Read Online This Christmas by Jeannie Moon - Free Book Online Page B

tears she had been fighting came with a vengeance. Sniffling, she dabbed at her eyes while her mother reached out and rubbed her back. “Why did he leave me? God. We had everything.”
    “You had everything but honesty. Without that, a relationship would never last.”
    “We were honest with each other.” Sabrina remembered their talks, long and intimate. Feeling like they were inside each other’s heads connected by so much more than physical attraction. Bree needed Jake like she needed her own breath.
    Gazing at the picture from the Maine trip, she remembered laying out on a blanket with him and looking up at a sky, so filled with stars it appeared almost white. The Milky Way cut across the deep blue-black backdrop and Bree could feel herself changing. It was like the stars allowed her to believe she could have it all. She was no longer just a daughter, a sister, a student. or a friend. Bree felt like a woman.
    She still felt that way when she thought of him, so she let herself sink into the memory.
    “Are you cold?” he’d asked. “I have an extra sweatshirt if you need it.”
    “No, you’re very warm, and I can always pull this side of the blanket up if I need it.” Tilting her head, she looked up again. “I can’t believe how many stars I can see out here. It’s endless.”
    “It reminds me of home. In the summer, my dad would take us to one of the lakes to give my mum a break. We’d camp for a few days, and it always amazed me.” She remembered him pointing a finger and tracing the Milky Way. “You see that? It’s even brighter in northern Manitoba. Sometimes it’s filled with color from the auroras and it’s like looking at fire and ice. I want to take you there someday.”
    He kissed her lightly, pulling her so close she could feel his heart beating. “I want you to meet my parents,” he whispered. “And my brother and sister.”
    “Really?”
    “They usually come down the first month of the season.”
    Meeting his parents. He wanted that? “I’d like that.”
    He propped himself up on one arm and raised himself over her. She could see his face in the starlight, the blue glow reflecting on the angles and planes of his forehead, cheeks, and jaw. “I want to meet your parents.”
    “You know my parents. You’re living at the house.”
    He brought his face closer to hers and kissed her lips. “I want to know them as your boyfriend. I don’t want to be the hockey player staying in the guest apartment. Get me?”
    Sabrina reached out and cupped his cheek. There was light stubble, nothing too scruffy, but he wasn’t like any of the boys she’d ever dated. Jake was a man. A man who wasn’t afraid to tell her what he wanted and, probably, what she needed to hear. “I understand.”
    “I don’t know if you do.” He bent in and kissed her again. “I love you, Sabrina. I love you with everything I have. But you need to tell your parents about us.”
    Her heart swelled and was so filled with happiness Bree thought she might drown in it. He loved her. But what he was asking her to do could cause so many problems. Her parents were wonderful people, but they were overprotective. “I’m worried about how they’ll react.”
    “I get that. But it’s time for you to be brave.” He kissed her again. And again. “They love you, and the only way for me to show them that I do, too, is for you to tell them.”
    Bree remembered pulling him in and holding him so close she almost couldn’t breathe. It was Jake who shifted his body, and kissed her with an intensity that swallowed her up. And there, under the stars, in a place that was pretty much made of magic, Jake made love to her.
    When they’d returned to Holly Point, Bree promised herself she’d talk to her folks, but she hadn’t ever worked up the nerve to tell them. And in the end, it was probably for the best.
    “You are lost in thought, my girl.” Her mother’s voice, as always, brought her down to earth.
    “I know I disappointed