My Life as a Holiday Album (My Life as an Album #5) - L.J. Evans Page 0,101

leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. It wasn’t a peck, and it wasn’t all-in. It was a goodnight kiss. Sweet but packed with a longing that echoed in me. God, I loved it.

“Goodnight, Ginny,” he said as he backed away.

I was all smiles as I looked at him. “Goodnight, Cole.”

Then, I forced myself into the car to drive away before I threw myself at him and begged him to keep kissing me.

Cole

I WANT YOU FOR CHRISTMAS

“I need you for Christmas

I'd love you for Christmas

I'm beggin' you for Christmas.”

Performed by Cheap Trick

Written by Nielsen / Zander

While I waited for Ginny at the bar the next morning, I glanced again at the text she’d sent me when I’d walked her to her car. It said:

THE WITCH: I can’t wait to do that again.

I smiled because it was exactly my sentiment.

Problem was, I didn’t think she exactly wanted me doing that in the middle of her family. People who would see us for the reality of what we were: a random hookup. Nothing that could be permanent because of where we lived and the lives we had in front of us that weren’t likely to be merged.

It didn’t stop me from leaning over and kissing her with feeling as soon as she stepped out of her car, though. My hands were full with a carafe of coffee and donut boxes, and I couldn’t do it the way I really wanted, with force and bodies aligned, but it was enough for her to know I didn’t regret our makeout session.

“I figured I had to get that in before we were surrounded by people,” I said. “I don’t want to lose a limb.”

She laughed before going to the trunk and taking out a couple of bags before heading up the steps. She unlocked the door, and I followed her in. We set everything down, and before she could step away, I wrapped her in my arms to kiss her the way I really had wanted to. Harder. With more attention and a certain fierceness to it that she returned

When I let go, she was smiling as much as I was.

“I want to do that again. All over. Everything we did last night,” she said, but I heard the hesitancy in her voice. “But I’m not sure our cousins or our friends will be able to live with us doing that and then saying goodbye when you leave in a couple of days. It may be more than either of us want to deal with.”

“I get it. I’ll have a stern talking-to with my hands and my lips and make sure they keep to themselves,” I said, not letting my smile slip because I damn sure wasn’t going to make her feel bad for saying exactly what my brain knew. My heart and soul, on the other hand, hated the idea.

“My turn to make a deal,” she said, pausing before saying the next words in a rush. “I’ll agree to let your hands and lips stay to themselves today, but only if we get to have a repeat performance of last night, tonight.”

My heart flipped, and I grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

We were standing there, goofy-eyed, when the stairs rattled with footsteps. We turned back to the donuts and the coffee as Mayson and Grace came through the door.

“We brought—shit—you already got some,” Mayson said with his hands full of donuts.

“I think we’re going to need them. I have a feeling Mister-bottomless-pit here is going to need a whole box to himself,” Ginny teased.

“You’ve known him a whole two days and already have him pegged,” Grace said, smacking me in the stomach.

Ginny and I shared one last smile before we turned to the piles of decorations and the task at hand.

Hours later, I was wondering if a day had ever lasted so long as Ginny and I covered the round tables that had been delivered with gold and silver tablecloths. It had been just the four of us all morning because the rest of the gang was off at doctor’s appointments, and meetings with agents, and packing to leave.

Mayson and Grace had continued hanging the lights while Ginny and I had hung banners and balloons and filled the tables with metallic plasticware. By the time the florist arrived, we’d done a damn good job of turning the room into a glamorously chic party space. We rewarded ourselves by ducking downstairs to grab food. I was grateful Phil wasn’t around as we