Page 24 of Christmas Criminal

Nick stands beside me as we wait for Robbie to return, and when he speaks, his voice is low. "Keep it in your pants, Noelle. You're making Robbie uncomfortable."

I turn to him, ready to spit fire, when Robbie calls us over and beckons for us to follow him and the volunteer to our hut's location.

I keep my voice low when I turn to him. "If you catch me in yourdrawers? That was all you, Mr. Monroe. Are you trying to invite me into your pants? Because that's certainly what that sounded like."

"Dresserdrawers," he says.

"You're not denying it," I say, coming to a stop as the volunteer gives us the same spiel he gave us yesterday.

He gives me that stern look he whips out every once in a while when I poke him enough. "Why don't you get your head out of the gutter and focus on helping Robbie build his hut?"

I point at him as I drop my bag off on the far end of the hut, which, if yesterday was any indication, should be out of our way. "You started it."

And when the volunteer leaves and it's the three of us, Robbie rolls up his sleeves. Nick and I click into our roles easily, letting Robbie run the show and tell us where to go, what to do, how to build.

He and Nick lift the heavy pieces, and I dart around underneath and between them with the drill, screwing bits and pieces in as Robbie directs me. At some point, the two of them are holding up a large piece of particle board, and as I position myself underneath and screw it into place, I can't help noticing that Nick's sweatshirt has gotten caught on the edge, tugging it up enough to see a smattering of hair dusting his skin above his jeans.

My mouth goesdry.

And I accidentally hit the power button on the screwdriver, drawing attention to myself.

Nick ducks underneath the edge of the board with a furrowed brow.

"You okay?" he asks, as his shirt drops back down and disappointment settles in my stomach.

"Yep," I say, clicking the power button again and holding it up. "Just trying to screw you."When his eyebrows pop up, I realize what I said. "Just trying to say'screw you’!"

The damage is already done.

He laughs, and I think I detect a hint of pink in his cheeks. "Inappropriate, Noelle."

I shut my eyes in embarrassment as he turns his attention back to the board he's holding up.

Fuck me.Leave it to me to try to have an attitude and instead attempt to–well, screw him.

I need to get my thoughts under control.

I step up to the edge of the board and screw the pieces in according to Robbie's directions.

And for the rest of the day, every time I use the drill, he raises one eyebrow at me, because apparently webothknow what I'm thinking.

That I desperately want to screw the math teacher.

Today goes twice as fastas yesterday, and we finish with a significant amount of time to spare. Robbie wanted to stay and see if we could build another in our allotted time frame, but the volunteers in charge were concerned about having people out too late.

So instead, we wander back to the high school. And like last night, Robbie calls his buddy for a ride as we're walking home.

Nick and I wait on the stairs outside the high school until the same car appears and Robbie excitedly clambers in.

And then it's just the two of us.

"Anything else I can help with?" I ask, checking the time on my phone. I can't get a read on whether Nick is the type to give me a free pass for the extra hour I was going to get tonight if Robbie hadn't been such a quick builder.

He shakes his head. "No," he says, and throws me a quick grin as he starts across the parking lot toward my car. "But don't worry, I'll still give you the full time."

I follow him, somewhat reluctantly. "I’m surprised you're not making me bang erasers together."

"If I'm being totally honest, I think it would take an hour for me to track down enough erasers to make it worth your while. I'm one of the few teachers who still has a chalkboard, and I use a rag instead of an eraser."

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