A Very Merry Hitman (Holiday With a Hitman #2)

26. Chapter 25

I’m only a morning person on December 25th.

Christmas Day

Nessa carefully stepped into the living room and froze when she saw her mom and Dante sleeping on the couch, Dante with his arms around her mom.

There were a bunch of new presents under the tree, including a sparkly purple bike she’d had her eye on. But the best present of all—Dante had spent the night.

And he was holding on to her mom really close. Just like a dad would.

She knew it! Santa hadn’t let her down.

As she stood there, they both opened their eyes almost at the same time, her mom blinking sleepily. “Hey hon, Merry Christmas. We, uh…we just fell asleep, I guess…”

Dante cleared his throat, his dark hair all messy. “Yeah, we must have—”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to make anything up. I know the truth.”

Now they both blinked. “You do?” her mom asked, looking almost a little panicked.

But she wasn’t sure why. “Uh, yeah. I asked Santa—and Elli—for a new dad.” She looked at Dante expectantly. “It’s okay if you sleep over here. If you’re going to be my dad, you’ll have to move in anyway. ”

Her mom stared at her now, her mouth slightly open.

But Dante simply nodded in agreement. Good, he wasn’t trying to keep anything from her. God, adults were so weird. She knew things would work out between them. It only made sense. Dante loved her mom and her mom definitely loved Dante.

“Wait, you told Elli you wanted a new dad?” Her mom sat up a little straighter, as if she was going to stand, but Dante pulled her back into his lap.

Oh, they were totally together.

“Yep, and we came up with a plan to get you guys together. It’s why I was talking about that guy you went on a date with. Elli said that it would make Dante jealous. And it did.”

Dante’s mouth fell open a little now. “Wait, you were involved in Elliana’s shenanigans?”

“You knew what Elli was up to?” Aileen elbowed Dante, who simply shrugged.

“Can I open presents now? And maybe now is a good time to ask for some siblings. They could be here by next Christmas,” she said as she dove in front of the tree and picked up a sparkling gold package with her name on it. At this point everything else was just a bonus present.

She’d gotten a new dad for Christmas.

One she knew her mom was never letting go. She just hoped they gave her some siblings later. She really wanted a little sister. Or, like, three. She and her mom had done so many fun things over the last decade, but it was time to make the family bigger. Elli had joined theirs and that had turned out amazing. More girls would be even better.

And Nessa needed someone to teach things to anyway. Because girls were gonna rule the world one day.

***

Dante helped set out the plates on Aileen’s counter in preparation for the group coming over soon .

“So…this morning went better than expected.” Aileen kept her voice pitched low as she pulled the breakfast casserole out of the oven. Nessa wasn’t back from her grandparents’ yet, but Aileen didn’t seem to be taking any chances.

Dante took over immediately, setting the casserole out of the way before he pulled her into his arms. God, he couldn’t get enough of touching her. Everyone would be over soon for breakfast but he was savoring the quiet moment while it was just the two of them.

After helping her wrap presents last night, they’d fallen asleep while watching a Christmas movie. And he never wanted to sleep anywhere else but holding her. On the couch, the floor, in bed—didn’t matter. As long as she was happy and comfortable.

“Apparently Elliana doesn’t hate me after all,” he murmured, brushing his mouth over Aileen’s.

She grinned against him. “Apparently not. But we’re going to have to watch out for those two. They’re both sneaky and Elli will only encourage Nessa’s mischievous streak.”

Happier than he ever remembered being, he found himself laughing at the utter truth of that. “So…how do you feel about giving Nessa siblings?”

Aileen’s green eyes went wide, then she blinked a couple times. “Um…maybe we wait a year? I’d like some time with just the three of us.”

“Anytime you’re ready,” he growled even as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the box he’d been holding onto for way too long. He might be able to wait for kids, but he couldn’t wait to put his claim on Aileen.

“Seriously?” She hadn’t pulled back. If anything, she was pressed up against him even closer.

He leaned against the countertop with her plastered against him and his gaze automatically strayed to her mouth. They didn’t have time to do anything before the others showed up, but that didn’t stop him from fantasizing. “I want kids with you. I want to wake up to your gorgeous face every morning. I want to be a dad to Nessa, officially. I want…” He lifted her left hand and slid the sparkly engagement ring on her ring finger. “… everything.”

She stared down at the ring, then back up at him in a bit of shock. Then she grinned and it was a punch to his solar plexus. “So you’re not even asking, huh?”

No point. “If you said no, I’d probably take a page out of Theo’s book and kidnap you.”

“You’re not even lying right now,” she murmured, leaning up to kiss him again. “How would you convince me to marry you?” she whispered.

He reached between her legs, covered her unfortunately jean-clad mound with his big hand. “I’d spend a lot of time down here…” He nipped her bottom lip. “…making you come so hard that you’d have to say yes.”

She groaned slightly. “As soon as everyone leaves today, we’re getting naked.”

Maybe even sooner… “I need to tell you something,” he finally forced out. Because he wanted to start this relationship—soon to be marriage—with full honesty.

She quirked an eyebrow. “That sounds a little ominous.”

“I…used to watch your ASMR videos. Before…I knew you. I mean, I still watch them.” That wasn’t so much a confession as the first part.

She blinked. “What?”

“I watched your videos when you were first starting out. I stumbled across them one night when I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know you were Lorna and Nestor’s daughter. I found that out later… It’s why I moved to the neighborhood.”

She blinked again and he couldn’t read her.

“Not in a weird way or…maybe it was. But your videos helped me sleep when nothing else did.” He’d been in a dark place when he’d discovered her videos. “You saved me and helped pull me out of a bad head space.” He’d loved listening to her rambling, talking about everything and nothing. She’d been so sweet and charming—still was.

“I don’t even know what to say,” she whispered.

But she wasn’t pulling away so that was something.

“When I found out that you were their daughter…” He lifted a shoulder. “I moved here to be closer to you. I figured if you helped me, you were helping a lot of other people too. And I wanted to be close to you…to keep you safe.” And okay, he’d already been a little bit obsessed with her.

She leaned up on tiptoe and kissed him hard before pulling back. “I love you, Dante. And for the record, I will marry you.”

Relief punched through him that she wasn’t horrified by his secret, one he’d been carrying for too long. “Maybe I’ll kidnap you anyway,” he murmured before he claimed her mouth again.

But soon the front door banged open and voices filled the air as everyone came stomping in, talking and laughing.

“See! I told you I got a new dad for Christmas. Pay up, Uncle Theo!” Nessa was holding out her palm as Theo slapped a twenty in it, grinning even as he parted with his money.

Lorna saw the ring first, her eagle-eyed gaze narrowing in on it before she looked at Dante and nodded once in approval.

And hell yeah, he would take it. At the end of the day, he didn’t care what anyone but Aileen or Nessa thought, but he was glad Aileen’s family approved.

Because they’d become his family over the years and soon he’d make it official. He fake stumbled back when Nessa raced at him, hugging him hard around the waist.

“This is the best Christmas ever!” she shouted up at him, clearly only having one volume today. Loud.

And he loved it. “Agreed, nugget.”

“It really is.” Aileen slid her arm around his middle, and when she looked up at him, he felt more at peace than he ever had. “Merry Christmas.”

She was the missing piece he hadn’t even known he needed. But she and Nessa had filled a void inside him. And even if he didn’t deserve them, he would spend the rest of his life taking care of them, cherishing them the way they deserved. “Merry Christmas, baby. ”