The Cinderella Deal - Jennifer Crusie [66]
She was trying to rattle a very small package, but when he sat beside her, she stopped and tore off the wrappings. Inside were earrings he’d sent for from the jewelry store in Pennsylvania, pearl and sapphire daisy earrings quivering on almost invisible gold wires, and he watched her face light up, and thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
“Oh, Linc, they match my ring,” she said, and turned to smile at him and took his breath away.
“I thought they’d be pretty against your hair.” He touched one of her springy curls where it lay against her robe, and then let his hand do what it had wanted to do a thousand times since he’d met her, thread itself through her hair and pull her head back. Her lips parted as she felt the tug, and she let her head fall back against his hand and gave herself up to him, and he kissed her, slipping his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth and letting himself melt into her.
“Thank you,” she whispered against his mouth, and then she smiled. “Wait, I have to try these on.” She stood and went to the hall mirror and put the earrings on, and he felt bereft, watching her touch them with her fingertip to see them sparkle as they moved, so far away from him. “They’re the most beautiful things I’ve ever owned,” she called back to him, “next to my ring, of course.”
He followed her and put his arms around her from behind, feeling his throat catch as she relaxed into him. He looked at her in the mirror; she was fresh and glowing, her eyes huge and dark. “You’re so beautiful.”
“That’s contentment.” Daisy laughed, and Linc felt her laughter against his body. “Hey,” she said, and tried to move away. “There was another box under there for me in your writing. Let go.”
“That’s nothing.” He felt embarrassed and held her tighter. “Really nothing.”
“Ha.” She squirmed out of his arms and went back to the tree, and he followed her again, feeling stupid because of the second present.
It was just a salt dough angel, except not very well made because he’d had to do it himself, clumsily topping it with curly dark hair and putting a paintbrush in its hand, dressing it in a yellow dress that went almost to its ankles. It looked stupid when she’d unwrapped it and sat holding it, not saying anything. “You didn’t make one for yourself.” Linc felt awkward. “It’s such a dumb gift, but I felt bad that you didn’t have one and there was some dough stuff left over after the kids left.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, and when he looked at her, she was crying, and he didn’t know what to do. She took a hook from the tree and hung the angel next to the Linc ornament. “This is my best Christmas ever,” she told him, and then she hid her face against his chest. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he just held her, and when she finally lifted her face to his, and he kissed her, she kissed him back with such passion and love that he lost his breath. She pulled him down underneath the tree, and the smell of the evergreen mingled with the perfume of her hair, and he barely remembered to wait until he’d pulled the condom from his robe pocket before he gave himself up to her and she loved him until he lost his mind. When he had his breath back, he laughed into her neck because he was so happy and so much in love with her.
“Hey,” she whispered, her voice thick with satisfaction. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” He kissed her hard, and then pulled her over on top of him so that his weight was off her, wincing as he felt the hard, cold floor under him. “We have two beds upstairs. We really should use