“Because you needed the rest,” he reminded her. “Despite the fact you think you’re doing fine, you know what happened has taken a toll on your mind and your body. You need rest.”
Chloe knew he was right. Relaxing back against Fin, she absently trailed her fingers up and down his bare chest. “What are we doing today?”
Sure, she and Fin were back together, but were they telling people?
Were they waiting until they’d settled back into their relationship?
Whose family were they going to spend Christmas with?
Or were they going to spend the day just the two of them?
“Lunch with your parents and dinner with my sister.” Fin answered like there was no other option.
“Same as last year.” Things had slipped so easily back into the same routine they’d had before.
Suddenly, a strong hand snapped around hers. “You go any lower, and I’m not going to be able to give you your gift.”
She looked down at her hand and saw that it had subconsciously been dipping lower and lower. She laughed and propped her chin on his chest. “Maybe you can just give me a different gift.”
He lifted her hand and kissed her palm and then the inside of her wrist, making her shiver. “We can do more of that after. But I have something I really want to give you.”
How did he have a gift for her? They had gotten back together only a little over ten hours ago—certainly not enough time for him to have gone shopping and bought her a present. “You really have something for me?”
“Just a little something I’d bought before we broke up. And even when things ended—I don’t know, I just couldn’t get rid of it.”
He was looking at her so tenderly that her eyes couldn’t help but mist over. The drugs sure were making her emotional. That or she was just deliriously happy to be alive and back with the man she loved.
“Wait right here.” He gave her a quick kiss then gently eased her off his chest, carefully helping her sit and propping pillows up against the headboard for her to rest against.
While she waited for Fin to come back with his gift, she reached over to get the sling from the nightstand. She hated wearing it, but it did seem to help keep her arm in a comfortable position. And she thought that once it started to feel better, she was going to be tempted to start using it too soon. The sling should help with that too.
“Don’t bother with that,” Fin told her as he came back into the bedroom.
“With the sling? I thought I was supposed to wear it.” Chloe had thought that Fin would be the main advocate of her following to the letter all the medical instructions she’d been given.
Fin shot her a mischievous grin. “You are, but I know how you love your goofy Christmas clothes, so I thought this one might be more fun for you to wear.” He held out a brightly colored piece of material. It was covered in Christmas characters. Santa and Mrs. Claus, reindeer and snowmen, elves and presents, and little Christmas trees.
Chloe laughed. This was the weirdest, funniest, sweetest,most thoughtful gift she had ever gotten. It made her love Fin so much more. She knew he got embarrassed by her crazy Christmas outfits, but he never complained and was always buying her new things to add to her collection.
“Here, I’ll help you put it on.”
As Fin slid the material under her elbow and tied it around her neck, she waited eagerly to see what the gift was that he had for her. She had only broken her arm yesterday, so the sling wasn't the gift he had been talking about.
“You ready?” he asked as he leaned back against his heels on the bed.
She rolled her eyes at him. “You know I am.” Fin knew darn well that she was notoriously bad at waiting to open gifts.
“I hope you like it.” There was a hint of doubt in his blue eyes as he handed her a black velvet box.
It was a jewelry box.
But too big to be an engagement ring, so she knew he wasn't proposing.
Chloe opened the box and gasped.
“Oh, Fin. It’s gorgeous,” she gushed.
Inside the velvet box, nestled against a white piece of satin, was the most gorgeous gold locket she had ever seen. It was engraved with her name and Fin’s, inside a heart, with a delicate garland of flowers circled around it.