BatA Snippet #2

Here is the second snippet from Beauty and the Angel. This is from Part 1, it's a little flashback of Christmas 2007.

    “I got you something.”
    “I thought we weren’t going to exchange gifts,” I groaned as Sarah pushed away from me.
    “Oh, like you didn’t get me anything,” she teased. “Besides, if you can give me a birthday present and a Thanksgiving present, I think I’m allowed to give you these,” she said, handing me a nicely wrapped gift.
    The wrapping paper was a bright red with smiley faces wearing Santa hats on it.
    “I saw these and I just thought of you.”
    I looked at her suspiciously for a moment before carefully ripping the tape away from the paper.
    When the paper was gone, I held a pair of black and gray flannel pajama pants. I must have been looking at them too long because Sarah let out a long sigh.
    “If you don’t like them, I can take them-”
    “I love them.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes,” I replied, chuckling softly. “If you thought I wouldn’t like them, why get them?”
    “It’s not that I didn’t think you’d like them. It’s just… they’re more… they’re more practical than what you usually wear.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “Emmett, you go to bed either wearing head to toe silk or you go to bed naked. I just want you to know that there are other options. I didn’t get you a top to go along with the bottoms because I was afraid that would scare you away from the entire idea.”
    “You have a problem with me being naked?” I asked, teasingly.
    She let out a growl and I felt it go through my entire body. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end with both excitement and hesitation.
    Instead of growling back, I put the pants on the kitchen counter and went to the bedroom.
    I had purchased Sarah’s gift months earlier. I had managed to keep it a secret because I put it up in the back of my closet, on the floor. She was always looking up so she missed what was right in front of her.
    Her green eyes lit up when I walked out holding the box.
    “I’ve never gone a year without giving you something for Christmas, why would I start now?”
    “Because your masochistic?”
    “Just open it,” I said, handing the box over to her.
    She wasn’t as gentle with the unwrapping as I had been. The box was in pieces by the time she pulled the t-shirt out.
    “Don’t meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup,” she read aloud while laughing. “This is awesome, Emmett. Thank you.”
    “I knew you’d like it,” I said smugly. “And Smoky will appreciate it.”
    “Oh, he definitely will,” she added, as her phone started to ring. Looking at the Caller ID, she sighed. “Hello?” she asked when she opened it up.
    I could hear her husband, Tommy Crew’s voice on the other end.
    “Where are you?”
    “Toronto.”
    “What the hell are you doing in Toronto?”
    “Working. Is there something you needed to say or are you just calling because no one else will talk to you?”
    “Just make sure you’re at the house when I get there.”
    “Why? Tommy?”
    “Everything alright?” I asked as she closed her phone.
    “Yeah, I think everyone’s gone to sleep and left him all alone with his drunken self.”
    “Guilty conscious?”
    “No, no guilty conscious. He just wants someone to relieve him of his boredom. He‘s probably already calling someone else.”
    “Does that upset you?”
    She looked up at me and for a second I thought she was going to burst into tears.
    “It used to. Now I’m grateful that there’s someone to take his attention off of me. I’m grateful that he’s unfaithful. It makes doing this even more fun,” she said before grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me down into a kiss.