Borrowed Baby (17 page)
Without hesitation, she put her arms around him. "Oh, Griff, I do."
"I know." Cupping her head with his hand, he stroked her neck with his thumb. "That's why I'm here. Because I know you love me. Because I love you. And because I can't face my first Christmas without you. You promised me Christmas, you know."
She nodded her head. The lump in her throat was so huge she didn't know how she managed to get any words out. "I know."
"My tree still needs trimming."
"Is it still strapped to the roof of your car?" she said, half laughing, half crying.
"No. I took it in this morning, along with your grandmother's decorations."
She disengaged herself suddenly and ran to the closet. Griff watched her, puzzled.
"Where are you going?"
Liz pulled her jacket out of the closet and began putting it on, jamming her arm into the sleeve. "Well, we'd better get to it if we're going to have the tree decorated before we leave." Hurriedly, she pulled on the other sleeve.
"Leave?"
"For my parents' house in the morning. I invited you, remember?"
He grabbed her arm as she hurried to the door.
"What?" she asked as she spun around to face him. Had he suddenly had a change of heart again?
Griff pointed up to the ceiling. "I don't have much experience at this, but I assume that because that shriveled green thing is hanging from the ceiling, it's a mistletoe."
She looked up. "Don't make fun of my mistletoe."
"I'd never make fun of anything that was yours. Does standing under it mean I get to kiss you?" He slipped his hands beneath her jacket and sweater and rested them on the bare skin around her waist. She felt so soft, so inviting. He had lain awake last night thinking of nothing else but her.
She shivered, her eyes never leaving his. "For as long as you want."
"How does forever sound?"
Liz rose on her toes to meet his lips. "It sounds very, very good."
He kissed her slowly, first one part of her mouth, then another, before covering it completely with his own. Though passion beat strongly within him, aching to be free, this time he held it back and gave her all the love he felt instead. There was time enough for the other later. He had the rest of his life. Of their lives.
"Marry me, Liz." The words feathered softly against her mouth. "I need you. I need you to make me remember the sunshine."
"That sounds even better."
She let her jacket slip off her arms and she sank into the depths of the next kiss, a kiss that was far more urgent than its predecessor. The tree, she decided, had waited this long. It could wait a few hours longer.
In the background, coming from the CD player, someone was singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
Yes, Virginia, Liz thought, elated, just before all thoughts were wiped away, there is a Santa Claus. And he just made an early delivery.
* * * *
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