Heated Rush - Leslie Kelly [76]
“Now, are you ready to be toasted and celebrated by every resident of Green Spring, Illinois?” he whispered before finally pressing his lips to hers for a sweet kiss that removed all worry.
When it ended, though, and he released her, reality quickly returned. “Can’t we just skip tonight and proceed right to tomorrow? Christmas Eve is always a lot of fun around here.”
He groaned. “Tell me there’s no football. I know Jed is looking for some payback for that black eye last summer.”
“In the snow? Don’t be silly.” Teasing him, she lifted a brow. “But, of course, there is the polar bear dip.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
Though the annual event wouldn’t be held until February, she let him worry a little longer. The man was the king of teasing. In the months that they’d been living together in a gorgeous brownstone he’d purchased in Chicago—with a home office he used for his thriving foreign-market consulting business—Sean had proved himself a master at getting exactly the reaction he wanted out of her. In bed, and out.
Especially in.
“The men all get…pissed…on too much beer,” she said, having picked up a bit of his lingo in their time together, “and they strip off their clothes and leap into an icy lake.”
He visibly shuddered. “I’ll pass.”
“Chicken?”
He grabbed her and drew her close, cupping her hips, holding her against the full length of his body. “No, céadsearc,” he murmured, “just thinking of you and your family.”
“Sure,” she said softly, not really caring about tormenting him anymore, not when his lips were brushing the edge of her ear and his freshly shaven jaw touching her cheek.
“I wouldn’t want your father and brothers seein’ me like that.”
Shaking off the dazed lethargy that had been washing over her, she tugged away and looked up at him. Grinning, she asked, “Seeing you naked? Why, are you afraid of shrinkage?”
Not that he had any reason to be. Uh-uh. No way.
She should have known better, should have been warned by the devilish look in his incredible eyes that he’d been setting her up. Because Sean slowly shook his head, visibly trying to look mournful and entirely serious, even though she saw laughter lurking at the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, no. Afraid they’d see how much I had and be so worried for your physical comfort, they’d try to prevent you from marrying me.”
It took a second for his meaning to sink in, and when it did, Annie threw her head back and laughed. Even as she called him an ass, Sean drew her into his arms again and kissed the laughter from her mouth.
“Come on, you two!” Her mother called out again.
Her spirits much lighter, Annie let Sean lead her out of her old bedroom. How he managed to do it—to arouse her and overwhelm her with tenderness, then tease her into such a good mood, she had no idea. She only hoped he never stopped.
Never.
In the months since that day by the ocean, when he’d finally let her love him, Sean had done everything in his power to show her he loved her in return. While from very different worlds, they’d managed to create a new one that worked for both of them.
Annie had promoted her assistant manager to handle the day-to-day business at Baby Daze. And Sean had given up his places in London and Manhattan, making Chicago his official “home.”
Well, he’d told her that wherever she was would be his official home. Which was just fine with her.
The Paris place he’d kept. Annie had completely fallen in love with the city, and they planned to kick off their round-the-world honeymoon from there.
“Is the entire town going to be here?”
“Of course,” she told him as they descended the stairs to the first floor.
The party was set to begin at seven, but even now, at six-thirty, the neighbors had started to arrive. They all greeted Annie with exuberant kisses and hugs, Sean with handshakes and more hugs. Aunts and uncles came loaded with both engagement presents and Christmas ones, neighbors with food and bottles to keep everyone’s spirits going strong.
And despite her wish to get on to the holidays—her first with the man she loved—and not