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Lights flicker in the darkness, warm yellow and red hues disturbing the peacefulness of the early morning hour, eliciting a groan from Casey.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she hopelessly hopes that it’s just a fragment of her imagination, a memory that is tricking her. But when she still can see the lights through her closed eyelids, the blinking like an insistent and unwelcome buzzing of a mosquito in the summertime, she turns to the other side, careful to not wake up Bryce when she buries her face in his chest.
The content sleepy noise he makes and his warmth and scent put her ease – just like him pulling her closer does-, her annoyance at the silent wake-up call fading with every passing second and making way for a small and serene smile that melts into slight awe when she untangles herself a little to peer at him with one eye open.
The sight before her is breathtaking, Bryce’s handsome features enhanced by her parents’ Christmas lights that shine through the window in her childhood bedroom and reflect on his face. And Casey can’t help but reach out.
Carefully, she swipes a strand of hair to the side before she starts to follow the hues of the Christmas lights that are visible on his face, her finger gently gliding over his skin, the lines of the yellow light melting into red before she notices a slight movement underneath her fingertips caused by a soft smile forming on Bryce’s lips.
Smiling herself, she continues the tour when his eyes stay closed, her finger running from his cheek to his nose, the red light that envelopes it suddenly making him look just a little like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, reminding her once again that he is the brightest light in her life, always there to guide her through even the darkest of times.
Slightly emotional and amused, she gently presses her index finger on the tip of the nose before it bounces just a little and lands on his lips.
Without any warning, Bryce opens his mouth and sucks on her finger, an unexpected action that – paired with the mischievous look in his now open and sleepy eyes – makes her gasp.
“Don’t start something you can’t finish, B.”
Letting go of her finger, he turns them, a cold breeze caressing her skin before he hovers over her, his lips ghosting over her cheek down to her neck when Casey eagerly tilts her face to the side to give him more room.
“I can always stop. Just say the word,” he murmurs against her skin between kisses, his voice still raspy and his lips curving into an even wider grin for a moment when she grumbles a wordless Don’t you dare.
Arching upwards, Casey runs her hands up his strong back, relishing in the warmth as she shudders underneath him when his teeth graze her earlobe, his hand slowly slipping underneath her pajama top and sliding higher, anticipation growing stronger with every traveled inch, with every blinking of the Christmas lights.
But just when his fingers brush against the underside of her breasts, the house suddenly comes alive, shouts cutting through the air and tearing cracks into the little dome of solitude they had built.
And still, after a moment of hesitation, Bryce continues caressing her, his warmth slowly pulling her back into the moment.
“Last chance to go someplace else. Just you and me… and Keiki. Someplace quiet? Fun? We could—“
Bryce cuts her off with a kiss that makes her whole body tingle, every small movement like that of a fire burning in the winter while one sits in front of the fireplace, enveloped in a blanket and cuddled against the partner; warm, cozy, exciting, and like the rest of the world doesn’t matter, doesn’t even exists. Everything besides this feeling falls away until there’s only him and her, and the sound of bells ringing on the edge of her mind that gets even louder when they breathlessly pull away from each other.
“… What is that?” Bryce asks, looking confused when Casey groans.
Taking a deep, calming breath, she looks at him apologetically before rolling out of bed, shivering for a moment as the cold hits her relatively exposed legs. “My mom’s Christmas Bells.”
“Today? Isn’t it—?”
“Yeah. But she has special Santa Bells for tomorrow,” Casey answers him, the annoyance in her voice so clear that Bryce’s confused and slightly amused expression shifts into worry.
Shaking her head, she turns away to grab her toiletry bag from her suitcase, the walk to the door interrupted by Bryce who curls his fingers around her wrist before pulling her into his arms when she stops walking.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry,” she says after a moment, her shoulders dropping. “I’m just… preparing myself to walk into Santa’s craziest workshop on this planet. It’s going to be a lot.”
Truly, Casey would have much rather spent Christmas the way she did in the last few years: At the hospital working and improving her skills while helping others before spending a few hours alone with Bryce and Keiki, tired but happy and enveloped in warmth and peacefulness. But when her and Bryce both had gotten off for Christmas this year, Keiki’s suggestion to celebrate those days here – in Chicago with Casey’s family -, Bryce’s immediate support and their puppy dog eyes had given her not much choice in the matter. And she is looking forward to spending some time with her family – it has been too long since they all have been at the same place at the same time.
“I promise,” she says, her finger gently tipping against his chest for emphasis while her toiletry bag dangles on the other hand. “I won’t be a Grinch.”
A grin blossoms on Bryce’s lips at her words before his expression changes once more, his eyes now sparkling brighter than a glistening snowflake on a sunny winter day and with more heat than the sparks escaping a fire.
“Shame. You do look stunning in green.”