Page 88 of Christmas Criminal

I continue until she melts, her body going soft underneath me.

And with a few more jerky thrusts, I come.

We lay there for a minute afterward, her fingers running through my hair as I catch my breath.

"That felt really good," she whispers.

"Too good," I agree, coming up to my elbows and leaving a kiss on her nose. "I really thought I wasn't going to be able to hold on for a second there."

She raises her eyebrows. "Yeah?"

I nod. "It was scary."

She laughs. "You were very innovative."

I shake my head. "Just desperate to not be the kind of guy who leaves his girl high and dry."

"I'm sure you would have made up for it," she says.

"I do repent for my sins on my knees."

When we finally stumble upstairs,I pull one of myI heart mathT-shirts over her head and we tumble into bed together, her head on my chest. I pull her as close as I can, my nose tucked in between strands of her hair, and listen to her breathing as it slowly deepens. She clings to me even in her sleep, and something about the way she nestles deeper into my shoulder in her dreams has my chest swelling.

I never meant to, but somewhere over the past few weeks, I've fallen head over heels for my criminal.

And I can't help but dread the end of this holiday, when she's going to return to her apartment in the city and run her business like the smart, talented woman she is.

When she's not committing crimes, at least.

And I'm going to pine for the girl I only got to keep for a moment. The one who, in the quiet hours of the night, has me thinking,This is it. This is what I've been looking for.

19

NOELLE

Monday, December 23rd

It is a sweet sort of torture to spend your night fucking someone's brains out and then having to get up the next day and go take care ofwork.

I know that I do this to myself. I've made it a priority every year to personally hand out Christmas bonuses to my employees because I think it's only right that their hard work is rewarded at the end of the year. Of course, there are some people who are traveling and some who don't want their boss showing up at their door the day before Christmas Eve.

And that's okay–I'll mail those.

But it makes me feel good to put in a little bit of work when other people are off. To be able to say thank you in person to the people who show up every day and make my little business what it is.

I unravel myself from Nick early in the morning and tip-toe into the shower so I don't get home smelling like sex, a fact that Christina is sure to point out immediately before spending every free moment pressing me for all the gory details.

Of course, he follows me in a minute later, and I'm not sure I'm actually any cleaner by the time we get out.

I kiss him goodbye at the front door, and he groans before he lets me go, his hair still wet from the shower and his gray sweatpants highlighting him in a way that really should be illegal.

"Text me when you're home, okay?" he asks, his lips against my ear. He gives me one last kiss on the cheek before letting me go, and I step out of the door into the harsh December air.

I nod, ignoring the intense pull in my chest that's telling me to stay here. To crawl back in bed with Nick and forget about Christmas bonuses and picking up my sister.

I may hate this town, but Nick makes me want to stay.

If I could pack him up in a suitcase and drag him to the city, I would.

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