Mistletoe & Kisses (15 page)

Deciding simple was best, I made a chicken parmesan dish with garlic bread and a Caesar salad. The table was set, the house clean, it was time wait. The airport wasn’t far and I knew they would be back soon.

The sound of Tanner’s voice outside the door froze me in my tracks.

Here goes nothing.

Chapter Three

Tanner

ONCE I FINISHED work, I ran home to change my clothes. I didn’t have long because I had to leave for the airport. Danielle was already there, and I could tell she was still nervous. I wanted to stay and comfort her, but there just wasn’t time—besides, the only thing that was going to help was getting the introductions over with. Until then, Danielle was still going worry herself crazy. At least the airport was only a twenty-minute drive away. The sooner I could put her fears at ease the better, my need to protect her rushing to the forefront, as it did every time I thought she needed it.

* * *

The traffic at the airport was ridiculous, but I wouldn’t expect any less at this time of year. Finally, after finding a parking space and my parents’ flight number, I was seated outside the terminal gate, waiting for the plane to disembark. With the snow in Pennsylvania, the flight had been delayed about thirty minutes. So much for getting home quickly.

This would be the first time I’d seen my parents in over a year. Our schedules never worked out. Whenever they could get away from work, it coincided with the times I was deployed. It sucked not seeing them in so long. Thank God for Skype and texting, otherwise we would have missed out on a lot.

They already knew so much about Danielle. It was hard not to talk about her when she’d become such an important part of my life so quickly. My dad was the one who pointed out to me that I was in love with her. I’d tried to deny it, even to myself, but he’d said he could tell by the way I talked about her. It was the same way he talked about Mom. They were so excited to meet the woman who had finally captured my heart. There was just one thing I hadn’t told them yet.

Our engagement.

It’d happened about a month ago but I’d wanted to tell them face-to-face. Maybe it was wrong to wait, but it felt right to me. I hadn’t told Danielle because I knew it would make her freak out even worse than it was, the plan was to tell them before we left the airport. I knew they were going to be thrilled. At almost twenty-eight years old, my parents were worried that I’d never find someone.

The moment they stepped through the door, I saw my mom’s brown hair streaked with a bit of gray. While I inherited the brown hair from her, my blue eyes were all my father. It didn’t take them long to find me, my mom rushing forward to wrap me in a hug. It was a good thing I was stronger than her otherwise she would have cut off my air supply. My dad followed behind, her bags in his hands.

“Tanner, I’m so happy to see you.”

She pulled back, lifting her hands to cup my face. “How are you? Are you sleeping well? Are they feeding you well? Where’s Danielle? When do we get to meet her?”

Dad started laughing. “If you stop to take a breath, Kathy, I’m sure he’ll answer all of your questions.”

“Dad.” Mom let go of me long enough for me to give my dad a quick hug.

“How are you, Tanner?”

“Good—no great. Everything is really great.”

He looked expectantly at my mom, like he was waiting for her to start rambling again. When I turned my head to face her, it looked like she was chewing on the inside of her cheek, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

“Tanner, just start with the first question, so that she doesn’t lose it.”

Taking one of the bags from my dad, I steered us toward baggage claim. “Everything is perfect. I sleep just fine, living off-base makes it easy to sleep and eat well. As for Danielle, you get to meet her as soon as we can get out of the airport and home.”

Mom’s eyes went wide. “Off-base? What do you mean off-base? When did you move out of base housing?”

The airport wasn’t huge and we made it to the baggage claim in no time, but the bags hadn’t arrived yet.

“That’s something I wanted to talk to you about when you got here. You’re not staying at Dani’s place this week. You’re staying at
our
place.”

“You moved in together!” Mom was practically screeching, clapping her hands together in her excitement. “I can’t believe you took the next step already. I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Yes, Mom, but there’s more.”

“More?” Dad asked.

Now that I had their attention, I plowed ahead. “Danielle and I are getting married.”

This time my father, with his lighting reflexes, wrapped a hand around Mom’s mouth to contain the shriek. Which was good because otherwise the whole airport would have known my business. 

“Kathy, we are in an airport. If you scream like that, we’re going to get arrested.” Her eyes went wide, still focused on me, even though Dad was still talking to her. “Now if I move my hand, can you contain yourself?”

The laughter danced through my dad’s eyes. My mom always had a way of attracting attention everywhere they went, this was something he was used to. She nodded slowly and Dad took his hand away. The moment she was loose, she rushed forward and wrapped me in another hug. If I thought breathing was difficult earlier, I’d had no idea what I was talking about.

“Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you. I could tell how much you loved her when you first called to tell us about her. Now I’m even more excited to meet her.” She looked over at the still silent carousel. “They need to hurry up unloading our luggage so I can go meet my future daughter-in-law.”

Dad shook his head at Mom and came over to clasp me on the shoulder, shaking my other hand before pulling me into a hug. “Congratulations. I’m so happy to hear you finally found her.”

“Thanks, Dad. She’s absolutely perfect. But I do have to tell you, she’s nervous as hell to meet you guys.”

Mom turned away from the baggage carousel. “Why would she be nervous?”

“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it’s been a long time since she’s ‘met the parents.’” I shrugged.

Mom walked over and placed her hand on my arm. “She’s got nothing to worry about. She chose my son, which already means she has impeccable taste.”

“Thanks, Mom. Anything you guys can do to make her feel more comfortable would be great.”

“Of course, honey.”

The buzzer went off on the baggage carousel and Mom’s attention immediately switched to finding her bags. Like a seagull plucking fish out of water, my mom was the first in the group of passengers to have all her bags ready and waiting for my dad and I to carry to the car. All of this was before Dad or I even had the chance to look for them. I had to laugh at her enthusiasm.

“That was fast.”

“It was. Now take me to meet my future daughter-in-law.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Giving her a quick nod, I picked up some of her things and led them out to where I’d parked the car.

After loading the luggage into the trunk of Danielle’s car, we were on our way, Dad in the back, letting Mom have the front seat. “What happened to your truck?”

“I still have it. This is Dani’s car. I figured it would be easier to put your luggage in the trunk than in the bed of my truck.”

“How far is Danielle’s apartment from here?”

“It’s only about twenty minutes. She’s really close to the base and her job.”

“That’s good,” Mom chimed in. “I still can’t believe you’re finally going to get married.”

She smacked me in the arm, making me jerk the wheel to the side in surprise.

“What did you hit me for? I’m trying to drive.”

“That was for not telling us sooner. Give us the details, since you neglected to tell us until now.”

Remembering the day brought a smile to my face. “It was only about a month ago. Dani thought I was at work, and her brother Liam brought her to the park. I set up pinwheels for her to find with little notes on each one. When she reached the end and turned around to go back to the car, I was waiting for her one on knee.”

“Seeing the way your eyes light up when you talk about her makes me so happy.” Out of the corner of my eye I could see the smile that graced her lips.

“She makes me happy too.”

The rest of the drive was spent answering questions about Danielle. I’d convinced them to wait to ask wedding questions until we got back to the apartment, when Danielle could answer them with me.

“Here we are,” I said, pulling into Danielle’s space.

“This is a nice neighborhood,” Mom commented.

“It is. I actually helped Dani pick this apartment out.” Who knew at the time that I’d actually be living with her there?

“Should we get the luggage now?” Dad asked stepping out of the car.

“Nah, we’ll get the bags after dinner. Let’s get you guys inside to meet Dani.”

I stepped up to the door and pushed it open to find  Danielle standing in the middle of the living room, wringing her hands. Immediately, I walked over to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “Mom, Dad, this is Danielle.”

Even through her nerves, she took a step forward with her hand extended. “Mr. and Mrs. Marano, it’s nice to meet you.”

Mom took her hand and pulled her into a hug. “It’s good to meet you.”

Danielle’s hands were trapped at her sides and my guess was my mom was squeezing the life out of her.

“Mom, do you think you could let Dani take a breath at some point,” I said with a chuckle.

“Of course,” she said, taking a step back, her face a bit red. “And please call me Kathy. You’re going to be my daughter someday. But don’t worry will work on you calling me ‘mom’ later.”

Danielle’s shoulders seem to relax and a smile spread across her face. “Yes I will,” she said, shooting a smile over her shoulder at me. The warmth that spread through me was indescribable. If you were to have asked me six months ago if any of it was a possibility, I would have told you no. To see all of this unfolding in front of me was more than I could have ever dreamed.

Mom turned with Danielle’s hand in hers. “Danielle, this is Tanner’s dad, Dennis.”

Just like Mom, Dad bypassed Danielle’s proffered hand, instead pulling her into a hug. “It is wonderful to see that my son is going to marry such a beautiful woman.”

Danielle’s face flushed at the compliment. “Thank you.”

When Dad let her go, I took their coats.

“You must be hungry,” Danielle said. “Why don’t y’all have a seat and I’ll bring dinner right out.”

“Sounds wonderful.” My mom smiled.

“Do you need any help?” I asked, giving her a brief kiss on the forehead.

She shook head. “No, not with the food, but why don’t you take care of the drinks?”

“Anything for you.” I looked over at my parents. “Come on, let’s get you seated.

Deciding on a bottle of Pino Noir, I got everyone a glass by the time Danielle had all of the food on the table.

“This looks wonderful,” Mom said, eyeing the food. “I know Tanner didn’t help with any of it.”

“Thank you.”

“Hey, I helped.”

Mom raised a brow. “With what? Because unless something drastic happened since the last time we saw you, your cooking skills don’t match this.”

“I’m not
that
bad.”

This time it was Danielle who looked at me like I was crazy. “Umm . . . do you really want to go there?”

That’s when Dad started. “The last time we came for a visit and Tanner attempted to make dinner, the pasta was a rather bizarre shade of brown, and it was hard as a rock. We probably could have used it to pave the driveway.”

Danielle’s eyes went wide the same time she slapped a hand over her mouth to stop the laugh from escaping. She was right on the edge. One little push and she wouldn’t be able to hold back. And it was exactly what she needed. I reached out to take hold of her hand.

“If you really want, I could make it again for you sometime, and maybe this time we can build shelves out of it for the living room.”

That was all it took. Danielle slumped down into her chair in a fit of giggles with my parents joining in. They were right; I was a terrible cook. The only time I ever got anything right was when Danielle was standing right next to me, watching my every move. Even though the laughter was at my expense, Danielle’s broken tension was well worth it.

Chapter Four

Danielle

TANNER’S JOKE LIFTED me up, quashing the anxiety I’d felt from the moment they walked in the door. It felt good to let it all out, and to see his parents joining in the fun. Actually, his parents had started it. They were a lot like my parents and Liam when it came to me. It gave me more confidence about everything.

“Okay, okay. I’m a pretty terrible cook without Danielle’s guidance.”

“That is so true. And to think you offered to cook for me on one of our first dates. I can only imagine how that would have turned out. And you said it was because you didn’t have time.”

Kathy turned to Tanner. “Please don’t tell me you actual considered cooking if you expected her to stay with you?”

His eyes dropped to the ground. “Maybe I was going to have Greg cook for me.”

Once again, I was thrown into a fit of hysterics. “I should have known better.”

“That’s the way to do it,” Dennis said.

Kathy was still laughing with me the same time she smacked her husband on the shoulder, saying, “Don’t encourage him,” which only caused everyone else to laugh harder.

As the laughter died out we began to pass the dishes around, filling our plates with food. The conversation was light—mostly about me, my job, and a little about Tanner’s last deployment. When we finished eating, Tanner helped me clear the dishes into the kitchen. The chocolate cake I made earlier in the day was fawned over by both of Tanner’s parents, his dad looking at it like he wanted to eat the whole thing himself.

As soon as the plate touched the table, Dennis dug his fork in. Not Tanner’s mom though. She had other plans.

“Now tell me about the wedding plans,” she said looking between Tanner and myself. “Let’s start with
when
.”

Tanner covered my hand with his. “We’re thinking of a late March wedding, since I probably won’t deploy again until late April.”

“A spring wedding sounds wonderful.” She clasped her hands together in front of her. Her eyes held a delighted sparkle to them. “I’m so happy you’re finally getting married, and to such a wonderful woman.”

The warm feeling from her words spread all through my body, making me feel positively giddy. “Thank you.”

“We can talk more about the wedding plans this week while I’m here. Anything I can help with, I’m ready. Now what about kids? Are you two planning to have them right away?”

It was the question I feared the most. Not because I wasn’t going have kids, or that I was making the wrong decision, but I was worried about their reaction to us wanting to wait. My parents knew me well enough to understand why I’d want to spend time just with Tanner. Our time together was already limited by the time he spent on deployment, and I wanted us to have time together as husband and wife before we had to share each other. Don’t get me wrong, someday our children would be our world, but I wanted Tanner’s world to revolve around me and mine around his, at least for a little while.

This time I took the opportunity to answer. “We’re actually planning on waiting a bit for kids.” I looked to Tanner for support. “With Tanner’s deployment schedule, we want to have time to ourselves before we add any babies to the mix.”

Kathy nodded and grinned. “I think that’s a good idea. Having kids is hard enough. The stronger you two are as a couple, the easier it will make being parents.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

Tanner squeezed my hand, his own way of saying I told you so. It felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. All that time I’d been worked up over their reaction to everything, and here they were, happy about every decision we were making. It went a long way to banish the fears I’d held since I found out they were coming.

Tanner took a quick peek at my face and started to chuckle. “Mom, I think you just made Dani take her first deep breath in hours.”

If he hadn’t been right, I probably would have smacked him.

She reached out to pat my arm. “Don’t be nervous, sweetheart. You’re everything we could have hoped for for our son.”

“Besides, any woman who can cook like this is perfect for Tanner,” Dennis said, his eyes never leaving the cake on his plate.

“Dad, I don’t expect Dani to be my personal chef.”

He lifted his head, pointing his fork at Tanner. “You might want to consider it. That or a cooking class because someone needs to save you from self-induced food poisoning.”

Once again, Tanner’s dad’s perfectly timed joke left me laughing so hard my sides hurt.

Later that night, after we’d gotten his parents all set up in the guest room, we went to our own room to get ready for bed. The warmth of Tanner’s body as I cuddled up next to him, coupled with the exhaustion from the last few days pulling me quickly toward sleep.

“You’re parents are pretty cool,” I whispered against his chest. My eyes drifted closed and before he had the chance to say anything I was asleep.

* * *

The next few days went by in a blur. Tanner and I spent the week working, but that still left all of us enough time for my parents and Danielle to continue to get to know each other, as well as finishing up those last minute holiday to-do list things. The thing about that Christmas was that I wanted it to wipe away all of the memories of the year before. It was a new start for both of us, and I was holding onto that with both hands.

Christmas Eve was a quiet night at home which was good, because I needed all the time I could get to prepare for the next day. Marissa came over to exchange presents and hang out for a bit, since she would be spending Christmas Day with her family. She didn’t want to miss the time with them, but I knew she was kind of bummed at missing Christmas with all of our friends too. Somehow, the boys had gotten together and Tanner and my brother Liam decided that our friends Colin and Greg should spend Christmas with us. Neither of them could get leave to go home to their families, and when it really came down to it, they were our family. Colin had been there for me at a time when I never thought I’d see the light again, and Greg helped me see that Tanner was that light.

Tanner’s parents liked Marissa immediately. She just had one of those personalities. You had to try and
not
like Marissa. We’d met in the first grade, and had been inseparable ever since. There wasn’t anything she didn’t know about me, and she could read me like a book. It was good to be able to spend time with her for part of the holiday. Last year she’d given up her time with her family to take care of me, for which I could never repay her.

It was fun spending the night with her watching our favorite movie marathon,
It’s a Wonderful Life.
We made sure every year to watch the movie together at least once. It wasn’t one of Tanner’s favorites, but he put up with it because I liked it. I also promised him that we would watch something else on Christmas Day.

* * *

The feather light touch across my back was enough to stir me from sleep. That didn’t mean I was ready to get up. Instead I snuggled into the warm body behind me, Tanner’s warm hand sliding down my thigh, then slowly back up and under the t-shirt I was wearing to cup my breast at the same time a pair of lips presses softly against my neck. What a way to wake up on Christmas morning. His lips moved down the back of my neck and over my shoulder, making me shiver.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered in my ear.

Needing to see him, kiss him, I turned in his arms. “Merry Christmas,” I whispered before covering his lips with mine.

Without wasting a moment his mouth opened, taking control of the kiss, sending me to a place where nothing else mattered. There was only him and me. The fact that his parents were sleeping across the hall meant nothing. Twisting so that he was on top, his hand slid up my side to cup my breast, creating waves of sensation that reach my clit, and when his fingers lightly caressed my nipple, the whimper that I’d held back slipped free.

“Shh,” Tanner whispered, his hand covering my mouth.

Oh God!

His parents were right across the hall. Even though what he was doing felt amazing, we needed to get ourselves under control. Eyes wide, I tried to hear if there was any movement or sound coming from anywhere else in the apartment. Shaking my head, I tried to shift out from underneath him.

“I don’t think so, sweetheart. You’re staying right here with me.”

He lifted his hand from my mouth.

“Tan—”

The rest of my protest was cut off by his mouth taking possession of mine, robbing me of breath and making my head spin. As much as I wanted to be shy and worry about what his parents might think if they heard us from their room, the way his hands and mouth worshiped my body as he removed my T-shirt and panties, caressing all over my body, made it all seem insignificant. When he thrust into me the first time, my whole body trembled with passion and want. All I needed was for him to take me to new heights.

Our bodies moved together as if we were one. I could feel my insides begin to tighten and just before he let go, the orgasm took hold of me. The minute the scream began to leave my lips, Tanner covered my mouth with his, swallowing down any sound I might have made.

When he finally lifted his mouth from mine, we were both breathing heavily. Tanner collapsed on the bed next to me. I knew the feeling. My body was absolutely boneless. I couldn’t have moved if I tried.

As we both lay there, watching each other, there was a spark as our eyes connected. In that moment, I felt closer to Tanner than ever. Don’t get me wrong, the love I had for Tanner would never fade, but this was something different, something that made a warmth spread from my chest throughout the rest of my body. There would never be a time in my life where I wouldn’t remember this moment. A feeling of connection so deep and so pure, it made me want to stay there forever. Blindly his hand reached out to squeeze mine, and the connection grew.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Our eyes flicked to the door, and just like that, the connection was lost. It was moments like those that I stored in the back of my mind for those long months when he was thousands of miles away. Tanner looked back and reached up to lightly graze my cheek with his fingers.

“That was the best Christmas morning I’ve ever had.”

The same time I felt the blush rush up my cheeks at the thought of what we’d just done with Tanner’s parents down the hall, a chuckle escaped my lips when I registered exactly what Tanner had just said. Rolling on top of me, he pinned me to the mattress once again. Stealing a quick kiss he asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe we just did that,” I whispered, jumping out of bed to pull some clothes on.

“What can I say? You’re absolutely irresistible.” He was still lying in bed, the sheet draped over the lower half of his body, painting an irresistible picture of his own. The knowing look and salacious grin he sent my way heated my body once again, until I remembered why I was freaked out in the first place.

“But your parents are down the hall.”

“And? My parents sleep like the dead. They’re probably not even up yet.”

“Then what is that banging?”

Tanner looked over at the clock. “Well, knowing Colin and Greg, my guess is it’s them. Nothing like an early start on Christmas.” He smirked.

“It’s only eight in the morning.” He couldn’t be serious. I’d known Colin a long time and this seemed ridiculous, even for him. Then again, this was the first time he’d spent the holidays with people other than his family. “He wouldn’t be here this early, surely?”

Tanner stood and walked over to where I was frantically dressing. “Sweetheart, remember they’re in the army. This isn’t early for them. You’re the only one that thinks any time before nine is early on your day off.”

I scoffed. “Well some of us work reasonable hours. Not everyone goes running at the crack of dawn.”

“Yeah, but you love the benefits of early PT.” He ran his hands down his chest and perfectly defined abs, flexing his biceps at the same time.

All I could do was stare at the muscles that held me and were the starring fantasy in most of my dreams. My mouth must have been hanging open because Tanner used his index finger to push my chin up. Grabbing a pair of gym shorts, he slipped them on and walked to the door.

“You finish getting yourself together, I’ll go let them in.”

Leaving me standing there in a state of shock, he walked out the door and soon enough the sound of male voices traveled down to the bedroom. The sound filled me with warmth and a small sense of longing. Tanner was everything I wanted and I loved him more than life itself, but there was a part of me that would always miss Nate. I’d invited his parents over for the day, but they’d decided to go away on a cruise. I couldn’t really blame them. They memories in my old apartment would have been too much. Even last Christmas had been too much for me to handle. I’d shut myself off from the world. But Tanner had helped me find the land of the living again. A reason to get up every day. A reason to let the real Danielle back out into the world. There were still days like today. Days that made me think and remember.