Never Tied Down (The Never Duet #2) (28 page)

   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.

   “Where did you get these photos?” Kalli asked, without looking up from the album.

   “Well, I hope I didn’t overstep any boundaries, but right after your brother passed I asked Riot where I could send a card or condolences.  We’d never met you, but Riot had told us about you and he was so upset… anyway, he didn’t know your address but gave me Nancy’s phone number.  Nancy and I spoke a few days after the funeral and she gave me the address and that was that.  Then, last month, after we met you, I got the idea and thought maybe she could help.  Two days later I had a large envelope full of pictures to make your gift.”

   “You spoke with Nancy?”  Kalli’s voice was soft again, and this time she looked at my mother with her question.

   Ma nodded.

   Kalli’s eyes went back to her lap where the album lay.  “I don’t have any pictures of him with me.  I packed them all away because it was too hard to look at them.”  I placed my hands on Kalli’s shoulders, squeezing gently with just enough pressure so she knew I was there for her.  “But this is wonderful,” she finally said, letting out a large breath with her words.  “It’s beautiful and I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.”

   Both Kalli and my mom were crying.  Kalli stood and started toward Ma, who also stood, and they embraced in the middle of the room, Kalli burrowing her head into Ma’s shoulder while Ma rubbed her hands soothingly up and down her back.  I saw my sister wipe a tear away, along with Rachel, and even Pops had to clear his throat.

   “I love it,” I heard Kalli say quietly to my mother.

   “Well, we love you.”

   Even I had to bite my lip at that point to keep my emotions in check.

   Finally, Kalli pulled away and Ma went back to her seat.

   “Here,” Kalli said, pulling a card out from under my chair.  “Open this so we all stop crying.”

   Laughter rang out around the room, and Kalli sat at my feet, her pretty blue eyes still wet, but happy.

   “What’s this?” I asked, running my finger under the sealed edge of the envelope.

   “It’s your Christmas gift,” she said, rolling her eyes.

   I pulled out a bundle of papers, my eyes flitting between the papers in my hand and Kalli bouncing excitedly on her knees.  I leafed through them, my eyes catching words here and there.  Then suddenly, it dawned on me.

   “Did you give me a trip to Bora Bora?”

   “Yes!” she squealed, clapping and bouncing on her pillow.  “Are you excited?  Please tell me you’re excited.  The dates aren’t set because I wasn’t sure about your hiatus, but I was thinking about March because it’s really nice there in March, but we can go whenever, if you even want to go.  I’ve always wanted to go and it looks so romantic and tropical and I just thought we would have a really great time—”

   “This is incredible, Kal,” I interrupted her nervous rant.  She would have gone on forever if I had let her.  “This looks amazing,” I said, flipping through the resort brochures and airline information.  “It’s too much, babe.”

   Her hands came to my knees as she lifted up from her pillow, her face now almost even with mine. 

   “It’s not too much, it’ll never be
too much
.  You’ve given me something I’ll never be able to repay you for, so you’ll let me take you to Bora Bora.”  Then she leaned in, wrapping her arms around my neck, taking me in for a hug, but her mouth came to my ear.  She whispered quietly so no one else could hear her,  “I’ll let you pick out all my swimwear.”

   It’s uncomfortable having an erection around the Christmas tree surrounded by your family.

   Luckily, Rachel saved the day and said something about shopping for bathing suits and all returned to normal.

   Kalli and Kevin exchanged presents and even though they weren’t gifts filled with meaning and history, it was a beginning for them, and they both understood that.  Kalli seemed to really love the scarf her father gave her, and Kevin was thrilled to have tickets to a Chargers game.

   The day had turned out to be nearly perfect.  Nearly.  But I wasn’t done with my gift giving.

Chapter Twenty

Nowhere Else

Kalli

   I’d had reasonable Christmas expectations.  I’d expected to be happy, to be sad, to miss Marcus on my first Christmas without him, to feel loved spending the day with Riot.  But I could have never imagined how wonderful the day actually turned out.  Having Kevin, Rachel, and Sharon there was special.  I wanted a relationship with them and spending a holiday together seemed like a great way to lay that foundation down.  Not to mention how touched I’d been that they’d probably abandoned their own traditions to spend the day with a bunch of strangers.  That had meant a lot to me.

   It was a little more touching to think of Riot setting the whole thing up for me.  He had such a huge heart and I’d never be able to repay him for opening it to me and allowing me in, but I could spend forever trying.

   There was nothing I could say about the photo album Mara had made me.  It was beyond words.  It had been a long time since I’d spent Christmas with my mother, but being with Riot’s was special, and she made me feel so incredibly loved.

   After we’d cleaned up the mess from presents and finished nibbling on all the delicious food Mara had prepared, Riot and I retreated to his bedroom to finish getting ready for the day.  There were some more of Riot’s family members coming over for dinner, and he’d wanted a break.

   He was lying on his bed, freshly showered, hair still damp, and I was draped over his chest, listening to him breathe as he played with the hair still atop my head in a messy knot.

   “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly, fingers stalling.

   “I feel good,” I answered honestly with a small smile.

   “Are you missing him a lot?”

   I thought about his question and thankfully I didn’t feel the rush of panic that used to come over me when I thought about Marcus.  “You know, I miss him, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”  I was silent for a moment, but then continued.  “I think your mom’s gift helped a lot. It’s harder to live life always fixated on the fact that he’s gone, but your mom went out of her way to make sure he was here, with me, in a way.  I’ll never be able to thank her for that.”

   He pressed a kiss against my forehead.

   “I love the necklace you gave me,” I said, my fingers finding the pendant.  “It’s beautiful.”

   His forefinger came to my chin, pulling my eyes up to look at his.  “I meant what I said, Kal.  You’ve got me.  Forever.  I don’t want anyone else but you.  I know we’ve only been back together for a short time, but—”

   “Shhh.” I silenced him by putting my fingers over his mouth.  “You don’t have to convince me to be with you.  I’m here, and there’s nowhere else I want to be.  Ever.  I want to spend the rest of my life right here,” I said, tapping his chest right over his heart, “with you.”

   “Merry Christmas,” he said, just before his lips covered mine and his hand slid to the back of my neck, gripping it the way I loved, holding my lips to his as he slanted his mouth to fit over mine perfectly.  His tongue pressed against the seam of my lips and I opened for him eagerly, wanting to taste him, to feel his love for me in that kiss.

   He groaned into my mouth and I felt the vibrations shoot directly between my legs, heat pooling there.  His free hand roamed down my back, then gripped my waist, pulling me fully on top of him, then wandered down to cup my ass.  I wanted his hands everywhere, wanted to rid us both of the fabric between us, wanted to feel him inside me and take me to that place where only the two of us mattered.

   His hand slid between my skin and the stretchy fabric of the yoga pants I was wearing, gripping my ass and growling again.  For one moment I had a thought about everyone in the house being aware of us, it being Christmas,
my father
being just down the hall, and I almost stopped him.  Almost.

   Instead, I lifted my hips just high enough to grab at his belt, unbuckling it frantically, popping the buttons on his jeans one by one, and urgently trying to push the denim down his legs.  I’d only gotten as far as his hips when I was startled by the sound of his phone ringing.

   “Shit,” he growled, leaning over to the bedside table and turning the screen of his phone on.  “Damn it,” he said, with even more anger.  I watched as he answered the call although I couldn’t see who was calling, but his hand was still on my ass so I figured it couldn’t have been too important.  “Hello?”  His voice was angry and his greeting was short. 

   I leaned up a little farther, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw, a place he rubbed frequently when he was stressed or thinking about something too much.  I followed the line of his neck with my lips, passing over his Adam’s apple, splaying small kisses all the way down to the base of his neck, loving the way the vibration of his voice tickled my lips.

   “Erin, it’s Christmas,” he said, his voice no more friendly.  “They can’t seriously be asking me this.”