“Sounds good. Thanks for coming so quickly.”
After Saint and Diesel did some sort of manly clasping of hands thing, Diesel’s gaze moved his way. He was all smiles. “It really is great to finally put a face to the voice.” He focused on Saint once more. “He’s definitely a keeper. Best office manager you’ve ever had.”
Clover’s cheeks heated. He didn’t know why the compliment made him suddenly so uncomfortable with praise, but it did. “Thank you.”
Diesel glanced his way and waved away Clover’s words. “It’s the truth.” He switched his gaze to Saint again. “I’ll get out of your way now so you can get this one out of the cold. We’ll stay behind and make sure you’re not followed.”
“Thanks. I always appreciate you.”
With Saint’s goodbyes out of the way, he released Clover but stayed glued to his back until he got Clover ushered into the truck. It was nice and warm already. Clover watched Saint circlethe front of the truck and climb behind the wheel. He was incapable of looking away.
Saint met his stare as he pulled his door closed. “Let’s go adopt that tree.”
The smile that exploded across his face was out of his control. He wished like hell he could stay like this forever. Clover was pretty sure he had met the one and they would never be together.
It turned out Saint loved spending money on Clover, much to Clover’s open horror. It took them forever to get everything into the house. He had spent several hundred dollars on groceries alone. Saint didn’t want Clover to go hungry. Plus, they neededsnacks for their night of decorating. Damn. Saint really felt like he never had before, and he couldn’t stop noticing every time Clover looked at him the same. He was positive it wasn’t just his imagination. The way Clover had let him hold him and kiss his ear, not just anyone would have let him get away with that. While one could claim Clover had just gone along with the plan of protection, Saint had felt the way Clover’s breathing had changed. They were in trouble because they definitely wanted each other.
Saint had also bought a tree and a fuck-ton of decorations. They needed some for the office too. Several times, Clover had tried to give him money. That wasn’t happening. Saint always paid, especially knowing how much Clover needed to hang on to every dime. He had to spoil Clover. Saint couldn’t stop.
With all the bags inside, Saint focused on Clover. “Why don’t you go ahead and do what you need to do to get ready to be in for the night. I’ll put all this up.”
Clover huffed. “First you paid and now you also want to do all the work?”
Saint kept his expression blank. “Do you know where any of this goes?”
Clover chewed his bottom lip for a second. Then he brightened. “I could unpack all the decorations.”
“Absolutely not. We’re supposed to do that together.”
At his reminder, Clover’s hands rose and fell. “All right, then. I’ll try to take a quicker shower than usual.”
Saint shook his head. “Don’t rush. I have to get my pajamas on too, so we can do this right. So take all the time you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
Clover looked resigned, but he nodded and headed down the hall.
Saint nearly sighed in relief. He had a lot of secret stuff to do and very little time to do it. Saint put up groceries at the speed of light before he rushed to the bedroom to change. The shower still ran in Clover’s room, so he threw a batch of marshmallow-topped hot chocolate together. While that heated, he hid the gift he had bought on the sly. He slipped it into his halfway packed suitcase so he wouldn’t forget it. Saint was back in time to stir the cocoa and pour two mugs. With precision timing, Clover padded into the kitchen, wearing some sort of one-piece Christmas pajamas. It had little footies and zipped in the front. There was barely any skin showing and Saint was still more aroused than he could recall ever being. He was glad he wore a long shirt. No way were his thin pajama pants hiding his erection. The shirt probably wasn’t doing much either.
“You’re adorable.”
Clover didn’t blush like he had a tendency to do. He boldly held Saint’s stare. His expression gave nothing away. “I could say the same of you, but I’m afraid you wouldn’t appreciate it.”
The claim surprised a laugh from Saint. “Why wouldn’t I appreciate it?”
Clover’s smile made an appearance. “Your manly image might be hurt by getting called adorable.”
Saint shook his head and passed Clover his cup of hot chocolate. “I guess we should get this tree set up.”
Clover didn’t look bothered by Saint skimming over his compliment. Saint still wasn’t certain this was the best idea. He grew closer to Clover every minute they were together. Saint felt like he had a new best friend. A best friend he wanted to fuck… who also worked for him. An aggravated growl ran through Saint’s head. He couldn’t help how he felt. There was no stopping the march of his heart toward Clover.
Clover followed on his heels to the living room. “The tree we picked is pretty big. Where should we put it?”
Saint eyed the room. He motioned toward the window. “I can move that chest from underneath the window to the corner. Then that would give us the perfect spot. You know, like it looks on Christmas cards. Lights peeking through a fogged-up window as snow falls outside. That kind of thing.”
Clover stared at him in a way he couldn’t decipher. “You’re really getting to this, huh?”
He was because Clover was there. Clover’s joy for the holiday was catching. Plus, for the first time, he felt like he had someone to share Christmas with. He wasn’t alone.
“I promised I’d give this a real shot.”
