Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30218 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “Nuh-uh,” I said. “I refuse to believe that a man who brings holiday cheer to all of Denver would ever lose that magic.”
Rome came walking back over a minute later, a serene smile on his face.
“Justin, I know you’re dead set on that other tree, but come look at the fresh ones,” he said. “Totally worth fighting for. Casey, you might even want to get one, too.”
“I already have a tree, and you know it,” I said.
My breath hitched for a moment.
Shit. If I was trying to pretend Rome had never come over to my house, how would he know I already had a tree?
“Casey gets a tree the first moment the air is cold every year,” Justin said. “He already mentioned he has one, Dad.”
Heat flooded my body. So I had mentioned it. The lines were starting to blur between what Rome and I had talked about last week and what we’d said tonight, and I knew I was going to have to watch myself closer.
“So get a second tree, then, Casey,” Rome said. His smile was radiant. For a moment, I caught his eye, and the same safe, cozy feeling returned to me.
I felt at home with him. He was attractive as all hell, but he was also so comforting.
And I knew exactly how good it felt to have his hands on me. To wrap my arms around his broad shoulders. To be truly close to him.
But that was exactly the thing I needed to ignore.
No matter how much my body craved him.
The rest of the night passed by without incident, and as I watched Rome get in his truck at the end of the night, I knew it might be the last time I saw him.
My latest regret, and my best Christmas memory, all wrapped up in one man.
I went home alone and successfully thought about other things until I finally tucked into bed. As I drifted off to sleep, all I could see in my mind's eye was Rome’s smile.
And I fucking missed him. Missed a man I barely knew, who I couldn’t have, and who’d made his way into my deepest desires anyway.
How the hell had he gotten under my skin so damn easily?
Because he gave you the best night of your life, I thought idly as I fell asleep, hugging my pillow and wishing it could be him.
8
ROME
I picked up the short glass of whiskey, enjoying its steady weight in my hand as I swirled the liquor around a single ice cube.
“This was the right call,” I said across the bar to Harlan, the lumberjack head brewer at Jade Brewery.
“It seemed like more of a whiskey night than a beer night, didn’t it?” Harlan said. “I’m a beer man through and through, but a snowy night calls for at least a little whiskey.”
“Cheers to that,” I said, taking a slow sip. The liquor burned in just the right way as I swallowed.
“What brings you up here again tonight?” Harlan said.
I’d been surprised when Harlan remembered me at all when I’d walked into Jade Brewery tonight. It had been well over two weeks now since I’d come here to put up decorations and chat with Casey, but the moment I’d walked in, Harlan had greeted me with a warm grunt and a wave, which for him seemed like the VIP treatment.
“I’m up here on a whim, to be honest,” I said. “No real reason to be up in the mountains, but I had a job all day today on the west side of the city. After I finished up, I just kind of… turned my truck this way and drove.”
Harlan nodded. “Those nights are the best, sometimes. Glad you’re back, either way.”
I wished I could explain it better, but the truth was that some part of my brain had been floating on a cloud for the past couple of weeks. In the days that followed my first night with Casey, it became clearer and clearer that this December was going to be one of the stranger ones in my life.
First, there was the night with Casey itself. Then later, the night at the Christmas tree lot. But now, another week and a half had passed since the night at the tree lot with Justin, and my memories of Casey had morphed into something different altogether.
Because Casey and I had been texting each other.
A lot, actually.
I’d ended up with his number in yet another strange turn of events, when Justin dropped and shattered the screen of his own phone. He insisted that Casey send me the dozens of pictures he’d taken that night of us, and he’d given Casey my number.
And then, the next day, I got another picture from Casey. A simple shot of a wreath he’d liked on one of his neighbor’s mailboxes. This had slowly snowballed into both of us sending each other pictures of various wintertime decorations, anytime we saw something we both liked. Trees, lights, a dog in a reindeer costume, a snowman. Each time I saw his name pop up on my screen I instantly felt warmer inside.