It was daylight when she awoke. Lee's one arm was over his head, and she found herself looking at his hairy armpit. She smiled, for waking up next to him had been one of her Christmas wishes for a very long time now.
She was still looking at him when he rolled over facing away from her, his broad, bare back blocking out some of the light from the window. Slowly, he stirred, and when he started moving in the bed, he also started acting like a trapped animal.
"Who? What? Amanda?" he yelled, trying to get his bearings and figure out why he was sleeping in a bed with frilly covers and pajama pants.
"Right here, Scarecrow," she giggled, patting his shoulder. "Everything's fine, Lee. Merry Christmas!"
He rubbed his eyes and leaned back on his arms in the bed, pulling his memory together. She watched him, not wanting to upset him, but also to make their first Christmas together a very special one for him.
"We – we – we didn't – did we?" he finally got out.
"No, Lee," she replied. "If we had, you sure would have remembered it, trust me! We agreed to take this slowly."
He started going over everything he remembered from last evening, and there was nothing amiss.
"I was so upset yesterday, Amanda, and so very down. I came over here to see you and . . . and I'm sure glad I did."
She smiled at him, patting his chest. "I am too, Lee. At some point, I will show you just how very much I care about you. But I think you know already." She didn't want to scare him.
"Yes, I do, and believe me, Amanda, the feeling is very, VERY mutual!"
"Tell you what, I'm going to go down and make us some Christmas breakfast. You may not be a breakfast man, but I think I can change your mind. You join me when you're ready."
"Agreed," he said, getting up, and heading directly for the red bathrobe so he could hide his morning wood.
When he came down the stairs this time, he was greeted by the smells of Belgian waffles and the luscious aroma of cinnamon coffee. Amanda, still in her night gown, was bustling around the kitchen getting breakfast ready and Lee was of course in the robe and pajama bottoms.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, carrying a can of whipped cream and a bowl of strawberries to the dining room table.
"Would you believe, not even a headache?" he grinned, pleased as all get-out.
"That's good," she said, "Because I want this Christmas to be perfect!" She leaned forward to give him a kiss on the lips, less chaste than last time. He put both hands on her shoulders and returned it happily. Softly, their lips met, and their tongues swirled around each other's'.
A door slamming shut broke the spell. Amanda pulled away from Lee quickly, and accidentally untied the loose knot securing his robe. The red plush fabric fell open, exposing acres of his bare, smooth, chest, stomach, and the bowl of his navel several inches above his pajama pants. They had no time to do anything before Dotty came sailing into the hallway.
"Amanda!" she yelled. "Did you call the police? It looks like there was a massacre outside last night. There're smudges all over the front window, the Ferguson's dog was in our trash again, and something threw up out there! I had to leave Lillian's because she came down with some sort of Chinese flu. The doctor gave me these pills to take so I don't get it too. I need to go up to my room and stay there so I don't give it to anybody. . . have you ever heard of . . . "
She stopped short when she got to the dining room. "Oh, hello!" she said, greeting her daughter and the handsome man standing there, both of them looking like children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "Merry Christmas!" she told them both, eyeing Lee like he was some sort of eye-candy hallucination. "Gene never looked as good as you in those, whoever you are!" she told him admiringly before turning to Amanda. "Having a little Christmas sleep-over, darling? Wonderful!" She looked at the table, eyeing the whipped cream and smiling. "We haven't had a half-naked man in the dining room for quite a while now," she continued, making her way to the stairs, totally non-plussed by the situation. She turned and looked back at them, her brows knit together. "And I don't think EVER on Christmas!" she decided, shaking her head.
Two sets of eyes followed Dotty as she went up the stairs and shut the door to her room. "Well, that was interesting!" Amanda said, poking her finger in her boyfriend's belly button. Lee smiled, his eyes wide open and not really knowing what to say or think. Suddenly, his hand went behind her head, and their lips met in a very prolonged, passionate kiss . . . .
"Is this any indication of how things are going to go from now on?" Lee asked when they both came up for air.
"Oh, you have no idea!" Amanda replied, pulling his lips back to hers. "This is just the beginning!"