Page 37 of Crazy In Love (Secrets of Suburbi 3)

He groaned.

What the hell am I doing? I took a step back and stared at him like he was the one that had just acted inappropriately. But I was the one with my mouth on him. My lips parted like I was about to apologize, but I pressed my lips back together. We were just going to pretend that didn’t happen. I stared at him, willing him to silently agree with me.

Instead...he winked.

My stomach clenched. That wasn't the reaction I wanted. I turned away. "Behave." I wasn't sure Noah knew I was talking to him instead of Snuggle Muffins. I was only having trouble controlling one male in my life. And it was the man, not the dog.

I grabbed my box of decorations and dog and made my way back upstairs. And I was strong enough to only glance back at Noah once. It wasn't fair that he'd taken his shirt off. I silently cursed as I slid the deadbolt back in place. I literally had a hundred shirts upstairs that would fit him beautifully. His stripping was an easy fix. But he'd flustered me yet again. I really needed to make that stop happening.

***

Baby it's Cold Outside was stuck in my head on a loop as I decorated the front bushes. Detective Torres had been by twice already, but he was fairly unobservant. I doubted he’d remember that my house hadn’t been decorated yet. And it looked better if I had been prepping for Christmas normally before my husband disappeared, instead of skipping the holiday altogether this year.

Because normally this time of year, my lights would have been up for weeks. I'd actually care about throwing my hat in the ring for the grand prize - a gift card to a local restaurant. It was never about the gift certificate though. It was all about the glory.

I leaned back to get a better view of Charlotte's decorations down the street. She'd won practically every year since I'd moved in. Except for one year when nosy Sally had surprised everyone by hiring an actual actor to play Santa Claus and sit on her chimney. And I don't mean for one day. He was up there for a week. I wasn't sure if she won because her decorations were the best or if people were just worried that giving her the prize was the only thing that would make her let him down. It was probably a neighborhood liability thing.

Charlotte's decorations were as perfect as always. Her lawn was even adorned with beautiful white fake Christmas trees. The whole neighborhood used white lights. It was like an upper-middle-class standard. White lights meant fancy. Colorful lights meant...homey. I looked at the white lights I was currently streaming along my bushes. Every year I used them to fit in, while secretly putting colorful lights on my tree inside. Because wasn't Christmas supposed to be homey? Home for the holidays? All that jazz?

Snuggle Muffins sighed.

I wasn't sure if it was because he agreed with me or because he was still testy about me putting him in a box. I was going to go with the former. "I know, boy. Screw them." I pulled the white lights off the bushes and shoved them back in the box. This year I hadn't decorated a Christmas tree. Which meant I still had the colorful lights to use outside if I wanted. Actually, I had a lot of colorful lights that I hadn't used in years. I used to string them along garland all over my apartment. Because I was just that homey. I grabbed a strand. I was going to peace out from suburbia in style. By ruining the annual Christmas light competition.

"Oh, colorful lights dear?"

I jumped. Jesus, Sally. It was like I'd summoned her. She was a sweet old lady combined with Satan. "Hey, you." I always felt weird calling her Sally because she was so much older than me. It felt like she needed to be Mrs. something. But I'd never caught her last name. And as the years ticked by, I couldn't undo not knowing. It was way too late to rectify the situation. I cleared my throat. "Don't you like them?"

Sally smiled. "Actually I do. But I'm not the one judging the contest. Well, I get one vote, but one vote hardly means anything out of 100 votes."

"I'll vote for myself too. Maybe that'll be enough."

She put her hand on the center of her chest. "You're not supposed to vote for yourself."

"It can be our little secret." I turned my attention back to the bushes I was decorating.

"If you say so." There was an awkward pause and I willed her to walk away. She had to see that I was too preoccupied for her nonsense small talk.

I even started humming Baby it's Cold Outside again, hoping she'd get the hint that I was a little busy. But I wasn't so lucky.

"I heard about Noah," she said.

I wasn't sure if there was accusation in her tone or if I'd just imagined it. My fingers froze on the strand of lights. My husband was missing. I was supposed to be upset. Distraught. Fragile. Why was I humming Christmas tunes and decorating? Yes, it looked good if they were up for Detective Torres. But I couldn't go back in time. And now all my neighbors could just tell him that I'd only decorated this afternoon. This was a terrible idea.

"I'm just trying to distract myself," I said.

"Hmm. It seems like you're in an awfully good mood for someone whose husband is missing."

Well, that was most definitely accusatory. What the heck was her problem? We'd always been civil before this. "Like I said, I'm trying to distract myself." Now go away, you old croon.

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything." She took my hand in hers and patted it. "I'm just saying that it doesn't look like you're upset. And there's been a lot

of bad things happening in this neighborhood. Housewives...snapping."

I swallowed hard. Did she know? She was staring at me like she knew. I don't want to have to kill Sally.

"I know that Noah kept odd hours for work,” she said. “I know he came home late. Left early. I know all this. But you need to look upset, dear. Even if you're not. You don't want anyone to jump to some wild conclusion about you being behind his disappearance."

I didn't know what to say. Had all our neighbors realized our relationship was rocky? I'd tried so hard to hide it. I found myself nodding along.

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