Page 67 of Hired By the Enemy
As if she summoned him by saying his name, Matthew is suddenly back at my side.
“Look, muffin pie, I found some almond Christmas cookies for you.”
He deposits a kiss on the side of my face and snuggles into me before he realizes who’s watching us from behind the counter.
Matthew’s eyes widen. “Oh wow, it’s Ms. Beauton. Um…hi, how are you?”
Ms. Beauton’s eyes flick from my arm around Matthew’s waist to where he’s cuddled into me and then back to our faces.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she says.
Epilogue
Matthew
One Year Later
Christmas morning, and I wake up the same way I’ve woken up every day over the last year. With Liam’s arms wrapped around me.
I roll over so I can face him, then lean forward and place a soft kiss on his lips.
“Merry Christmas,” I whisper.
“It’ll be a whole lot merrier if you let me sleep longer,” he grumbles, eyes still closed.
“But it’s Christmas.” As I climb out of bed, I accidentally pull half the blankets with me, exposing Liam.
Shit. Normally, seeing my boyfriend laid out naked would tempt me back into bed to have another round of the fun we had last night, but not today.
Because right now, I’m almost vibrating in excitement about the present I have to give to Liam.
Liam opens one eye, then shuts it again, groaning.
“Come on. Mom will have breakfast ready. You don’t want to miss her Christmas breakfast,” I say.
It’s Liam’s first full-immersive O’Conner Christmas experience. Last Christmas, we’d only just started officially dating, and we hadn’t felt comfortable staying the night at each other’s place or abandoning our families completely.
But this Christmas, my mother has incorporated Liam and his dad into all our family’s festivities. One major advantage of getting together with the boy who lived next door—the commute is not exactly a hardship.
Liam’s still slowly waking up, so I riffle through his duffel bag and pull out some clothes for him to dress in because functioning well first thing in the morning isn’t something my boyfriend excels at.
Liam continues to grumble as he puts on the clothes I’ve picked out, but after he’s dressed, he pulls me into a sweet kiss.
I smile as we pull apart.
Everyone talks about friendship being such a great basis for a relationship, but it turns out that being enemies for most of your life works well too.
Liam and I moved in together after only a few months of dating because it seemed ridiculous not to live with each other when we were spending every night together.
And together, we’ve managed to navigate the stresses in our professional lives in the last year, him starting his gym, me continuing to stand up to Paul and lead my company in the direction I want.
Liam has been an incredible sounding board and cheerleader, and I like to think I’ve done the same thing back to him.
With a few insults thrown in for fun, of course.
“Coming, buttercup?” I ask as I open the door.
“Sure thing, my sweet elf,” he replies.
