Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
She held the box up to it. “Totally nailed it. Right?”
He pushed his glasses up his nose. “Were you trying to copy what is on the box?”
“Well, yeah, isn’t that the point? Are you saying it’s not the same, Brody-bear?” She sniffled, and he looked alarmed.
She had to bite her lip to stop from smiling.
“You’ve got lots to go. You want my help?”
He practically dived over his creation. “No! Mine!”
“Now, now, Brody-bear, sharing is caring.” He was so fun to tease.
“I . . . well, I just . . . I need to do this myself,” he said.
“Okay, but if you need my help, just say so. There’s no shame in being out of your depth and I am a Legos expert.”
“Thanks, I’m good. Why don’t you play with something else?” he suggested.
“Okie-dokie. Thanks for my present, Brody-bear. Best Christmas ever.” She shoved herself against him, toppling him onto his back on the floor.
He moaned. “Next year, I’m getting you a rug. My poor butt.”
She giggled and kissed his face until he forgot all about his poor bottom.
A shiver worked its way through her as she sat on the steps, looking up at the stars. Maybe she should have been scared out here in the dark. But the truth was that the dark only scared her when she was inside. Out here, she felt like she could breathe.
“Merry Christmas, Bunny.”
She jumped, looking up into his face. She wasn’t sure why she’d jumped since she’d kind of expected him to turn up. He had a cap on and was dressed in a jacket. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and then sat next to her, placing another one over both of their laps.
“I should have gotten you a cowbell for Christmas,” she told him.
He snorted. “Can’t be much of an assassin if people hear me coming, now, can I?”
She sucked in a breath. He knew that she knew the truth about him? She guessed Brody told him.
“Guess not.”
“Are you scared of me now, Bunny?” he asked. He didn’t sound too worried.
“No,” she replied.
“No? You don’t think differently of me? I’m not a hero.”
“You’ll always be my hero.” There was a beat of silence.
Then he wrapped an arm around her and drew her closer. Tipping her face back, he kissed her lightly.
“That’s the first time you’ve kissed me.”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while now.”
“You sure you want this?” she asked.
“You are exactly what I need. Both of you.”
A tremble ran through her.
“Thank you for all those gifts.”
“What gifts?”
“The ones under the tree.”
“Nah, those were from Santa.”
She grinned. “Well, thank you to Santa. I wish I could tell him myself.”
“I’ll pass that on. You know, there is one thing you can do to say thank you to Santa, though.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Give him a blow job.”
“Hero!” she chided, but she was grinning. He was terrible.
“What? Too soon? What’s the rule on how long you have to be dating before you ask for a blow job?”
“I’m not dating Santa. And if I give him a blow job, I’m pretty sure that Mrs. Claus will come after me. I don’t want to upset Mrs. Claus. She might put me on the naughty list.”
“That’s true. But let’s say you’re talking about me and not Santa . . . would that blow job still be on the cards . . .”
She giggled. “No.”
“Damn,” he sighed. “That’s a grave disappointment.”
She leaned into him, placing her head on his arm.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“No,” she replied.
“You should wake up the Pup. He doesn’t know that you sneak out, does he?”
“He needs his sleep. No point in us both being awake. Besides, he’s a deep sleeper.”
“Boy sleeps like the dead. Don’t think an earthquake would wake him.”
“He thought I might be upset with him for what the two of you did together.”
“Were you?”
“No. I thought it sounded hot,” she told him.
“You should have seen how hard he got.”
She blushed, squirming and pressing her legs together.
“You like that, don’t you? One day you’ll get to watch.”
She couldn’t wait. Shit, she best turn this conversation onto something else before she imploded.
“Have you really been courting me?” she asked.
“Of course. Didn’t you understand that with my gifts? Was I too subtle? Funny, no one has ever accused me of being too subtle.”
“I can imagine,” she said dryly.
“What happened the other night, you will not ever hurt yourself.”
That was the first time she’d heard him sound that stern. Upset.
“I . . . I won’t. I wasn’t trying to.”
“You better not. Or you’ll be over my knee, getting your ass roasted. You do not get to do that, Autumn.”
“Sometimes . . . sometimes I feel guilty that I’m alive and they’re not.”
“You shouldn’t. That was all on him.”
“I know.”
“Do you feel you should have died too?”
“I don’t know. I guess I feel bad that I’m relieved that I’m alive.”