Page 70 of Christmas Criminal

She places the ornament near the top, off to the side. "Yeah. This feels really comfortable. Very different from the way my mom and sister do it, which always has this undercurrent of, like, anxiety to it. Like, they try so hard that it kind of takes away the joy of it. I mean, I thinktheyenjoy it. But it feels overwhelming to me. And kind of just... fake, I guess. I hate saying it about something they obviously care so much about, but this feelsso good. To take our time putting up a Christmas tree. There's no checklist or required cookie-making or snowmeneverywhere.No false pretenses about having one big happy family."

I reach out to straighten a branch that we must have missed. "That bothers you a lot, doesn't it? The forced family time?"

She shrugs. "I wish it didn't. I wish I could show up and go with the flow, but my sister always tries to drag my dad into things but gets upset when he prioritizes his new family. My mom always tries to calm her down, like she's constantly in defense mode to pick up the pieces when she's inevitably disappointed." She laughs. "I guess that's where I get it from,that defensiveness that pushes me to make a problem before a problem even occurs." She shakes her head. "That's literally what happens between my mom and sister, every year. My mom sees the future, acts too soon, and they end up in a fight while my sister goes off to find some disappointment anyway."

I crinkle my nose. "I'm sorry. I get how that could make things difficult around the holidays."

She sighs. "Yeah." She's quiet for a second. "I can see why some people really love the holidays, though." I raise my eyebrows as she arranges another ornament. "Thiskind of holiday, I think I like."

Noelle likes holidays with me. My chest swells, and I take a deep breath to ward off the warm fuzzy feelings that are threatening to take over.

I bite my lip, sure I'm about to get elbowed. "I'm glad I can be your own personal Saint Nick."

She presses her eyes closed, her laughter spilling out despite herself. "Nick!"

"Come on, you teed that one up for me."

She shakes her head, elbowing me lightly so she doesn't knock the box of ornaments in my arms. "You're corny."

I throw her a grin. "You love it."

She purses her lips, doing her best to glare at me before turning back to the tree.

And she plucks one ornament after another, slowly filling in the tree as Christmas music plays in the background. We settle into an easy rhythm, talking and joking as we move in a semi-circle around the tree.

And eventually, another glass of wine later, it's full.

"Do you want to do the honors?" I ask, grabbing the end of the string of lights and holding it out to her.

She raises her eyebrows. "You want me to light your tree?" she asks, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

I nod as I leave the empty box on the coffee table and grab our wine glasses. "You want a refill?"

"I'll wait until you're back," she says, waving the end of the cord as she kneels on the ground next to the socket.

I head into the kitchen to refill our glasses, and on my way back, I hit the lights in the living room. We can see enough in the dim light from the streetlights outside.

I rest our glasses on the coffee table and sit down in front of it, my back up against the wood.

"Ready?" she asks, eyebrows high.

I nod. "Light me up, Criminal."

She snorts as she turns to the socket, and the room is bathed in the soft white light from the Christmas tree.

She looks up at it for a moment before turning to me with a big grin on her face.

"So?" she asks, crawling toward me.

And fuck, if that's not sensual, I don't know what is.

She sits next to me and I throw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. Her cheek hits my shoulder as her arms wind around my middle.

"What do you think?" she asks, her voice soft. She tips her head up to look at me. "Did I do good?"

I nod, my fingers grazing her chin as I tip her face up toward mine. I nod as our lips brush. "You did really fucking good."

Her eyes flash. "Language, Mr. Monroe."

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