Their Merry Little Christmas (Love Square) Read online

  “Hi, baby brother!” Emma greets us warmly as we step into the kitchen. “You must be Kara’s parents. I’m Jacob’s sister, Emma. And these rugrats are Candace and Grace.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Emma. You have a lovely home,” Bill says shaking her hand.

  “And your daughters are beautiful. Thank you so much for letting us spend the holiday with you,” Maggie adds as she hugs Emma.

  “Thank you. It’s my pleasure to have you here. Please come in and I’ll show everyone to their rooms,” Emma replies, then proceeds to quickly and efficiently lead us to our designated rooms.

  Kara’s parents are staying in the guest room while Kara and I are staying on the new pullout couch in John’s basement man cave. Thankfully, Kara and I won’t have to squeeze into Grace’s bed this time around, and we’ll have the added benefit of some privacy. Hint, hint.

  “Where’s John?” I ask as we all gather in the living room with eggnog, while the movie Elf plays on the television.

  “He’s working late, trying to finish a few things up before his long weekend. He’ll be home before the girls go to bed,” Emma replies with a frown on her face. I make a mental note to talk to her about that later. I know John works crazy hours, and I wonder if it is starting to weigh on my sister. Sometimes I wish I lived closer so that she had more help when he was out of town or working late. It can’t be easy not having family close by when you have kids. When Kara and I have children, I want that type of support system for us.

  “What did you ask Santa for?” Kara asks the girls some time later.

  “I want Santa to bring me Monster High dolls, Barbie’s, jewelry like you Aunt Kara, a new American Girl doll and makeup. Oh and an iPad,” Grace spouts off her list in a fast ramble.

  “You’re too young for makeup,” Emma lectures Grace from the kitchen, proving she can hear just about anything regardless of her location.

  “I want an iPad, jewelry, a new iPod because Grace broke mine…”

  “I did not!” Grace argues animatedly with Candace.

  “You did too!” Candace yells back.

  “Did not!”

  “Did too! Mom!” I feel like I’m watching a tennis tournament as our heads go back and forth between the two girls arguing.

  “Girls! That’s enough! We have company.” Emma stands in the doorway with her hands on her hips. One look at her and the girls immediately stop fighting.

  “I want a puppy too.” Candace goes back to naming the things she wants for Christmas.

  “Oh yeah! I want a puppy too! Uncle Jacob you should see the puppies! They are so cute!” Grace jumps up and down.

  Thank God I got them those dogs. Yet again I’ll have the best present this year.

  “Puppies, huh? Don’t you think you’re a little too young for one?” I tease them, knowing I’m about to get them yelled at again.

  “We are not too young!” Candace stomps her feet and crosses her arms.

  “Yeah! I’m eight years old!” Grace snaps at me.

  “Nope, I think you are still too young. Sorry girls. I’m going to have to call Santa and tell him he most definitely should not bring you a puppy.” I sit back in my chair and cross my legs, resting my ankle on my knee, feeling pretty smug with myself.

  “Noooooo!” Candace calls out at the same time Grace starts crying.

  I lose my smugness when a hand slaps me on the back of the head.

  “Hey,” I say and turn in my chair to see a very pissed off Emma standing behind me. If looks could kill, I’d surely be dead right now.

  “Sorry,” I grumble and rub my smarting head.

  Kara shakes her head mockingly at me and gives me a “What were you thinking?” look.

  “Hey, Bill. What do you say we head downstairs and see if we can catch a game of some sort?” I say, wanting to step out of the lion’s den.

  “Lead the way,” he replies with a big smile and follows me down to the basement.

  ***

  There weren’t any games on seeing as how it’s Christmas Eve, but Bill and I are having no trouble at all watching ESPN for our sports fix.

  Hearing footsteps on the stairs, I turn my head and spy Kara coming down to join us.

  “Hey, Sunshine. Got tired of being with the girls?” I ask when she sits on my lap. For as much as I love the feel of her pressed to my groin, I’m immediately suspicious that she is being this affectionate in front of her father.

  “No. I was hoping you’d do me a favor,” she says sweetly as she blinks up at me with that innocent looking expression that always does me in.

  I groan in response, knowing this spells trouble for me.

  “Do I even want to know?” I deadpan.

  “Well see, a neighbor was supposed to stop over tonight dressed as Santa since Candace is at that age where she’s wavering on whether he is real or not. Anyways, Emma is afraid she’s going to ruin it for Grace, so she thought this would be a good idea. Only, the guy had something come up last minute and can’t do it. He offered us use of his suit though.”

  And there is the heart of what she wants. Shit. I don’t want to dress up as jolly, old Saint Nick. But then a light bulb goes off in my head.

  “Well that’s easy. Who cares if he can’t do it? Emma can find another way to convince the girls that he is real.” I mentally pat myself on the back for getting out of that one.

  “I could see where you’d think that would be an easy solution, but the girls already know Santa is coming. How would they feel if Santa suddenly canceled? It would be counterproductive really.” She gives me those damn eyes again, and I know I’m not getting out of this unscathed.

  “Why can’t their father do it?” I grasp at my last hope for getting out of dress up time.

  “Emma said he sprained his wrist the other day, so the girls would know it wasn’t really Santa once they saw the brace.”

  “Damn it,” I mumble under my breath.

  Kara leans in and whispers in my ear, “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”

  Her words coupled with the feel of her breath on my skin, has my cock stirring. Down boy… Santa cannot sport wood.

  “Fine. Bring me the damn suit,” I grumble begrudgingly.

  “You’re the best! You know that?” Kara kisses me chastely. Her father is still there after all.

  Bill laughs once Kara bolts up the stairs.

  “Laugh now. Next thing you know she’ll make you be my elf!” I threaten good naturedly.

  “I’d love to see that,” he says in between chuckles.

  “Ah crap!” I pull my hands through my hair, seriously wanting to throw a child-sized temper tantrum at this turn of events.

  “Think of it this way, son. It will be good practice for when you have kids. And you’re making those girls’ night.”

  “Yeah… alright. I guess I can try to look on the bright side of things,” I concede. The last thing I need is for my soon to be father-in-law to think I’m a big baby.

  Kara returns twenty minutes later with a giant red bag. I drag it into the bathroom and take my time changing. Part of me hopes that if I take too long the girls will fall asleep or something. Stranger things have happened.

  “It’s Christmas Eve, Jacob. The girls won’t want to fall asleep regardless, so don’t think you can get out of this,” Kara calls through the door.

  How the hell does she do that? It’s worse than the eyes in the back of her head.

  “I’ll be out in a minute,” I yell through the door.

  After I velcro the giant pillow onto my belly, I turn to the side and stick my stomach out further, poking at my now enlarged gut. I roll my abdominal muscles making the pillow bounce and ripple. Chuckling at my nonsense, I step into the red, velvet pants. I pull the black suspenders over my shoulder and do a little jig watching as my stomach bounces around.

  Apparently, this suit sucks the seriousness out of you. Maybe it’s a magic suit…

  I stop my musings and proceed to put the jacket on a
nd button it up.

  I look damn good in red. Even with a giant stomach.

  Next comes the wig and beard, followed by the hat. Now I have absolutely no reason to not walk out of this bathroom. Damn.

  Opening the door, Kara is the first thing I see. Her face lights up and she graces me with a wide smile. She lifts her arm, and then she does the unthinkable when she snaps a picture with her cell phone.

  “Lump of coal for you!” I shout and make like I’m going to attack her. When I lunge for her, she screeches and runs across the room.

  Once I catch up with her, she reaches out and rubs red shit on my cheeks.

  “Really?” I ask not wanting to deal with this shit.

  “You are so going to get lucky later,” she mumbles so only I can hear her.

  “Damn straight. You owe me one creative session, Sunshine.”

  “There is this new position I heard about that I’ve been curious to try.”

  “It’s a good thing this suit is big, otherwise my sister would think Santa was a giant perv. What do you think you’re doing telling me that now?” I gripe, knowing my nieces can’t sit on my lap while I’m turned on.

  “Sorry. I forget,” she says like that explains it all.

  “You’re lucky I love you.” I kiss her cheek and start towards the stairs. “Let’s get this over with.”

  ***

  “That position is pretty damn amazing if I do say so myself,” Kara informs me in between pants. Like I didn’t already know she came harder than I’ve ever felt her come before.

  “I think my head blew off with the force of my release,” I concur with her observation. “That position just went on the short list.”

  After we finally catch our breaths, we snuggle up together and my fingers play with the curls in her hair. My body is fully sated from our first uninhibited bout of love making since her parents came to visit a week ago.

  “You’re a good uncle, wearing that suit for the girls. And I know for a fact Emma appreciated it. I saw her wiping tears from her eyes,” Kara says after several long minutes.

  “What’s up with her anyway? Has she said anything to you?” I ask, remembering that I wanted to talk to Emma about how upset she looked earlier.

  I feel Kara’s shoulder shrug before she answers me. “Nothing much. I think she might just be depressed.”

  “Depressed, huh? I wonder why?” I ponder the reasons it could be while trying to think of anything she might have said to me during recent conversations.

  “John is supposed to go to Germany for like a month after New Years. I think his job is starting to get to her.”

  Sometimes I wish John would take a job that doesn’t involve so much travel. I know he loves his wife and kids, so I’m not sure why he doesn’t feel driven to stay. To find a job that won’t always take him away from them.

  “I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” I kiss Kara’s head and gather her tighter in my arms. I always look forward to our pillow talk.

  My cell phone buzzes on the end table, so I reach over to pick it up. The bright light from the screen, against the darkness in the room, momentarily hurts my eyes.

  “Sophie just had her baby.” My face breaks into a smile as I read the text Brad sent. A glance at the clock tells me it’s after midnight, which means they have a Christmas baby.

  “Oh my God! What did they name it?” Kara jumps up and makes a grab for my phone. I hold it away from her, forcing her to get close and look over my shoulder to see the message.

  Brad and Sophie held the name of their firstborn close to their vest. No one knew, not even their parents.

  “Duncan Jacob McGuire. He was seven pounds, nine ounces and twenty-one inches long. Awwww! They named him after you.” I watch as she wipes a tear from the corner of her eye after reading the rest of the message out loud.

  “Imagine that? That’s pretty damn cool.” Okay… it’s extremely cool, but I’m trying to keep my ego in check here.

  “It is.” Kara sets my phone back on the table and curls up in my arms again. We lay in silence a little while longer. I’m just about to recommend we try and get some sleep when she interrupts me.

  “Jacob…” Her voice trails off and I look down to see her biting her lip.

  “What’s up, Sunshine?” I say, curious about what’s bugging her. She only bites her lip when she’s upset or nervous.

  “There’s something I want to talk to you about, but I’m not sure how.”

  “You can tell me anything, Kara. You know that.” I kiss the top of her head and squeeze her reassuringly.

  “It’s just… this is a delicate subject and I don’t want to freak you out.” Leading with that statement is a sure fire way to get someone to freak out. Someone less level-headed than me of course.

  “I promise I won’t freak out.” I realize this is a promise that will be hard to keep depending on what she says, but for her I’ll try.

  “I want a baby,” she blurts out after several minutes and then slaps her hand on her forehead. “I should have eased you into that.”

  I barely hear her words. My body is frozen in its spot. A baby?

  “Where did that come from?” I finally ask, trying to keep my tone light.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to just throw it out there. I’ve felt this way for a while. My biological clock is ticking pretty damn hard. I just haven’t wanted to say anything before now because we weren’t getting married for a while…”

  “And now that we’re getting married tomorrow, you wanted to discuss it?” I finish for her.

  “Yes.”

  I always knew I wanted kids with Kara. There was never a question about that. The real decision needs to be do I want them now? Am I ready for them now? Kara and I have only known each other for three years and half of that time we weren’t even together. Maybe a little more time being able to travel whenever we want and make love whenever we want wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Once you have kids you live for them. Gone are the days of sleeping in late and doing whatever you want.

  However, the thought of Kara pregnant with my child makes it feel like a fire has been lit inside my chest. Warmth radiates out, and my heart feels light. I can just picture a little redheaded girl curled up on my lap while we watch the Red Sox play or a dark haired boy playing catch with me in the backyard.

  Instead of answering her, I decide to sing in a low voice into her. I’m not sure where it comes from, the words just come out unexpectedly.

  “Having my baby. What a wonderful way of saying how much you love me…”

  When I finish, Kara looks up at me and it’s easy to see that my words have made her ecstatic. “Are you saying you want a baby? Cause if you want to have more time with just the two of us, I’d understand.”

  “I want nothing more than to make a baby with you.” I roll on top of her and kiss down her neck.

  “What are you doing?” Her words come out breathy as my tongue circles her nipple.

  “Practicing,” I murmur around her breast. “Tomorrow, flush your pills.”

  A moan followed by her agreement comes, and we spend the next hour practicing our baby making skills.

  Chapter Ten

  Aiden

  The traffic was ridiculous today. I should have known better than to wait until the last minute to pick up Sam’s custom made gift. With work being a zoo right now, I just didn’t find enough time.

  Rocky was fired after I informed McGee of her less that businesslike behavior. The old man was actually proud of me for turning her down. Seems he has a soft spot for Sam.

  I still haven’t told her about the Rocky situation. All she knows is that Rocky is gone, and I’m picking up the slack. The last thing I need is to worry her any more than she already was.

  At least I was smart enough to order Sam’s gift months ago. Otherwise, I’d be royally screwed trying to find the time to pick something out for her. This gift is going to be perfect on her. There is no way she won’t love it. I’ve made it my mission
to give her thoughtful gifts the last few years. I want her to know how much I cherish her. There was a time when she questioned that fact, and I don’t ever want to go back to those dark days.

  By the time I get home, dinner has been served and Tessa is on her way to bed. I can’t stand the thought that I missed playing with her tonight. Our daddy-daughter time is one of the highlights of my day. There is nothing more rewarding than having your child look at you like you are their everything. Tessa thinks I hang the moon, and I think she does, so the affection and adoration is mutual. She is my little girl for sure.

  After reheating a plate of lasagna and eating it while standing in the kitchen, I collapse on the couch and pick up the latest thriller that I’ve been reading. Sam is sitting cross-legged on the floor, wrapping the gifts that still need to go under the tree. She insisted that Tessa wake up in the morning to gifts galore from Santa. My wife is nuts, but then again, I wouldn’t have her any other way. Whatever it takes to make her happy I’m okay with.

  A few hours later, my cock is straining against my zipper. I’ve been covertly looking at her ass all night when she thinks I’m reading. Every time she bends over to put a gift under the tree, the throbbing gets worse. Her ass looks spectacular in the black yoga pants she is wearing. They’re tight and highlight every one of her God given curves. I want to set my hands on her hips and drive into her over and over when she’s bent over like that. Even after all these years, Sam still gets my blood flowing.

  I think a little Christmas Eve nookie is in order. I can’t think of a better way to erase the stress from my last minute shopping.

  When the last gift is placed carefully under the tree, I grab the mistletoe hanging in the doorway to the family room and make my way to Sam on the floor. Kneeling in front of her, I hold it over our heads and watch as her face breaks out into a bright smile. I lean over and brush my lips against hers. It’s a brief touch meant to tease. When I pull back, I see her eyes are still closed, and her dreamy smile is back in place.