The Christmas Cookie Crush (Arcadian Falls Christmas #4)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Austin

We laze on the bed for a while, basking in each other’s company before I suggest a bath.

Nora’s eyebrows raise. “A bath?”

Grinning, I nod toward the bathroom. “There’s a great big tub. I figured since we have it, we should use it, don’t you think? Also, there’s champagne and strawberries.”

She giggles. “You went all out for this.”

“It was included with the room.”

Despite my disclaimer, she pulls my mouth to hers with a hand on my cheek, kissing me softly. “Thank you,” she whispers. “It’s perfect.”

“You’re welcome,” I whisper back. “Merry Christmas.”

That makes her giggle again, flopping back on the bed as I get up and get the bath started. “I should give you your present too. I brought it just in case, since we haven’t solidified our plans for Christmas Day,” she calls after me.

“I can wait,” I tell her, but when I straighten from turning on the tap, she’s behind me, naked and flushed, a small gift bag in her hand.

“It’s not anywhere near as fancy as this.” She gestures around the room. “But I wanted to get you something. And since … well, I thought you could use it.”

She crosses her arms, then drops them, then puts her hands on her hips, like she’s nervous and doesn’t know what to do with her hands. The thought that I make her nervous is a little bit hilarious, especially after the way she busted my balls when she first got back to town.

“I’m sure I’ll love it,” I tell her, going in for a kiss before pulling out the tissue paper.

She laughs when I toss the tissue paper all over the bathroom floor. “Careful!” she cautions. “You’ll get it in the bathtub. Oh, you didn’t plug the drain.” When she bends over to do that, I can’t help checking out her ass, giving it a soft smack that has her head jerking around, a grin stretching her lips. “Oh, we’re at that stage, are we?”

My grin matches hers, and I just shrug. “Pick out what you want to add to the bath,” I tell her, motioning toward the cluster of bottles and soaps next to the rolled towels.

“But your present,” she protests.

“Just pick something real quick. We want it to get in while the water’s running, don’t we? Then I’ll finish opening my present while the bath fills.”

She accepts that rationale and picks a bottle of purple liquid, pouring a shimmering stream into the bath by the faucet, and the smell of lavender fills the air. “Oooh, good choice,” I tell her.

After capping the bottle, she gestures at me. “Okay. Present.”

Peering into the bag, I start laughing and pull out a package of Warheads. “Seriously? You gave me endless amounts of shit for the Warheads I gave you, and you give me some back?”

A lopsided smile on her face, she shrugs and crosses her arms. “I thought it’d be funny. There’s more, though. That’s not the real present.”

Another laugh comes out as I pull out a package of Sour Patch Kids.

“Those are actually good, though,” she says, pointing at me. “I wouldn’t have ever admitted this to you before, but I credit you for turning me on to sour candies. Warheads are still too sour, but Sour Patch Kids are delicious. It’s what I eat when I’m studying or trying to finish a paper on a tight deadline.”

“Good to know,” I murmur, looking back in the bag. Something else is hiding under another layer of tissue paper, and I pull out a black beanie with pops of turquoise along the brim, fading to turquoise with spots of black at the top.

“I noticed you don’t wear a hat,” she says. “I thought maybe you didn’t have one, and I thought you could use one. I liked it. And it’ll go with your coat. The lady makes them all by hand.”

Stepping up to her, I hook an arm around her and pull her in for a kiss. “It’s perfect. I love it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she murmurs, a tremor running through her.

Looking down at her, my brows crease. “Are you cold? Get in the bath. I’ll grab the strawberries and champagne.”

Her smile looks forced again, and I don’t understand why. But she just nods and turns for the tub. She must still be tired from today. This week. The whole month.

I’m tired, too, if I’m honest. But I don’t have millions of kids going through my area the way she does. Maybe she’s coming down with something.

I take time to uncork the champagne and pour some into the flutes, supporting both glasses between the fingers of one hand and carrying the plate of strawberries with the other. When I get back into the bathroom, Nora’s slouched down into the bathtub almost as far as she can go, both hands covering her face.

“Nora?” I ask softly. When she doesn’t respond right away, I clear my throat and try again. The water’s still running. She must not’ve heard me the first time.

That does the trick. She pulls her hands down, dragging them along her cheeks like she’s trying to wipe her eyes without giving it away. My brow pulls together in concern. Her face looks damp, but if her hands were wet, that could explain it. And there’s water on her arms and wrists, plus wisps of her hair stick to her cheeks. Most of it’s piled on top of her head, but the parts she calls baby hairs form a halo around her head, making her look almost angelic with her pale face and round eyes.

She gives me that same wan smile from earlier, sitting up and making room for me to join her. When I set down the chocolate-covered strawberries, she gives the first genuine reaction since we had sex. The sight of them perks her up, and she sits up straighter, bubbles sliding down her chest.

After picking up a strawberry, she catches me checking her out and laughs. And that sound makes me feel even better.

Giving her a lopsided smile, I shrug one shoulder and pass her a glass of champagne. “What? You’re hot.”

She laughs again, her mouth full of strawberry and chocolate. When she manages to swallow, a closed-mouth smile still on her face, she shakes her head. “Don’t make me laugh while I’m eating, jerk.”

Grinning, I climb into the tub facing her, grateful to whoever decided to put the faucet on the long side instead of at one of the ends. The bathtub designer was clearly thinking ahead. At first it seemed odd to me, but now I get it.

My legs tangle with hers, and she rubs her foot on my thigh, making my dick perk up a little even though it hasn’t been that long since I came. Pretty hard, too.

“God, you’re sexy,” I murmur, letting my eyes trail down her face and body.

“Thanks,” she says, her voice soft. “So are you.”

When I look at her face, her eyes are on my chest, but she raises them to mine after a moment, giving me that sad smile again.

I debate whether or not to ask what’s wrong again. She waved off my question earlier, and I’d hoped that relaxing with me would help dispel whatever’s causing her to look sad. But I’m not sure I buy the excuse that she’s just tired.

“Are you feeling okay?” I ask, leaning forward and picking up one of the strawberries.

When I bite into it, bits of chocolate crunch off and fall to my chest, which makes her giggle. “Yeah,” she says as I collect them, not wanting melted chocolate in our bath water. “I’m okay.”

I quickly bite off the rest of the strawberry, leaving only the leafy cap in my hand so I don’t spill more chocolate. As I chew, I study Nora, who seems to be avoiding my gaze.

“Are you?” I press after I swallow, reaching for my champagne.

A series of expressions flits across her face so quickly I can’t really read any one of them. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind,” she says at last, swishing her arms through the water and gathering bubbles to her chest. Then she crosses her arms.

None of this behavior seems normal to me. Not how she’s been with me, anyway.

“Like what?” I ask softly, reaching over to turn off the faucet. We could fit more water in here, but I want us to be able to speak without having to talk over the roar of the water or worry about it distorting our words. It’s deep enough.

One of her shoulders rises and falls, causing a small series of ripples in the bath.

I reach under the bubbles and find the leg that’s pressed against my thigh, caressing her calf and squeezing her hips with my feet where they rest alongside her. “You can talk to me, Nora. Is it your family? School?”

Her head tilts back, resting on the edge of the bathtub, and she stares up at the ceiling. “Yes? Sort of. That’s part of it.”

“Well,” I say slowly, letting my fingers drift up and down her leg, hoping the touch helps her as much as it does me, “start with the first one. What’s going on with your family? Did your mom give you grief about spending two nights in a row with me?”

Her head moves side to side. “No, actually. She just smiled at me and told me to be safe, which is what she’s said both of the other times too.” She makes a gagging noise. “As though I want my mom to remind me about condoms. Gross.”

That makes me chuckle. “Yeah. I can’t say I’d want my mom talking to me about safe sex, either. That fell to my dad when I was in high school, though it was fortunately brief and only one conversation.”

That has her lifting her head, a small smile playing over her lips. “Oh yeah? How’d that go?”

Chuckling, I remember my dad knocking on my bedroom door and awkwardly putting a box of condoms on my dresser. “It was before I went on my first date in high school, which happened my sophomore year after I got my license.”

She arches an eyebrow. “You didn’t have a girlfriend until then?”

“Well,” I hedge, “I had a couple of ‘girlfriends’“—I make air quotes around the word—”before that, but we mostly just held hands in the hall and ate lunch together. Once I had a license, I could take a girl out without my parents’ being along, you know?” At her nod, I continue. “Anyway, he came in a little while before I was supposed to pick her up, gave me a box of condoms, and told me it was my job to make sure I didn’t get anyone pregnant or pick up any diseases. He also said he’d help me out and support me if something happened, but that responsibility is important, and if I’m old enough to drive and take a girl out, I’m old enough to make sure I don’t ruin a girl’s life.”

She chuckles. “Wow.”

I arch an eyebrow. “What was your safe sex talk like?”

She shakes her head. “Not like that. Ty and Sarah told me more than my parents did, though when I had my first boyfriend that I was spending time with alone, my mom sat me down one night and told me she wanted to make sure I was making good choices.” She smirks, her gaze going abstract as she stares at the water and shakes her head at the memory. “I was disgusted and rolled my eyes. I wasn’t ready for sex at that point. I’d heard enough horror stories that I was fine with waiting.” She shakes her head again, her expression turning sour. “Not that people really believed that. Even my brother thinks I slept my way through high school, despite the fact that I didn’t have sex for the first time until halfway through my junior year.”

My brows pull together. “Which brother?”

She gives me a duh look. “Dylan. Who else?”

“What’s his problem with you?”

Another shrug. Another series of ripples across the water. “I’m his dumb little sister. What other problem does he need?”

She turns pensive, her expression serious, her brow knotted in the center of her forehead like she’s puzzling through a thorny problem.

“Is he the one giving you shit?”

A heavy sigh, and she crosses her arms, her chin nearly resting on her chest as she slumps farther down into the water.

I assume that’s a yes. “What’d he say?”

Shaking her head, she brings a hand up to wipe her face, and I can’t handle the fact that she’s crying.

“Hey,” I cajole, reaching for her. “Come here.” When she doesn’t immediately respond, I run a hand up her arm. “Please. Just turn around. Come here and let me hold you. I can’t stand to see you upset.”

With a deep breath, she shifts around, letting me help her so she’s cradled between my thighs, my arms wrapped around her. I drop a kiss behind her ear. “Tell me what happened,” I whisper, hoping she will but also wondering if me knowing what Dylan said will make things better or worse.

At this point, though, knowing he’s upsetting her is enough to make me want to confront him. Better I know what he said first.