Page 23 of The Bright Side of Christmas
“I’m manning the decorating committee for me,” I counter, and even though she doesn’t say anything, she gives me a pitying look, telling me she doesn’t actually think that’s being done forme. I’m relieved that she doesn’t call me out on that in front of Adam. He already has his suspicions, and I don’t need two people on my case about it.
“I’m changing my demands,” he says, knocking Hallie and me out of our staredown. We both turn to look at Adam, but his focus is only on me. A wave of heat moves through me with the fierce look.
“What?” I ask skeptically. I don’t think I’m going to like where this is going.
“I‘m changing my demands. If you go to bed on time tonight, you’ll get your nutcracker back.”
I stare for a moment, blinking at him. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Go to bed at a reasonable hour, and I’ll give you back your nutcracker.”
“Oh, this is getting good,” Hallie says.
I ignore her, keeping my eyes locked on my neighbor. “Are you serious right now?”
“Yes. If you go to sleep at a normal hour—” I open my mouth to argue, then he corrects himself. “Before ten p.m., I will give you back your nutcracker.”
“Ten p.m.? That’s ridiculous, I?—”
He keeps talking as if I didn’t say a word.
“Until you take care of yourself, I’m going to be taking care of your nutcracker.”
I stare at him for long moments before huffing out a disbelieving laugh. “And you’ll keep the decorations up?”
“I never said that.”
“Then what do I get out of this?”
“Your nutcracker? Sleep that your body clearly needs?” I speak before I think about the words I’m about to say.
“What do you know about what my body needs?” Silence fills the room, and my heart pounds as Adam’s eyes rake over my body. My breaths come a bit quicker as the silence spans, and the edges of his lips tip up.
He doesn’t say anything at all.
He doesn’t have to. His look says it all.
I’m scrambling to think of some kind of reply, but Hallie beats me to it, breaking the tension with a well-timed Hallie quip.
“Oh my god, this is so hot,” she murmurs, and when I turn to her, she waves a hand at her face as if she’s genuinely overheating. I roll my eyes at her, but it’s the distraction I need to come to my senses.
I need to get out of here, and I need to do it before I say something incredibly stupid.
“Come on. I have cookies to make,” I grumble to the woman I thought was my best friend, tipping my head toward the door we both came in through.
“And you have to finish everything up so you can get to bed on time,” Adam says.
I don’t have to look at him to know he’s smiling, and I don’t respond; instead, I walk out of his house without a second look behind me.
“I’m kind of thinking you should stay up extra late,” Hallie says as she steps outside. “See just how far you can push him.” Adam lets out a grunt from behind me, but I continue, moving down the steps to his deck, then through his backyard into mine.
But as I enter my own house, I can’t help but wonder…just whatwouldhe do?
TEN
Saturday night, I’m not even bothering to try and write. I’m just watching the woman next door stay up well into the night. Yesterday, I saw her leave her back door from this window and watched with curiosity. I never would have guessed she would have gone across the backyard and broken into my house, but when I tiptoed down the stairs after I heard the back door open, I spotted her.
I should have called out her name, but some baser part of me, who has wanted to be closer to her since the first time she showed up on my front step, moved before I could think. In a moment, I had her pinned against the wall, and I have a feeling that if her friend hadn’t interrupted, something would have happened.
