Brooks kisses me, cradling my jaw in his work-roughened hands. He kisses me like I’m all he will ever want and I kiss him back, knowing that he is it for me. I’ll spend the rest of my life with him and die a happy, well-loved woman.
He kisses me until I lose all track of time, but there’s an annoying buzzing in the background and I finally realize it’s my stupid phone. I wonder if I can chuck it out the hotel window and curl up in bed with Brooks for the rest of eternity.
The buzzing stops, and immediately starts up again. Groaning, Brooks grabs my phone and checks the caller ID.
“It’s Julia,” he sighs heavily before handing it over.
It stops vibrating and for one glorious second I think maybe she won’t call again. But of course she does. My phone lights up with her name, and I have no choice but to answer.
“Bad timing, Jul--” I start but she interrupts me.
“It’s Christmas. Everyone is here except for you and if you don’t hurry up Gran is going to kick your ass.”
“Pfft. I’d like to see her try,” I huff.
Someone says something in the background, I think it’s Lilah, but it’s hard to tell. “If you hurry up, we promise to keep Gran from petting Brooks,” Julia promises with a laugh.
Brooks must be able to hear her side of the call because he stands up and yells, “Deal,” before grabbing our bags and throwing stuff inside haphazardly. Julia laughs as I hang up on her.
“But breakfast…” Am I whining? Maybe a little, but I’m starving and there’s a veritable mountain of food untouched on the table.
Brooks quickly wraps an arm around my waist and kisses me before releasing me and going to the hotel phone. He punches in a number and asks them to bring up takeout boxes before giving me a wolfish grin. “You eat,” he says. “I’ll finish packing and we can bring the leftovers to share. If it means I won’t get felt up by your grandmother, I can skip breakfast.”