How the Hitman Stole Christmas

I feel something pressed against my butt and start a little at the realization of what it must be.

Is he… aroused?

The thought makes my stomach twist, but rather than linger long enough to entertain any more thoughts about it, I lift his hand and roll off my side of the bed.

“I have to pee,” I lie. “I’m gonna take a shower while I’m in there. Did you bring in my white sweater?”

Jasper nods, not moving from the bed. “It’s right in the top of my bag.”

I blink at him in surprise, then hesitantly walk over to the chair he dropped it on last night.

I didn’t expect him to invite me to go through his things.

I steal a glance in his direction. He’s still on his side facing away from me.

Slowly, I unzip the black duffel bag and reach inside. I half expect him to stop me or at least roll over so he can watch and make sure I don’t snoop. When he let me use his phone, he certainly wasn’t comfortable.

Maybe it was only because I was a stranger then. Now I know him better, know more about him and what he does.

My cowl neck sweater is right there on top. I grab it, but curiosity tempts me to keep looking. Instead of taking the sweater and going to the bathroom, I reach deeper into the bag to see what else he packed.

My finger brushes something stiff. I pull the clothing aside to see what it is.

A passport. I frown, pushing back the clothes to see what else is in the bottom of the bag. There’s a thick leather pouch, zipped and locked, almost like a bank bag. Next to that is a cell phone with a rubber band wrapped around it, a green card and some papers attached behind it.

“It’s a go-bag.”

I jump, gasping as my gaze darts to the bed and I see him looking straight at me.

I didn’t hear him roll over. I would have at the motel, but this bed doesn’t squeak.

My face flushes. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have… My curiosity got the better of me.”

He shrugs, not seeming all that concerned about it. “I didn’t have time to pack a bag when I picked you up, so I grabbed the one I keep packed in case I need to get out of town in a hurry.”

“Has that ever happened?”

“A time or two.”

“You have a passport in here. You had to leave the country?”

He shakes his head slightly. “Nah, haven’t had to do that, but you want to be ready for anything. That’s the whole point of a go-bag. Whatever you might need, it has to be in there. Obviously, I didn’t need those things to visit my family for Christmas, but I had a hostage in the car—and not in the trunk where one would usually be, so… had to hurry.”

“Right,” I murmur like that’s a normal thing to agree with.

I pull the bag closed and start to zip it up, but then I realize he’ll need clothes, too, so I leave it.

“I won’t use all the hot water,” I tell him, flashing him a smile as I grab the rest of my clothes and head for the bathroom.Nora made breakfast, so we all gather around the kitchen island and eat. Everyone is chattering about plans for the day, so most of us stand, prepared to take off and begin whatever else it is we’re doing.

Nora asks Amira what she wants to do today, and Amira stops gnawing on her messy, jam-covered toast long enough to announce she wants to build a snowman.

“You know who builds excellent snowmen?” Nora asks her, leaning over the counter.

“Who?” the little girl asks, her big eyes glinting with curiosity.

“Uncle Jasper. When I was a kid, he always used to help me build snowmen. One year I even got this snowman paint kit from Santa Claus, so we made a really colorful snowman on Christmas day. He had flushed cheeks and stripes across his tummy. He was super cute.”

“Ooh, I want pretty snowman,” she says, looking over at Jasper. “We build snowman, too.”

“Oh, will we?” Jasper asks, scooping up a spoonful of eggs.

Amira nods decisively and jams a piece of toast into her mouth.

“Would you mind?” Nora asks, shifting her gaze to her brother. “We have a few more presents to wrap, so if you could keep an eye on her for a little while, that would be amazing.”

And that is how we end up out in the massive front yard, rolling balls of snow for our adorable little taskmaster.

Amira wanted to build a snowman for approximately three minutes. She started rolling one snow ball, but it fell apart and that annoyed her.

She still wanted a snowman, she just didn’t want to do the work of building it herself. Leaving the grunt work to us, she grabbed the spray bottle full of tinted water that I made so we could give the snowman a pleasant blush and proceeded to walk around the yard, spraying it everywhere.