Drew settled back to watch the family open their gifts, then was surprised when Mrs. Preston handed one to him.
“For me?”
She smiled at him. “Of course.”
He opened it up, and there was a framed photograph of him scoring a goal in a game against New Jersey. It was a great shot, too, with his stick in forward motion right at the net.
He stood and hugged her, then shook the vice president’s hand. “Thank you for this. It means a lot to me.”
“I’m so glad you like it,” Mrs. Preston said.
Evelyn and Gray had given him something, too. A mug with a hockey stick that said, “I have a big, hard stick and I know what to do with it.” He laughed out loud.
“This is perfect.”
“Evelyn picked it out,” Gray said.
Evelyn grinned. “It seemed appropriate for you.”
When Gray gave her a look, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. “That’s not at all what I meant.”
And then everyone laughed.
He’d brought gifts for all of them, too, though considering what went down this morning, he wasn’t sure the gift he’d gotten for Carolina was going to go over all that well with Gray. But he’d found it and he thought it suited her, so he handed it to her.
She was sitting on the floor in front of the tree, so while everyone else was busy, he sat next to her and handed her the box.
She looked up at him. “You got me a gift?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing special.”
She opened the box. Inside, a single silver chain. He wasn’t even sure she’d like it since she typically wore no jewelry.
He leaned in closer. “I know you don’t wear jewelry, but I love your neck, and when I saw this, I pictured it around your throat.”
Carolina took a deep breath and fingered the chain in the box. She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s lovely. It’s perfect. Thank you.”
She pulled the chain out, then lifted her hair. “Would you mind?”
He undid the clasp, then fastened the chain around her neck. He leaned in and whispered to her. “Now, when you wear it, you can think about me.”
She turned to face him. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
But her gaze drifted, and Drew looked to see Gray staring at them. “Later.”
She reached under the tree and handed him a box. “This is for you.”
He opened the box and inside was a pair of boxer briefs with the Carolina Designs logo.
“My first pair. And a part of me that I want touching you,” she said, her voice low and soft.
He smiled at her. “Believe me, I’ll definitely be thinking about you when I’m wearing them. Thank you.”
“And that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. A photo shoot for the underwear line. On the ice.”
He cocked a brow. “What? You want to make my balls shrivel up like walnuts?”
She laughed. “I haven’t even mentioned making it look like you’re sweating, so we’d have to pour water over you.”
He rolled his eyes. “There are ways to make me actually sweat, you know.”