The Lost and Found (25 page)

At the sound of her voice Josiah had frozen, trying to determine if she was still sleeping. When her breathing once again evened out, he relaxed and let sleep claim him.

Crimson Sage

JOSIAH WOKE ME SLOWLY
, tenderly. He began at my hand. His lips and teeth trailed lightly over my knuckles, my palm. He inhaled the scent at my wrist and continued up my arm, to my shoulder, where he spent considerable time, then to my neck, then my mouth. “Good morning, Beautiful,” he breathed against my lips.

I moaned and stretched a little. It was very nice to be woken up in this way. Sleepily I grinned at him and then reached up to touch his face. “Good morning,” I whispered back.

“Merry Christmas. Again.”

I giggled at that. “Merry Christmas. What time is it?”

“Almost seven.”

“What time will everyone be up at the house?”

“They usually get the ball rolling pretty early. In fact, I’m sure they’re already up, just getting their coffee and breakfast. I didn’t know if you wanted to shower or not…”

“Are you saying I stink?” I teased him.

“Not hardly. You smell like you always do. Like lemon and sunshine and
desire
.” Josiah leaned closer to me, his focus on my mouth; his lips just grazed mine. Then he inhaled and pulled back. “But, we need to get over there, so I’ll stop right here.”

He stood and pulled me to my feet. “Go on, get ready. I’ll wait.”

I grabbed my clothes from his bed — Josiah must have picked them up from the floor while I was sleeping — and headed for his bathroom. Deciding not to shower after all, I quickly washed up and brushed my teeth. I dressed in record time and simply added some mascara and lip balm to complete my look. Glancing in the mirror, I wasn’t super impressed, but figured it would have to do.

Josiah waited, leaning against his little bar. Then, taking my hand, we headed to the big house. Most of the occupants were seated around the table when we stepped through the backdoor. I tried to ignore the knowing and questioning looks, but couldn’t seem to keep the blush from staining my cheeks. Josiah grabbed a couple mugs and filled our cups. We sat together at the table and when I looked up Billy caught my eye.

“Merry Christmas.” he grinned.

“Merry Christmas,” I replied and then feeling like an explanation was needed, said, “Josiah… woke me… a little earlier this morning than the rest of you.”

“Mmm hmm,” was his response as he sipped his coffee. “I wasn’t asking. We all saw the message in the snow. Nice touch, by the way,” he said now looking at Josiah.

“I thought so, too.” Josiah grinned.

Ethan passed a plate of pancakes down to us, a grin on his face. I quickly glanced around the table before dropping my eyes. Most of the looks were friendly. Rob’s was anything but. Hostility broiled there and I felt a trickle of fear slither down my spine and subconsciously slid a little closer to Josiah. My hand, resting on my thigh, now balled into a fist. Josiah noted my tension and gently took it in his and smoothed my fingers out, easing my anxiety. He lifted my hand to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss across my knuckles, letting his lips linger for a moment. Then he lifted his eyes and faced off with everyone present, sending a clear message that he had staked a claim and no one had better even think about crossing the line.

We finished up and then everyone crowded into the great-room. The tree had mountains of presents around it. Josiah and I found a spot together on one of the oversized chairs set back a little from all the action near the tree; he sat on the chair; I sat on his lap. Billy read us the Nativity story then led us in singing a few carols before we began to pass out the presents. Once that was accomplished we began the long process of opening all the gifts. Billy had it down to some semblance of order. We started with the five youngest, they opened their gifts first then we went on to the next five youngest and so on.

I watched as each boy unwrapped his presents, saw the light in their eyes, the happy smiles on their faces. Billy, Red, Sally, and Bentley had all chipped in to get them gifts. Some of the boys’ families had sent gifts as well. I was impressed with the personal attention given to each of them, based upon their needs and wants. Soon there were mounds and mounds of discarded wrapping paper piled around the room. And as each boy began to use and explore whatever gift they received, the volume in the room increased.

While I sat, basking in the glow and the euphoria around me, taking it all in, Josiah handed me a small box wrapped in muted silver paper with a deep red bow. I glanced up at him, his blue eyes held mine. “Merry Christmas, Little Red.”

Taking a slow, deep breath, I smiled at him then carefully pulled off the bow and then, trying not to tear the paper, unwrapped the gift. I stared at the black box for a moment feeling a warmth flood me. Taking another slow, deep breath I lifted the lid. Nestled inside, on a bed of gold velvet was a pair of garnet earrings. They were hoops and reminded me of something Victorian or maybe bohemian in their design. I ran a finger gingerly across the stones, a smile lifting the corner of my mouth. I sniffed back a couple tears and turned to Josiah. “Thank you. They’re beautiful. I love them.”

Josiah helped me put them on then leaned away from me to get a better view.

“What do you think?” I asked him.

“I think I love you,” he replied.

I smiled and said, “I think I love you back,” then handed him a large black and grey striped gift bag.

I turned a little on his lap so that I could see him open it. Josiah pulled the tissue paper out and reached inside the bag. He pulled a deep blue sweater and a beanie in a similar shade from the bag. “It reminded me of your eyes, Ginger.”

He gently lifted me from his lap, and then stood up to try his sweater on. I watched as he lifted his arms to pull the grey sweatshirt off and saw several enticing inches of his exposed abdomen before he lowered his arms again. He caught me looking and flashed a wolfish grin at me. The sweater looked amazing on him. His eyes were deep bright pools in his face. He dragged me to him and growled, “Thank you. I love it.”

“There’s more. Keep looking,” I encouraged him.

Josiah gave me an exasperated look then dug further into his bag and pulled out a bottle of cologne — one that I thought would smell amazing on him — and a small box that held a new pair of hoops for his ears. These were a deep metallic blue.

“This is too much. You shouldn’t have done this.”

“You’re worth it.”

We settled back on the chair and he pulled me closer. “I think you’re worth it too, so don’t get mad, but I kinda got you something else.” Then he reached down beside the chair and pulled another box wrapped in the same way as the first, though this one was bigger. I hesitated before opening it and Josiah said, “Go on, open it.”

This time I quickly pulled the paper off. I laughed quietly as I gazed into the box, my grin spreading across my face in pleased satisfaction. It was evident that Josiah and I had been on the same wavelength when shopping for each other. We both chuckled as I lifted the slate grey sweater from the box, with its matching scarf and beanie. The scarf and beanie were in a brilliant shade of burgundy striped over slate grey and were soft to the touch. There was also a bottle of perfume.

“I’ve been imagining you with this scent… you should go try your sweater on.”

I agreed and quickly stood up. I ran up to my room and removed the sweater I’d been wearing and then slipped the new sweater on. It was as soft as cashmere and felt like a warm hug as the material slid over my skin. It fit like a glove. I was impressed; Josiah did a great job. When I returned to the great room most everyone was finished with their presents.

Josiah had the bottle of perfume open and taking my wrist sprayed some of the perfume onto each wrist. He then rubbed his thumb enticingly over the area and lifted each one to his face to inhale. His eyes closed in pleasure and I heard the low rumble of his growl. “Mmm… you smell amazing.” He pulled me close for a quick, hard kiss before he released me and let me step back.

I’d given Billy money to get each of the boys a $5 gift card to the Java Shack, so as I stepped back into the room they all yelled thank you to me. Their thanks almost didn’t register to me in the onslaught of Josiah’s actions, but after a moment I became aware of the expectant silence behind us and turned to smile at the room. I heard the chuckles and whistles and blushed through all of it.

“Dang, you look hot, woman,” Josiah whispered in my ear as I sat down with him again.

Ethan came over and gave me a big hug, thanking me for the t-shirt with the A-Team logo on it that I’d found him and the iTunes gift card I’d given him. I tried not to blush too much while Ethan was hugging me. But it was hard with Josiah there, holding me like he was, and looking at me like he was. Josiah had bought Ethan a sweatshirt with Mr. T on it that said, “I pity the fool!”

“These are so awesome. Where did you find them?” Ethan asked us as he looked over his new shirts.

“Amazon,” we said in unison and then laughed.

“You guys are hilarious,” Ethan laughed. “Thanks again, I really love my shirts.”

Billy came over to us next; he wanted to thank Ethan and me for the John Wayne print we’d gotten for him. “Thank you, it’ll look great in my office.”

It didn’t take long to clean up the mountains of wrapping paper and ribbon from the living room floor. Everyone pitched in and hauled bags to the dumpster. There was an almost tangible atmosphere of peace, and love, and happiness in the air.

Josiah and I stood on the back porch watching the younger ranch boys as they frolicked and played in the snow. Daisy ran around, barking and leaping, chasing after Ethan and Kelly. I turned into Josiah’s chest, sliding my arms around him, loving the feel of him, the warmth, the firmness of his muscles, the way he always welcomed me. My lips pressed against his neck, enjoying the way his pulse leapt and the way he smelled. “Thank you. For everything. You made today beautiful.”

“You make every day beautiful.”

Josiah

JOSIAH SAT ON THE
wooden steps of the back porch and watched as Crimson, Ethan, and the other boys worked hard to build a snowman. After all the wrapping paper had been cleaned up and the great-room was back to normal, Sally set the table for Christmas dinner — it was more lunch than dinner, really. She’d cooked and carved a ham. There were fresh baked rolls, sliced cheeses, and mouthwatering sides. Everyone ate more than they should have and decided to work off some steam by building a snowman.

It was tradition for the ranch boys to build a snowman. Last year’s model had stood nearly six feet tall and Crimson was determined to top that. Right now, there was more snow on them than on the man they were attempting to erect. He laughed as Kelly and Ethan, in the process of bringing more buckets of snow to where Crimson was working, suddenly tripped, and the bucket of snow, somehow, haphazardly landed on her.

She sputtered in good-natured anger, wiping the snow from her face and hair, and then launched herself at her brother.

“It was an accident!” yelled Ethan as he laughed and tried fighting her off.

“Sure it was, you little twerp,” Crimson growled as she smeared snow on Ethan’s face.

Josiah rose and made his way over to them. The other boys were standing around, not sure just how to help their fallen comrade. After all she was a girl, and just where did you touch a girl that wouldn’t get you in trouble? Josiah decided to step in and give aid. In one move he’d wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her off her brother. He swung Crimson up in his arms and held her there.