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Sienna made a noise of protest in the back of her throat, and Chris reached up and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.
“You already know that I’ve been struggling with claustrophobia. I’ve been kicking around the idea of retiring and finding something else to do. When I was stuck inside that car, the first thought that went through my head, was ‘not again.’ But then I heard the voice of an angel. You, Sienna. You were there. Forcing me to keep it together.”
“Chris,” she protested, but he put a finger on her lips to shush her. Her lips tingled where his finger touched, and Sienna wanted to open her mouth and take his finger inside, but she tried to concentrate on what he was saying instead.
“Tony gave me this for Christmas when he was ten. He said it was a good luck charm and it would lead me to find my own angel. I’ve carried it with me every day since.” He picked up her hand and placed something in her palm.
Sienna looked down to see a small rock in her hand. A crude angel was painted on the surface, the paint peeling off, but the cute brown-haired angel was recognizable all the same.
“Merry Christmas,” he said softly, and wrapped her fingers around the small stone.
The meaning of his words sank in and she gasped, her eyes flicking up to meet his. “I can’t take this.”
“Yes, you can. Please. I need you to have it. I need to make sure you’re safe out there.”
The rock seemed to burn a hole in her hand. She’d never been given anything so special before. “I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” he reassured her. “This feels so right. Like it’s meant to be. You’re my angel, Sienna. My Christmas angel.” After a moment, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck.
Goose bumps rose on her arms as the calluses on his hand brushed across her sensitive nape.
Chris didn’t move, didn’t pull her toward him. Didn’t pressure her for anything. Simply stared up at her, every emotion easy to read in his eyes and face.
He wanted her. He truly believed she’d been sent to help him out in his time of need. On Christmas Eve at that.
Why shouldn’t she be his angel? Maybe she was sent to be at that exact intersection when he’d needed her. What were the odds that their kids would be in the same Army unit? Or that they lived in the same city?
Throwing caution to the wind, and deciding she was going to go after what she wanted for once in her life, Sienna leaned forward, closing the distance between them. She felt Chris’s fingers tighten on the back of her neck and saw his small smile seconds before her lips landed on his.
Sienna had kissed and been kissed many times in her life. Some were good, others not so much. But the Christmas kiss she shared with Chris was more intense, more spine-tingling, more…meaningful than anything she’d ever experienced before.
She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the feelings coursing through her body. She desired him, but she could taste the sweet promise in his lips.
He held her to him firmly, but not so tight that she didn’t know he’d let go immediately if she pulled back. Their tongues teased each other for a beat before he slanted his head, taking her deeper. Sienna made a guttural noise at the back her throat and put a hand on his chest to help keep her balance.
How long they made out, she didn’t know, but when he finally pulled back, she whimpered in protest.
When she opened her eyes, she expected to see Chris smiling, or at least looking amused at how pathetic she sounded. But instead when she looked into his gaze, all she saw was tenderness.
“Merry Christmas, Sienna,” he said softly.
“Merry Christmas, Chris.”
“I still want to take you out for New Year’s,” he told her.
Sienna could only nod.
Then he licked his lips, and his eyes flicked to her mouth before coming back to meet hers. “I wouldn’t change anything about this day. Not one second.”
Swallowing hard, Sienna nodded.
“You should go. I’m sure you’re tired, and I know you have plans with Sarah tomorrow.”
Sienna nodded again.
Chris smiled. “Maybe one more kiss before you go though?”
Liking that he was asking, and not simply taking what he wanted, Sienna leaned forward again.
Twenty minutes later, his number programmed into her phone, and hers in his, Sienna stood in the doorway. Christmas music was softly playing from somewhere down the hall, but otherwise everything was quiet. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Sienna told Chris. They’d made out until Chris had pulled away with a groan. She knew she needed to get to her hotel, but the last thing she wanted to do was leave.
