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When they got closer to the stairs, she could see Zane and Oliver carting boxes into the apartment. “What did you …” She gasped at a long rectangular box. “You bought a Christmas tree?”
She threw her arms around him.
He tensed, and she started to step back. But his arm was around her waist before she could, and he pulled her back against him. “Don’t apologize,” he said softly.
She wasn’t going to. She was too taken aback by his reaction.
A quick embrace was one thing, but having his arm around her, firmly holding her against him, made her heart beat wildly.
“This feels good.”
Her lips curled, and she wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, Seth. I love this surprise.”
He leaned back and smiled down at her. “Whatever makes you happy.” He gave her a soft peck on the forehead.
“And what makes you happy?”
“So …” Oliver said from downstairs before Seth could answer. “We’ll just go.”
Clary blinked. She’d completely forgotten that they weren’t alone. “No.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and stepped away from Seth.
He caught her hand, preventing her from taking another step back.
“We should put up the Christmas tree together,” she said, loud enough for Oliver and Zane to hear. “It’ll be fun.” She peered down to make sure Seth’s brothers hadn’t left. “I’m guessing the rest of the boxes are decorations?”
Seth nodded, and Clary bounced down the stairs.
Oliver, Seth’s youngest and friendliest brother, beamed. “Can I open the boxes?”
“Of course.” She knelt down next to a box and tried to peel off the tape.
Seth took the box from her and sliced through the tape with a key, then handed the parcel back to her. “I’ll order dinner,” he said after doing the same for Oliver.
“Let’s decorate it after dinner, then.”
“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Zane said.
“No.” Clary swiveled around. “Stay. You have to.”
Zane kneaded his neck.
“It’ll be fun, I promise. Please join us.”
Zane glanced at Seth.
“Just stay,” Oliver said. “You don’t have anything to do anyway besides cleaning up. And the part-time maid is coming in tomorrow.”
Sighing heavily, Zane nodded. “Let me know when dinner is here.” He headed toward the door.
“Is Elton home?” Clary asked. “We should ask him to join us.”
Seth and Zane stared at her as if she’d gone mad.
“We can’t leave him out. I’m sure he’d be upset if he found out all of you were here and no one asked him.” She gasped. “Andrea! We should ask her, too. She’s on her own this Christmas.”
Oliver stared at the boxes. “So we’ll have to wait.”
“We can still check out the decorations first.” She pulled a smaller box out of the brown package. Inside the transparent box were neatly arranged decorations.
