Harry's finger tracing the perimeter of her face reeled her up from the depths of a dreamless sleep. Madelyn filled her lungs with a slow, expansive breath, her mouth lifting at the corners just as Harry's lips covered hers in a leisurely kiss. She hummed out a sigh.

"Good morning, beautiful. Sleep well?"

She cupped his scruffy cheek. "I did. The sleep of the wholly satisfied," her blush rose.

"Last night was something else," Harry drew her arm around his neck and slid his behind her shoulder. "Are you feeling okay about everything we did? It was new for you." He studied her eyes, feeling negligible apprehension, but needing to be certain she was comfortable nonetheless.

"I am so much more than okay, Harry. Everything felt so intense and intimate. I trust you more than anyone to push me over the edge, and to catch me when I fall."

She could spend forever lost in the forest-green of his stare. Any doubts she had in the beginning about their age difference had gotten lost along the path to falling in love. Madelyn knew other's may raise an eyebrow, but it was none of their business. The only people she needed to be concerned with were herself and Harry.

"I love you," she nipped his bottom lip, "and I love exploring with you."

"You make me so happy, Mads, happier than I've ever been," he brushed her nose back and forth with his. "Question?"

"Ask me anything, always."

"Would you ever want to, uhh... expand on what we explored last night?"

Madelyn clapped her hands over her eyes and giggled before peeking between her fingers. "You want that?"

"I want you in every way you're willing to share yourself with me." To emphasize the point, Harry pushed his growing arousal into her hip.

"Yes," she whispered, "I'll share that with you. You'll go slow?"

"When you're ready, I promise I'll go slow and be gentle in every way." he kissed her on the temple and rolled away. "I wish we could stay in bed all day, but we both have class, Professor."

Madelyn scooted out of the bed after him, following as he headed to the shower. Thank goodness they had started leaving clothes and personal items at each other's homes. Except shampoo. Harry never left any of his own shampoo or conditioner at her house, and she was fairly certain he was using the bottles she left at his apartment when she didn't sleepover. She smiled to herself at the thought.

"Can we still meet here after your last class and head up to your place? I have a surprise," he said excitedly as he tossed their towels over the bars to dry.

Madelyn halted before leaving the bathroom. "A surprise? What kind of surprise? Can I have it now? Am I going to like it?" she pressed.

"A good kind of surprise, and no, you may not have it now. It's being delivered to the house, and I'm pretty sure you're going to love it. But if you don't, that's alright, we will find the right one. Now go get dressed." He spun her naked body toward the bedroom, swatting her playfully on her lovely, round ass.

The second half of the day slogged by at the pace of a hundred-yard dash for snails. Thankfully, her sophomore class of "Marketing in Popular Culture," was enthusiastic. It was the only thing saving her from sticking a fork in her eye as the clock plodded slowly toward freedom. She closed her lecture five minutes early and wasted no time packing her things the minute the room's clock buzzed, signaling the end of class.

"Hey, good lookin', headed my way?" she called to Harry through the open window of the new-to-her Subaru. Her insurance had paid out the full value of her totaled Outback. Drawing out some savings, Madelyn replaced it with a three-year-old, navy blue, four-wheel-drive Forester.

Harry jogged into the restaurant parking lot where she had been waiting as she enjoyed the earliest spring sunshine. "Let me grab some stuff from upstairs, I'll be right back!" He stole a kiss before heading inside.

Several minutes later Madelyn was driving up the mountain road, Harry's hand on her thigh, his thumb tracing slow circles.

"Are you going to give me a hint?"

"Nope. You'll just have to be patient for now."

"I'm not good at patient!"

"I can see that," he laughed. "You must have been a pain in the arse as a little girl at Christmas and birthdays."

"You have no idea. When I was six, I found all of the presents in the guest bedroom closet two days before Christmas. I snuck in after everyone had gone to bed and unwrapped every single gift. I had to know what was under the paper! Then I rewrapped everything to the best of my kindergarten ability, and snuck back to bed."

"Your parents must have been furious with you. What did they do?"

"Nothing. But the fallout with Santa was brutal." Madelyn twisted her mouth and guiltily shook her head.

"Tell me."

"Every Christmas Eve, we wrote a letter to Santa. I said I'd been a good girl, done well in school and couldn't wait to play with the new toys Santa was certainly bringing me."

"Uh ohhh." Harry wasn't even trying to restrain his cringing grimace.

"Big time. In the morning the packages were under the tree, each one looking just like a six-year-old had gotten a hold of them. I thought I was busted by Mom and Dad, but that would have been too easy. Instead, my parents said nothing. They acted as if there wasn't anything unusual about the packages. It was when my mom handed me the letter Santa Claus had written back, that I knew I'd been found out by St. Nick himself."

"And what exactly did the man in red have to say to Miss Snoopy-Pants?"

Madelyn sighed defeatedly. "He said he was terribly disappointed in my choices and I had been moved to the naughty list." She glanced at Harry. "Keep in mind, I was too little to read the big words. My parents had to help. I don't know how they did it, but they kept a straight face and asked me to explain what Santa was talking about."

"Oh, ouch!"

"Yeah, I had to confess all. They acted so shocked, as if they couldn't believe their sweet little girl would do something so dastardly. They hadn't stored the Santa presents with the gifts from them, so I had no reason to think the letter wasn't from the real guy. They played me well. The letter went on to say that Santa knew I was a good kid, really deep down," she laughed at the memory. "He suggested I practice the spirit of the season by giving happy surprises to people in my family and other children. By the end of the day, I had re-wrapped some of my new presents. Dad drove us to the women's and children's shelter where we dropped them off. That was actually the beginning of a new Christmas tradition. I started buying small gifts whenever I had birthday money or when my parents would pay me a little something to do extra jobs around the house. By the first of December, there would be a nice stash of presents to surprise the kids spending Christmas at the shelter."

"That's a good story. Light on the guilt, heavy on practicing kindness. I'd like to meet your parents."

They were both silent for a few moments as the car continued up the winding road.

"Meeting each other's parents. That's a big step. Are we ready for that?" Madeline asked.

"I suspect the better question is, are THEY ready? Admittedly, we've moved fast. My family knows that when I decide on something, it's a done deal." Harry squeezed her thigh. "How do you think yours will respond?"

"I told them I've been seeing someone. They might be a bit taken aback by how serious we are, but they're going to love you, Harry. I know they will."

"Let's set it up."

Madelyn looked at him questioningly.

"Meeting the parents. Graduation is right around the corner. My family is coming and Mom wants to commemorate the whole thing. We can invite your folks and have a party."

His face was lit in happiness. Madelyn wouldn't deny him this, even if she wanted to. Which she didn't.

"Alright, you're on. I'll call my mom this weekend." She was looking forward to sharing good news. It had been a long while since there had been something in her life to celebrate with family. With the exception of Katelyn and the car wreck, every day with Harry was a celebration.

*****

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

What do you think Harry's surprise is?

Were you ever snoopy at Christmas?

Madelyn's story is loosely based on actual events, where I may or may not have done my own youthful Christmas snooping. Yikes!

Are you following the Wattpad After Dark profile? I've created a writing contest for the profile that will be posted soon. I hope some of you will consider participating. It's going to be HOT!

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish reader friends. May there always be light in your life! 

Em- dirtyyarn across all social media