Chapter 12
Bella
I awake to my hair being brushed out of my face. My thoughts are jumbled and that's weird for me in the morning.
Usually when Alice and I fall asleep together she doesn't mess with me until I'm awake.
I lift an eyelid, peeking out to see what's going on.
Maybe her and Jasper had a fight.
A handsome face is staring back at me and suddenly I'm grinning.
"Morning," he murmurs in a gravelly voice, leaning down and pecking me on the cheek.
"Good morning," I whisper back, sitting up stretching my arms above my head.
He watches, smiling. I shake my head when I realize why my stretch is so interesting. I'm still naked. I reach for the shirt he gave me to wear the night before and slide it over my head.
"I don't want to rush you out; I know it's early, but it is Christmas morning and…"
I nod, swallowing. I'd figured he was going to do this. I mean, Ej is just so young and I would never want to put him through anything like his own mother did. So, leaving makes sense, even though I don't really want to. "I know. Have you checked on the car? Is it visible?"
His eyebrows dip together and he frowns. "Car?"
"Yeah, you want me to get going, right?" I ask, licking my lips in an attempt to keep any other emotion from forcing its way forward.
He shakes his head. "Uh, no. Not at all, actually. I meant in here. That we should go out there, so that when Ej wakes up he doesn't realize that Ms. Bella spent the night in Daddy's bed," he says with a naughty smirk.
I breathe out a sigh of relief, smirking back at him.
He slips off the bed, pulling on a pair of sleep pants. And I openly ogle him while he does this, it's a fantastic sight.
"You better be careful, Santa might be watching," he jokingly warns. "You wouldn't want to be on his…naughty list." He winks and stands up.
I giggle and pull on my own pair of his sleep pants.
His tongue slides through his teeth as I finish, and he shakes his head. "Have I ever mentioned how fucking gorgeous you are, Bella?"
I blush, I don't know why. Generally, when men say something like that, I laugh it off. But, for whatever reason, Edward just comes off as sincere. "Thanks," I whisper. "And I'm pretty sure you did."
He links arms with me. "C'mon, beautiful, let's go get the craziness started."
Then together, we step out into the living room. While my stomach isn't in knots, I'm still a little apprehensive. Edward's wonderful. He's an amazing man, who happens to be sexy as hell and has been my dream crush for a while now, but knowing what happened last night doesn't make our situation any easier.
I carefully let go of his arm and find a place on the sofa, messing up the blankets a bit. I feel like a teenager, trying to hide something from their parents, fussing with the sofa to look like it's been slept on.
Edward hands me a cup of coffee a few moments later and as I reach up to accept it, he bends and kisses me again, making me smile.
That's two.
The coffee is hands down one of the best gifts I've received as of yet this morning. I'm more than grateful for it because, no matter how sound the sleep I got after our fun, it's still five thirty in the morning on Christmas Day, and I could use a few more hours of shut-eye after the busy work weeks I've put in lately.
"You don't need to be nervous," Edward says softly, flicking on the news and settling into the chair on the other side of the room.
I raise my eyebrows at him and blow out a breath, whispering, "Easy for you to say."
"Bella, it will be fine, trust me."
I want to trust him, that's the worst part. I really want to trust him. To rely on the fact that everything he says will make it all better. But I just don't know. My irrational self is taking over; telling me there is no way the man sitting across the room from me really wants a woman like me.
"Please," he begs gently, getting up to come over to the couch. He settles in next to me, rubbing my leg.
I nod and smile at him. I love his touch and his presence.
"Because, if you don't relax, I'm going to have to call Mrs. Winters to watch Ej on Christmas so I can take you back in there," he whispers, nodding toward his bedroom door.
I giggle. "Okay, I'm good. There's no need for the little guy to have to go anywhere on Christmas. Even though that does sound promising…"
Just as I get the sentence out of my mouth his door opens and Ej pops out, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Dad! Santa came!" he shouts before even noticing us on the couch.
"I know, bud," Edward tells him through a chuckle.
I just sit back and enjoy the smile on both of their faces. The best part, though, Edward doesn't move his hand once. It stays put, calming me.
Ej's excitement flows through all of us.
"Can we open them?" Ej asks, gawking at the pile of presents.
"Sure," Edward answers, getting up. "First stockings, though. You and Bella."
My eyes go wide with surprise and a blush fills my cheeks.
Ej nods and comes over, hopping up next to me.
Edward sweetly hands me a stocking that is stuffed to the brim, and I am in shock.
"Really?" I whisper once it's on my lap.
Edward nods while Ej smiles. "Santa must've known you were going to be here."
I grin and shake my head before diving into my stocking. I pull out a handful of scratch tickets first and look at Edward.
"It's kind of a family tradition. We always get scratch tickets and see who gets lucky enough to win."
"That's great," I comment, realizing it's the first thing I've really said since Ej woke up. "Merry Christmas, sweet boy," I say, wrapping an arm around the little guy.
"You too, Bella. I'm so glad you're here," he replies, squeezing me right back.
And as I keep pulling out the presents, I find a travel size bottle of my favorite hand lotion, a bag of my favorite Lindt chocolates, and finally a scarf that's my favorite color purple and super soft.
"Geez guys, thank you so much!" I tell them, my fingers still rubbing at the incredibly soft scarf. "This is all so wonderful."
"You're very welcome," Edward says with a gorgeous grin gracing his lips.
I sit back and get to enjoy Ej tearing into his stocking.
The morning is absolutely perfect.
Watching father and son go back and forth opening their gifts. It's really just so sweet.
Then, I finally get to hand them theirs from me. "Ej this is yours," I say, smiling, placing the gift on his little lap, plopping down next to him.
His eyes light up when he looks up at me. "From you?" he whispers.
I nod.
"Awesome!" he yells, tugging the paper away from the gift.
I watch as he turns the box around in his small hands, reading it, before realizing just what it is. "YES!" he screams, getting up and doing a little touchdown dance. "WOOHOO!"
"What is it?" Edward wonders as he gets up and comes over to inspect the gift. "Oh, wow. Now that's pretty perfect!"
I nod, feeling pretty good about myself.
"The complete Ninjago set! YE-AH!"
I crack up as Ej dances all over the living room.
Edward shakes his head, grinning at me. "Always one upping me, huh?"
I shrug with a smirk. "Hey, I've got to do something, right?"
"Thank you so much, Bella! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He wraps his arms around my neck and tackles me.
And finally, it's Edward's turn. He takes a seat next to me, and I get my chance to hand him his gift. "For me?"
"Uh, yeah."
"From you?"
I roll my eyes. "You guys really are father and son, huh?"
Edward chuckles; carefully pulling the paper away from the box. His eyes take in exactly what I've gotten him, and then a deep laugh bubbles up from his chest, making my heart happy and light.
"Now, that, that is perfect," he tells me, still partially laughing.
"I thought so," I answer him, smiling proudly.
"What is it?" Ej shouts, looking over from his Lego set.
He holds up his tie tying kit, complete with instructional book, before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek .
I instantly freeze, wondering what Ej is going to say, but he just runs and tackles both of us in a big hug.
"This has been the best Christmas ever," Ej mumbles into my shoulder, still hugging both of us.
I hug him back, linking hands with Edward as we both break out in a smile. "For us, too, buddy. Us, too," Edward says sweetly.