Page 48 of The Christmas Cookie Crush

Bliss.

Our perfect night together is over far too soon. We had another round that was somehow even better than the first, with Austin taking his time to stroke and finger me to orgasm before rolling on the condom and entering me. But the morning comes long before I’m ready—though I’m not sure I’d ever be ready—meaning we both have to go to work. The reality that I don’t know when we’ll be able to repeat this makes me sad as we leave the hotel hand in hand, Austin dropping me off at home before heading to the bakery to pick up what he needs for today.

Fortunately, none of my siblings give me any shit when I get home. Not even Dylan. Which I’m extra thankful for because I absolutely do not need to deal with him and his nonsense today. As perfect as last night was, I’m left feeling raw and vulnerable today, and I don’t think I could handle him acting like a jealous ex over my new boyfriend.

Spending the night in bed, talking, laughing, sharing stories of our teenage years and college experiences made me feel even closer to Austin. But coming back to real life just drives home how different our lives are and how much of a challenge it’ll be for whatever this is to become anything lasting.

And last night made it clear to me that I definitely want it to turn into something lasting.

How, though?

He mentioned that his grandparents had asked him to stay permanently to help run the bakery and eventually take over.

Which is awesome. And I’m so happy for him, especially since he seems genuinely thrilled about it.

But it just makes my lack of direction even more stark by contrast.

What am I going to do once I graduate in May? I never wanted to come back to Arcadian Falls, not just being a lowly hourly worker at the Christmas Emporium and being an elf at Christmas forever. If I had a business to take over like Austin does, like Sarah did, then that’d be different. But Sarah’s the heir apparent in our family. The store doesn’t need me to survive.

But if Austin’s here, staying in Portland doesn’t sound appealing anymore, either.

I’m working with Madison again today, and when she sees me at the North Pole, she gives me a knowing smile. “So how was your date last night?”

“Amazing. Thanks for asking,” I tell her, returning her grin with a cheeky one of my own.

“You guys are so cute together,” she gushes. She holds up her hands like she’s framing a photo. “Christmas couple goals right there.”

Laughing off her comment, I get to work setting up the camera for the day while she gets the computer up and running. “Thanks.” It seems a bit premature to call us “couple goals” of any variety, but the sentiment is sweet. I don’t think she realizes that we’ve been dating for such a short time.

To be fair, it doesn’t feel like it’s only been five days. We’ve been talking for longer than that—though before the last week, it was fairly antagonistic, at least on my part—but even thatseemed like it was all leading up to this. The development of our relationship has felt entirely natural and organic in a way that typically takes a lot longer to achieve. I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere of ChristmasFest that acts like a relationship pressure cooker or something specific to our chemistry, but it feels like we’ve compressed the normal progression of a relationship into a fraction of the time.

“What are you getting him for Christmas?” Madison asks, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I blink a few times, stalling by fussing with the camera, making sure it’s mounted properly. “Oh, uh …” I check the flashes, making sure they fire at the same time. They do, of course. “Well …”

Her gasp makes me turn and look at her, her eyes big and round, her hands clasped under her chin. “What? You haven’t gotten him a present yet?” Then her brows pull together, her expression going from shocked to puzzled in a nanosecond. “Wait. How long have you guys even been together?”

“Oh, uh, not that long.” For some reason, I feel embarrassed to admit it hasn’t even been a week.

She waves her hand. “Whatever. That doesn’t matter. You’retogether. I mean, it’s obvious to anyone with working eyeballs that that boy is smitten with you.”

I have to fight back a laugh, rolling my lips between my teeth to hide my smile. Who is this chick? Who uses the word smitten?

Sighing, she tilts her head and clasps her hands next to her cheek. “It’s like a romance novel. Or one of those movies that are always playing this time of year—the girl working as an elf and the boy running the local bakery.” She squeals. “It’s the mostadorable thing. So youhaveto get him a present. Good thing we work here, isn’t it? You can pick something up on your break!”

As entertaining as Madison’s enthusiastic narration of our relationship is, she has a point. Not so much about my life being a book or movie—it’s far too boring for that—but about getting Austin a present.

He’s already done so much for me, between the cookies and paying for the hotel last night. I offered to cover half, but he insisted on paying for it himself. The absoluteleastI could do is get him a present, right?

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Austin

As much asI want to see Nora tonight, like we’ve done every night since we decided to go out at her parents’ open house, I’ve agreed to grab a drink with Dylan. And yeah, I want to see him and catch up. But I’m less excited about it than I feel like I should be. His sister’s prettier, and I’d rather see her.

I stop by the North Pole before I head out to at least give her a hug and a kiss and ask how her day is going.

She’s finishing up with a late appointment when I stop by, handing the parents a small folder and wishing them a Merry Christmas. She waits for them to leave before ducking around the velvet ropes and bouncing over to me, looking too cute for words in her elf costume and shimmery makeup, a big grin on her face.

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