‘But… I’m definitely not that person. And I could never be.’
“And don’t get me wrong, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I am glad you found something that makes you happy, and you seem to go at it… into it…” He cleared his throat. I held my breath. “You work hard.”
He grumbled a curse under his breath. I would have chuckled if I hadn’t been dying to hear where this was going.
“I just don’t think I could handle seeing it right now.”
“Oh, okay,” I said, voice on the verge of cracking. How else was I supposed to respond to that?
‘It’s just a little bit too much for me to handle’wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It still stung, but at least he was being honest.
“Fuckin’ hell, elf,” he said almost sweetly. He cupped my jaw and forced my head up until I met his tranquil blue eyes. “Make no mistake, I am proud of you. And I do want to see your work. I want to see your face when you share it with me. But I am tryin’ real hard here to be chill. I want to get to know you. I want you to have the holiday you’ve been dreamin’ of having. And I know if I watch you make that face I got a brief glimpse of on your screen, I might lose it, and I won’t be able to hold off the next time you come at me with those seductive eyes.”
“Oooh.” I brightened as his words sank in.
“No. No. Don’t do that. Don’t you get all sexy and tempting. I can damn near read the thoughts going through that head of yours. I meant what I said, Danny.”
“Okay,” I said, settling into the couch. “I’ll be good.”
“Thank you,” he said with a relieved breath.
“For now,” I tacked on, smiling slyly when I saw his shoulders tense again.
I tossed my head back and laughed. I darted to my feet, feeling like I should give him a break from my silly flirting and my tempting body.
“Let’s get this tree sparkling!” I called out like a war cry. Complete with a thrust of my fist in the air.
The next hour was spent with me making a mess when I opened the remainder of the string lights I had. All warm white, which made it kind of feel sweet and romantic, if I was being honest. I loved it! Not so sure Killjoy did, but he was right therethe whole time, untangling the strands that I somehow managed to turn into a giant ball of WTF.
I situated some figurines on the branches, praying they wouldn’t fall. We did have to use duct tape on a few to keep them in place. I didn’t have any actual ornaments, but that was okay.
Or so I thought.
Suddenly, a big hand was in my view, the cute-but-ugly elf ornament I’d seen at the bookstore dangling from one of the calloused fingers.
My eyes tracked it with amazement as it swung back and forth.
“I got this for you,” Killjoy said. His tone was flat and emotionless. That didn’t fool me, though. I could hear the hint of anticipation in his voice. The way he was trying to hide that he actually cared.
Aww, my big softie.
Wait! No! He’s not mine. He can’t be mine.
“I got the cabin, too,” he said, as I finally slid the ornament from his finger. “Figured you can take ’em when you leave and…”
But what if I didn’t have to leave…
That was a silly thought.
“I’ll hang this one, and you can hang the cabin,” I told him.
It was one of the sweetest things that someone had done for me in a long time. My heart fluttered with warmth, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
“There,” I said as we stepped back in unison after we hung the elf and the cabin. They were so close to each other that they were nearly touching, which was ridiculous since there really wasn’t a lot on the tree. We could have spaced them out some more, but deep down, I liked that we hadn’t
The tree was leaning slightly to the left, and the branches were sad. The lights were heavier on the right as if I was trying to compensate for the tilt when I was decorating.
But, somehow, it was…
