Page 36 of Decorated

“Despite Parker’s confidence, I’m not certain they’d hire me,” he said.

“What?” Blaine was outraged at the idea. “Is it because you’re gay? Because you’re a man? I thought we were miles beyond that sort of discrimination. It isn’t fair. You’d be the perfect houseparent. I’m going to have to complain to someone. These people would do well to?—”

Alfie reached out and pressed a finger to Blaine’s lips. “It’s because institutions like that generally prefer married couples as houseparents,” he said.

That was all he said, but the spark in his eyes suggested something else to Blaine entirely. It suggested a future and a life he never would have dreamed of.

But it was a good suggestion, even if it was much too early to put something like that on the table.

Instead of pointing out the obvious, that the two of them had technically only been dating for fifteen minutes and marriage was a long way off, Blaine grinned. When Alfie moved his finger, he took an enormous, suggestive bite of his cupcake.

Alfie laughed low and deep in his throat in a way that had Blaine shivering with arousal, then brought his finger back to Blaine’s face. This time, he wiped a blob of icing from the tip of Blaine’s nose, then stuck his finger in his mouth to suck it off. That gesture nearly caused Blaine’s knees to buckle.

He chewed his bite of cupcake as fast as he could, then swallowed and said, “Wanna get out of here? I know a cozy corner upstairs where we could unwrap some presents.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Alfie laughed again. “Not quite yet,” he said, glancing past Blaine toward the dining hall’s door.

Blaine turned just as Uncle Robert burst into the room dressed as Santa.

“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!” Uncle Robert said, throwing his arms wide and heading into the middle of the room, to the large Christmas tree. “I was told there were good boys and girls here.”

“Someone lied to you,” one of the teenage boys called in return.

Several people laughed. Blaine was one of them. It was the sort of joke he would have made at that age. It was the sort of joke he would make now.

“Come on,” Alfie said quietly as Blaine scarfed down the last of his cupcake. “Let’s go help hand out the gifts.”

Blaine never would have imagined anything would be more fun than rushing up to his flat and getting horizontal with Alfie. Joining Uncle Robert and Group Captain Parker to hand out the gifts that had been collected in the toy drive was definitely up there. Seeing so much love and kindness expressed to people who might not otherwise have seen it filled up Blaine’s soul.

Watching Alfie distributing the gifts to the kids and seeing the way the kids looked at him with as much awe and admiration as Santa was all the gift he needed that Christmas. Everything was still so new between him and Alfie, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit smug for finding himself such an amazing man.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, after the gifts were given out, Group Captain Parker made a speech commending Alfie on the work he’d done and thanking the Hawthorne family, after carols were sung and more treats were consumed, the party started to wind down.

“We should probably stick around and help clean up,” Blaine said after Alfie said goodbye to Parker. “It would be the responsible thing to do.”

“Maybe,” Alfie said, taking his hand and threading their fingers together. “But I have something else in mind.”

The look Alfie gave him hinted at exactly what that was. Blaine felt his insides turn to putty as Alfie tugged on his hand and led him out of the dining hall with a few other departing guests.

They veered away from those guests as they reached the front hall, heading to the family wing and up the stairs to Blaine’s flat instead. Blaine was already toeing out of his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt seconds after they entered the flat and shut the door behind them.

“Wait,” Alfie said in a warning voice that sent another shiver through Blaine.

Blaine’s hands froze on his buttons. “You don’t want to?—”

He dropped his question as he watched Alfie cross the room to the couch, where an overnight bag and a large, rectangular, wrapped present sat.

“I got you a little something,” Alfie said, picking up the present, then coming back over to hand it to Blaine. “A little something I think you’ll like.”

Blaine took the gift, surprised by how heavy it was. “You didn’t have to get me anything,” he said.

Alfie shrugged. “I wanted to.”

Blaine burst into a smile, then moved to the small table at the side of the room so he could open the gift.

He expected something naughty or sexy, something like boyfriends of the past had given him that had led immediately to sexy times. That’s what he expected people to think of him. But as soon as he saw the Burberry box waiting for him under the wrapping paper, he gasped and his heart sped up. He torethrough the rest of the paper and lifted the box’s lid to reveal the peacoat he’d admired through the shop window the week before.

“I could tell you’d fallen in love with it as soon as you saw it,” Alfie said, his smile filled with hope and delight. “I had to get it for you, to keep you warm.”

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