16
The next morning, for the first time since they'd been together, they both slept past seven: in fact, neither one of them stirred until after eight. It was Grissom who woke first. Shifting his weight off of her a little more, he started feathering kisses all over her face and neck until her eyes fluttered open. "Good morning. Beautiful."
"Good morning, My Future Husband."
That comment drew a huge smile from him. "Shower?"
"Definitely. But after…"
"…You brush your teeth and go to the bathroom. Uh…may I join you?"
"You want to brush your teeth with me?"
"Sure. But I was really talking about the shower."
"Yes, I know. I was just kidding. And, yes, you may."
"Good. I'll go start the coffee and I'll be right in." He rolled away from her after kissing her forehead. On the way out, "Oh! Merry Christmas!"
Sara smiled as she watched his naked behind walked out of the bedroom. He was a gorgeous chunk of man. Grissom joined her in the shower a few minutes later and wrapped his arms around her. The water was only slightly warm by the time they got around to actually showering. She was shocked at his strength when he'd lifted her and wrapped her legs around his waist. The only place the water felt warm was against her back, which had just been pressed against the cold tile.
Ten minutes later, they were both out of the shower and getting dressed. After handing her a cup of coffee, it was Grissom who turned into a little boy. "Can we just go right to opening the gifts?"
"You don't want to read the paper?"
"Not today."
"Breakfast?"
"I had breakfast in the shower."
Sara burst out laughing. "Well, I was thinking about something a little more nutritious."
"Oh!"
"How about a bowl of fruit and we'll eat it while we open gifts?"
"I'm not hungry, really."
"Remember that argument that you were supposed to let me win?"
"Yes, because of the shopping."
"Well, I'm turning it in now."
"Fruit it is."
"Good."
Once they were seated in front of the Christmas tree, Grissom set his fruit on the floor beside him and immediately pulled a gift out and handed it to her.
"Wait! Are we rotating? Or should one of us open all of our gifts then the other?"
"Why don't you open some, then I'll open some? I think, maybe you have more packages to open than I do."
"Yes, I can see that you purchased the whole mall."
"Not nearly. Now open!"
"Okay, okay."
By the time they were halfway through, Sara had opened three shorts outfits, two sundresses, several pairs of shoes, two bathing suits and a very nice eveningwear set that included a sleeveless dark red top and black satin pants. Grissom had opened a leather jacket, a collection of entomology textbooks, a couple pairs of loafers and a few short-sleeved polo shirts.
When Sara paused to eat some of her fruit, Grissom followed her lead. After waiting for a few very impatient minutes, he handed her another gift. The next few packages held a semi-formal royal blue and silver dress, a couple pairs of capris with matching sleeveless tops, a couple more pairs of shoes and a beach bag full of suntan lotion, a beach towel, sunglasses, flip-flops and a cover-up.
"Grissom! Are you trying to replace my whole wardrobe here, or what?"
"I just…like shopping for you. They're all things that you didn't get on our last shopping trip."
"Fine!"
"You don't like some of them?"
"I love all of them! You just spoil me, that's all."
"Good, then I'm doing my job."
"You're nuts!"
"Nuts about you."
After a huge smile, she handed him another gift. He opened a few more gifts including a couple pair of driving gloves, a few crossword puzzle books with a note in there about a subscription, cologne, aftershave and key chain she'd had specially designed. On one side, there was a locket that held a tiny picture of her on one side and the words 'I love you' on the other, and on the other side she'd had their initials, 'GG' and 'SS' entwined and engraved. "This is gorgeous, Sara."
"Thank you. I did the design myself."
"I can see that. Although, it'll be wrong soon."
"Why?"
"We'll have to change that 'SS' to 'SG' now won't we?" That brought a huge smile to the speechless Sara Sidle. "So, how about I finish off my gifts then you can finish off yours?"
"You have to be last, don't you?"
"I'd like the last two things I bought you to be opened last, yes."
"Fine. You win. Open the small one first."
Grissom opened the small package first and found the watch she'd bought inside. "How did you know I wanted to buy a new watch?"
"I saw you looking at them on the way out of the jewelry store the day you bought my jewelry."
"I forget that you see everything."
"I learned from the best."
With a smile on his face, he wasted no time putting the new watch on and setting the time then moved to open his last gift. When he finally got all the paper off the chess set she picked out, his eyes lit up like a light bulb. "I've wanted this set for about a year now. I've just been too cheep to spend this kind of money on myself. This is too much, Sara."
"No, it's not. You've spent way more than that on me since we've started dating, I'm sure; especially with the cost of all these gifts."
"It's perfect, thank you."
"Merry Christmas."
"I guess that means it's your turn." He handed her the first gift.
She opened it to find a floor-length evening gown. The underlying satin fabric was a perfect white with an overlay of silver flecked chiffon with two half-inch matching straps to go over the shoulders. It was simplicity at it's finest. "Grissom, this is breathtaking."
"Here, open this."
With a little hesitation, she set the dress aside to open her final gift. When she pulled the tissue paper aside to see the cruise itinerary lying there, she gasped, "Grissom!"
"That's what all these gifts were for. I wanted you to have a brand new wardrobe to wear on our cruise."
"And you yelled at me for spending too much on your chess set?"
"I did not yell."
"This is true. But you never actually yell. Anyway, oh my goodness! I can't believe we're going on a cruise in less than two weeks! This is fabulous! I've never been on a cruise."
"Me neither. It'll be a first for both of us."