Christmas Escape

Chapter Twelve

Peyton

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this excited for Christmas. After we finished getting dinner prepped, Micah went up into the attic and pulled down the decorations for the tree. Dressed in the jacket I had borrowed from Micah, thermals, thick pants and boots I tromped through the snow by Micah’s side as we went in search of a suitable tree to use as a Christmas tree.

My life was so different compared to last year. Last year I was married to a man who beat the hell out of me. We didn’t have a Christmas tree, there were no decorations, no Christmas turkey. I wasn’t allowed to even ring my mom and dad to wish them a happy holidays. Instead, I sat on the couch beside Jason while he drank and watched football reruns.

But this year was different. This year not only was in constant contact with my parents and had all the decorations and beautiful food I could ask for. I was slowly getting to know a new man. A man that I seemed to be able to trust implicitly. One that showed me more affection and care than Jason ever did in our whole relationship.

I couldn’t wait to see where this was going to lead. It didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous. I was scared that it could all go wrong. But for the first time in an exceedingly long time, I was genuinely happy. I felt relaxed. I wasn’t striving for perfection because Micah didn’t expect that from me. He took me as I came.

“What do you think of this one?” Micah said as he stopped in front of a fairly large pine. I looked up at the spindles that were covered in snow.

Smiling I nodded my head. “It’s perfect.”

Micah grinned and leaned forward pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. I licked my bottom lip and watched as he turned back to work, bringing the chainsaw to life, and cutting into the trunk of the pine.

“Stand back, it’s going to come down any second,” Micah shouted. I stepped back so that I was behind Micah when the final crack sounded, and the tree tumbled to the ground with a soft thud. Snow floated around it and quickly settled back on the ground.

After turning off the chainsaw, Micah picked up the trunk of the pine and started to walk back towards the lodge. I followed behind with a skip in my step. As we rounded the corner of the lodge Maurice the moose was standing watching us.

I giggled expecting him to come and demand baked goods from Micah, but instead he just stood and watched us as we entered the lodge. Micah dragged the tree into the shared living room, beside the huge wood fire. I stripped out of my jacket, as the warmth of the fire caused my cheeks to sting. I reached out my hands towards the fire and allowed the warmth to spread over my entire body.

Micah had already prepared a large bucket and tree holder in the corner, so it didn’t take long, and the tree was standing and in place ready to be decorated.

“What do you think?” Micah asked once he had the tree in place.

“I think it looks amazing. I can’t wait to see it all decorated,” I said with a grin.

Micah smiled down at me and started stripping out of his jacket. “Let me get this off and then we can start. Do you want to start pulling out the lights?”

I nodded my head dragging my eyes off Micah as he stripped out of his jacket. I opened the box that was marked as Christmas lights. Pulling out the carefully wrapped string of lights I easily untangled them. By the time I had them all out, Micah was standing beside me.

“Give me one end and you take the other,” Micah instructed. “You do the lower branches and I’ll do the top.”

I nodded and started to wrap the lights around the lower branches of the tree. Together we worked in silence stringing lights and the baubles with each name of the women who had come to stay in the lodge.

With the last bauble hung, Micah stood back and looked at the tree. He reached out a hand and pulled me gently into his side. “There is just two more things that are needed.”

I glanced up at him with confusion. I couldn’t see anything that was needed. Micah reached into the box and pulled out another bauble. This was one coloured in iridescent purples and pinks. It almost looked like a sunset over an ocean. He brought the glass bauble towards me.

“You need to write your name on here,” Micah said with a smile.

I chewed on my bottom lip and nodded my head, taking the gold marker from his hand and the bauble. Carefully as I could I wrote my name in a pretty script across the bauble. Micah took it back and blew on the marker. His eyes never left mine.

Without a word, Micah turned back to the tree at placed the bauble at the very top. I blinked back tears at the sentimentality of it all.

“What is the other thing that needs to be hung?” I asked.

Micah chuckled and reached into the box again pulling out decorative mistletoe. “This,” he said.

I laughed and followed him to the entrance of the living room and foyer. Micah hung the mistletoe on the door frame and pulled me into his arms. “It’s only right that I kiss a pretty girl under the mistletoe.”

I giggled and stood on my toes as I pressed my lips against Micah’s in a firm kiss. My eye lids drooped, and I wound my unplastered arm around Micah’s neck. His hands held my hips firmly and he tilted his head as he deepened the kiss, groaning as our tongues danced together erotically.

Micah’s hands skimmed down over my ass. I could feel his length press against my stomach. I had never wanted anyone more than I wanted Micah at that moment. I pressed my body against him tighter. Micah broke the kiss, breathlessly he pressed his forehead against mine.

“If I don’t stop now, I don’t think I will be able to,” he whispered.

“I don’t want you to,” I replied.

Micah’s eyes widened and he lowered his teeth into his bottom lip. “Are you sure?”

I nodded my head and licked at his top lip. Slowly I ran my hand down over his chest to the bulge in his jeans. Micah groaned and thrust into my hand. Wordlessly he took me by the hand and turned, leading me towards his bedroom that sat nestled on the ground floor at the back of the lodge. My mind whirled, I was going to do this. I was going to allow a man to show me what love was meant to feel like.