“Why?” Gray asked.
“Because it’s new. And you know how Mom is about stuff like this. Just me seeing a guy will have her so excited she’ll be picking out china patterns for us.”
“Okay, you have a point. I won’t say a word. How about Evelyn?”
“I’ll . . . mention it to Evelyn,” Carolina said, and then slid her glance to Drew, which gave Drew the impression that Evelyn probably already knew.
Given that women talked to each other about relationships all the time, that didn’t surprise him. Or bother him.
“Now that that’s settled, I’m going to make some tea and try to wake up the normal way.”
It wasn’t long before Gray and Carolina’s parents came back from their walk, and Evelyn came downstairs. Then there was a flurry of activity and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. They had breakfast, then everyone gathered in the family room to open gifts.
Drew settled back to watch the family open their gifts, then was surprised when Mrs. Preston handed one to him.
“For me?”
She smiled at him. “Of course.”
He opened it up, and there was a framed photograph of him scoring a goal in a game against New Jersey. It was a great shot, too, with his stick in forward motion right at the net.
He stood and hugged her, then shook the vice president’s hand. “Thank you for this. It means a lot to me.”
“I’m so glad you like it,” Mrs. Preston said.
Evelyn and Gray had given him something, too. A mug with a hockey stick that said, “I have a big, hard stick and I know what to do with it.” He laughed out loud.
“This is perfect.”
“Evelyn picked it out,” Gray said.
Evelyn grinned. “It seemed appropriate for you.”
When Gray gave her a look, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “That’s not at all what I meant.”
And then everyone laughed.
He’d brought gifts for all of them, too, though considering what went down this morning, he wasn’t sure the gift he’d gotten for Carolina was going to go over all that well with Gray. But he’d found it and he thought it suited her, so he handed it to her.
She was sitting on the floor in front of the tree, so while everyone else was busy, he sat next to her and handed her the box.
She looked up at him. “You got me a gift?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing special.”
She opened the box. Inside, a single silver chain. He wasn’t even sure she’d like it since she typically wore no jewelry.
He leaned in closer. “I know you don’t wear jewelry, but I love your neck, and when I saw this, I pictured it around your throat.”
Carolina took a deep breath and fingered the chain in the box. She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s lovely. It’s perfect. Thank you.”
She pulled the chain out, then lifted her hair. “Would you mind?”
He undid the clasp, then fastened the chain around her neck. He leaned in and whispered to her. “Now, when you wear it, you can think about me.”
She turned to face him. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
But her gaze drifted, and Drew looked to see Gray staring at them. “Later.”
She reached under the tree and handed him a box. “This is for you.”
He opened the box and inside was a pair of boxer briefs with the Carolina Designs logo.
“My first pair. And a part of me that I want touching you,” she said, her voice low and soft.
He smiled at her. “Believe me, I’ll definitely be thinking about you when I’m wearing them. Thank you.”
“And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. A photo shoot for the underwear line. On the ice.”
He cocked a brow. “What? You want to make my balls shrivel up like walnuts?”
She laughed. “I haven’t even mentioned making it look like you’re sweating, so we’d have to pour water over you.”
He rolled his eyes. “There are ways to make me actually sweat, you know.”
“Obviously we’re going to have to talk about this another time.”
“Obviously.”
After they finished opening gifts, everyone dressed for church. Drew wasn’t much of a churchgoer, though he typically went with his parents on Christmas, so it was fine going with the Preston family.
The media was in attendance again today, and the church was packed. He sat next to Carolina, trying not to hold her hand as they listened to the minister talk about new beginnings.
A lot like Carolina and him. Their relationship had started out as a disaster, and she’d harbored a grudge for a long time. But the ice between them had slowly been melting. So maybe this was a new beginning for them. He’d enjoyed spending the holiday with her and her family, and, despite Gray’s misgivings, he thought he was good for her. She worked too hard, and the one thing Drew liked to do was take some time to relax and play.