The Running Series Complete Collection: 3-Book Set plus Bonus Novella (140 page)

Before I can turn away, he grabs me and holds me in a warm embrace.  “I love you with all my heart, Juliette,” he tells me as he tucks a stray hair behind my ear. 

I look up into those deep blue eyes that make me melt, lean in, and place a soft kiss on his lips.  “I love you more than you could possibly imagine.”

O
ur first Christmas together starts just as I imagined.  I find Evan sitting in the living room wearing nothing but plaid pajama pants, holding a mug shaped like a reindeer and watching
A Christmas Story
on TV.  The smell of fresh coffee fills the room.  For the first time in a long time, I’ve slept soundly.  I stopped worrying, stressing, and agonizing for one night and my reward is this.

“Well, look who it is,” he teases.  Evan walks over and pours me a cup of coffee in a snowman mug.  I add just a splash of peppermint creamer to make it perfect. 

Together we carry our mugs into the living room and find a spot on the floor beside the tree.  Not to be forgotten, Maddy plops herself down between us, anxious to be a part of the fun. 

The first gift Evan opens is a pair of goofy holiday-themed boxer-briefs.  He reciprocates by giving me a box filled with a black lace bra and panties.  “Looks like we may have to have another fashion show tonight,” I tell him.  Evan answers me with a wink and a smile.

The next gift I give Evan is my personal favorite, a Rolex watch.  Every successful man deserves to own a Rolex, and no one is more deserving than my man.  When he opens the box, his expression is one of pure elation.  “Juliette, it’s perfect.  I’ve always wanted a Rolex.”  He carefully removes it from the box and immediately places it on his wrist.  He checks the exact time on the television and verifies that the watch is perfectly synchronized. 

“Check the inscription,” I tell him.

He removes the watch from his arm, turns it over and reads it aloud. “Once Upon a Time ... ”  He looks at me with a quizzical expression.

“Evan, meeting you was a fairytale from the very beginning.  Lord knows I had to kiss my fair share of frogs before you came along.  Until now, I never believed in a fairy tale romance.  I was never the type who waited for a tall, dark, and handsome man to sweep me off my feet.  I just wished and waited for a man who would truly love and cherish me.  Someone who would not just forgive my flaws, but actually love me because of them.  I just wanted someone I could love deeply and passionately and call mine.  All I ever wanted was to be loved without question, without doubt, and without constraint.  You’ve given me that and so much more.”

“You never cease to amaze me.  It’s official.  I’m now the luckiest man in the entire known world.”  Evan carefully selects the next gift for me to open and passes it to me.  “It’s not a Rolex, but I hope you’ll like it.”

The box is definitely too heavy for more jewelry.  I rip the paper off the box and toss it onto the pile Evan has started on the floor.  I peel open the lid, and inside is a scrapbook.  Each page has the name of a different city and pictures of all types of homes.  There’s a log cabin in Aspen, a tropical villa in Maui, a condo in Miami, a cottage in Martha’s Vineyard, a chalet in Lake Tahoe, and a plantation-style house near New Orleans. 

“Evan, I don’t understand.  Are we moving?”  God, I hope not.

“No, way!  I’m here for good.  I think it’s time we start thinking about buying a vacation home.  It’s a good investment for us.  What do you think?” 

“Do I have to decide right away?” I ask.  I never even thought about buying a second home.  No one in my family has ever owned a second home.  Hell, before I went away to college, I hardly ever left New Jersey.

“Nope.  We have nothing but time,” Evan assures me.

We spend the rest of the morning exchanging more presents.  By lunch, I am the proud owner of a new pair of running shoes, a matching Prada handbag and wallet, a pavé diamond teardrop bangle bracelet to match my necklace and earrings, recipe books, and a nice assortment of lingerie.  My one unexpected gift was an iPad mount for the treadmill.  Evan would definitely prefer if I keep my workouts close to home.

Dinner is at Evan’s parents’ tonight.  There will be a rather large gathering and I’ll be meeting some cousins for the first time.  I’m beyond excited.  We pack all our gifts into the back seat of Evan’s Porsche Carrera and hit the road.

There’s a lot of traffic today, but Evan and I make the most of it.  He runs down a list of his cousins whom I’ll be meeting today.  Evan’s Uncle Jim will be there with his wife Erin and their three sons, Reed, Hugh, and Noah.  His Uncle Joe will be there too, with his wife Sally and their only son, Cole.  I know that when they were growing up, Cole and Evan were extremely close.  I cannot wait to meet him.

Time flies, and before we know it we’re nearly at his parent’s house.  They live in an upper-middle-class part of town.  Every home on the block is large and beautifully maintained.  Belgian blocks and sidewalks line the street and each house is beautifully lit and adorned for the holiday.  What a wonderful place this must have been to grow up.

As we approach, I fumble through my new Prada purse until I find a small brush, which I use to fix my hair.  It’s been a rather long drive and I would really like to make a good first impression.  I add a little mascara and hope for the best.  “What are you doing?” Evan asks.  “You look fine.”

God, how I hate that word – fine.  “Evan, I’m meeting aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time today. 
Fine
is not going to cut it.”

He just rolls his eyes as he pulls up to the front of the house.  The circular driveway is full and there is no room in front of the garage, so Evan must park his car in the street, something he rarely does.  He looks up and down to street, checking for vandals, I suppose.  Once he’s certain that there are no marauding hordes waiting to strip his precious car, he steps out and hurries to open my door.  Even after all this time, he still will not allow me to open my own door.

I stand on the sidewalk as Evan hands me a few packages from the back seat to carry into the house.  I start walking up the sidewalk toward the front door, holding one large shopping bag filled with gifts and one bag of homemade pastries.  “Go through the garage,” Evan calls to me as he locks the Porsche.

I glance toward the driveway and notice one of the garage doors is wide open.  We walk the short distance through the garage and into the house.  Loud, boisterous conversation is coming from the back of the house, where everyone is merrily chatting and carrying on, oblivious to our arrival.

Evan guides me toward the empty formal living room, where there is a beautiful fire burning and a magnificent Christmas tree in the center of the room.  Red poinsettia flowers fill the room, while the musk of fresh pine overwhelms the senses.  We add our gifts to the ones already deposited beneath the tree.  Evan hangs up my coat, takes my hand, and guides me through the house and into the kitchen.

The moment we enter, we are spotted by Evan’s mother Jill, who’s standing at the sink washing a dirty pot.  She immediately turns off the water to give us a proper greeting.  Callie comes hurrying over too, giving me a hug and a kiss.  “I’m so glad you made it.  The boys are all here and they’re dying to meet you.”

“Is that them?” I ask, referring to the large group of young men surrounding the television at the back of the great room.

“Those are my boys.  I was the only girl in a male-dominated family.  It was mostly a good thing.  I learned how to defend myself pretty early on.  But it was hard as hell to get any dates, because everyone was scared shitless of my cousins, especially Reed.  That’s him over there with the new baby.”

I look into the living room and spot a ridiculously handsome man holding a tiny baby in his arms.  Sitting beside him is a young woman with short, blonde hair.  What a beautiful family.  Scattered around the room are three more young men, all more or less around our age.

“I’m still scared shitless of Reed,” Evan agrees.  “He’s a Marine who flies Hornets for a living.  He gets paid to play with the biggest, baddest toys money can buy.”

“Says the man who only works for half a year and gets paid a ridiculous amount of money to play catch.”  Our conversation comes to an abrupt end when Evan spots the young man approaching us.  He’s several inches taller than Evan, with dirty blond hair, the face of an angel, and the body of a professional fighter.  This McGuire family has some gene pool.

Evan grabs the man I suspect to be Cole McGuire and gives him a big bear hug.  After a few friendly slaps on the back, Evan grabs my hand and pulls me close.  “Cole, I’d like you to finally meet my fiancée, Juliette.  Juliette, this is Cole.”

Cole smiles at me, and the first thing I notice is his piercing blue eyes, every bit as deep and hypnotic as Evan’s.  Cole holds out his hand.  “I’ve read so much about you and watched you two on television.  I feel like I already know you.”

“I hope you only believed half of what you saw and even less of what you read.”

“The only thing I know for sure is that you have this big guy wrapped around your pretty little finger.  Aunt Jill and Uncle John have been singing your praises since last spring.  I’m just sorry I couldn’t get up here any sooner.”  I think I’m going to like Cole McGuire.

Evan walks around, introducing me to the rest of his cousins.  First he introduces me to Hugh, a photographer for
Time Magazine
.  Next is Noah, the youngest of the bunch.  Last spring, he graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in fire science.  Now he’s a firefighter in Jersey City.  I can only imagine the things he must have seen. 

The last cousins left for me to meet are Reed and his wife Paige.  They brought with them their four-week old son, Hawk.  He’s as cute as a button and sound asleep.  No sooner does Evan finish the introductions than Jill calls for help in the kitchen.  Paige and I slip away, leaving the men to catch up.

I discover rather quickly that Paige is not only married to a McGuire, she’s also Callie’s best friend.  The girls have known each other since middle school.

Callie, Paige, and I make quick work of getting the food on the table.  Jill and her sister-in-laws are setting the table and filling wine glasses.

Paige’s husband Reed passes by on his way to refill his drink.  Paige panics. “Reed, where’s Hawk?  What did you do with our baby?”

“Relax, he’s fine.  Evan’s got him.”  Reed looks directly at me.  “That little cousin of mine is gonna make a great dad one day.”  My heart sinks when I hear him say that.  “Look,” he tells me.

I glance over into the living room, and sure enough, Evan has a tiny bundle in his arms.  He’s walking around the room, gently swaying back and forth with little Hawk.  I see him lean down and whisper something into the baby’s ear.

I imagine what it will be like for us to someday welcome our first child into the world.  I picture Evan holding our baby, singing him lullabies and telling him stories about football triumphs and struggles.  But then I remember that it’s all a fantasy.  There’s a very good chance that our first child together will
not
be Evan’s first child.

I shake the negative thinking from my mind and go back to enjoying the holiday with my new family.  I remind myself how lucky I am and that, no matter what, every child is a blessing.

John and Jill call everyone to the table for dinner.  Coming from such a small family, it can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when there are nearly a dozen men gathered around the table; men who have so much to talk about because they haven’t seen each other in a long time.

All the cousins – Cole, Reed, Noah, and Hugh – propel questions at Evan like hand grenades.  They want to know about some of his celebrity friends, red-carpet events, and his most recent endorsement deals.  Evan currently has billboards all across Manhattan wearing nothing but his Calvin Klein underwear.  God, how I love that picture.  It’s my iPhone screensaver.

The rest of the dinner conversation revolves around sports.  Cole is a professional baseball player in the minor leagues.  Apparently the team he’s with now doesn’t have a good track record of moving players up to the majors, so he’s hoping to get traded again.

Hugh, the photographer for
Time Magazine
, will sometimes be called upon to cover sports.  He knows a number of elite athletes with whom Evan is friendly.  Despite not having seen each other in over a year, they tend to run in the same social circles.

Evan is truly in his element as he and the boys tease and taunt one another, almost to the point of cruelty.  But no matter how involved he is in their conversation, he always makes sure my glass is never empty, and we maintain a constant physical connection.  It might be a hand on the knee, an arm across the shoulder, or a stolen kiss.

Of course, the more blatant the PDA, the more harassment Evan receives.  But he doesn’t seem to mind.  He actually enjoys this new kind of attention.  I have never felt more loved or more cherished.

As the boys talk sports, Callie and I take turns holding and fussing over baby Hawk.  He’s such a good baby, I don’t think I’ve heard him cry once since we’ve arrived.  Of course, it probably has something to do with the fact that he’s been in someone’s arms the entire time.