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  He settled next to her on the chair-and-a-half. “Don’t be sorry. I should’ve waited for you. I knew you had trouble with night skiing and black diamonds. I should’ve been paying better attention.”

  Leah put her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t want to hold you back.”

  He looked at her. “You don’t!”

  Leah smiled and traced the line of his jaw with her fingertip. “In skiing? I definitely do.”

  “Well. It’s not like I care.”

  “I know you don’t,” she said with a sigh. “But sometimes I do. I mean, we’re only on this trip because you wanted to make me happy. We could be with your parents right now—”

  “Sleeping on a lumpy mattress and having to make sure we don’t make too much noise when we’re having sex?” Brandon shook his head. “Not the way I want to spend our first Christmas together married.”

  “But you always spent Christmas with your parents,” Leah told him. “Every year. Until I came along, anyway. I don’t want to be the one who makes things change for your family like that.”

  “Will you stop?” He laughed. “Things changed for me when I was the first son to move away. Sure, I went back for Christmas because I had no reason not to. But now, we’re a family. And sure, I don’t mind spending holidays with my family. I love my family. But I love you, too. And they love you. It’s all good. We didn’t get a honeymoon, remember? I told my mom we were planning this trip instead. She understood.”

  “She probably didn’t like it.”

  Brandon laughed. “Maybe not, but she didn’t say so. Besides, she told me herself that she was looking forward to going to my brother’s house for Christmas dinner so she didn’t have to cook for once.”

  “And you believe her?”

  He laughed again and cuddled her closer. “Maybe not. But that’s what she said. Point is, she didn’t make a big deal out of it, and they’re flying out to visit us in a few weeks, so we’ll do Christmas with them then.”

  Leah was silent, hoping he was right. “Doesn’t change the fact that because of this,” she gestured at her ankle, “I’ve ruined the trip.”

  “Shut up,” Brandon told her. “I’m here with you, that’s all that matters.”

  She had to laugh. “Did you just tell me to shut up?”

  “Yep.”

  “Really.” She gave him an assessing look, then gripped his chin in her hand, holding his face steady. “That’s the mouth you kiss your wife with?”

  “Any chance I get.”

  “How about now?” She asked, but pulled her mouth away from his at the last second with a low laugh. “Ah, ah, ah. Why should I kiss you when you talked to me like that?”

  “Because you want me to kiss you,” Brandon told her. “Alllllll over.”

  “Well,” Leah admitted. “I guess that’s true.”

  It certainly was.

  * * *

  Eggs and toast. Nothing fancy, but he was good at it, and besides, Leah liked it. Brandishing a plate in one hand and a spatula in the other, Brandon appeared in the bedroom doorway with a flourish. “Breakfast is served!”

  Leah, propped up on a pile of pillows against the headboard, set aside the magazine she’d been flipping through. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, wincing at the pressure, and Brandon moved forward quickly to put the plate on the nightstand.

  “Nope,” he told her. “Back in bed.”

  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a plot of some kind.”

  “Maybe,” he teased. “But you’ll have to eat your breakfast first.”

  His wife laughed but moved back against the headboard. “Smells great.”

  Brandon settled on the bed next to her and took up the plate and fork, laden with fluffy scrambled eggs. “Here.”

  “Oh…you’re going to feed me? That’s service.” She sounded like she was teasing, but her voice had dipped low in a way that never failed to send a little shiver up and down his spine.

  “I aim to please.” He fed her the bite of eggs, watching her eyes close and her mouth open, watching as her face twisted in pleasure.

  “Mmm, so good. I was starving. Thank you, baby.” Leah chewed and swallowed and opened her eyes, catching him looking. Her gaze flared.

  He loved that she knew him so well.

  “They’re perfect.” She opened her mouth for him to feed her another bite. This time, though, the eggs slipped off the fork and Leah had to catch them. She laughed, wiping her mouth as she poked him. “Careful!”

  He took a bite of them himself, and between the two of them they’d finished the eggs in no time. Leah reached across him for a piece of toast, breaking it into small pieces and alternating bites for herself and feeding him. It was the sort of thing newlyweds did, Brandon thought as he took the bite of toast from her fingers. Sort of silly but fun, too. And he liked making her laugh.

  “Now the bed’s full of crumbs.” She sighed and licked butter from her fingers. “And I need a shower.”

  “I’ll help you.” He got off the bed and slid an arm beneath her butt, the other behind her shoulders. “Heave ho.”

  Leah giggled as he swept her up but didn’t protest. Instead, she cuddled, soft and warm, against his bare chest. She nuzzled him just above the nipple, which didn’t make it much easier to carry her, considering how it distracted him. “I love it when you get all caveman on me.”

  “What, I should just let you hobble to the shower on that ankle?” Brandon said as he carried her into the bathroom. “What kind of husband would I be then?”

  “A bad one,” Leah said solemnly.

  “And I’m not a bad husband.”

  “Nope. Definitely not. Best husband I ever had.” Her arms curled around his neck as he lowered her gently onto one foot, the other lifted just enough to prevent her from putting weight on it.

  “Ha. Nice one.” He squeezed her ass. “Only husband you ever had. Unless you’re not telling me something.”

  “Nope.” She looked over her shoulder at the shower. “This should be fun.”

  “Rest that ankle. I’ll help you,” he warned and turned the water on, setting the temperature just how she liked it and then helping her so carefully out of her clothes she laughed and poked his bare chest.

  “I’m not an invalid, Brandon!”

  He shrugged. “I do it for you when we’re at home because you like for me to do it. Why wouldn’t I do it when you really need my help?”

  Leah sobered, brows knitting. She slid her hand over his heart, then up his throat to cup his cheek. Brandon turned his face to kiss her palm.

  “I know you like to,” she said in a low voice. “It just feels different when you have to, that’s all.”

  They’d had a hard few months after she lost her job and needed to rely on him as the breadwinner. For Brandon it had been no big deal to pool their funds—they were getting married, after all. And that’s what a man did, right? Take care of his wife, however she needed it? And even though he hadn’t made as much money in his job as she had in the one she’d lost, it had been enough for what they needed. It had scraped at her, though. A lot. His wife was one independent woman, and he wouldn’t have her any other way.

  Even if it was a little frustrating, sometimes.

  “It still gets me hard,” he said, off-handedly enough to pretend he was teasing her. Which he wasn’t. His dick was definitely already getting hard.

  She looked between them. “I see that.”

  “Tell you what. If you promise not to fall on your butt in there, I’ll leave you alone. As much as it pains me,” he added, just to make sure she knew he was being serious.

  “I think I can manage a shower on my own. I can call for you if I really need help.”

  “You sure? I could wash your back.”

  She smiled. “The offer’s tempting, but…no.”

  He didn’t really want to leave her alone in the bathroom, and not just because he was horny, but he knew better than to push her. If she sa