In Love on Christmas (Damie One-Shot)

All I Want Is You This Christmas

I'm sitting in a lounge chair drinking my coffee as I look out over the snow-covered mountains. I adore my mom's home here in Aspen. It's spectacular by itself, but it means so much more this time of year. Christmas in Aspen is what I've grown up knowing. We led crazy lives spent traveling the world, and mainly calling LA home. In the winter though, Mom raised us here. She taught us to ski and snowboard. She went above and beyond to decorate every inch of this place in red and green with Christmas music and dancing echoing through the grand spaces. All our family memories and jokes have left a residual imprint on these walls, I can almost hear them being replayed as I envision them. I can't believe she's selling it. This is our last Christmas in this house, and I'd be lying if I said my heart isn't broken. I dreamt of bringing my future family here to carry on the tradition. But I can't afford this place by myself, and Colorado isn't on my radar until I settle down with a husband.

My heart is also heavy because Jamie's in England, thousands of miles from me as I struggle to cope with this nostalgic loss. I try to remain understanding for him. He has children that deserve their daddy at Christmas. I'd never do anything to disrupt their memories, no matter how much I want to be held in his strong embrace, him whispering sweet promises of our future together in my ear. A future that could include a house like this where we could live happily ever after—or some cute shit like that. It sounds good. It always does with him. We just have a long gruesome road until then.

Stella comes barreling down the hall and into my private quarters. Mom always lets me have the big room at the end of the house. I appreciate the quiet serenity when everyone else is being loud and wild in the main area. She loves the noise and prefers to bask in it.

"Mom's getting everything ready to bake cookies. You coming?"

I smile over at her as she stands in the doorway, her long blonde hair flowing effortlessly down her petite frame. How is my baby sister a woman? And a stunning one at that. I'm terribly protective of her. Between Jesse, Alex, and me she may never be approved to marry. No man could ever be perfect enough for my Stella Bella.

"Absolutely. Give me a few minutes. I promised Jamie I'd call after breakfast."

She grins. "You're cute, you little lovesick puppy."

"I am not lovesick." I roll my eyes.

"Yes, you are. You're whipped."

I point my finger at her. "Wrong. I have him whipped."

"That I don't doubt." She winks before turning.

I throw my pillow at her and it hits her lower back. She giggles loudly as she takes off running down the hall. But I'm not going to chase her like I did when we were younger. I really am whipped. I need to see my man's handsome face, melt under his intense gaze, and hear that delicious accent I've been missing.

I click his picture on my phone. It's a selfie of us on our flight from NYC to LA—the one where Jamie met me in NYC so we could fly together instead of alone. We had a little too much fun on that flight...

The line rings half a dozen times and I'm almost convinced he's going to miss my call when the FaceTime connects. His gorgeous smile appears and those big blue eyes are bright and warm. My entire body ignites.

"Hey, baby," he says, accent thick. It always gets thicker when he goes back to the UK.

"Merry Christmas, my love." My smile is so wide my cheeks hurt as I examine his features. He's visibly tired, but he looks happy, and I know he is because his babies are near.

"A Merry Christmas indeed now that you've called." He bites his lip and I'm distracted as my eyes watch his tongue replace his teeth.

"Did the girls get all they ever dreamed of?" I ask.