Page 38 of His Until Christmas

We’re left to look around on the promise of being quiet—a happy couple must be getting married in a nearby gallery. Music plays, and despite being on the clock, I do what I once told an employer could never, ever happen.

I don’t mean that I kiss Reece again. We barely brush lips, but I do let him spin me for a few slow and sweet circles before he leaves to give the events coordinator his details. Then I spin a few more times all on my own until a mean laugh stops me.

Lito Dixon doesn’t have to tagloseronto the end of hisha hafor me to hear it.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t frigid little Jack Frost.”

He swaggers over, camera in hand, to show me what I told him I’d never do with him, even if he paid me.

He scrolls past second-rate wedding photos, and there I am on his screen, my arms around Reece, and our lips only brushed for a moment, but Lito caught it.

Reece smiles down at me in another shot as if I’d just saidI doto him instead offuck noto everything Lito once suggested.

Now Lito sniffs the same way he used to after one too many bumps of marching powder, and his suggestion is as oily as I remember. “We had some unfinished business in my darkroom. If you’ve finally defrosted, I might have an opening for you.”

“Why? Because you can’t keep an assistant?” I clear my throat, wishing I sounded stronger. “Do you even need an assistant these days, if you’re only a one-man band?”

That’s better.

Kinda.

I don’t know why I shake. I scurry away, hoping to God he can’t see or hear how badly. I also toss this over my shoulder.

“Besides, I’m not looking to be anyone’s assistant. I’m moving on to something much bigger and better.” I pluck a reason out of thin air. Patrick would call it manifesting. Frankly, it’s desperation. “I’m an equal partner.”

I almost throw myself down the stairs next, the whole time reciting affirmations, and why the fuck my vision blurs each time I choke onI’m braver than I believe,I couldn’t explain. I can only find Reece and then hurry outside where I can blame my eyes watering on the wind whipping across Trafalgar Square.

Thankfully, Reece is distracted by kids chasing pigeons under Nelson’s Column. I pull myself together as he gives a lesson in kindness, crouching with his arms out until birds and kids flock to him.

We head off for a children’s museum for our last stop, which had been at the bottom of my list as too small. It turns out to be at the tippy top of Reece’s.

“Perfect choice, Jack,” he says once we get back to Kensington, and he heads inside. “Although you’re right. The castle is the obvious choice, and Arthur would love a reunion if foundation children made up the guest list instead of moneymakers. At least that children’s museum has a logical link to them. It’s a?—”

It’s so easy to finish his sentences lately.

“—middle ground you could live with?”

We must be on the same page. The same spreadsheet tab. The same wavelength. Reece flings his coat on the stand in the hallway, and this next is emphatic. “Exactly. I can see what would work now.” He’s much more careful with my scarf, which he straightens on its peg before turning to take my coat from me.

He stops dead at finding I haven’t left the doorstep.

“Wait. You aren’t coming in?”

“No.” I tap my watch. “It’s already after six.” I’m about to suggest we share a working dinner, and if London was a place for being honest, I’d tell him I’m a tiny bit rattled by a chance meeting with someone slimy.

I can’t even face a Tube ride home on my own.

I’m glad I held my tongue when it sounds as if he already has a busy evening planned without me.

“Okay. I’ll do some location research of my own so I have more to contribute tomorrow.” He lets me go with a quiet, “Thanks for everything today, Jack. For all week, really. I know it’s all been extra work for you when you probably had interview prep to finish.”

Finish?

I haven’t even started.

At least thisishonest. “I’ve been happy to help.”

“You know what helped me the most?” He scrubs at the back of his neck. “Seeing that exhibition on my first day. Those photos. Didn’t realise how much I needed a reminder of what really matters. Kinda made my first big-city party survivable.” He meets my eyes. “And enjoyable. With you.”

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