Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

“I already do.”
    He opened the door for her, caught her chin before she could slide in. “Seriously?” Just the idea of it made his body hard.
    Kate nodded. “It’s nice to have a constant reminder.” It was more than nice. Just the thought of how the marks had gotten there made her hot with need.
    Matt dragged her close to him, his mouth taking command of hers. It seemed far too long since he’d been able to kiss her. To have her al to himself. “I want to get you home where I can put you into my bed. I stil have such a hard time believing you’re with me.”

    She laughed. “Imagine how I feel.”
    Kate leaned her head back against the seat of his car and looked at him, the smile fading from her face. “Matt, you shouldn’t have wished on the snowglobe. It isn’t an ordinary Christmas globe.”
    He glanced at her, then back at the road, his expression settling into serious lines. “Nothing about you or your family is ordinary, Katie. I knew what I was doing.”
    She opened her mouth to speak, shook her head, and stared out the window into the night.
    Matt searched for something to say to reassure her. Or maybe it was he that needed the reassurance. Kate was stil resistant to the idea of a long-term relationship, and he wasn’t certain he could change her mind. He couldn’t begin to explain the sense of rightness he felt when he drove up to his house with Kate beside him. He sat in his car, looking up at the house with its bank of windows for the view, and the wide, inviting decks going in every direction. “I built this house for you. I even put in a library and two offices, just in case you wanted your own office. I asked Sarah a few years ago, when I first came back, if you had a preference where you wrote, and she said you preferred a room with a view and soft music. I added a fireplace just in case you needed the ambience.”
    Kate blinked back tears, leaned over, and kissed him. What could she say? Everyone in town knew Sarah. Sarah was magic. She could scale cliff wal s and she knew things before they happened. She could leap out of airplanes and climb tal buildings. Sarah lived her life. She didn’t dream the way Kate did or live in her imagination.
    Matt took her hand and pul ed her out of the car. “I soundproofed your office so the noise wouldn’t bother you.”
    “What noise?” She knew better than to ask, but she couldn’t stop herself.
    “Our kids. You do want kids, don’t you? I’m afraid the Granites tend to throw males. I don’t have a single female cousin. You do like boys, don’t you?”
    Kate looked away from him, out to the booming sea. Sarah would have children. Al of her sisters would have them. She’d probably tel them al stories. Maybe she should have been the one to wish on the snowglobe. Maybe she should have wished for the courage to do the right thing.
    “Katie, if you don’t want children, I’l be happy with it being just the two of us. You know that, don’t you?” He unlocked the door to the house and stepped back to let her in. “Children would be wonderful, but not necessary. If we can have them. Sometime in the future, after I’ve spent endless time making love to you al over the house.”
    Kate went straight to the Christmas tree. She wanted him. She wanted him for as long as she could have him. She swal owed her tears and lifted her chin, smiling at him. “I like that idea. Making love to you al over the house. Would you turn on the Christmas lights? I love miniature lights like these.”
    Matt plugged in the lights for her. His house was dark and quiet and a bit on the cool side. He’d never bothered with heavy curtains in the living room because he had no close neighbors, and the bank of windows faced the sea. Kate dropped her purse on the nearest chair and kicked off her shoes. “It’s nice to come home. Just for tonight, I want to think about Christmas and not some awful thing coming out of the fog to hurt everyone.” She looked up at him, her large eyes sad. “Do you think we’l manage to get one night together, Matthew?”
    “I don’t know, Katie. I hope so. I’m going to check the house and downstairs, and I’l be right back.” He didn’t think he could sleep, not even holding her in his arms, until he checked the sand outside for any peculiar footprints.
    “That’s a good idea. I’l make us up a bed. You don’t mind if we sleep out here by the tree do you?”
    Matt looked around the huge, spacious living room. The