Uriel was at least halfway through the book. And Uriel did not fake reading. It was against his religion or something. Which meant….
“Hot, am I right?? Unlike me who ran over here in nothing but my sweater because you decorated my tree. It’s perfect and amazing and how can I ever thank you even though I might freeze to death where I stand?”
“Joe!” Uriel put down the book before hurrying over to him. He ran his hands up and down Joe’s arms, then herded him into the living room. “You’re soaked!”
Uriel whipped Joe’s sweater up and over his head. Earlier, he’d sworn the world had stopped spinning. Now, as he stood there in his threadbare T-shirt, Joe felt every one of the thousand miles an hour the Earth spun, a fact he only knew because Uriel had told it to him.
“Sit,” Uriel demanded.
“Bossy,” Joe muttered through chattering teeth as he sat and let Uriel wrap the snuggliest blanket in existence around him.
“I’d rather be bossy than Jack Frost. Or what was that snowman’s name? The one you went on and on about.” Uriel knelt and struck a match before lighting the tinder already set up in the fireplace.
The man had a thing for fires and always had logs ready to go if he didn’t have one lit. And Joe had a thing for the man.
And fires.
And the man when there was a fire.
And oh, man, he needed to make like Jack Frost and chill the snowflake out before this thing went totally sideways and then where would he be?
Joe sighed.
Flames crackled in the fireplace, and Uriel turned to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
Joe stared into Uriel’s eyes before sighing again. “Not one single thing in the entire world. I’m exactly where I want to be. Except my toes are cold. But other than that….” Joe swallowed hard. “When did I fall for you, Uriel? Could you let me know? Because I don’t remember doing it. Oh, maybe I’m still asleep. That would explain a lot. Except for the cold toes.”
Uriel turned to face Joe and picked up his foot. He massaged Joe’s toes until the warmth of his hands transferred to them and the chill dissipated. Joe shivered again, for entirely different reasons this time. Uriel had his thinking face on, which meant he wasn’t ignoring Joe’s questions.
Joe wiggled his toes and Uriel looked up at him. He smiled. The fire sparkled in his eyes, making them glow with the same reddish orange as the flames.
How elfing romantic was that?
He leaned forward, checking Uriel’s gaze for any sign that he and Uriel weren’t on the same page. Joe was so focused on watching Uriel’s face he sort of forgot that Uriel held his feet and that he was wrapped up in the fluffiest blanket in existence.
Instead of the soft, fleeting kiss Joe hoped for, he ended up face-planting onto Uriel’s chest and toppling them both over onto the hardwood floor. Joe’s head thumped the planks, and somehow Uriel ended up on top of him with the blanket tangled around their heads.
“Oops?” Joe whispered.
The mysterious sparkle reappeared in Uriel’s eyes, which was weird since they were under the blanket, but whatever. “Now I’ve got you right where I want you,” Uriel said, his voice sounding oddly sinister.
At least until Joe realized he’d totally quoted a line from the grinch book. “Oh no, Mr. Grinch! Whatever would I do if you ravaged me right here in front of the fire? How could I ever show my face in WhoCaresVille again?” Joe completed his impersonation of the grinch’s love interest by batting his eyes flirtatiously.
“Who says I plan on ever letting you go?”
And huh, the low rumble of Uriel’s voice didn’t sound like the grinch that time. And Joe was pretty sure the line had something to do with what the grinch planned on doing with his face instead, which had been…ohhhhhh.
“You don’t?” Joe asked. “Want to let me go? Wait, or you don’t want to ravage my…face. No, that wasn’t it.”
“No, Joe,” Uriel said, slowly lowering his head until his lipsalmosttouched Joe’s. “I don’t want to let you go.”
And holy mistletoe madness, Uriel’s lips were on his and Joe forgot how to breathe. How had he gone his entire life without experiencing a kiss like this? He moaned into Uriel’s mouth and made a vain attempt to free his arms so he could get his hands on Uriel.
Uriel, however, didn’t cooperate. He obviously had his own plan in mind because the next thing Joe knew, his hands were pinned over his head. Had the blanket tied itself into knots around him?
Well, he had been clutching it kind of tightly before his little tumble, so maybe….
“Oh gingersnap,” Joe said, his voice huskier than it had been a moment before.
