Christmas Criminal

24. Nick

24

NICK

Five Weeks Later

I wake to Noelle's hair strangling me. She's snoring softly on her side, her nose twitching in her sleep, and I weave an arm around her waist, tugging her back into me as I struggle to arrange her hair in some way that allows me to breathe. Early morning sun shines through the windows of my bedroom, giving her skin a warm glow.

I press my face into the back of her neck, savoring the moment. I've started doing that a lot lately.

Noelle is transitioning into an apartment about half an hour from Snow Falls. She still gets frazzled on occasion when she can't grab her things and run into the office, but she's getting used to the distance. Dare I say, enjoying that she's not always so available to other people. She officially broke her lease last week, and although she still has a lot of unboxing to do, she is officially closer.

Not close enough for me, but that will come in time.

Over the past few weeks, she's slept here more than she hasn't. The first few weeks she had the excuse of a long drive between here and her old apartment, but once she got the new one, nothing really changed.

I'm not going to goad her about it yet and risk her leaving just to prove a point. As frequently as she tells me she loves me, I know better than to give that girl a challenge.

So instead, I relish in these moments. Having her here with me and hearing her gentle snoring.

She twists toward me, as if she can hear my thoughts, her eyes blinking open as her hands drift across my chest.

"Why are you awake?" she asks.

"Because your hair was attacking me."

Her brow furrows. "No, it wasn't. You were attacking it . Stand down, Nick."

I roll my eyes, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she grumbles about being awake before dawn.

It's after dawn, but I don't tell her that. Noelle is crabby in the morning before her coffee and best left unprovoked.

"You're right," I say, running my fingers through her hair. "That was all me."

She turns onto her back to grab her phone from the nightstand, her I heart math T-shirt stretching across her chest in a way that makes my mouth water. "Ugh. It's not even worth closing my eyes again," she says, throwing the covers back and swinging her legs over the side of her bed. When she throws her arms above her head to stretch, it pulls her T-shirt up enough to expose her perfect ass underneath.

Fuck me, it somehow keeps getting nicer.

I swallow, willing the boner away. We fucked three times last night to celebrate her new apartment, and she has a big day ahead of her. I need to keep my hands to myself.

At least until tonight. Then all bets are off.

When Noelle started planning for her move closer to Snow Falls, Hank quickly devised a plan to get Noelle to teach a web design class at the library. She was hesitant at first, but he wore her down over time by ordering food from her favorite places whenever she stopped by her mom's.

Eventually, she came back to my house one night and threw her hands in the air. "Hank fucking won, okay? He fucking won," she told me, before explaining to me that she didn't even know how he did it because one moment, she was eating pad thai, and the next she was exuberantly agreeing to teach a bunch of people who don't want to learn how to make websites, how to make websites.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that it's common knowledge in her family that if you're trying to get Noelle to do something she doesn't want to do, you give her something she really wants to eat.

Noelle pads into the bathroom, and a moment later the shower starts. She's heading over to the library early today to make sure everything is set up in the way she needs it.

And half an hour later, she emerges like the spritely goddess she is. She's wearing the I heart web design T-shirt I got her after she agreed to the class with a pair of jeans that hug her curves in all the right ways.

She leans over to kiss me, her wet hair dragging across my chest. "I'll see you there?"

I nod. "Let me know if you need anything once you're there."

"Thank you, Saint Nick."

"Anything for you," I say, my fingers brushing the underside of her chin as she presses her lips to mine.

She lets out a long breath as she heads to the door and rests one hand on the frame. "Well, wish me good luck. Or a quick death. I'll take either right now."

"Good luck, Criminal."

She rolls her eyes at me. " You're the criminal, here."

I shrug. "Yeah, but the nickname suits you better."

She shakes her head. "Bye!"

"Love you," I shout, as she turns and heads down the hallway.

"Love you, too!" she calls back. And a few moments later, the front door shuts behind her.

I’m meeting her there closer to the start of her class, so I take my time getting ready. She's about an hour early, so I shower and throw on a matching I heart math T-shirt, and make her a quick breakfast of eggs–because that's a running joke at this point–and the microwave mini sausages she loves so much.

By the time I get in my car to leave, there's a text from Noelle on my phone complaining that the library promised her an assistant but told the assistant to be there at start time–and what good does that do if all the setup needs to be done before the class starts?

Whoopsie.

I punch the gas to get there as quickly as possible, but when I arrive a few minutes later, Noelle seems calm and collected. Christina, Naomi and Cassidy are in the front row, standing behind three computers, and they chat easily like the close sisters they've become. Christina's in a different cast now–one that she takes on and off as the muscle in her leg builds up–and all four of them wave to me as I dart to Noelle's side with her breakfast. Behind me, a few attendees I don’t recognize filter into the room, picking out computers and settling in their seats.

Her eyebrows jump up. "Oh, Nick. Thank you." I grin as she opens the lid and starts picking. "Oh man, I needed this. I was feeling grumbly this morning."

"You always are, in the morning."

She gives me a look that has Naomi and Cassidy snickering.

"What can I help with?" I ask. "You sounded panicked in your text."

She shakes her head, waving me off. "No, that was me being dumb. I happened to sit down at the one broken computer and I thought all of them were going to be like that. I took the chair away from it and left a note that it shouldn't be used. And honestly, the fact that they're even providing help for this is a godsend. Just somebody to close the door and make sure everybody is following along as needed? That's more than helpful."

I nod as Hank and Helen walk through the door and wave, Helen's face lighting up when she sees Noelle in the front of the classroom.

"Oh boy," she mutters, as she goes to greet them.

I follow her over, completely unsurprised to see their hands joined between them. Hank and Helen have been an official item since Christmas–to Christina's horror, having shared a wall with them–and they do new love better than the teenagers do. Always holding hands and shooting each other wistful gazes. He holds open every door for her, and she gazes at him like he hung the moon.

"Noelle!" Helen croons, immediately wrapping her up in a hug. Noelle’s eyes follow another attendee as they take a seat near the front with a polite smile, before returning to Helen. "Look at you, teaching a class! Oh, I'm so proud of you, honey."

"Thanks, Mom," she says, catching my eye over her shoulder and pressing her lips together.

"You let us know if you need anything, okay? I don't know all the technical stuff you do, but if there is anything we can help with, you let us know."

"Mom, the library is providing an assistant. I'm sure I'll be okay," Noelle says.

Hank raises an eyebrow, catching my eye. "The library is providing an assistant?"

"Yeah," Noelle says, checking the time on her phone. "Although I'm starting to get a little nervous. It's almost start time."

"Well, you go do what you need to. If you need me, I'm here," Helen says, with another quick hug.

Noelle nods, wandering back to the front of her room where her laptop is set up and projected onto the screen up front. The room has filled in, most of the computers accounted for.

And I guess now is as good a time as any.

I follow Noelle to the front desk, reaching into my pocket for the piece of cardstock I stuffed in there before I left this morning.

After Hank caught me throwing eggs at Noelle's dad's house, he mulled over the best way to punish me without punishing me , like he did with Noelle. And as much as he wanted to find new, creative ways to torture people enough that they snap out of their bad behaviors, there was only one idea that truly made sense to him.

She raises an eyebrow as she watches me shuffle through my pockets, and a look of understanding spreads across her face as she eyes the lined paper and bursts into laughter.

With a grin, I press my timecard onto the desk between us.

"I'm here for community service."