And he smiled as he said it, his palms curving downward to cup my cheeks.

All I could do was blink.

“Pink like Princess Peach.”

I swallowed, hard. “If you’re trying to get laid, we have to wait until everyone leaves,” I whispered.

Dallas grinned and I did too.

“Thank you,” I told him. “I can’t believe you knit me one.”

“I told you I would.”

He had. He really had told me that. I took his hands from my face watching as he winced at the contact and looked down at the big palms and long fingers I was holding between us. The knuckles were a purple-ish red and two had the skin broken. I blinked. “What the hell did you do?”

There was no hesitation in his answer. “Stuff.”

I peered up at him, narrowing my eyes and ignoring the sneaky smile creeping at his cheeks. “Did you guys beat someone up?”

Trip, I could see getting into a fight for whatever reason. Dallas? It had to be a damn good reason. Maybe Trip had gotten into a fight and Dallas had stepped in—

His nonbruised hand came up to my cheek again and he flat-out grinned. “Yes. He deserved it.” Before I could react, he leaned forward and kissed my mouth softly.

Had he… Jeremy…? With his lips hovering just above mine, I asked slowly, “Where did you go?”

“Fort Worth.”

Holy shit.

Dallas pressed his lips to mine again. “It’s better if you don’t ask any more questions, hmm? Consider it one of your Christmas presents, baby.”

My heart seemed to swell about ten sizes larger than it originally was and in one of the rare occasions in my life, I didn’t know what to say. All I could do was draw his injured hand to my mouth and kiss the knuckles, snickering and laughing as his eyes met mine. I must have done something fucking awesome in another lifetime to deserve this man. And it was pretty damn easy to not ask any more questions about where he’d been and what he’d done. I was still grinning at him as I asked, “Are you still off the day after tomorrow?”

Dallas nodded, those green-brown-gold eyes focused in on mine.

I wasn’t surprised by how much my chest didn’t tighten or how my stomach didn’t ache as the question came out of my mouth. I’d thought about it last night while I lay in bed and decided to go for it. “Could you watch the boys for me for half the day? I have clients—”

“Sure,” he cut me off.

Did he look relieved or was I imagining it?

“You asked me for help.”

This funny feeling rolled around in my belly and I smirked at him. “So?”

“You really do love me.” His mouth was gaping. Ugh.

“Shut up,” I groaned. “You better get used to it. I’m not letting you get out of this one day because you get tired of me asking for help.”

Dallas shook his head. This giant smile that seemed like the greatest Christmas present in the world took over his mouth. “I won’t. Ever.”

I couldn’t help but eye him a little. “You said it.”

“I’ll get it to you in writing one day.”

“Uh-huh.” My face went hot so I changed the subject. There was only so much my heart could take in a day. Maybe one day I’d get used to him, but I hoped I didn’t. You stop appreciating things the moment they become a routine. “Did you get in touch with your brother by any chance?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “No. I left him a voice mail. Trip said he thought he saw him last week, but I don’t know.”

I scrunched up my nose. “I’m sorry. I hope he calls you back.”

“Me too.” He kissed my cheek. “The good news is that Nana’s trying to play it cool, but she’s excited to be here,” he said, his mouth inches from mine when he pulled back.

“Good. I made sure we have lots of Mexican food she can stuff her face with.” I smiled at him. “Has she said anything else about… you know, us?”

His hands came back up to my cheeks. “She was awake a few nights ago and caught me sneaking in. All she said was about time.”

My face went red and I couldn’t help but crack up from how embarrassing that was. God. “Okay. Now I have to sit through dinner knowing she knows you come over.”

“I came over right now.”

“That’s a whole different kind of coming over.” I laughed. “It’s more like crossing the street, if you know what I mean.”

Dallas shrugged, easy, easy, one of his thumbs going to my bottom lip to tug it down a little. “One day we can have Christmas and I won’t have to cross the street, hmm?”

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” I looked him right in the eyes. “All I care is that this is the first of many. I hope.”

His smile grew wider, his forehead going to mine, and he sighed, “You’re damn right it’s the first of many.”

Epilogue

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Louie nodded quickly—excited—he was so damn excited it made a knot form in my throat for about the thousandth time since he’d brought up his idea to me months ago. It had been all him. I couldn’t take credit for what he was about to do.

All I wanted was to make sure no one’s feelings would get hurt.

“Lou, you’re positive?” I asked him, knowing we’d gone over this each and every single time in the thousand times since he’d mentioned it.