Bring Me Back: A Next Door Neighbor Cop Romance by Kristen Granata

Author:Kristen Granata [Granata, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

“Presents! Presents! Presents!”

Leo lowers himself in front of the tree next to Madison and puts on a Santa hat. “Who said you’re getting presents?”

Madison rolls her eyes. “It’s Christmas. Everyone gets presents on Christmas.”

“Only the good children get presents. Have you been a good child this year?”

She purses her little lips. “Yes. And I’ve been very response-a-vull.”

Leo laughs. “Response-ible. With a b.”

James sits on the couch beside me. I smile and he gives my knee a squeeze but lets his hand rest there. Goose bumps fly up my leg, and I’m glad he can’t see them. I don’t want him to know the way every little touch affects me.

Madison tears into all of her presents within minutes, and she jumps into my arms to thank me for the dog stickers I gave her with a matching dog notepad.

James leans over and whispers, “Thank you. You didn’t have to get her anything.”

“I wanted to.”

Next, Leo sets a shallow square box in my lap. “Your turn, Nixie.”

I peel the tape on the silver wrapping paper and slide out the box from inside. I gasp when I pop open the top. “Leo, this is beautiful.” I inspect each of the charms on the silver bracelet: a dog, a book, a sneaker, and a police shield.

“I got each of your favorite things.” He shrugs. “I couldn’t find anything to remind you of me though. I’ll have to keep looking.”

I blink to keep the welling tears at bay. “This whole bracelet will remind me of you. This is so thoughtful. Thank you.”

“You’re always scratching that scar on your wrist. I wanted you to have something better to play with when you feel anxious.”

I fling my arms around him and let a few tears fall while my face is buried in his shirt.

“Why are you sad?” Madison asks. “Do you not like the bracelet?”

I chuckle as I wipe my eyes when I pull back. “Sometimes people cry when they’re really, really happy.”

She scrunches her nose. “That’s confusing.”

We laugh, and I scoot forward to reach for Leo’s gift. “Here you go, little bro.”

He opens the membership to the gym I bought him. “Is this that new MMA place that opened up in town?”

I nod. “Now you can have somewhere safe to get out all that pent-up energy. I signed up for it too, so we can go together.”

He plants a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Nixie.”

I toss Jim the gift bag with the slippers I got him, and he wiggles his big toe that’s sticking out of his current slippers. “Are you saying I need new slippers?”

I laugh. “These will keep your toes warm.”

Madison scampers under the tree and comes back with the present I got James. “This is the last one. It’s for you, JJ.”

James stares down at the recipe book I half filled with his mother’s recipes that I got from Jim. I also stuck in a few pictures of his mother.

“It’s kind of like a scrapbook, so you can keep your mom’s memories in one place.

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