I squeeze her tighter. “Sela…darling…my sister is not going to be won over by the delectability of your turkey. She’s going to judge you solely on the width of my smile, and trust me, your turkey doesn’t make me smile any bigger. Take the pack off and relax.”

She sighs again and her shoulders sag.

“You know what you need?” I ask her quietly.

“What?”

“You need an orgasm. That will relax you.”

“I totally don’t need that,” she says, and tries to pull away from me, but she has nowhere to go. The counter prevents her flight. “I don’t have time for that.”

“You’ve got at least ten minutes before that oven gets hot enough,” I argue as my hands drop to the button of her jeans. I pop it and tug her zipper down. “Plenty of time.”

“Beck,” she admonishes me weakly, but then my hand is diving into her panties and my fingers press against her clit. She sighs and murmurs my name again, this time in capitulation.

“Just hang on to that turkey, baby. I’ll have you feeling better in no time.”

—
The doorbell rings and Sela slams the oven door shut. She’d just basted the turkey and I have to say…it looks fucking fantastic. Smells even better. Her face is slightly flushed and her eyes are bright with a combination of excitement and nerves. She smooths her hands down over the dark gray wool skirt she put on. She paired it with black tights, a black turtleneck, and a pair of shiny black loafers. Her hair is tied at the back of her neck in a sleek ponytail and she looks like a young prep school girl. It’s really hot, actually.

“How do I look?” she asks breathlessly.

My eyes slide down and then up again. “Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Her cheeks redden and her eyes lower shyly as her lips tip upward. Fucking even more beautiful.

Before I can embarrass her further, I turn and walk into the foyer. I unlock the door and pull it open.

A tiny blond-haired, brown-eyed dynamo slams into my legs, arms wrapping around tight. “Uncle Beck.”

I reach down, pick Ally up, and give her a quick hug before sitting her on my hip. Caroline steps over the threshold and I hold my free arm out. She steps into a tight hug, her arms going around my waist.

“Hey, sis,” I say as I press a kiss on her hair, the same color as mine. She pulls back and grins up at me with blue eyes that also match mine.

“Oh, you look great. A sight for our sore eyes,” she gushes, patting me hard on my lower back. Her gaze slides past my shoulder and her smile gets brighter. She pulls away and steps past me. I turn to follow and watch as she walks up to Sela, who’s standing there with her hands clutched in nervousness before her.

“And you must be Sela,” Caroline says in wide-eyed wonder. She steps forward, and Sela hesitantly extends her hand. Caroline ignores it and wraps Sela up in a hug. “Oh my God…Beck emailed me a picture of you but it didn’t do you justice.”

I roll my eyes and hitch Ally up on my hip a little higher. “Okay, that’s enough Caroline. You’re ruining my street cred.”

Caroline ignores me and turns Sela toward the kitchen. “The turkey smells wonderful. Let me help you finish whatever up. Beck can entertain Ally and we can talk. You have wine, right?”

“Um, yeah…actually we do,” Sela says with a return smile, and they both walk off, leaving me behind.

I hear them murmuring in excited undertones, Caroline beside herself that her big brother has actually got a girlfriend, and Sela clearly relieved to finally understand what I’d been telling her. That my sister is cool as hell.

Craning my head, I look at Ally. “Want to go watch some TV?”

She cocks an adorable four-year-old eyebrow that descended directly from her mom’s DNA. “Dora the Explorer?”

“I was thinking football,” I counter.

“Dora,” she says adamantly.

I sigh and tickle at her ribs. She giggles and wraps her arms around my neck. “Fine, you little monster. Dora it is.”

I carry Ally into the living room, sneaking a peek into the kitchen. Sela is uncorking a bottle of wine, and Caroline is pulling glasses out of a cabinet. The smell of roasting turkey makes my stomach rumble, and the knowledge that I’m getting ready to have a unique family holiday causes warmth to spread through my chest.

It’s a fucking fantastic feeling that I could most definitely get used to.

Chapter 19

Sela

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Beck asks as he pulls a sweatshirt over his head. I watch as his head pokes through the top, messing his hair up. He threads his arms through and tugs the bottom down. So simple and so sexy. He runs his fingers through his mop, perhaps making it messier and even sexier, and I have to restrain myself from launching myself at him.

I seem to want to perpetually do that.

“No, I’m going to stay here and give you quality time with Caroline and Ally,” I tell him firmly. “They’re leaving tomorrow and I want you to have some alone time.”

Beck steps into me, wraps his arms around my waist, and pulls me into his body. I tilt my face up, oh so naturally to accept his lips, and he leans down. A soft kiss and a smile. “You know the time would be more quality if you came with us.”

“Nice try, Mr. North,” I tell him as I pull out of his embrace before I’m tempted. “But I’m staying and you’re going. And you’re not going to change my mind.”

I really do want him to change my mind, but I also think he needs this time with his sister and niece. They’ve been here only twenty-four hours, but I’ve seen enough to know that they are incredibly close as siblings and that they don’t get to see each other enough.

I’m not quite sure why though. Caroline and Ally live north in Healdsburg, only about an hour and a half away, but as far as I can tell, they only really see each other at holidays. Beck told me last night as we lay in bed together that Caroline hates the city and Beck is always so busy he just has a hard time getting away. It was with a bit of sadness and shame that he said, “Work just gets in the way sometimes.”

I snuggled in closer to him, distressed on his behalf over things he’s missing out on.

Then he added, “And I’m starting to realize that work might not be the most important thing.”