Page 48 of A Not So Merry Ex-Mas

At the same time, Cole preps the baking sheets, lining them with parchment paper. He sets one down in front of me and keeps the other.

We roll the dough into balls and place them on our sheets. When the balls are evenly placed, we pat them down to flatten them out.

I grab my sheet and put it in the oven before grabbing Cole’s and settling it next to mine.

I set the timer for ten minutes and feel a burning sensation on my face. I look up to find Cole’s gaze on me.

“Noelle?” My stomach knots at Cole using my first name. “About earlier…”

I look at him chewing his bottom lip, and my knotted stomach falls to the floor. When he sees my expression, he lifts his gaze to mine and pulls me in his arms.

“Bug,” He whispers into my hair, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tight. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” I mumble against his chest.

“This morning.” He blows out a big breath, which rumples my hair. “I should’ve just told you what I was thinking, but I got…”

I pull my head back and look up at his face. I can see the fear in his eyes but I don’t understand the reason behind it, and it’s terrifying me. My heart throbs throughout my body and I’m pretty sure there is no way he can’t feel it.

“I had a moment of regret.” I push away from his chest, but he pulls me tighter to him. “About the fact that I missed so much time with you, and it made me sad.”

I can’t help it; I laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” He scowls.

“Because I’m a complete idiot!” His brows knit together. “I immediately went to…”

I stop, feeling heat scorch my face. Embarrassment at where my thoughts went floods me. I feel Cole’sthumb on my chin as he tilts my face to look into my eyes. There’s a small smile on his face.

“You always did have an overactive imagination.” He shakes his head, and I slap him lightly on the chest.

“Well then, I guess you’ll need to make sure I don’t have time to let my thoughts take me on any more wild adventures.” I clench his shirt with my fist and pull him a bit closer.

His eyes suddenly turn serious. “I promise to tell you how happy I am to have you back in my arms every day for the rest of my life.”

The love shining in his eyes fills my heart with joy. He cups my face with his hands and whispers, “I love you so much, Noelle.”

“I know,” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself as close as I can get to him. “I prefer it when you call me by my nickname, though.”

“As you wish, Ladybug.”

When the timer goes off, our lips are a hair's breadth apart. We both giggle, and I move to shut it off when he pulls me back to him, shaking his head back and forth.

“What do you think you’re doing? We can let the cookies get a little brown.” He stares down at me witha lopsided grin that melts all of my insides into a gooey mess.

I stand on my toes and feel his arms move around me, lifting me. Our bodies flush against each other. “I think Gran and Mel will understand just this one time.”

He waggles his eyebrows, and I giggle.

The feather-light touch of his lips is electrifying, and I’m pretty sure that if he wasn’t holding all of my body weight, my knees would have definitely given out from under me.

He’s right. Gran and Mel will understand thisonetime.

Epilogue

Cole

One year later

---