under her chin, scrunching her shoulders up in awe.
We finish our dinner with laughter and lighthearted conversation, and then we gather around the living room with a fire crackling in the background. Randy comes in, wearing a Santa suit. Hunter was right; his beard refuses to stay on his face as he hands out gifts from him and Nancy to the extended family. Uncle Gerry gets me a glass of wine as I sit and listen to this wonderful family opening gifts and sharing memories.
The room is a sea of wrapping paper once again as everyone shares their gifts and gives kisses in thanks. Hunter gets a new pair of ski goggles from his grandmother and a new pair of hiking boots from his aunt and uncle. I didn’t know he was such an outdoorsy guy, but by the look on his face, he’s excited to put them to good use.
When it’s time for the worst-gift portion, Melissa and Tyler, Hunter and I, along with his cousins, Samantha and Carlie, and Carlie’s husband, Joe, move to a corner of the room.
Hunter brings out a velvet Santa bag and empties the gifts into the center of the group. “The one with the elf wrapping paper is the gift I brought that’s from you,” he whispers in my ear as I give him my glass of wine to place on the end table.
“I shouldn’t pick that one?” I ask.
“Do whatever you want. Just letting you know which worst gift is yours.”
“How long have you guys been doing this?” I ask out loud to the group as we each take our turns in selecting one.
Samantha looks over at Melissa. “Gosh, what, twenty years now for us?”
“Yeah,” Melissa replies. “When we got to high school age, the gift exchange got out of hand, so the cousins started our own game. It’s a twenty-five-dollar maximum, and the gift has to make your eyes roll.”
“Remember that year when Samantha brought the calendar that was full of amazing pictures from really cool places, but in the middle of each picture, there was a dog pooping,” Carlie says through her giggles.
“That was foul.” Melissa scrunches her face. “Tyler is the one who got it, and yep, he hung it right next to our computer desk. All. Year. Long.” She picks up a pillow and throws it at Samantha.
She takes the pillow and places it behind her back, like she wanted it the entire time.
Carlie gets up and picks the last gift—a flat, rectangular item. Since she’s the youngest, she gets to go first. “Okay, everyone, pay attention. I’m going.”
She rolls the dice, and it lands on a one, which means she has to switch gifts with the person to the right of her.
Melissa rolls a five next. “Open it!” she yells. She laughs when she unwraps it and shows us an apron with a picture of Lionel Richie in a sultry pose with the words Hello. Is it me you’re cooking for? written on it.
She holds it against herself to model it for everyone.
Tyler almost spits out the eggnog he was drinking. “Nice,” he says smoothly when he recovers.
“My turn,” Samantha says, getting up to grab the dice. She rolls a three, which means she can swap with anyone. She hands her still-wrapped gift to Melissa and takes the apron from her, and Melissa pouts.
Tyler has the gift with the elf wrapping paper. He rolls a six and gets to open the gift on his lap. He yanks out the tissue paper and pulls out socks. With shreds of cheese and a grater, they say, My puns are grate.
I laugh out loud and then turn to Hunter. He said he loves my cheesy jokes. I thought he was being polite. He gets me, and it makes my heart smile.
It also turns me on. A lot.
I have a tingling in me, a bold kind of yearning that makes me want to tell my inner kitten to simmer down. A sip of wine will calm this itch.
Reaching across the couch for my glass of wine that’s sitting on the end table, I rest my hand on Hunter’s thigh, and my palm skims down the inside. His muscle flexes at the touch, and—let’s call it a Freudian slip—my ring and pinkie fingers move over his crotch. I feel the release of his breath hit the back of my head.
I grip the wineglass, and on the return, my hand slides off his thigh and rests against his now-very-hard erection.
As I settle back