Chelsea had spent the last four weeks getting settled into a routine with her vampire lover's twin boys. She'd been hired as their nanny, and almost immediately realized her attraction to her employer, Germaine. He'd revealed himself to be a vampire during their first lovemaking session and since that fateful Halloween night they'd been getting to know one another on an even deeper level. They'd been able to keep up appearances for Germaine's twin sons, Levi and Lincoln, and even Chelsea's own family—her brother, his wife, and their son had been frequent visitors to Germaine's palatial country estate.
"I'm tired of sneaking around, Chelsea."
Chelsea tied the belt of her fluffy red robe and turned before she opened Germaine's bedroom door. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock—4:27am—then crossed the room and crawled back into Germaine's bed. She sighed heavily. "Me too."
"So let's just put it out there in the open," Germaine said, pulling Chelsea against him and kissing her temple, "The boys won't mind, Giselle's probably already gotten it figured out—hell, even Chad and Sabrina must know something is going on between us. Max asked me when I was going to marry you the last time he was over."
Chelsea laughed at that. It was just like her nephew to be that blunt. Max had been asking for a cousin since he could talk. He'd been thrilled when she'd invited him over to play with the twins. And she knew her brother wasn't stupid. It was hard to hide the connection she and Germaine felt.
"You're right, I know you are Germaine. I just, I don't know..."
"What don't you know, Chelsea?"
Chelsea sat up so she could look at Germaine. "I don't know what we'd be putting out in the open? That we're fucking? Oh, that'd be a nice addition to a Christmas card: 'Happy Holidays from the DuBois/Willows. By the way, we're just fucking, FYI!'"
Germaine rolled his eyes. "We're not just fucking, Chels."
"Well, so you want to announce that you're my boyfriend?"
"Well," Germaine said, laughing, "That's a start, right?"
Chelsea hit him with a pillow. My vampire boyfriend, she thought to herself. I'm falling in love with my vampire boyfriend, and he's making jokes.
When Germaine grabbed the pillow, he looked up at Chelsea, ready to retaliate, but saw her on the verge of tears. He pushed the pillow to the side and pulled her into his arms. "Baby, what's wrong? Don't cry."
She wiped her eyes and pulled away. "I'm fine, I'm just nervous and confused."
"Dammit, Chelsea, I don't want there to be any confusion between you and me," Germaine said, fiercely, grabbing her hand, then gently turning her chin so that they were almost nose to nose. Entranced by the look in his eyes, Chelsea couldn't pull her own gaze away.
"Don't you know how I feel about you? What you mean to me?" he began, his voice bold and unwavering, "This human concept of love. That's what you're waiting for, isn't it? For me to declare my love for you?"
Chelsea wanted to say yes. She wanted to open up her heart to him and ask him to open his in return. The shrill ring of Germaine's cell phone destroyed the moment. She rose from the bed, watched him cursing, searching for the wailing piece of technology. He answered, spoke briefly, then immediately headed toward the closet to get dressed.
Chelsea followed and stood in the doorway. "Emergency?"
"Yeah, a pile-up on the interstate. I've got to go in. We're not finished with this conversation, though, Chelsea. I promise."
He stopped what he was doing and walked toward her. He embraced her, stroking the back of her neck, kissing her cheek, then her mouth. Chelsea melted into him, clutching his still-naked back. Reluctantly, she pulled away. "You've got to hurry."
"I know," he said, pulling a shirt over his head and stepping into a pair of sneakers, "We'll talk later."
"'Kay," she said, sitting on the edge of the bed as he finished getting ready, grabbing a coat and shoving his wallet and keys into his pockets. "Shit, I forgot to ask you!" she said suddenly. Germaine stopped and turned, "What is it babe?"
"Do vampires celebrate Christmas?" she asked shyly.
Germaine laughed aloud then covered his mouth to keep from waking the twins.
"Of course," he said, still grinning, "Although, I haven't really kept up with the tradition. Why? What did you have in mind?"
"Um, a tree? Presents? Christmas dinner?" Chelsea said, still slightly embarrassed.
Germaine crossed the room again and gave Chelsea another kiss. "The boys will be thrilled. Their first real Christmas. Invite your family. And call Giselle. I've got to go baby."
"'Kay," she said, watching him disappear into the dark hallway. As Chelsea made Germaine's bed, she started making her to-do list in her head. It was the first of December. She had twenty-five days to plan the boys' first Christmas.
Two weeks later, Chelsea and the boys were driving home in the snow. She'd had them out shopping all day. The house had been decorated with trees, garland, wreaths, holly, and mistletoe. She'd bought, wrapped, and hidden gifts for the twins in Germaine's office a few days before. But she'd promised the twins she'd let them pick out gifts for Germaine, Giselle, and her family that day. She'd expected them to tire out early, but the vampire youngsters had more energy than she did.
"Daddy promised to have the lights on tonight, Miss Chel," Lincoln exclaimed as they turned down the long driveway. Chelsea peered into the darkness and hoped they were right.
"Yep, and he said he's taking us shopping tomorrow for your gift," Levi added.
"Shush, Levi!" Lincoln scolded, "It's s'posed to be a surprise."
"It's okay," she soothed, "As long as you don't tell me what it is, it's still a surprise."
Levi stuck his tongue out at Lincoln but they were quickly distracted by the sight that awaited them as they broke through the trees and approached the house.
"Oooh," Levi said.
"It's so pretty," Lincoln added.
"When did your daddy have time to do all this?" Chelsea asked aloud. The twins didn't answer. She parked the car and helped the boys from their car seats. Both boys clambered out, hindered by their heavy coats, mittens, and hats. Not that they needed them. But it'd be odd to be out on a snowy December day with two 4-year olds in shorts and t-shirts. The boys ran across the yard, laughing and screeching happily at the winter fairyland Germaine had created with lights.
Germaine stood on the wrap-around porch grinning broadly.
"What do you think?" he asked as they climbed the stairs.
The boys gushed over the lights—it seemed that Germaine had stuck a string of lights to everything. The house, porch and entire yard were lit by thousands of tiny twinkles. Chelsea stood in the middle, spinning slowly in the gently falling snow, feeling like a princess in a wonderland. She smiled and turned to face Germaine who was herding the boys inside.
"How in the world...? I mean, how could you have time....?" She stuttered, finally climbing the stairs to meet Germaine. They walked inside and helped the boys shed their winter gear.
"You know we're extra fast, right Miss Chel?"
She turned to look at Levi. He and Lincoln grinned at Germaine and before she could even blink, the boys had ran to the closet, hung up their coats, and ran back to stand next to her.