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She glimpsed over at hie stony

For asits toll on Nikki…it was clearly doing the same to Damen

And because she couldn’t truly let go of her nature no matter how dire the circumstance, she switched into shrink mode and very s?”

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Damen chuckled He made sure it wasn’t a strained one No need to intensify the situation or amp the emotions It was all a hell of a lot more than he wanted Nikki to be exposed to, anyway

And in so on his conscious He was also curious as to how everything would play out on the ops campusand back home

At thethe fear factor down a few notches

Of her question, he said, “I haven’t had the chance yet to co But we don’t have a tree up, so it’s not so glaring that there are no presents under it”

“Now that you lance out the s to see what other obstacles they“I noticed you only had minimal decorations up at the estate Do you not celebrate the holiday?”

“We do,” he said “It’s just that Mads is at a private boarding school and doesn’t come home until the week before Christmas—and with me not there all of the tio all out just yet”

“Good point”

“Plus, she has her traditions Ta of one gift that night”

“One gift?” Her eyes popped “That’s pure torture Once you get rolling, you want to dive into all the presents!”

He laughed again “Mads agrees But then, coo overboard the night before”

“Hmm I can see that”