Page 81 of The Lair

“I’m wearing warm clothes,” I argue, a white cloud coming out of my lips.

My cheeks heat up—and not from the sudden warmth—when I notice my body has disappeared under a gigantic snow jacket that can only belong to one man.

“You’ve been shivering for the past hour,” my boss says, all while keeping both of his hands on my shoulders. He must notice we’re not alone because he adds, “Charlie.”

“Hey, boss.” My friend and co-worker glances between us with a playful glint in his eyes I could kill him for. “Did you come to take Allie Cat away?”

His fingers splay across my shoulders, so long that they reach the base of my neck. His touch isn’t rough or demanding, but a steady presence that reminds me he’s here. That he’s got my back.

Or maybe I’m reading too much into it.

“Unless you want to stay,” he tells me, his breath grazing my ear.

His thumbs start applying pressure in the back of my neck, massaging it.Oh God.

“Allie Cat?” Charlie eyes me with a knowing look, which makes me think he probably said something I didn’t hear because my head is full of not-so-appropriate thoughts about the man at my back.

“I’ll go with Travis for a bit,” I manage to say, my heart beating so fast, I’m afraid the whole party can hear it.

It’s Lola who gives me a knowing smile and says, “You guys have fun.”

I don’t imagine the hands that leave my shoulders to travel down my arms, only for one to settle on my back. Wordlessly, Iwave goodbye at them and follow Travis into the throng awaiting the New Year.

We don’t stop until we reach an area surrounded by food trucks and picnic tables. Sitting at one of them are Uncle Neil, Barbara, and a few of Travis’s friends I recognize from that birthday party at the bar.

“Allie-girl.” Uncle Neil throws his wrinkly hands in the air when he sees me, a huge smile on his lips. He gets up with more ease than I would’ve expected from a seventy-something-year-old and pulls me into a hug, away from his nephew’s touch. “What the hell are you wearing? I’m not up-to-date with the latest fashion trends.”

I smile and hug him back. “I’m afraid I’m not either. This is Travis’s jacket.”

He gives me a friendly pat on my cheek, reminding me of the grandfather I never met. “Is my boy good to you?”

“He’s the best.” I have no clue if Uncle Neil knows about my new living situation, so I don’t bring it up. I lean in conspiratorially. “But he’s a big grump.”

The old man throws his head back in laughter. “Won’t argue with you on that. You two sit with us. I’ll get drinks.”

Travis doesn’t sit with me, instead choosing to stand behind my seat, his hands bracing on my backrest. The gesture feels intimate for some reason.

Barbara leans over the table and gives me a smile. “I didn’t know you were coming tonight, Allie. Are you having fun?”

Snuggled in Travis’s snow jacket, I spend the next hour talking to everyone from Uncle Neil to Barbara to some of Travis’s friends and other people I don’t know the names of. Everyone treats me like I’ve been part of their inner circle for years. They all want to know what Travis is like as a boss, which I find funny because I know they expected some dirt, but I have nothing but good things to say about him.

Except that some days it feels like something crawled up his ass and died there, which gets me a bunch of laughs and a shoulder squeeze from the man behind me.

“The fireworks are gonna start any minute now,” Uncle Neil says after a while, promptly standing from his seat and holding out a hand in Barbara’s direction. “Let’s move closer to the shore before it gets too crowded.”

Something between worry and warning passes in his eyes when he looks at his nephew next, and I get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. But I brush it off, concluding that maybe it has something to do with Uncle Neil’s health, and I don’t have a right to ask about that.

Barbara clings to Uncle Neil’s arm, both heading for the lake, and I can’t help but go up to my boss and ask him the one thing I can’t stop thinking about.

“Travis,” I half whisper once I’m close enough. He falls into step beside me. “Are Barbara and your uncle… you know, a thing?”

He raises an eyebrow. “A thing?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t,” he says, but when I glance up at him, the corner of his lips is twitching upward.Cute.

I nudge his hard arm. “Come on. Give me a free pass to be nosey.”

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