Page 93 of Deck the Fire Halls

He shook his head, sipped his coffee, and sighed. And then he froze and looked down at his junk. “Are you saying I’ve got shrinkage?”

I burst out laughing. “No.” Then I also looked at his junk. “You definitely don’t have a shrinkage problem.”

He smirked without shame and went back to sipping his coffee.

It gave me a great idea for his Christmas gift though.

“Are you hungry? I’ll make you breakfast.” I went to the fridge and collected the eggs and milk.

“You don’t have to do that,” he murmured.

“I like looking after you,” I replied, not really meaning to sound so breathy and honest. I also didn’t mean to blush. “I mean, I like looking after people.”

It was too late. He was already smiling. He leaned against the kitchen counter and watched me as I went about my business, and it was then he noticed the opened envelope with both our names written on it.

Soren and Rob.

“Oh, what’s this?” he asked.

“Open it.”

He pulled out the small piece of paper. “Colson and Braithe.”

“Don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?”

He seemed genuinely confused. “About what?”

“About the Kris Kringle gift exchange that Hamish organized. Swore it was some group tradition, though Gunter seemed as surprised as me.”

His eyes went wide as it dawned. “Oh. Oh, yes. Right.” He swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah. I’ve heard about it. But I wasn’t in on it last year or anything.”

I smiled. He was definitely in on it. I put the butter beside him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a terrible liar. The tips of your ears go pink when you lie.”

He tried to lie again and gave up, giving me a smile instead. “I... I, yeah. So it’s a couple thing, huh?”

Couple thing.

Were we a couple? Dating, yes. We’d established that. But couple seemed next level.

“Mm,” I said. “So now we get to handmake a gift for Colson and Braithe.”

His gaze went to mine. “Handmake?”

“That was the rule, apparently.” Then I laughed. “Don’t worry. Hamish looked increasingly horrified as he went along. I guess it’s a good thing that none of you can lie convincingly. It’s cute.”

He sighed. “I just thought it’d be a nice idea,” he said gently. “And another gift to go under your tree. I hated seeing it was bare and thought it’d be fun. I also wanted you to see how...” He frowned and shrugged. “How well you fit in here. With them, the whole group. I didn’t know he was going to make it handmade gifts.”

“Pretty sure Hamish didn’t know either until he’d said it.” I went to Soren, lifted his chin, and kissed him softly. “It was very sweet of you.”

My heart squeezed, double tapping my ribs when his eyes met mine. “You’re not mad?”

I shook my head. “How could I be?” I kissed him again. “But we need to think of something. We have just over a week to come up with something.”

“Oh.” His face fell. “I have night duty next week, remember? Three-week rotation. Morning, night, then I stay at the fire hall. We each have to do it, but I’m captain. I get it every three weeks. Someone needs to man the station at all times, and it’s?—”

“Hey,” I whispered. I kept my hand to his cheek. “It’s fine. Why are you worried?”

“Because,” he murmured, “I won’t see you for almost a week. And we have to handmake something for Colson and Braithe, and I won’t be here to help.” He frowned. “I could make it while I’m at the station all by myself, I guess. Midnight to seven is pretty quiet, but still. I feel bad.”

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