First Kiss Last by Sara Miller (read e book .TXT) 📗

was game. Cade produced envelopes of cash and reminded the kids to stick to their budgets. Leah was skeptical, but since they’d done it before, she assumed it would somehow work out.

They decided to divide and conquer. First they paired up the boys and girls, then they traded kids and Liam went with Leah. At one point she had both children with her so Cade could shop alone. There was also a time when Sky and Liam took off together.

The results were that everyone was laden with packages. From what she observed, Liam and Sky made excellent choices for their gifts.

Shopping was hard work. To reward themselves, they stopped to get pretzels. Leah was still finishing her cinnamon sugar pretzel when Sky took Liam off to the restroom. They headed for the family restroom where Sky promised to wait outside.

“You’ve got some sugar right—” Cade leaned in and kissed at the side of her mouth. Leah batted him away playfully and wiped at her face.

“Can I say again how awesome this was?”

“Thanks,” Cade smiled. “And can I say again how happy I am that you are part of it?” This time it was Leah who smiled.

“Your kids are amazing.”

Cade beamed at her praise.

“You need to work on your list-making skills though,” Cade eyed her. “Warm, comfy, cute pajamas was a good one but the rest were generic and boring. Was hot chocolate really the best thing you could come up with?” he shook his head. “Boring!”

“Did you just call me boring?” she teased, attempting to distract him from making her the center of attention. He squinted at her as if deciding if he was going to let it go. The kids returned and Leah was off the hook.

Back at the house, they somehow got all the packages sorted by who they were from. They set up multiple wrapping stations and by the time they were done, the pile of gifts under the tree was impressive.

It was well past dinner time and everyone was tired and hungry. Thankfully, Cade had thought ahead and phoned in a pizza order. It arrived just as they were finishing.

“Pizza!” Liam whooped.

“Pajamas first,” Cade instructed.

Sky and Liam rushed off to don pajamas while Cade cleaned up. Leah started to help but he had other ideas.

“Hey now, I called PJ time,” he kissed her hard, then pushed her away. “Go change.”

She looked at him, confused.

“Bottom drawer on the right,” Cade pointed down the hall.

Leah kissed him again before complying. She headed down the hall, curiosity getting the best of her. In Cade’s drawer, she found her missing pajama sets. She smiled and pulled them out to determine which were the warmest. She was surprised to find the fishing t-shirt and sleep shorts she had worn that first night. There was also a pair of men’s pajama pants. They were flannel, well-worn, and smelled of Cade. She quickly stripped and pulled them on. Leah heard the door and startled.

It was only Cade. He eyed her pants but did not comment. He moved past her and stripped out of his own clothing. She watched, unashamed. When he pulled out sleep pants and a long sleeve t-shirt, she sighed when he covered up his body. Cade chuckled.

“Need help?” he offered.

“Dad! We’re gonna eat!” Sky called through the closed door.

“Be right there!” Leah hollered back.

Cade pouted and she laughed. Leah quickly swapped out her sweater for one of her sleep shirts and headed for the door. Cade followed, still shaking his head.

Loaded up with pizza and soda, they sat down to watch TV while they ate. Liam and Sky easily agreed on having a classic Christmas TV show marathon. Cade pulled out DVDs of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Between bites of pizza, the kids quoted their favorite lines and sang along.

Leah enjoyed listening to Cade’s children almost as much as revisiting the old classics. She had not seen them in years. Rudolph had been her favorite. It brought back childhood memories of watching it with Lily. Even though the programs were short, her younger self never quite made it all the way to the end without falling asleep. This time was no different.

When Leah woke, she stretched but didn’t get out of bed. Her phone showed that Cade had added a Christmas tree and a gift to his one-sided private messages. Her heart was happy but her feet and lower back still ached from all that shopping. Leah groaned. At least she was done. All she had left to do was wrap a few presents—unless she wanted to shop for Cade and his family in real life. But how would that work? She instantly dismissed the idea and got up to get ready for work, thankful to be finished with Christmas shopping.

Chapter 24

Turns out, Leah had one more shopping trip for the season in her after all. The shopping trip she had not expected was with Eric. He’d begged her to help him shop for his family out East. Eric did pretty good with gifts for the guys in his family but early on she had figured out he needed help for his mom and grandma.

Eric and Leah made a whole evening of it. First they had dinner out at the new Thai place that had just opened downtown. Then they walked from shop-to-shop, checking out all the trendy boutiques. With such a variety of shops, they were able to find what he needed.

“Thanks again,” he said.

Leah simply smiled.

The temperature had dropped and snow fell in large flakes. She was glad to help but was also getting tired. Eric must have noticed. He steered them toward a coffee kiosk.

“Peppermint Mocha?” he offered.

“Mmmm, yes please.” Leah sipped it as they took the long way back to the apartment, enjoying the Christmas light displays.

From the outside, they probably looked like a normal couple. Leah checked herself. She waited to see if she would second-guess her decision about Eric and their failing