12 Dates of Christmas (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

EPILOGUE

“Where are you going?” Nick rasped as Leo tiptoed around his side of bed later that week.

“Sorry,” Leo whispered. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay.” Nick wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him close, tumbling him onto the bed. “But I had plans for you.”

Leo shot him a curious look. “What kind of plans?”

“Touching every inch of you.” Nick grinned. “Kissing you everywhere. Sliding inside of you until you cry out my name. Those kind of plans.”

“Oh. Those kind, huh?” Leo blinked.

“If you want.”

“Hell yeah I do.” Leo threw back the sheets and stretched out next to Nick.

Nick laughed, loving that Leo was so enthusiastic about nearly everything he suggested, in or out of bed.

“Stay here,” Nick said. “I’ve gotta brush my teeth.”

When he returned, feeling all minty fresh, Leo was stretched out on the bed naked, with two fingers in his ass. Nick fumbled the hand towel he’d been carrying.

“What happened to taking my time?” Nick teased, leaning against the bathroom doorframe. He’d planned something a lot slower and more thorough, but he wasn’t exactly mad about the sight in front of him.

“I got impatient,” Leo said with a grin.

“I was gone for three minutes!”

“I know. Way too long.” Leo stared through his lashes, pressing deeper, his mouth dropping open with a gasp.

Nick pushed off the doorframe and stalked over to the bed. “Well, at least let me help .”

“Okay.” Leo gasped. “If you insist.”

Nick settled on the bed behind him, running his hands up and down Leo’s flanks for a moment, savoring the feel of his soft skin and the taut muscles below. He pressed a kiss to Leo’s shoulder, then reached for the lube.

Leo slid his fingers free and Nick replaced them with his own. In minutes, Leo was writhing against him, head bowed, panting and pushing back on Nick’s fingers.

With every day that passed, Nick learned more about what Leo loved. How to drive him crazy. He twisted his fingers, brushing his other hand against Leo’s balls.

Leo buried his face against the pillows, gasping out a muffled, “Nick!”

“Yeah? Do you need something?”

“You,” Leo begged, turning his head. “C’mon.”

“I could drag this out,” Nick teased, though from the feel of his own cock, he’d give in quickly.

Leo pouted. “You’re so mean!”

“Am I? I thought I was a nice guy.”

“Not at the moment.”

Laughing and dizzyingly in love with Leo, Nick slid his fingers free, wiped them on the towel, then rolled on a condom.

“I’ll be nice.”

Leo groaned low and long when Nick pushed inside him. And although he might not have had time to touch and kiss him before, he did so as he moved slowly inside Leo, tasting his skin, touching every inch of him like he’d promised.

And when Leo came, crying out his name, Nick wrapped him in his arms and held him close. “I love you,” he whispered thickly. “I love you.”

Because he could never say that too often. Life was short and love should be treasured.

“Welcome!” Nick said a few hours later. “C’mon in!”

Joel and Hayden stepped inside and Hayden immediately started laughing. “Uhh, Leo, you might want to fix your hair and Nick, you might want to fix your zipper there.”

“Shit!” Nick fumbled for it, his face warming. They’d started making out on the couch and lost track of time. “Sorry. We uh, got distracted waiting for people to arrive.”

Joel grinned and clapped Nick on the shoulder. “Happens to the best of us.”

Before Nick could say anything else, he spotted some more familiar faces coming up the walk. “Uncle Nick!” his nephew Sammi called out, waving. “Hi!”

“Hi!” Nick crouched down and held out his arms. “I’ve missed you.”

Sammi giggled but wrapped his arms around Nick’s neck. “You saw me on Christmas Eve!”

“Too long!” Nick kissed his cheek.

Mimi launched herself at him too and Nick hugged her, wrapping both kids up in his arms. His sister-in-law, Edie, smiled as she kicked off her shoes, talking about something with Leo.

But he tensed a few moments later when Ford Donnely and Mason West came up the sidewalk with Ford’s stepdaughter, Charlie, walking between them, holding both of their hands.

Nick had been surprised but pleased when Ford had agreed to come to the snowman building and board games get-together he and Leo had organized after the Fenners headed back to Wisconsin.

Ford seemed stiff when he greeted Nick and his smile looked slightly forced as he shook Leo’s hand. Charlie hung back too, looking unsure, but it wasn’t long before Mimi and Sammi befriended her and Heather and Edie drew Ford and Mason into conversation.

Everyone trooped out into the backyard to play in the freshly fallen snow and at one point, Nick stood beside Ford, unsure of what to say.

“Uh, how’d you and Leo meet?” Ford asked.

“Well …” Nick said. “He built my website and I was supposed to match him with someone but … I accidentally fell in love with him myself.”

Ford chuckled, his gaze drifting to Mason. “That happens.”

“I’m really glad you came today,” Nick admitted.

“I am too. And I’m sorry I—I’m sorry I got so distant after Nicole’s death. I just didn’t know how to be around you without hurting for her …”

“I am sorry too.” Nick’s throat went thick, remembering the days after her death. “I loved your sister so much.”

“You did. I know that.” Ford said roughly. “I should have tried harder. We could have supported each other more. I’m sorry, man.”

“I appreciate the apology. I know there’s a lot more I could have done too.”

Ford nodded. “You seem happy now.”

Nick smiled at Leo, who was being pelted with snowballs fired by all three kids. “I am.”

They fell silent for a few moments, watching the mayhem.

“Nicole would be glad you have him,” Ford said softly. “And glad you’re doing the matchmaking. It’s a nice tribute to her.” He glanced at Mason, who was talking to Joel and Hayden. “My sister would be glad we’re both happy now.”

Nick smiled. “She would.”

He liked to think maybe Nicole had a hand in his and Ford’s happiness right now. A little bit of Christmas magic, maybe.

“C’mon, Nick!” Leo called out. “I need help! Don’t let them gang up on me this way!”

“Gotta go rescue my boyfriend,” he said with a shrug at Ford, who just smiled and nodded.

Nick ran across the yard, laughing, his heart light and free as he tackled Leo into the snow and kissed him.

“Merry Christmas,” he said, looking down into Leo’s pink-cheeked face.

“Christmas is over,” Leo protested.

A snowball landed on Nick’s upper arm and he glanced over to see a giggling Charlie duck behind Sammi.

Family. Love. Nick really had it all, didn’t he?

“It’s always Christmas in Christmas Falls,” he told Leo, brushing their lips together. “Especially when I’m with you.”

THE END