Easton's Claim (Colebrook Siblings Trilogy Book 3) (23 page)

She nodded and managed a smile, even though she was still scared of what could happen to him. “It’s just…you’re everything to me,” she whispered, swallowing. She’d already lost so much, she couldn’t bear it if something happened to him.

Tenderness and understanding filled his eyes. “That goes both ways, sweetness. I know it won’t be easy and that I’ll be gone a lot and I won’t always be able to tell you where I am or where I’ve been, but you own me, body and soul. And you’re already part of my family. They’ll be here for you when I can’t be, so you won’t ever be alone. Not really.”

“I like the sound of that,” she murmured, filled with so much love she ached with it. Lifting her head to press a kiss to his lips, she wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him down into her embrace, holding him close as they drifted back to sleep.

Three months later

“You having a good Christmas so far?”

Piper smiled at Easton’s murmur against the top of her head, his arms around her as they stood by the entryway into the dining room and faced the beautifully set farmhouse table just waiting for the family to gather around it. The air smelled of roasted turkey and the sharp tang of evergreen boughs that decorated the house. “Best one ever.” As a child, Christmas had always been her favorite time of year.

“Good. Now go sit while we take it from here.” He released her and went to help his brothers carry the platters of food in from the kitchen.

Piper took her usual place along the far side of the table, and the sight of the beautifully laid out decorations and place settings before her set off a bittersweet pang in her chest. After her mother had left them, Piper and her father had made their own traditions together.

Christmas Eves had been spent in the kitchen, making treats to eat together while watching a holiday movie with the fireplace on. After moving here for her senior year of high school, they’d started coming to the Colebrooks’ place for carols and hot cider with cinnamon candies melted into it. Everyone sat in front of the fire beside the big, fresh Christmas tree twinkling in the corner of the family room, eating and drinking. Sometimes they played board games, and a few times when it had snowed the boys had hitched up an old sleigh and taken them all on a ride across the pastures.

“Okay, everyone to the table so we can eat this feast,” Mr. C called out, shuffling his way in from his study.

A warm glow filled her at the sight of him, the proud patriarch of this family. She loved that gruff old man to death.

After her dad died, Mr. C had continued to invite her over to spend Christmas with the family. She’d come over Christmas Eve and stay the night, and there were always a few gifts under the tree for her when the family gathered around it the next morning. They ate Christmas Day dinner early, at three o’clock, because that’s the way Mrs. C had always done it when she was alive, and Piper loved that they were carrying on that tradition.

“Shall we say grace?” Mr. C said when everyone was seated.

Seated next to Easton, Piper looked around the table at everyone. Brody and Trinity were at the far end. Wyatt and Austen opposite her. Charlie to her right and Mr. C at his customary place at the head of the long farmhouse table. Her family.

It might be December ninth instead of the twenty-fifth, but the date itself didn’t matter, and this was the only way they could accommodate everyone’s schedule. They were together, and time with family was what Christmas was all about.

Piper took Charlie’s left hand, then grasped Easton’s right. She loved having him here for this, it wouldn’t have been the same without him.

He’d been gone a lot these past few months, leaving her to settle into his place in Alexandria mostly alone. He was leaving for another stint in Afghanistan next week and she didn’t even want to think about how much she was going to miss him over the next four months. Every moment with him was precious, and she savored them all.

Giving him a little smile, she bowed her head and spotted Grits lying beneath the table at Wyatt’s feet, Sarge sprawled on his side a few feet away. Both were awake and alert, ready to gobble up anything that fell from the table.

Piper closed her eyes. They said a short prayer, then toasted both Mrs. C and Piper’s dad. Every year the same, and it touched her deeply that they still included her that way.

“They’re always in our hearts, and their love is always with us,” Mr. C finished, raising his glass in a toast.

“Amen,” everyone responded, then took a sip of their drink and began the feast.

The table and sideboard were overflowing with platters and bowls of food. Everyone had pitched in with the prep, and then left the cooking to her and Austen. The best part was, that meant the guys, Charlie and Trinity were on cleanup duty, so after she’d stuffed herself silly, Piper could go lounge on the couch in the family room with Austen and put her feet up.

She loaded her plate with roasted turkey and homemade cranberry sauce, Mrs. C’s cream cheese mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies and gravy. She had seconds of the turkey and potatoes, laughed at Easton, who helped himself to thirds before leaning back and groaning in pleasure/pain.

Free to relax while everyone handled the dishes, she sprawled on the buttery leather sofa opposite the fireplace in the family room and sipped at a mug of apple cinnamon cider while she chatted with Austen. She and Wyatt had officially finished up the renovations on their Victorian house a month ago and were all moved in. They’d invited everyone over last night for a big dinner starring Austen’s mama’s famous mac ‘n cheese, and Piper had brought lemon squares for dessert.

“Hey, and guess what? Wyatt’s finally decided to start a therapy dog program for vets, using rescue dogs, and possibly a riding program here too,” Austen said.

“That’s so great! He’ll be amazing at it.”

She pushed a dark spiral of hair away from her face. “It’ll keep him out of my hair, and out of trouble. How are things in Alexandria, by the way?”

“Good. I’ve got a teaching job lined up for early January.”

Austen’s face brightened. “That’s great!”

“Yeah, and it’ll keep me busy while Easton’s overseas. I’m super excited about it. By the time he gets back, I’ll only have a month or so left of the school year.”

Austen’s smile disappeared. “When’s he leave again?”

Way too soon.
“Next week.” She hated him going over there again, but his job meant so much to him and he’d already promised her he wouldn’t do it forever. She loved him and wanted him to be happy, so she had to suck it up and be brave.

“You gonna be okay?”

“I’ll just take it one day at a time. At least with living in Alexandria I’ve got Charlie nearby, and I’ve been spending a little time with Trinity lately too.”

Austen’s eyes twinkled silver in the firelight. “She’s so freaking awesome.”

“I know,” she said excitedly, sitting up and tucking her feet beneath her. “She’s like a female James Bond.”

“Am not.”

They turned their heads as Trinity strode toward them from the kitchen, glass of red wine in hand, the deep ruby merlot matching the color of the sweater that hugged her pinup body to perfection.

“I’m retired,” Trinity went on, taking the armchair in the corner of the room and draping her legs over one overstuffed arm. “But when I
was
in that line of work, I was much more discreet than 007 ever was.” Her red lips curved in a sexy, mysterious smile that had Piper grinning.

“I told her she needs to write a book. And then make it into a screenplay,” Charlie said, entering the room with a highball in one hand and one of Piper’s pumpkin cheesecake squares in the other. “Would blow the Bond franchise right out of the water.”

“Ah, the things I could put on the page,” Trinity said with a secret smile.

Piper sipped at her cider as the female conversation flowed around her, comfortable with these women who had become her family as well. Her heart was as full as her belly, and she’d never felt more content. The only thing that dampened her happiness was knowing Easton was going back into harm’s way for the next four months.

After the guys cleaned up the dishes, everyone gathered around the fire to visit. Piper curled up in Easton’s lap, her head on his solid shoulder, the heat of the fire and the love of the people in the room surrounding her like a warm hug.

“Ready to go to the cabin yet?” he murmured next to her ear.

Longing stirred deep in her belly. She was more than ready for some alone time with him. Their life together was everything she’d ever hoped for and more.

He’d stood next to her at Greg’s funeral with a solid arm around her and a sturdy shoulder for her to cry on. He’d helped her pack up and moved her into his place in Alexandria after her house sold, then put out calls to all his contacts to help find her a dream teaching job that started in the New Year.

“If you are,” she answered.

“Did I mention that your big present is there waiting to be unwrapped?”

She sat up immediately. “It is? Why didn’t you say so?”

They said goodnight to the others and headed outside into the cold night air. Easton slid an arm around her waist, his hold possessive as they made the short walk over to the cabin. It was dark inside, the air smelling of the fir tree they’d bought yesterday to decorate.

“Stay here for a bit and close your eyes,” he told her when he shut the front door behind them, locking out the cold and the rest of the world.

Piper smiled to herself and did as she was told. This had already been the most magical Christmas she’d ever had. She couldn’t imagine anything topping it.

“Okay, come in,” he called a few minutes later.

She stepped through the living room doorway and a delighted smile broke over her face. He’d turned on the lights on the decorated tree in the corner, and lit a fire in the grate. Flames crackled and popped, throwing a warm orange-yellow glow throughout the room.

When she moved closer, she saw the rest of what he’d done and her heart turned over. A thick quilt was laid out on the old, wide floorboards in front of the hearth, and topped with fluffy pillows for them to lounge on. He’d put a bottle of white wine in a bucket of ice to chill, and there was a plate of little bite-sized chocolate treats next to it.

“Brownies?” she asked.

“Your recipe. I made them myself last night in the house after you went to bed, so I could surprise you.”

He was so sweet. “And you saved this many? Now I’m even more impressed.”

“Ha ha. Stop mocking me and come down here,” he said, holding out a hand.

She curled her fingers around his and let him draw her down to sit beside him on the quilt. With a little grin of anticipation on his lips he picked up a bite of brownie and brought it to her mouth. She took it from his fingers, the rich, decadent flavor bursting on her tongue.
Mmmmm.
“I don’t even know how I have room for that, but oh my God, so good,” she said.

He hummed in agreement and helped himself to one, then hooked an arm around her waist from behind and dragged her into his lap. She could feel his erection pressing against her bottom, and the thought of making love with him here in front of the fire had her blood heating.

To her, the setting was unbelievably romantic, and that he’d gone to such trouble touched her. She’d never known love could feel this way—all-consuming and yet painful at the same time. Easton owned every bit of her heart. If anything happened to him, she didn’t know if she’d survive it.

The thought made her chest constrict. She curled into him, turned to wrap both arms around his shoulders and hold on tight, burying her face in his neck so she could breathe him in.

“Hey,” he said, running a hand up and down her back, his strong arms surrounding her. “What’s wrong?”

“I love you so much it hurts.”

He pulled her away from him and shifted to roll her onto her back, coming down on top of her a moment later. His grin was sexy yet devilish as he stared down at her. “Love you the same way, sweetness.”

She melted under him as he kissed her long and slow, relishing the feel of his hard, heavy body atop hers. Just as her insides began to hum with need, he stopped and rolled off her.

“You can’t offer me my present like that and then just take it away,” she protested.

A low chuckle rumbled from the depths of his chest. “That was part two of your present. Part one is waiting over here,” he said, grasping her hands and pulling her into a sitting position before pointing at the tree.

It was then she noticed the end of a red satin ribbon lying on the floor. He picked it up and handed it to her, and she realized it was woven through the branches. “Time to unwrap your first present,” he said, leaning in to kiss her once more. “You can unwrap me afterward.”

Her lips quirked and she began unwinding the length of ribbon through the branches. He’d really gone to town with it, twining it around every single branch in a complex tangle that quickly began to annoy her until she saw something sparkling deep within the branches next to the trunk.

Her breath caught and she stuck her head into the tree to get a better look, heart pounding. “Oh my God, Easton…” Her throat closed up as she reached out a trembling hand for the diamond ring tied there. She tugged on the little bow to untie it, then pulled out of the tree to face him.

He was on one knee in front of her, a tender smile on his lips. He took the ring from her and gathered her left hand in his, his velvet-brown eyes gazing up at her with complete love and devotion. “Will you marry me, Piper?”

A strangled sound came out of her, half laugh, half sob. She went to her knees in front of him, threw her arms around his neck and squeezed tight. “Yes. Yes, of course I’ll marry you. I would
love
to marry you.”

He chuckled deep in his chest, hugging her in return, then eased her back to slide the ring on her finger. Her cheeks were wet but she didn’t know when she’d started crying. He wiped the tears away, gave her an adoring smile. “Know what this means?”