Page 86 of Beautiful Disaster

“Don’t you dare tell me to take it easy! But…” His shoulders sag, and he sits back on my lap. “But I’ll listen to you.”

“Gee, thanks.” I chuckle and kiss his cheek.

He snorts a laugh and leans against me. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. I love your energy. But perhaps I should remove your bracelets. I don’t want people figuring it out.”

“Oh, hell no! Fuck ’em.”

“We’ll leave them on for now. Go back to your family. I’ll be up shortly to greet you all.” He stands, and when he reaches the door, I say, “See you tomorrow afternoon, too?”

His face finally lights up. “Yeah, I can’t wait.” As he’s leaving, he stops and turns to me, his eyes sad. “Give me a chance.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me say something to the community. I think I can persuade them, but it’s gonna have to wait until after the wedding. Too much shit is going on, and I need to take my time and be careful with my words. I think it can wait until then. Please?”

I nod, relenting. “Very well.”

I pull the prime rib out of the oven and let it rest off to the side. Everything else is ready for dinner and Jinx’s arrival. It’s my first Christmas with someone since my parents died. I didn’t even get a chance to celebrate the holiday with Jude. We always did something together the next day so that I could spend it with my parents. It’s been a lonely holiday until now. Hell, they’ve all been lonely. My self-flagellation and guilt were the only things that kept most of the loneliness at bay.

Excitement courses through me in a pleasant rush when I hear the doorbell. I wipe my hands and head to the door, taking a deep, calming breath. As a Dom, I can’t act like an excited teen, for god’s sake.

Despite yesterday at work and worries about my business, my love for Jinx hasn’t wavered. In fact, I plan to tell him how I feel tonight. Still, the chance that I could lose my business because of my relationship settles painfully in my gut. It mostly makes me angry. I’ve dedicated years and countless hours to growing my restaurants, having zero life outside of them until I chose to raise horses and then met my beautiful sub.

I open the door to a freezing Jinx, holding a couple of wrapped gifts, his nose bright red. It’s only 6°F out there, and the snow that’s still on the ground is frozen over.

“Merry Christmas,” I say, standing back so he can walk in.

“Merry Christmas.”

After I shut the door, I unwrap him, starting with his scarf, then removing his knit hat and gloves, and taking his coat. “You’re the best Christmas gift ever,” I say, putting his things in the front closet.

Jinx smiles, and pink dusts his already pink cheeks, smoothing his static, flyaway hair. “I’m not a present.”

“You are absolutely a gift, Jinx.”

He mumbles a shy thanks, which is so unlike him, and heads into the living room, where he places the presents under the tree with the others I bought for him.

“The tree looks really pretty,” he says.

“Thanks. It’s the first one I’ve put up in years. I had to scramble to buy decorations for it.” In fact, I’d gone all out decorating inside the house. I didn’t bother with the outside, since no one can see it, being well off the road. Besides the tree, I put up garland, holiday-scented candles, and lights, and there are huge wreaths over the fireplaces in every room.

He looks over his shoulder at me. “That’s kinda sad.”

I chuckle. “It kind of is, but I’m happy to be celebrating with you.”

I stand behind him and wrap my arms around his front, pulling him against me. “Would you like to eat first or open presents?”

“Presents, duh.”

“As my pet commands.”

He sits on the floor and hands me a gift from him and grabs one that’s from me.

“Did you get nice presents from your family?” I ask.

“Because we have more money than we know what to do with and can buy whatever we want, we focus on getting each other one gift each that’s sentimental.”