Page 79 of Because of Blake
Blake narrows his eyes. “Spend the night? Where will the kids be?”
I laugh. “Here. I thought if you spend the night, then you’ll be here for waffles or whatever in the morning. We can do presents when the kids get up, then have Christmas dinner. You know, spend the whole holiday together.”
“I love the sound of that. Should I bring Oscar?”
“Of course. We have gifts for him, too.”
Blake leans over and kisses my temple. Keeping his lips on my skin, he says, “You’re too good to me.”
“I’m too good to your dog. I could be nicer to you.”
He moves his lips to my ear and whispers, “You could make it up to me after the kids go to bed.”
I nudge him away with my shoulder. “Behave, mister.” Though I’m not sure I could behave myself if Blake initiates anything.
Chapter twenty-four
ChristmasEvedinnerisa wild success. We have pizza, again, but it’s alright because I have Christmas Day dinner all planned out. It will be a feast fit for kings. I’m perfectly fine being able to relax tonight and not worry about cleaning up or doing dishes.
Blake and I sit on the couch, him cradling me against his chest, while the kids lie on the floor, watching our traditional Christmas Eve movie,A Christmas Story.Dylan has his arm over Oscar, snuggling with him, and Sydney looks like she’s about to fall asleep. Blake’s fingers brush the skin of my arm, only stopping every so often when I take another sip of my wine.
When the movie finishes, Dylan sits up. “Can we open our presents tonight?”
“Ha ha, no, honey. Tomorrow.”
“Please? Just one?” Dylan pleads.
“They could open the ones I brought,” Blake offers.
I turn to him. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course I did.”
“Okay, we can all open one present tonight. The rest are for the morning,” I say, pointing my finger at Dylan and flicking it between the kids.
Sydney rolls her eyes and Dylan jumps up, Oscar hot on his heels. He runs to the tree and pulls Blake’s gifts, handing one to Sydney.
She gently shakes the box. “Feels empty to me.”
“Just open it,” Blake says with a chuckle.
Sydney casually peels the paper, finding a plain cardboard box taped shut. She bobs her shoulders at Blake, who nods for her to continue. Sydney cuts the tape with her fingernail and opens it. Inside is an envelope. She sighs and slides her finger under the flap.
“This is a lot of work,” she says jokingly. She pulls a gift card from the envelope and flips open the cardboard covering. Her eyes widen immediately. “Holy cow!”
“What is it?” I ask.
“A hundred-dollar gift card to Barnes & Noble! Thank you, Blake!”
“You’re welcome.”
I turn to Blake, who has a smug look of satisfaction on his face. “That’s a lot of books.”
“You’d rather her be into makeup and boys?”
“Ha, no. Not yet.” I turn back to the kids. “Okay, Dyl-pickle, your turn.”
Dylan wastes no time in ripping the paper from his gift. The box is fairly big and my mind races with possibilities for what’s inside, secretly praying Blake didn’t go too crazy trying to win my kids over.