learned about her, the deeper his love for her would grow.
She brushed her hair behind her ear again, her fingers briefly touching his, and shrugged, almost dislodging his coat. He drew it back over her shoulders, gathered her into his arms and held her as she battled the nerves he could feel in her. Nerves that ran through him too. They weren’t about this conversation, or telling him about herself. They were about where they had left things the last time they had been like this.
She didn’t need to worry. He wasn’t going to make a fuss over what he had learned about her, and he wasn’t going to rush her into anything. The ball was in her court. They had all the time in the world after all.
And every moment with her was precious.
“I have three brothers. All older… all obnoxious.” She smiled and then grimaced, her tone shifting. “I don’t mean that. I love them. They just drive me crazy. They always spoil this time of year when I love it so much.”
“How do they spoil it?” Because Saint wanted to know how badly he needed to hurt her brothers to stop them from ruining a holiday that, while most shifters didn’t celebrate it, clearly meant a lot to her.
She gave a little shrug and refused to look at him, dropping her eyes to his chest and her fingers as she circled one of the buttons of his shirt. Her voice was quiet when she finally spoke.
“They bring up how I managed to go another year alone.”
Her pain flowed through him, and Saint decided that only death was a suitable punishment for how her brothers had treated her.
Because she was talking about them teasing her for not having a male.
Well, she had a male now. The one and only male she would ever have. And this male was going to make up for all the Christmas’s her brothers had ruined for her.
“Do you like presents?” He liked it when she relaxed against him, when the tension he could sense in her faded, replaced with relief.
It struck him that she had expected him to growl and be angry with her brothers, or maybe tease her himself about how she had never been with a male.
While he wanted to do the former, there was no way in hell he would ever do the latter. He could never hurt her, and teasing her about the years she had passed alone would hurt her. He was hardly one to talk either. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been with a female, felt sure it was long before Holly had matured. So long ago that as he thought about it, he started to get nervous too.
“I do love presents.” She leaned into him, pressing her chest to his stomach and tipping her head back, gazing up at him with a little smile that said she didn’t just love them—she really loved them. “It’s not all about the presents though. It’s the lights. The cold weather that makes you want to cuddle up indoors. It’s being with those you love.”
Her parents had named his fated female wisely.
He pressed closer to her, thoughts of cuddling up in the warmth with her chasing around his mind.
Together with being with the one he loved.
And he did love her.
“I could get you a present,” he said, liking the way her eyes twinkled at him now, lit up as she half-smiled. “Although, I might not be able to get it right away.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “There is something you could give me.”
He stared at her, eager to know what it was.
Her gaze fell to his lips.
“A kiss.”
Chapter 20
When Saint growled low, Holly was deeply aware that if he gave her this present, it wouldn’t end there.
And part of her didn’t want it to.
The rest of her was nervous, had been on edge from the moment she had accidentally revealed that her experience with males was a soul-crushing zero. She had tried to put it to the back of her mind when Ivy had pulled her into the marquee, had done her best to conquer her nerves as she had talked with the brothers and their females, and had even danced with Rath.
But the whole time, she had been aware of Saint’s gaze on her. A need had steadily built inside her, a desire to go to him that had only increased whenever she had glanced his way and found females looking at him too.