Sophie and Keefe sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, just watching the fire, Keefe softly rubbing her back or tracing his fingers up and down her arm.
Sophie wondered how many times she could think the word idyllic before it would start to lose its meaning.
After a little while, Keefe got up to throw another log on the fire.
There was something strangely attractive about watching him tend the fire. Sophie wasn't sure why, but it was undeniably there.
And he knew it. After stoking the fire, he turned to look at her with a satisfied smirk. "Like what you see, Foster?"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "You wish."
He shook his head and stepped closer, leaning down over her. "You can't lie to an Empath," he reminded her in a low voice, bringing his lips to hers.
"Fair point," she breathed when they broke apart. She reached out, weaving her fingers into his hair and attempting to pull him in closer.
But he pulled away, amusement and heat vying for predominance in his eyes as he looked at her.
Amusement apparently won out when he picked up on her flicker of disappointment.
"You can't deny that you find me irresistible," he reminded her, smirking again as he did finally sit back down next to her on the couch. "You've given me ample evidence on that. But we're alone in here--unless you count the fact that Lovise is patrolling outside--so I'm not going to push those boundaries too hard today." He reached out to lightly touch her promise ring. "Not until there's a different kind of ring on that finger. I won't forget the decision we made."
The thought gave Sophie goosebumps.
"Maybe not, but sometimes the way you kiss me makes me forget," she pointed out.
Not that she wanted him to stop.
"I'd promise to behave myself, but...who are we kidding? Life isn't fun without some mischief."
Sophie rolled her eyes. "So Lovise is outside?"
Keefe laughed. "Of course. Do you think Sandor would've allowed you to leave Havenfield without him if I weren't taking you directly to the care of another goblin bodyguard? It was hard enough to convince him to let us come without him even with him knowing we'd be on Rimeshire grounds."
Their bodyguards were no longer assigned to them full time, but Lovise still guarded Dex sometimes--though she seemed to protect Rimeshire as a whole rather than just Dex.
Only Sandor remained full time--and Sophie didn't know how much longer that would go on.
Though, maybe it would always be dangerous to be the moonlark.
"Well, I love Sandor, but I'm glad we're enjoying Christmas just the two of us."
"Me too. Goblins don't often help create romantic settings."
Sophie laughed. Sandor had unfortunately witnessed the occasional kiss between them, and he was almost as protective of her as Grady, so there had been a lot of glaring. And a little bit of grumbling about 'I knew it' and 'inevitable'.
And at least one death threat. 'If you break her heart I'll strangle you with your own cape.'
Keefe had laughed easily at that one and assured Sandor that there was no way that was happening.
"No, they don't," Sophie agreed. "Traditionally, though, you should've let me help you decorate a Christmas tree."
"That would require cutting down a tree, killing it unnecessarily. I thought that was one tradition we'd have to skip over."
Sophie grinned. "That's one tradition you must not have picked up on," she realized. "Lots of people do real pine trees, but lots of people also buy artificial trees. We always had a fake tree. My dad said if you didn't live somewhere cold enough to go stand in the snow while you cut down the evergreen yourself then there wasn't any point."
"Hmm," Keefe said. "I didn't realize that. It won't ruin Christmas, will it?"
"Not at all," she promised.
"Good. Then let's eat."
Keefe had brought brattails and ripplenuts for them to roast in the fire.
"It's not an aurenflare," he told her, "but it'll do."
Sophie remembered the aurenflare they'd both been to at Everglen and wondered if the little spikes of fear it had given her that day were part of why he'd been hesitant about today's fire.
Once they had eaten, Keefe tended the fire again before turning to Sophie with excitement in his eyes. "Ready for your presents?"
Sophie sighed. "I still wish I had something to give you."
"In a way, you did," he told her. "You shared all those movies with me, giving me a glimpse of your childhood. Plus, some of this is stuff I want us to do together. You'll see what I mean."
He went to open a hutch that was on the wall opposite the fireplace and pulled out several wrapped gifts. Carrying them back to the couch, he sat down next to Sophie and placed the gifts on the ground in front of her, handing her a flat package. "Open this one first," he whispered with a soft smile on his lips.
So she did. A quiet gasp escaped her lips as she saw the painting he'd made for her.
They were in the clearing, and she perfectly recalled the moment from just a couple of weeks ago, when he'd given her the promise ring. They were kissing--this was the first time he'd painted them kissing, and she was amazed at how perfectly he'd sketched it out, at how lifelike and realistic it looked--and her hands were on his cheeks. The promise ring glittered on her finger and it was clearly the focal point of the painting.
"It's beautiful," she managed to whisper. "Thank you." She looked up at him. "I'll never get tired of seeing your work. You have such an amazing talent."
"And I'll never get tired of feeling how much you love it," Keefe agreed. "I can't tell you what that means to me."
Sophie smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss.
"But that's not all," Keefe reminded her, setting the painting aside. "The rest are all connected though."
So she picked up the next package and opened it.