“You,” she decided before throwing her arms up. Dimitri came running in and jumped on the bed on top of Erik, hitting him right in the groin. As Piper laughed, Erik wallowed in pain while Dimitri just grinned.

“Ugh! You broke my balls, kid!” he groaned and Piper shook her head as Katarina giggled.

“I broke Daddy’s balls,” Dimitri said with a huge grin. “He gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, he’s fine,” she said, sitting down and patting Erik’s butt. Wrapping her arm around Dimitri, she asked, “What did you do with Daddy today?”

“We bought you a ring for Christmas.”

“Dimitri! You weren’t supposed to tell her!” Erik scolded, but Dimitri didn’t seem to care. “I told him not to tell you.”

“He doesn’t listen,” Piper laughed. “Is it pretty?”

“Oh yeah, so pretty. Give it to her, Daddy!”

“No! It’s for Christmas, and it isn’t even done yet!”

Piper giggled some more as Katarina wiggled out of her lap and then out the door. Dimitri followed right along behind her, leaving Piper alone with her husband. They came, took her loving, and then were gone. That’s how it was in the Titov house.

Sending him a wide grin, she asked, “New ring, huh?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. I might go change it.”

She lay back in the bed, cuddling into his side before kissing his jaw. “I can’t wait to open it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s ruined,” he complained and she shook her head.

“Never. I’ll be surprised and thankful. Don’t worry.”

“Good,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her nose. Looking deep into her eyes, he smiled and she felt breathless. He loved her. So damn much and she knew he would no matter what.

“I don’t want to paint murals anymore.”

Wow. Did she just blurt that out?

His brows came together. “That’s outta left field.”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t told you, but I’ve been designing book covers for the last three months. I love it.”

She could see the shock in his eyes, but then a knowing grin came over his lips as he nodded. “That’s cool. Bored with the murals, already?”

She smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Is that bad?”

“For you, no. I’m surprised you didn’t get bored sooner.”

“So you aren’t mad?” she asked, hopeful.

“Fuck no, baby. You do what you want. I’ll just be standing here, cheering you on. No matter what.”

Her smirk grew as she cuddled deeper against him. “You are the best husband.”

“I know,” he agreed, a grin pulling at his lips. “And you’re the best wife.”

Christmas wasn’t even here yet, and she knew he had a beautiful gift for her, but no matter what the season, her husband continually gave her the best gift of all.

And that was his love and ultimate support.

Phillip Anderson was going to kill Jude Sinclair.

He didn’t give two fucks if Claire loved him, or even if it was almost Christmas and his momma was going to be sad she lost one of her boys, Phillip was going to kill him.

He didn’t know what it was about playing against the kid, but it brought out the asshole in both of them, and soon they were messing and chirping at each other through the whole game. For Phillip, it was the fact that Jude was defiling his niece, and because of that, he hated him. He wasn’t sure what she saw in the little idiot, but she sure did love him. Enough to marry his punk ass. Phillip shuddered at the thought.

“Come on, old man! Can’t keep up? I’ve already scored on you twice tonight.”

Despite the fact that he had, Phillip glared.

“Shut up, you little shit,” Phillip sneered as he waited for the puck to drop.

“Ignore him, Anderson,” King hollered at him.

“He’s a punk. Don’t let him get to you,” Titov agreed. “Play hockey, you fuck face, before you have the whole team kicking your ass.”

“Bring it. I’d take all of you out,” the cocky little shit said.

“You couldn’t take out the trash. Shut the hell up and play hockey,” Shea bellowed at him, and he cowered a bit, but Phillip didn’t miss the defiance in his eyes. He couldn’t fight him though; they were down by two because of his little ass, and they had to catch up. Ending up in the box wouldn’t help the cause of winning, but this kid was dead set on driving Phillip insane.

Meeting Phillip’s gaze, Jude said, “I was considering naming our first kid after you, but for that to happen, I’m going to need you to play some decent hockey.”

Yeah. See the kid brought out some kind of rage inside of him, and without even realizing it, Phillip dropped his gloves and slammed his fist into Jude’s nose. The crowd lost their marbles as the two duked it out. He took the punches like a champ and felt empowered when the kid started to look rattled. But when Jude slammed his fist into Phillip’s jaw, it knocked him off-balance. Soon he was lying on his ass and the fight was stopped as the crowd again lost their shit cheering for their prize player.

Jude punk ass Sinclair.

Little asshole.

After being razzed by his teammates for getting knocked on his ass by his soon-to-be son-in-law—ugh, he shuddered again—Phillip decided he needed a stiff drink and headed down to the hotel bar. The hotel was decorated for the season, and usually that made him happy, but he was still pissed about Jude and the fact that, at any second, Claire would set a date and he’d have to give her away to that little shit.