Yeah, life sure was hard.
He looked around his living room and couldn’t help but smile. The Christmas tree stood in the corner in front of the bay windows, the red and white lights reflecting off the glass panes. Red, green, and white balls hung from the branches and a large white snowflake sat at the top. A candy dish with a penguin wearing a scarf was on the table; it was filled with foil-wrapped chocolate Santas. There was a nativity scene on the bookcase, a Santa on the hearth, and a trio of red glittery cones sitting on the dining room table. She’d put a wreath on the front door, dish towels with snowmen in the kitchen, and the reindeer sheets on their bed.
It was below forty outside, so Brendan had lit a fire in the fireplace to add some heat. He also thoroughly enjoyed Paige walking around in no pants, so he tried to keep the house warm enough to keep that tradition alive.
“You hungry?” she called from the kitchen.
“Starving,” he said, turning off the game and pulling his feet down to the floor.
He stood up, still clutching his glass of wine, and turned around to find Paige standing in the entryway to the kitchen wearing a frilly black apron with white polka dots. Her hair was stacked on the top of her head in a messy bun and the sleeves of her sweater were pushed up to her elbows. He stopped in front of her and kissed her lightly on the mouth.
“We could postpone dinner,” he said against her mouth as his free hand slid down her side, “and take those reindeer sheets for a spin.”
“I don’t think so, cowboy,” she said, grabbing his wine glass and finishing it. “Dinner first, then dessert.” She pulled herself away from him and walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, you’re no fun,” he said, admiring the view that the open back of the apron gave him.
“I just see the bigger picture,” she said as she opened the fridge and pulled out another bottle of wine. “You should eat so you have strength for later.” She uncorked the bottle and filled both of their glasses.
“Did you have something specific in mind?” he asked as he came up behind her. He untied the back of her apron and pulled it off.
“Oh, maybe one or two things.”
“I like the sound of that,” he said, pressing his mouth to her neck.
“You like the sound of anything that involves sex,” she said, tilting her head to the side and giving him better access.
“I like the sound of anything that involves you,” he said, reaching around her. He grabbed the wine glasses and stepped back toward the table. If he didn’t put some space between them pronto, there would be no hope of them eating dinner any time soon.
Paige had made chicken Thai curry. He’d never had Thai food before, but as always, Paige tended to expand his horizons. The sauce had a pretty good kick to it, which caused both of them to reach for their wine glasses more often than usual. By the time they were done eating, they’d finished a bottle of wine and were in the middle of another.
Paige slipped out of the kitchen after dinner, telling him not to peek into the living room. She was back five minutes later, and they finished cleaning up together. When Brendan went to refill their glasses, Paige shook her head, grabbing the wine bottle instead. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the living room. There was a pallet of blankets spread out in front of the fire, pillows stacked on one end, and a string of condoms on the table.
“I thought you said one or two things,” he said, eyeing the condoms. “Not six.”
“What?” she asked, putting the bottle of wine down on the table before she turned to him. “You’re not up for the challenge?” she asked, reaching for his belt and unbuckling it.
“Oh, I don’t think
up
is going to be a problem.”
“Hmm,” she hummed, unsnapping his jeans and pulling down his zipper. “I’d say not,” she said as she slipped her hand down and cupped him through his boxer briefs. Brendan groaned.
Paige moved her hands to his hips and pushed his jeans and underwear down his thighs. He pulled everything off his legs, and a second later his shirt was on the ground. He grabbed the hem of Paige’s sweater and she stretched up her arms as he pulled it up and over her head. Her bra and panties were a matching red set. He was a pretty big fan of them, but it took him no time at all to get her completely naked.
Paige pushed him down onto the blankets and straddled him. Apparently what she’d had in mind involved Brendan looking up at her from flat on his back. She grabbed a condom and opened it. Just her rolling it down the length of him had him coming out of his skin. But it was nothing compared to the second later when she lowered herself onto him.
Brendan grabbed her hips, needing to have his hands on her body. He held onto her as she rode him, and then moved one of his hands to where their bodies joined, touching her.
“Brendan,” she gasped, her hips picking up speed.
He watched her, amazed at how lucky he was to have found her. She was spectacular, and it had way more to do than just with sex. She’d changed his life. She was who he was supposed to wake up next to everyday. She was who was supposed to have his kids. Share his life. She was his, and he belonged to her completely.
He sat up, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her chest to his. His mouth landed hard on hers and he found her tongue. Her hips didn’t miss a beat as she adjusted to the new angle and she wound her arms around his neck. She came hard, crying out into his mouth, and Brendan followed a second later, unable to resist the sensations of her body pulsing around him.
* * *
Paige wasn’t sure how long they’d been lying in front of the fire, but she did know that they’d already worked their way through two more of those condoms. She was pressed into Brendan’s side, her head resting on his chest as she stared at the fire. His hand lazily traced up and down her back.
“It feels right, being here with you, living with you,” she said.
“That’s because it is right.”
“It wasn’t like this with Dylan,” she said, looking up at him.
He was looking down at her, his eyes focused on her face.
“It didn’t feel like home with him. I never thought of it as
our
space. It was his space, and he was just tolerating me in it. He never accepted me, for me. Whenever I didn’t fit into this mold he had in mind, he put me down. I thought I belonged in Philadelphia with him, but I didn’t. It wasn’t until I came down here that I found where I belong.”
“And where’s that?” he asked.
“With you,” she said, stretching up to press her mouth to his. He kissed her deeply, pulling her up onto him so that she was sprawled across him. When he pulled back she settled herself on his chest, stacking her hands on his sternum.
“Until I found you, I was missing something,” he said softly. “I just didn’t know it. I didn’t know that my life was half full. Didn’t know I was barely getting by without you.”
He sat up, pulling Paige with him. Her legs fell to the outside of his thighs so that she was straddling him. He reached up and grabbed her face, cupping her jaw in both of his hands.
“Paige, you’re it for me, with your kisses that taste like oranges. You’re the warm sheets next to me every morning, and the bright colors in the dryer when we do laundry. You’re the toothbrush next to mine on the sink. You’re the first sip of coffee in the morning, and the last sip of wine at night. You’re it. You’re the one.”
He let go of her face and reached over to the pile of his clothes on the floor. He found his jeans and pulled out a tiny black box.
“Brendan,” she whispered, her breath shallow and her head spinning.
“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Paige, will you marry me?”
He opened the box and inside sat a round diamond surrounded by a circle of tiny diamonds. More tiny diamonds ran down the sides of the ring, leaving about half of the band to be solid white gold. He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger.
She stared down at it for a second before she looked back up at him, tears running down her face. “Yes,” she said, launching herself into his arms and tackling him to the ground. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said, covering his face with kisses.
Brendan brought his hands up to the back of her head and guided her mouth to his. He rolled so that she was underneath him and settled between her thighs before he pulled up and looked down at her.
“I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he said, swiping his thumbs under her streaming eyes. “I can’t even tell you what it means to me that you said yes.”
“Brendan,” she said, reaching up and touching his face, “that was the only answer.”
“Good,” he said, pressing his mouth to hers.
“But Brendan, when we tell people how we got engaged, can we leave out the part where we were naked?” she asked.
“But that’s the best part,” he said.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” she said as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“I have absolutely no doubts about that.”
B
rendan had gotten Trevor and Denise’s blessing before he proposed to Paige. They’d been sitting on the couch watching the Jacksonville Stampede demolish the Red Wings on the ice. Paige had been out back painting, and Denise had been curled up in a corner reading a book. Brendan had been rolling the bottom of his beer bottle back and forth on his knee, trying to figure out exactly what he was going to say.
“I was wondering if I could talk to you two about something,” Brendan said.
Denise looked up from her book as Trevor muted the TV.
“What’s going on?” Trevor asked.
Brendan shifted, sitting farther up on the couch and angling himself so he could see both of them better.
“I love your daughter very much,” he began.
“Hold on,” Denise said, putting down her book and getting up from the chair. She walked across the room and sat down between Brendan and Trevor. She reached out and put her hand on Brendan’s, smiling. “Okay, go on,” she said and nodded.
“Paige is a remarkable woman. She’s beautiful inside and out. She’s strong and smart, and so talented it blows me away. She’s the love of my life. I want to ask her to marry me, and I’d like to have your blessing.”
Trevor and Denise beamed. Denise looked back at Trevor and nodded, before she turned to face Brendan again.
“I’ve said it before, Brendan, and I’ll say it again. You’re a good man who is worthy of my daughter. And that’s saying something because I haven’t thought that about any other guy she’s dated. But you? You’re different. I have full faith that you’ll take care of our little girl,” he said as he put an arm around Denise. “You have our blessing.”
He’d asked her to marry him two days later.
* * *
“Oh! My! Gosh!” Grace said, jumping up and down in front of them. “Let me see! Let me see!”
Paige held out her left hand, grinning. She hadn’t stopped grinning since Brendan had proposed. He liked seeing that look on her face. Loved it.
“It’s beautiful, Brendan,” Lula Mae said, staring at the ring on Paige’s hand.
It was beautiful, but he didn’t think it was even remotely comparable to the person who was wearing it.
“So when’s the big day?” Grace asked.
“We just got engaged last night,” Brendan said and laughed. “We haven’t exactly had time to discuss that.” Truth be told, they hadn’t done a lot of talking the night before or that morning for that matter. They’d been too busy doing other things, like each other.
Lula Mae had known beforehand, and she’d insisted that Brendan bring Paige over for a dinner to celebrate. It was more than a little difficult to share Paige at the moment. He wanted her all to himself, but really, he always wanted her all to himself.
“Paige,” Shep practically shouted as he walked into Lula Mae’s kitchen. “Come here you beautiful creature, you,” he said, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. “Congratulations,” he said right before he planted a big kiss on her cheek.
Shep came up to Brendan and slapped him on the back. “I can’t believe you got her to say yes.”
“Me either,” Brendan said, shaking his head, as Paige was now pulled into the arms of Bennett. He couldn’t believe his luck. Paige had been in his life for just over four months and he couldn’t imagine living life without her. There was no way he could go back.
“I’m proud of you,” Lula Mae whispered, grabbing Brendan by the face and bringing his head down so that she could kiss his cheeks.
“For what?” He smiled, shaking his head.
“For falling in love. She’s a good girl, one that I’m proud you’re going to spend the rest of your life with. Your mother…” She trailed off as she patted his cheek, giving him a watery smile. “Your mother would’ve been proud of you too.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. It’s not an easy thing, taking the leap.”
“You can’t get anything extraordinary from something that’s easy,” Brendan said, thinking of his mother. Claire used to say that in life you got only a handful of extraordinary things. She’d always said that her extraordinary had been Brendan and Grace. Brendan had never known what that really meant until he’d met Paige.