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Back First Comes Love Save as PDF
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

I collect my family’s gifts in return, and am surprised when Diego hands me not one, but two wrapped bundles. One I recognize as the ring box from the mall. The other is a mystery. I tear into that one first.

I push the wrapping paper aside to reveal a hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I flip the cover open, and gasp at the tiny writing printed on the copyright page:

Printed in the U.S.A.23

First American edition, October 1998

I stare up at Diego, astonished. “This must’ve cost you a fortune.”

“Nah.” He shrugs. “Found it in a used bookstore in Brooklyn. I don’t think the owner realized it might have any value.”

Still, I don’t know what to say. I keep looking into his eyes, speechless.

He must read the unasked question in my gaze, because he leans in and whispers in my ear, “Everyone deserves a little surprise at Christmas.”

Before I know what I’m doing, I turn my head to the side and kiss him. A deep, non-PG-rated kiss.

“Ewww,” Sarah’s five-year-old daughter protests. “Mom, they’re kissing.”

I pull back, smiling, and say, “Thank you.”

“You might want to open your other present, too,” Diego says, in a voice so low only I can hear. “Would look a bit suspicious if you didn’t.” He grins at me.

A minute later, I’m pulling on my cat ring when the inevitable happens. From the other side of the fireplace, Paul opens his present from me and exclaims, “Nikki, wow. Liam Grady’s new book.” And then he asks the deadly question. “How did you manage to get a signed copy? I thought those were super rare.”

They are, damn me.

“Oh, really?” I play dumb. “I just picked it up at the store from the new releases booth. Guess I got lucky.”

Next to me, Diego tenses. He knows I’m lying; he was with me when I bought all the other books, and Paul’s book wasn’t among them. Let’s hope he won’t read too much into it.

Eighteen

All I Want For Christmas Is You

My hopes are in vain. Diego is cold and detached with me for the rest of the day. He does nothing overtly hostile, but by now I can pick up on his moods as well as if I’d known him a lot longer than two weeks. And I can tell he’s pissed.

It’s written all over his curt, monosyllabic answers. In the way he does his best to avoid meeting my eyes after we’ve been eye-flirting for days. And in the way he avoids even the slightest contact with me.