s not it.” Heat
rose to her cheeks. “I wanted what happened,” she said, and a
despondent sounding laugh escaped. “I wanted it—and
you—desperately.”

His brow furrowed. “Then, what’s wrong?”

She scrubbed a hand over her eyes. He might
not want to face reality, but the sooner they did, the sooner they
could get past the inevitable fall out. “Last night
was…amazing.”

“But?” he prodded when she didn’t continue
right away.

She took a breath. “But…I think we both know
that this is just going to end ugly.”

He pulled his hand away from hers. His
eyebrows drew together and disappointment glinted in his eyes. “I
don’t know where you’re getting your information, but that’s
bullshit.”

“C’mon, Sam. You can’t really think we
belong together.”

He just stared at her.

She didn’t want to have to spell it out, but
it looked like as if didn’t have a choice. “This isn’t going to go
anywhere. We both know that. And, when it ends, it won’t just
affect us. It’ll affect my family and yours. Do you really want
that?”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut
him off.

“You don’t stay with women for longer than a
few months. I’ve met a lot of them, and they’re wonderful.
Gorgeous. Smart. Funny. If they didn’t hold your interest, I don’t
have a chance.”

“For fuck’s sake, Cassie!
Is that what this is about?” Before she could answer, he plowed
ahead. “Those relationships didn’t work out because those women
weren’t
you
.”

Anything she might have said died in her
throat.

“By the time I realized that the infatuation
of high school had passed and I was actually in love with you, it
was too late for me to do anything about it.”

He loved her? She hadn’t really believed him
last night when he’d said he’d wanted her. But he had. God, he’d
wanted her. She was still a little sore to prove it. She glanced at
his face. There was nothing but certainty there.

“If there was a chance you could be happy
with Tyler,” Sam continued. “I wasn’t going ruin that for you.” He
sighed. “I wish I’d known how much of a bag of dicks he was gonna
turn out to be.”

She smiled sadly and adjusted the afghan
around her, trying to come to grips with the fact that Sam MacLane
was in love with her. “Even if you’d known and had tried to warn
me, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, anyway.” She shrugged at
his questioning expression. “I wanted the fairy tale. The happily
ever after. I guess that’s the problem with reading too many books.
You don’t realize until too late that happily ever afters don’t
exist.”

He shook his head. “Bullshit.” He frowned a
little. “Okay, maybe bullshit is too strong. Not a lot of people
get a happy ending because they’re not willing to work for it.”

She nodded. He was right. Tyler hadn’t been
willing to put in the effort, and, in the end, neither had she.

“Here’s the thing you
should know,” Sam said, taking her hands in his work-roughened
ones. “I’m willing to work for it. Hell, I
want
to work for it. But I need to
know if you are, too.”

Her heart stuttered. If she said no, if she
didn’t even give them a chance, she’d regret this for the rest of
her life. Realizing there was nothing she wanted more than a chance
at happiness with Sam, she slowly nodded. The smile he gave her was
the best gift she’d ever received.

“Good.” His eyes shone with happiness. “Now,
open your presents, because, after that, we’re going back to
bed.”

“Oh, are we?”

He leaned forward and kissed her nose. “We
are. And it’ll be in a real bed where I can love you properly.”

Her lips quirked. “That wasn’t proper?”

“Not even close,” he said darkly, and desire
flared to life within her at his tone.

“Now, open this.” He handed her a present.
It was lumpy and messily wrapped and could only be from her mother.
Cassie adored her and would recognize her poor gift wrapping skills
anywhere. Feeling more than a little guilty that she’d skipped the
family gathering in order to sit home and pout, she pulled at the
tape, lifting it away from the brightly colored paper. Inside, was
a new pair of mittens and matching scarf her mom had knitted. She
opened present after present from her parents, her brother and
sister and from Sam’s family, too.

Sam picked up the last gift. She could tell
it was from him. No one else she knew wrapped gifts with that kind
of military precision. He set it on her lap, and sat back and
waited, looking a little uneasy. She couldn’t remember him ever
being nervous around her, before. Of course, that was before
everything changed last night.

And, she wondered, for what was surely the
five hundredth time, if they’d ruined everything by falling into
bed together. She stared at him and shoved that thought right out
of her head. They hadn’t ruined anything. This was where they were
supposed to be. Together.

Her fingertips traced the edge of the package before
untying the red ribbon he’d used to decorate it. Peeling away the
tape and paper, she revealed a plain cardboard box. She lifted the
lid, and tears filled her eyes.

“I know I don’t have all of them. And I’m not sure
if the ones I found are even the right editions, but… Hey. Are you
crying?”

Cassie swiped at the tears that
slipped down her cheeks. In the box were books. Copies of books
that had been part of the collection that had been destroyed when
the firefighters had put out the blaze in the garage below her
bedroom all those years ago. She flipped through the
pages—gilt-edged volumes of fairy tales, an illustrated version
of
The Hobbit
,
The Witch of Blackbird
Pond
,
Anne of Green
Gables
—they were all here. He’d actually
taken the time to find the older editions she’d had as a
kid.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d replaced them, but I
figured, if you had, you could always use these at the
library.”

“Where did you find these?” she asked, stunned by
the gesture.

“Mostly eBay, but I hit a few used bookstores, too.
I’ve been looking for them for a while.”

She couldn’t believe he’d gone to all that trouble
for her. It hit her, then. She was stupid for mourning the loss of
Tyler for months. He’d never cared enough to do something like
this. Hell, she was fairly certain he had no idea what her current
favorite books were.

But, Sam? Sam remembered the books she’d loved as a
kid. He’d come over here in a blizzard to check on her. He’d loved
her and wanted her to be happy—even if it wasn’t with him. Her
heart ached with the fullness of love and the realization that
she’d almost sent it packing into the worst storm of the year.
Well, she had. But fate and a crappy driveway had intervened. She
set the box aside and shifted to her knees in front of him, keeping
the afghan wrapped around her.

“You’re about ruin our chances for a bed, aren’t
you?” he asked, tracing a callused fingertip down her chest, along
the edge of the blanket.

“You can handle it.” She grinned then sobered and
leaned forward, cupping his face in her hands. “Thank you. This is
the best gift I’ve ever been given.” Still holding his face, his
stubble tickling her palms, she closed the distance between them
and kissed him. Long and slow. Pulling back, she shook her head. “I
take that back. It’s not the best gift.”

He raised a dark eyebrow at her. “Oh, really? Then,
what is?”

“I’ll give you a hint. It showed up covered in snow
and was completely unexpected.”

He grinned and grabbed her around the waist, laying
her back against the floor and pulling the covering from her body.
The cooler air tightened her nipples as the lights from the
makeshift Christmas tree cast a warm glow over their skin. “The
best presents always are.”

“Hmm…this gift does seem a little cocky,
though.”

He nuzzled her neck. “You’d better not be thinking
about exchanging it.”

She stroked her hands over his shoulders. “No way.
No exchanges. No returns.” Despite everything they’d shared, her
cheeks flushed at her admission.

Sam stared into her eyes. “No refunds, either.” He
dropped a tender kiss on her lips. “And definitely no more holidays
alone,” he murmured against her mouth.

She shook her head slightly, her lips brushing
across his. “I love you, Sam.”

He lifted his head, something that looked like
relief shimmering in his eyes. “Say it again.”

“What?”

“Indulge me.” He brushed his thumb
across her cheekbone. “I’ve been waiting a
really
long time to hear you say
it.”

“I love you.”

She loved the slow, sweet smile that spread across
his face.

“I love you, Cass. I have for years, and that’s not
going to change.”

Her eyes burned, but this time, they were tears of
happiness. “You really are the best gift I’ve ever gotten.”

“Ditto.” He slipped between her legs and rocked
against her. “And, remember…expect the unexpected.”

Cassie wrapped her arms around him and urged him
closer. “Always.”

Bronwyn Green
is an author, blogger and compulsive crafter. She
lives Michigan with her husband, two kids and three somewhat
psychotic cats. When not frantically writing, she can be found
helping in her youngest son’s classroom or binge-watching Netflix
while working on her latest craft project. Bronwyn loves to talk to
her readers and can be found at www.bronwyngreen.com.