The Sweetest Gift - Scarlett Cole Page 0,4

body was on fire, a different kind of fire than the type that used to help him escape the world around him. It was on fire for her.

His balls ached with a deep need. His orgasm tightened every muscle in his gut.

“Fuck, Kendalee,” he gasped, watching as her mouth opened, as her head threw back, as her eyes closed. Silent gasps of ecstasy as she fluttered around his cock.

Watching her fall apart, he let himself go. He pressed his lips to the crook of her neck, taking in the reassuring musky scent of her, groaning as he came over and over.

When it was done, as silence fell in the laundry room, he slid from within her and settled her against his chest. His heart beat faster than if he’d just played a complete set plus encore to a capacity crowd.

But his soul.

The fractured pieces of him that his family had made whole were glued back together again. Gently, he ran his fingertips up and down her spine as he listened to Kendalee’s breathing return to normal.

“Can I ask for one more thing on your list, Elliott?” She tilted her head to look up at him and he kissed her nose.

“Anything you want, Babe.”

“Number six on the top six things I want to do to my wife in the laundry room,” she said. “Promise her that I’ll never shut her out like that again.”

Elliott wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. “I promise, Lee,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to…” He left the words hanging as he struggled to explain his feelings.

“I can only imagine how tough it’s been, processing it. You don’t need to carry it all on your own. I know it’s what you’ve always done. It’s what I had always done. But that’s the whole point of us. We’re in this life together. All of it. The good and the bad.”

“Don’t make me cry while I’m lying naked on the floor of the laundry room,” he said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Kendalee raised herself onto her elbow and kissed the side of his face. “It would be fine if you did,” she said sincerely.

He nodded. “I love you.”

A warm smile lit up her face. “And I love you, too.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair and pulled her lips to his, kissing her gently.

A murmur then a cry sounded out through the baby monitor.

“Fuck me,” Elliott said. “I was so hoping we could take this to the store cupboard, or the downstairs toilet.”

Kendalee pressed her head against his shoulder and laughed. “Clean up down here, or clean up up there,” she said, looking toward the baby monitor.

“I’ll take up there,” he said. “My hair looks messy like always. But yours looks like you just got fucked.”

Kendalee slapped his chest but burst out laughing. “Fine, close the door on your way out. I might just grab the sheets from the dryer and nap while I recover.”

He pulled on his clothes while she watched. “Every day, I love you more. Even if I’m not clear about it, Lee. Just waking up next to you on Christmas morning is the only gift I need this year.”

And with that, he left his wife and went to check on his children.

2

Snow fell in huge swaths outside the window of the sterile Toronto high-rise building. It matched Jordan’s thoughts… chaotic, beautiful, and terrifying.

Making music came naturally to Jordan. He’d hear it, feel it, sense it, and fuck, on some days he could even taste it. Notes would form in front of his eyes and his brain would capture them forever, even if he moved on to play the song he was creating a different way. It was comfortable and safe. It was armor.

Music, he’d thought, was his everything.

Until Lexi had literally danced her way into his life four years earlier.

He was luckier than any man had a right to be. Especially a man like him. He considered the quote Maisie had always said to him, the Hemmingway quote about when people put themselves back together, they could end up strong in the broken places. He had it tattooed on his body as a reminder.

The life he and Lexi had built sometimes felt like a whisper of happiness he had to reach out and grasp to hold on to. Sometimes he caught it and could stay in the moment with Lexi, embracing everything good and right in their world. Sometimes it would drift out of his fingers like mist dissipating over