Our First Christmas (4 page)

Presley

I roll over and realize that I’m tangled in blankets.

“You’re a cover hog,” Levi whispers. I smile as I open my eyes and see his piercing blue eyes.

“
It’s Christmas morning, you can’t be mean to me,” I whine.

Levi chuckles and brushes my hair away from my face. I finally untangle from the covers and share them with Levi. I curl up against his side and he kisses my head.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?”

“
Well, Pops will want to fix us breakfast and then we’ll open gifts. After that, I’m hoping for a nap with you.”

“
Well, you know,” I look at up at him. “We could take a quick nap right now.” I run my fingers up and down his chest, lightly.

“
Smarty, don’t tease,” Levi hisses through his teeth.

I sit up and smirk. “I’m not.” I run my hand down his chest to his waistband of his pajama bottoms. His breath catches as I begin to stroke his hardness. Levi groans and throws his head back.

I bite my lip to hold back my smile and stroke faster. Levi grabs the back of my neck and pulls me down to his lips and hungrily kisses me. He pushes my hand away from him and breaks our kiss momentarily as he pulls my night shirt over my head. He guides me onto my back and kisses down my neck.

His tongue teases my breast and I need to remember to breathe. His teeth graze my nipple and my pulse races.

“Levi,” I sigh.

“
Shh, Smarty.” He slips his two fingers in me and I moan.

“
Oh God, Levi.” I rock hard against him and he nips my neck. I feel my body tighten and I rock faster. Just when I’m ready to release, Levi pulls his fingers out of me.

“
You need to be quieter, Presley.” He gets up and grabs a condom from his nightstand drawer and rolls it on. He quickly settles back over me and guides himself into me.

I will never get over the sensation of Levi inside me. It’s not just sexual, it’s emotional too. I love the way he makes me feel and I can’t imagine anyone else making me feel this special.

He rocks harder into me and I can’t do anything but say his name over and over again. He looks deep into my eyes as I arch my back and wrap my legs around him tighter. He kisses my lips and bites my bottom lip.

When he releases my lip, he pushes deeper into me and I can’t help his name escaping from my lips again. I close my mouth as tight as I can, so that I don’t scream out, but it’s so hard as Levi pounds harder.

He cradles his face in the crook of my neck and bites. I dig my nails into his back as we both release at the same time.

“
I love you,” I huff, trying to regain my normal breathing.

He kisses my lips and smiles. “I love you. Now, I’m going to clean up and I will meet you downstairs.”

I can’t help the smile on my face. This has been the most relaxed I have been in a long time. Sure, I miss being with Trevor on this morning, and my parents, but being here is where I want to be.

I lay there for a little while longer, thinking about what this morning will bring and I hope that Levi likes his gift. I know Victor will, but maybe Levi won’t like that collectible. I shake the thought out of my head. At that time, my phone begins to ring. It’s Trevor.

“Merry Christmas, Twin.” Trevor sounds really happy on the other end and I smile.

“
Merry Christmas to you too.”

We begin to chat about what is happening at our Dad’s house, which is nothing really. Mom has been working and Trevor hadn’t seen her yet. Dad moved into the city after Trevor graduated high school, and Trevor said there was more to do there, but he is still on his own.

“I miss you too.” I say sadly.

“
Are you having fun?”

I go into detail on all the happenings at Levi and Victor’s and the fun we’ve been having.

“Good. Well, I have to go. I love ya,” Trevor huffs in defeat. I still think he thought I would change my mind and come home, but I’m not going to come home. I’m already home.

“
I love you too.”

After we hang up, I get ready for the day. The house is filling up with delicious smells and my stomach rumbles. After a quick shower, I decide to give Levi another present. He loves my hair up and very little makeup and that’s exactly what I do. The bite mark on my neck isn’t bad, just a little red. No one will really notice.

I curl the end of my ponytail, put on a quick coat of mascara and lip gloss, and that’s it. I look in the mirror and thought that I look so plain and I don’t know why Levi likes this look. I just shrug, slip on my jeans and t-shirt, and head down to the guys.

“
Wow, you guys really know how to get a girl fat.” The table is full of food. Every breakfast food you could think of is on that table.

“
Presley, you look stunning.” Victor stops what he is doing as he stares at me.

“
Aw, thanks, Victor, but I don’t have any makeup on.”

“
Amanda didn’t wear all that stuff either, and you shouldn’t. I think you’re beautiful.” He walks over and hugs me. I think about the last time my dad said I was beautiful. I can’t even remember.

“
Thank you, Victor.” I feel a lump in my throat, but I swallow it down. “Let’s dig in, guys.”

Levi kisses my temple as he pulls my chair out for me. We begin to eat and the food is so good.

“I’m so full.” My jeans are tight because I couldn’t stop eating.

“
I have to agree with you, Smarty,” Levi says.

“
Let’s leave the dishes and open presents,” Victor suggests and heads into the living room. Victor sits in his chair and Levi and I sit on the couch.

“
I meant to tell you, Presley, that you need to be careful with that curling iron of yours.”

“
Why do you say that, Victor?” I didn’t think my curling iron is that big of a deal.

“
That red mark on your neck. Looks like you burnt yourself. You need to be more careful.”

I gasp slightly, and cover the bite mark that Levi had given me this morning. I know that my face is turning red and Levi is trying not to laugh.

“Um, yeah, I will be more careful,” I finally am able to choke out of embarrassment.

“
Let’s see what we have.” Levi gets up and grabs the stockings off the mantle.

It’s the first time I notice them. There are four: Victor, Amanda, Levi, and me. Each of them are full. Levi hands me the one with my name on it and I smile. I feel like a real part of the family. When I looked inside, it’s full of my favorite candy bar. Just candy bars.

“If I wasn’t so full, I would dive into this stocking right now,” I moan with pleasure.

“
I agree,” Levi says. I look into his stocking and it’s full of 3 Musketeers candy bars.

“
Is that your favorite candy bar?” I didn’t know that about Levi.

“
Yep. Mom would get me one every single time we went to the store. If I was good, of course.” He has a sad smile on his face.

“
Levi, let’s get to the gifts.” Victor smiles at his son and Levi gets back up. I was able to sneak down last night, and put the box under the tree for Levi. I can’t wait for him to open it.

Levi hands me a box and two cards. He hands Victor two cards. Then he picks up the box and cards for himself.

I open my box from Victor, and inside is a stunning green cashmere sweater.

“
Do you like it?” Victor asks.

“
I love it. Thank you so much.” I open my cards. One is from Victor with a gift card in it to the mall in the city. The other is from Levi. It has two gift cards in it, one to a lingerie store and one to a shoe store. Inside he wrote: A gift for you
and
me. I roll my eyes at him and he chuckles.

Victor loves both of his gift cards that Levi and I got him, and he’s excited to go hunting again. Levi’s face grows worried. I know he is thinking about his dad alone in the woods. I just pat his hand, and hope that he realizes that Victor won’t push himself too fast, too soon.

It’s Levi turn, and I can feel my hands shake a bit when he unwraps his gift. I’m really hoping that he likes it. When he lifts the lid, he just stares at it and doesn’t say anything.

“
Do you hate it?” I finally ask.

Victor asks what it is because he can’t see it. Levi gingerly lifts it up from the case and shows his dad.

“Smarty, I love it. It’s awesome. Thank you so much.”

I breathe a sigh of relief as he inspects it. Victor and him look at every inch of the Sidney Crosby hockey stick before putting it back in the case. I stare at the Christmas tree, enjoying the conversation between Levi and his dad, when I notice a present inside the tree. It’s a small box just tucked inside a branch.

“Hey, there’s a present in the tree.” I go to reach for it.

“
No!” Levi shouts and jerks me back onto the couch with a little bit of force that causes me to gasp.

“
Levi James Carr. Let go of her right now, and don’t ever do that again.” Victor jumps up, and towers over Levi on the couch. His dad’s voice is stern and lethal.

“
I’m so sorry, Presley. I didn’t mean to do that.” Levi looks at me and I think there are tears in his eyes.

“
It’s...It’s okay. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I rub my wrist that Levi jerked on and stumble on my words. Actually, I’m not sure why he is upset.

Victor inspects my wrist and explains. “Every year, on Christmas, I buy my wife a charm for her bracelets.” When he is satisfied that my wrist is fine, he heads over to the mantle. I look over at Levi and he has his head down with his hands folded. I scoot over to him and grab his hand.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers in my ear.

“
It’s fine. I swear.”

Victor comes back over and hands a box to me. It looks like an antique. When I open it there are three charm bracelets in there. Two are full and the third one only has a few charms on it. I see the tag on the the clasp and it says “Tiffany’s”.

“Oh my, these are Tiffany’s charm bracelets.”

Victor sits in his chair. “When we first got married, we had just graduated college, and we were so broke. I had just started on the factory floor and Amanda had started teaching. When Christmas came around, I wanted to get her something special and she had always talked about a charm bracelet. She thought of it as a timeline of your life on your wrist, and it was something that you could show off. So, I saved every penny I could grasp and headed into the city. I bought the bracelet and that heart charm” He points to the large heart charm on the first bracelet. “I hid it in the tree for her to find. She cried so much that year when she saw that blue box.” Victor closes his eyes, thinking about the memory.

“Every year since then, Dad hides the present in the tree. When I was little, I would help her search the tree for it. The year she died, I purchased the third bracelet and Dad keeps adding to it.” Levi’s voice is sad.

I look at the charms. There are hearts, an L, V, A, a baby carriage, a flower, and numerous other ones. The one that confuses me is the number eight.

“May I ask what the eight stands for?”

“
I was born June eighth,” Levi confirms.

“
I usually open the gift at night. When I am alone,” Victor adds. “That is why Levi reacted the way he did. But he’ll never do that again.” He gives Levi a pointed look.

“
No, sir.” Levi sounds like a small child.

“
I know he didn’t mean it. I’m so sorry I pried into something so personal.”

“
You’re family, Presley. It’s not a secret. I love my wife and I know that she is gone, but I’ll buy a charm every year and hide it in the tree for as long as I live.”

I can’t help the tear that escapes my eyes and slide down my face. A love like they had is one in a million. I shut the lid of the box, stand, and hand it to Victor. I hug him tightly.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” I whisper in his ear and kiss his cheek.

“
I think we have some dishes to do,” Victor announces as we pull out of our embrace.

We all head back into the kitchen and clean everything up. I’m surprised that most of the food is gone. I guess we all were really hungry. Levi tells his dad that he doesn’t need to help and sends him back to the living room.

“Smarty,” Levi wraps his arms around me and places his forehead on mine. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“
Levi.” I pull back a little and look into his blue eyes. “I know. You would never hurt me.”

“
I love you.”

“
I love you too. So, let’s finish this up and go watch some hockey.” I swat his ass as I walk past him and finish helping put the leftovers away.