Rm W/a Vu (40 page)

“Should we hand out presents?” Greyston asks, settling in behind me.

Nodding excitedly, I start organizing the gifts into piles so I can hand them out. I’m quite perplexed to find quite a few of them are mine—and they’re mostly massive.

I hand the gifts out to our parents and Gran, and then I resume my place in front of Greyston and watch while our family opens their gifts. Dad’s up first, and the look in his eyes when he opens his Diamondback season tickets makes me extremely happy. Truth is, I had no idea what to get him, and it was Greyston’s suggestion to go this route.

“This is…” He looks down at the booklet and then up at us. “Thank you both. It’s amazing—and entirely too much.”

“Nah,” I say with a shrug. “Just promise you’ll take me to a game.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “I had a great time at that football game, and I’ve recently decided to experience new things.” I toss a quick sideways glance at Greyston, and he smirks. “Besides, it’s so rare we spend any real father-daughter time together anymore. This would be perfect.”

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he agrees quickly, turning to show Mom his tickets before she opens her gift.

Her mouth falls open when she opens the long, slender black velvet box that contains the necklace and spa gift card we got her. “Thanks, you two. This is absolutely perfect.” She stops and looks at me with a wide smile and wet eyes. “This necklace is stunning, honey.”

“I saw it and just couldn’t resist,” I tell her. “It has our birthstones in it.”

Mom blinks away a few emotional tears and asks my dad to help her put the necklace on. “It’s exquisite.” I get the feeling that something might be on my mom’s mind; I’ve never known her to be this emotional over a gift before—regardless of the sentiment behind it. Before I can ask her if she’s okay, she hands a gift to Gran.

“Here, Mum. This is from Juliette and Greyston.”

I shift in place, getting up onto my knees, eager for my gran’s reaction. I’d spent so much time on the main part of her gift before Greyston and I went out and got her a set of personalized ceramic pie plates as well.

She’s always been happy baking for her family, so the pie dishes were a big hit, but when she got to the actual gift…

“Oh, Juliette,” she says, flipping through the pages of the scrapbook I’d put together for her. “When did you find the time to do this?”

“Well, I’ve been working on it for the last year, but knowing I wanted to give it to you for Christmas, I really pushed myself to get it done these last two weeks.” I pause, slightly nervous, even though the look on Gran’s face tells me I shouldn’t be. “Do you like it?”

The album contains all sorts of family photos, and when I first showed Greyston the finished product, he seemed completely captivated by the stories they told.

Behind me, he rests his hands on my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. I sigh, bringing my right hand up and placing it over his, and he gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“I think she likes it,” I tell him, shifting and lifting my left arm to rest on his lap. Greyston’s hand moves up and down my forearm, making me sigh.

He laughs. “I told you she would.”

Gran sets her scrapbook aside for later so Greyston’s parents can open their gifts next. Like my dad, Daniel gets a set of season tickets. Apparently this isn’t too much of a shock to him; he gets the same thing every year. Greyston even foresaw our dad’s maybe wanting to go to games together, making sure the seats were close.

Jocelyn beams when she opens the envelope containing the donation that Greyston and I made to a children’s charity. Greyston explained to me that his mom has always been heavily involved with a lot of charities in the area, ever since he was little.

“Thank you both,” she says, her eyes

I’m about to let Greyston open his present, but before I can say anything, he hands me the present from the top of my pile. Not one to refuse the chance to open my gifts, I accept, tearing the paper from the box from Gran.

It’s a beautiful present, but also a bit confusing considering I live in Phoenix. “These are lovely,” I assure Gran as I pull the hand-knit scarf from the box and wrap it around my neck. There’s a matching pair of elbow-length mittens that are made out of the softest wool I’ve ever felt. “Thanks, Gran.

“You’re welcome, dear,” Gran replies sweetly. “I was glad to have something to busy myself with for the last several weeks.”

I pull the gloves off, but keep the scarf on, loving how warm and cozy it is, but I find myself worrying about Gran’s possible senility. “Here’s hoping Arizona experiences some kind of cold snap so I can make proper use of them,” I joke.

I don’t miss the strange look exchanged between everyone on the couch, but I don’t know what to make of it either. I pick up the next box from the pile. It’s from my parents.

Usually, my parents are really good about getting me something I desperately need—a new computer for school, clothes—but what lies in this box is even more bizarre than my gran’s gift.

I pull the parka from the box, the tag catching my attention immediately. “Down-filled?” I look at Mom and Dad. “Is Arizona expecting sub-zero temperatures sometime soon?”

Mom grins, the sparkle in her eyes telling me she’s keeping something form me. “Always best to be prepared.”

I remove the snow pants from the box next. “Snow pants, Mom. You bought me snow pants.” I run a hand through my hair, seriously confused about what’s going on. “I’ve never even seen snow before.

“What?” Greyston chimes in from behind me. “
Never
?”

I shake my head, the confusion starting to clear after his reaction. Does he have something up his sleeve? “Well, not
really
. I mean, there was that one time years ago where it snowed here, but it melted before it even hit the ground.”

Still confused and now questioning everyone’s motives, I reach for the plain envelope that sits on the last box. Greyston snatches it up before me, confirming my suspicions. “This one is actually to be opened last, sweetheart.”

I arch a brow suspiciously. “Okay.” I grab the final box and open it. “Winter boots.” I nod, pulling the gorgeous white boots on and loving how the fur cuff around my calf looks. They’re really quite beautiful, even if extremely unnecessary.

I’m quiet for far too long, and everyone is staring at me, probably expecting me to say something, but all I can do is wonder where we might be going that I’ll use all this stuff. Colorado? Montana?

“They’re awesome, but I have to wonder if you’re all insane or expecting some kind of ice-age apocalypse, or…?”

Laughing, Greyston hands me the envelope. “Here. This one’s from me. Maybe it’ll help clear everything up.”

My excitement surges, and I tear open the envelope, pulling out a folded piece of paper and a photo of a log cabin nestled somewhere in a winter wonderland.

The final pieces of this strange puzzle click into place, and I look up to Greyston.

“A cabin? You bought me a cabin?”

Greyston shakes his head. “No, I didn’t buy you a cabin. This one is only on loan.” He nods toward the folded piece of paper. “Open it.”

I do, and I find plane tickets to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada inside. He’s taking me on a vacation? Suddenly my gift seems lame. “No. Greyston, this is too much,” I try to tell him, even though I’m feeling pretty excited about it.

“You said you wanted a relaxing vacation.” His smile widens. “And what’s more relaxing than a cabin in the mountains of Canada?” I stare at him, completely perplexed. “Whistler is beautiful this time of year, and there’s no better place to go skiing.”

I almost choke on the breath I take. “Skiing? But I’ve never—”

“New experiences, right?” he says with a wink.

While I do feel he went above and beyond in the gift department, I can’t help the smile and excitement from pushing my concerns aside. I jump to my feet and throw myself onto Greyston’s lap. “Thank you! This is amazing.” Now that I’ve opened Greyston’s gift, all the others make sense. “Thank you all so much.”

Mom looks at us, her expression reflecting just how happy she is. “We just want you to have a good time. And be sure to take a lot of pictures.”

“I will,” I tell her. “I promise.”

It’s Greyston’s turn to open his gifts now, and while mine isn’t nearly as extravagant as the one he gave me, I really hope he loves it. I slide off his lap and hand him the box. “In light of your gift to me, this seems…lame.”

He’s quick to tear the wrapping off and open the box, revealing the titanium Michael Kors watch I spent a pretty penny on. He immediately takes it out and puts it on his wrist. It’s a little too big, but he doesn’t let that stop him from wearing it. “This is amazing, Juliette.”

“Yeah? You like it?”

“I love it.” He leans forward and presses his lips to mine softly—any harder and we’d probably get carried away like we so often do. “Thank you.”

Next, he opens his gift from his parents, extremely happy with the gift cards because he states that he’s in need of new boarding equipment. Just mentioning snowboarding makes me nervous and excited all at the same time.

“Here,” I say, handing him the last gift.

Inside is new winter gear—a jacket, ski pants, and gloves—and he seems pretty pumped about it. He’s about to thank my parents when my mom speaks up.

“If you don’t like them—or if you have a set already—the gift receipt is in the bottom of the box there.”

Greyston is quick to dismiss her concerns on whether or not he likes his gift. “It’s great, Anne. Really. My current set is more than a couple years old, so I was due for an upgrade. Thank you.”

We sit around for the next hour, talking about and showing off our gifts. I am so excited about the trip, I keep asking Greyston questions and telling him I can’t wait to go away with him—just the two of us, no interruptions. I do voice my concerns that maybe he spent a little too much.

“The cabin belongs to my parents, and they were more than happy to loan it to us for the week we’ll be in the mountains. All I paid for were the tickets,” he assures me, and this makes me feel a little better.

Our mothers and Gran head into the kitchen to check on the turkey and prepare some of the other dishes, while our fathers follow them to grab a beer. Finally alone, I crawl onto Greyston’s lap.

His eyes wander over my body, lingering on the slight view of my cleavage, and his hand moves from my knee and tugs on the fur cuff of my boot playfully. “You like your presents, baby?” His hand moves back up my leg until his hand is on my upper thigh, the tips of his fingers pressing against the inner seam of my jeans.

Afraid he might move his hand, I squeeze my thighs together, forcing his hand exactly where I want it. I stifle a moan and nod. “When do we leave?”

“The day after tomorrow,” he whispers, pushing his face into my neck and kissing that ticklish spot beneath my ear.

“So, I have all day tomorrow to pack and prepare?” He nods. “Good. There’s something I need to do tomorrow before we go.”

He arches his eyebrows questioningly. It feels nice to keep him in the dark for once.

“Which would be?”

I smile, feeling a little devilish as I plan something I truly hope he’ll love. “A surprise.”

Chapter 26

T
he look on Greyston’s face when I refuse to tell him what it is I have to do tomorrow before we go on our trip is priceless. Even though I am super excited about this vacation, having never been anywhere outside the US before—especially not in the winter—I still feel like he’s gone a little overboard. The cabin in the picture was beautiful, and I can’t wait to go away with him for the week. Sure, we’re not really disturbed much here, but going on a trip with my boyfriend, far away from even the slightest possibility of any kind of intrusion, is definitely appealing.

“You’re really not going to tell me?”

Shaking my head, I run my hand over his arm, lifting his sleeve and looking at the watch I bought him. “Sorry. Can’t.”

“I think you mean
won’t
,” he grumbles. Then, he leans forward and kisses my neck, his fingers curling into my inner thigh slightly. This makes my pulse race and my breath hitch, and he strokes the seam of my jeans. Tingles course through my body, settling between my legs, and I bite back a moan of desire. “Of course, I might have a few ways to extract information from you.”

His teeth bite down gently, and I sigh, ready to tell him anything he needs to know. The sound of our fathers’ voices returning from the kitchen draws my attention away from the way his hand feels wedged firmly between my thighs long enough to rise off his lap. Honestly, I’m glad they made themselves known, because I would have been horrified if they’d have found us like that. An innocent kiss—or even a not-so-innocent one—would have been a little easier to handle…but heavy petting? Yeah, pretty sure my dad wouldn’t recover from that a second time around.