“Would you want to join me at my mom’s for Christmas dinner?”
She rushed through that, almost as if I would say no. Why though, I wasn’t sure. Hadn’t she picked up on the fact that I was enjoying time with her outside of work?
“Tessy, are you worried?”
“Yes,” she mumbled and I shook my head
“I like you, and I like what’s going on between us. You might be scared of the idea, but I totally would love to go to your house for dinner, to be your plus one, and to get everyone off your back. You told me about it, you know. I didn’t forget. Was just waiting for you to ask me about it.”
“I know, I know. Just…it’s a lot to ask.”
I took her hand, having to smile at the vulnerable side I saw here. This wasn’t the same woman who placed a bid on me not too long ago. This was a woman that was scared, and I was determined to make it all better, if I could, and in any way I could.
“It’s not. Now, let’s get some holiday cheer up in your place,” I told her, holding up the bags in my other hand. That eased her fears, at least for the moment. And though it wasn’t ideal, it was something I would take.
She turned the car off, grabbing my hand as we both got out of the car, and made our way to her apartment, arms loaded with presents and decorations. She showed me around her place, which I felt was far cozier than she let on, then dumped her bags.
“I like lights. I always wanted my place to twinkle, even if it was just inside and for me.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, Tessy,” I told her, grabbing a box and untwisting the lights. “There’s plenty of times I’ll sitat home, in the quiet of the night, sipping coffee or tea, and just staring at my lights. It’s a soothing thing. Works really well when I have a role to start to focus on.”
She looked at me, a smile on her lips.
“Another tidbit of the famous actor that’s never shared.”
I gave her a mock glare before making sure I started with the correct end of the lights.
“Okay, now, I need to start from this end so the plug in is there. Do you want me to string them up over the doorway and then run it down?”
She came up behind me, arms crossed, looking at the area.
“Yeah, that’s the short strand. We can do that, and then run this one,” she said, grabbing the other and undoing it, “the other way. I think that should work.” She started walking, putting it over her shoulders. “I like it.”
“I’ll get on that.”
She paused, tilting her head before walking back over, dropping the strand.
“But if we did this one, then we can also extend it over the other way?”
“No, the shorter one should go here, just trust me.”
“I don’t know, Joshua.”
I reached down to grab my strand but instead of moving with me, it wrapped around her leg, pulling her down, which in turn, pulled me down on her. She laughed and the glow of the white lights made her shine.
Without thinking, I leaned down, pressing my lips against hers, thinking that her, naked, with these lights, would be just the sexiest sight ever.
Chapter 9
Tessy
They say that getting lost in a kiss can be a bad thing.
Let me tell you, kissing Joshua, it’s bad.
Bad for my sanity.
Bad for my health, only because I can’t seem to catch my breath.
