She’d slept in Carter’s bed that night, but they’d both gone to sleep early, and they hadn’t had sex. She woke up feeling mostly rested and as excited as she used to be on Christmas mornings.
Maybe more so. Because today was Christmas, and she was also getting married to Carter.
She giggled to herself in the dark.
“Seriously?” Carter mumbled from the other side of the bed. He’d turned over onto his stomach sometime during the night, and his head was facing away from her.
She laughed again and reached over to stroke his bare back.
He rolled to face her. It was too dark to see his expression clearly. “Is it entirely necessary for you to wake up before the crack of dawn?”
“Why are you asking me that? You’re the one who usually gets up at ungodly hours. I like to sleep in until at least seven.”
“And yet it’s just after five. And you’re wide awake and laughing about something.” He was putting on the pose of being grumpy, but she knew he wasn’t. She could always tell the difference.
“I’m laughing out of pure happiness,” she admitted. “It’s Christmas, and I get to marry you today.”
She could feel him smiling in the dark for a minute. Then with a quick, unexpected move, he rolled over on top of her.
“Wow!” She reached up to stroke his messy hair and stubbly jaw. “That’s pretty active for someone whining about it being the crack of dawn.”
“It’s before the crack of dawn,” he corrected her. He leaned down to nuzzle the crook of her neck, making her squeal when he nibbled a sensitive spot just under her ear. “And I never whine.”
“If you say so.” Her whole body was shaking with laughter, and she literally couldn’t stop smiling. “But if you’re hoping to get lucky this morning, your hopes are doomed to disappointment. We have to save it for our wedding night tonight.”
“Really? You don’t think we can manage both?”
“I don’t want to be sore today and have to limp down the aisle because you accidently got carried away. You are rather athletic in bed, you know.”
“I thought I was a nice guy, and nice guys aren’t very adventurous.”
“I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about when I said that. Nice guys are definitely where it’s at.”
He chuckled. He was still poised over her, but he wasn’t making any moves. If she indicated in any way that she wasn’t in the mood for sex, he’d never pressure or guilt her about it. Never make her feel bad in any way. “I’m glad you’ve finally come to that conclusion. I’ll be happy to prove it to you again.” He kissed her softly. “And I can be gentle whenever you need me to be.”
“I know you can.” Her voice broke slightly, which was absolutely ridiculous.
“I need to turn a light on,” he said in a different tone. “I can’t see your face very well, so I can’t read your expression.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because it sounded just now like you were about to cry, and I wanted to see if you were.”
“I wasn’t,” she assured him with more confidence than accuracy. “Just had a frog in my throat.”
He gave a breathy laugh and kissed her again, this time more slowly. “I’d still like to verify that for myself.”
“Well, too bad. It’s way too early to turn the light on. Plus we aren’t supposed to see each other before the wedding anyway.”
“How the hell is that supposed to work? It’s Christmas, and it’s ages until the wedding. I can’t be expected not to see you all day long. What kind of Christmas would that be?”
“Not a very good one,” she admitted. “I guess we’ll have to break with tradition then.”
“I think we’re breaking with tradition in a lot of ways. For instance, we got engaged before we said we loved each other.”
“That is kind of nontraditional. But at least we didn’t go Summer and Lincoln’s route and get married before we fell in love. Twice in one family would be way too much.”
“Definitely too much. Hey, Ruth, let me just say this.”
Ruth froze at his altered tone. Her heart started to race. “What?”
“I love you more than anything, and that’s never going to change. I thought I understood what love was before, but I’m not sure I ever did. I tried to love things by not letting them get away from me and then falling apart when they did. I did it with Lincoln. I did it with Summer.”