Heartstrings (Prequel) Forbidden Heart Series

56| Christmas Surprises

Having Karma show up in my bed as my Christmas present was a surprise I never would have anticipated. Telling her I love her -- though I had been planning on telling heri--slipped out in the heat of the moment.

Also a surprise.

But the biggest surprise of all was the fact that she was still sleeping soundly in my arms.

It's been hours since she magically appeared in my bedroom. Hours since I told her that I loved her and had one of the most mind-blowing sexual experiences of my life. Then afterward, when her eyes became heavy from exhaustion, I offered to drive her home so her mom wouldn't find out she snuck out. God only knew how she would react if she realized Karma and I did a whole lot more than kissing.

Once again, to my surprise, she said no. Convinced she was delirious or something, I pressed the issue. Hell, I even made her sit up in the bed when I made the offer to drive her home a second time. But she gave me another hard no. Then she informed me that before she left her house to come here, she positioned the pillows in her bed to make it look like she was in it.

When she told me that, I couldn't help but chuckle as I imagined her stuffing pillows under the blanket. We both fell asleep not long after that. We did the whole big spoon little spoon thing, too. Just like that night at the beach. And it took my breath away just as much now as it did then. Fuck. I loved holding her curvy body tight against mine while I breathed her in. Best feeling in the goddamn world.

As if there hadn't been enough surprises already, I ended up walking up before she did. Karma was normally the early bird, not me.

Very carefully I slid out from beneath her warm body before throwing on some basketball shorts. I wanted to take advantage of the rare occasion and bring her some breakfast in bed. Without waking her up, I brushed her dark hair back from her face before dropping a kiss on her forehead.

On the way downstairs I heard the sound of humming coming from the kitchen. That paired with the smell of freshly made French toast told me my mom was up and getting the traditional Jenkins family Christmas breakfast ready.

My hunch was confirmed when I rounded the stairs and entered the small space. The sound of bing Crosby singing White Christmas was playing low on the CD player my dad kept on the island.

My mom smiled at me as she added the finishing touched to her signature French toast with some powdered sugar. "Merry Christmas, Nate. I'm surprised to see you up so early."

"Merry Christmas, mom." My eyes went to the counter and widened at the abundance of food. She had to have gotten up really early to make all this. "That looks incredible. Do you need help with anything?"

Shaking her head, she walked over to the stove and sprinkled a little salt and pepper over the eggs she was scrambling. "No, sweetie, I've got the food under control. What you can do for me is go wake up your sister. Your dad will be back soon with more milk and this breakfast will be ready in thirty minutes."

Well, it didn't look like I was going to be able to sneak any food up to Karma after all. Breakfast in bed was going to have to wait.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "Come on, mom. Can't you wake Lanie up? You know how she is."

My little sister was like the fucking Hulk when she was woken up in the mornings.

My mom wiped her hands on her Christmas themed apron and shot me a knowing look. "Fine. I'll wake up your sister; but you have to wake up someone who snuck in, in the middle of the night and isn't supposed to be here."

My whole body froze and my mouth dropped open. "What the. . . How did you--"

"Come on, son. This is me we're talking about. How many times do I have to remind you that Lanie got her ability to know all from someone in this family -- and it isn't your father."