Page 15 of His Until Christmas

Now I’ll have to return to the scene of the first time we got up close and personal and nothing happened.

I’m not sure I can face that reminder. Handing off Rex’s paperwork and making an excuse to leave right away without eating would be less messy.

ha ha, loser

The blackboard affirmation on my lock screen sends a different message, so I go ahead and get braver than I believe.

Jack:On my way. Order for me.

First, I just need to grab that folder, so I turn my key in the front door of Rex and Arthur’s townhouse, then pause again once the door closes behind me. It’s dim inside, muted streetlight all that illuminates the alarm control panel, and this time, I freeze for a different reason.

Wait.

Shouldn’t the alarm beep until I tap in the code?

It doesn’t, and I jump out of my skin when the study door at the end of the hallway creaks open. Light floods out for a moment to show it isn’t a house burglar who flicks off the study light as he exits. It’s Reece, who looks equally startled to see me.

That faint streetlight glow shows him clutching a set of keys I recognise. Of course I do. I gave Rex that helicopter keyring last Christmas. I’m also going to kill him for what instantly feels like a setup.

“Jack,” Reece says in an action replay of our first meeting today outside a community centre. The difference now is that Ican’t let myself reply like I’m a love interest in one of Gran’s favourite rom-coms.

I clear my throat and aim for businesslike rather than breathy. “Reece. I thought you were already at the restaurant.” I head for the study, edging past him. “I just need to grab?—”

“A folder for Rex?” He lifts a hand to show he already found it. “With reorganisation papers for me to sign?”

This building was designed for entertaining. For parties full of dancers. Both of us should fit through this wide doorway.

We don’t.

I’m not suggesting Reece blocks my way. He even steps aside to let me pass. I still grind to a halt after he flicks on a hallway light, which doesn’t only bathe him in gold. It also highlights how my boss must have kept himself busy between this afternoon’s meetings.

Rex popped home to do a little light Christmas decorating, only he didn’t set up a tree or hang fairy lights and tinsel.

A familiar sprig of cardboard mistletoe hangs above Reece, and all the breath leaves my body, and not in a Heliganhurof laughter. I wheeze out an unprofessional, “Rex, you massive wanker.” Then I do laugh, although it sounds more strangled than happy—a touch hysterical, to be honest—and stopping isn’t easy until I notice Reece’s brow has furrowed.

With worry.

For me.

I can see that with my own eyes, and I hear it loud and clear when he murmurs, “Shit, Ididupset you.”

I stop laughing in a hurry. “You did? When?”

Reece has good hands, right? Strong and steady. It’s weird to see one of them shake. He sweeps it through hair as golden as the light we stand in, and unsteadily answers, “Earlier. At the community centre. In the hallway.” We’re in another hallway right now with the exact same mistletoe spinning high above usas he makes what sounds like a confession. “I thought you were aiming for a kiss. In reality, I crowded you, Jack.”

I don’t get a chance to dispute that version of what happened. He launches into an apology, which takes a surprised second or two for me to process.

“I’m sorry, Jack. I know better. I really do. Seeing Ian tonight when Rex and I got to the restaurant was another reminder.”

“Ian?” I could instantly slap myself for sounding like I don’t know the man he mentions. “Oh,Ian.” He lived with my housemates before me, and was another Lito Dixon escapee. Reece’s next comment confirms we’re both thinking of the same person.

“Of course, me invading your personal space would remind you of your last boss. And of what must have felt like a power imbalance.”

Reece is so brutally honest.

I am too.

“If you mean Lito Dixon, then yes, I have been reminded of him today.” I try to make light of someone who has been on my mind increasingly often, uninvited and unwanted, ever since I gave Rex my notice. “I keep trying to shove that dickhead away in a desk drawer.”

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