Page 33 of Sexted By Santa
“I see.”
“Icanfind a date just fine on my own,” I assured her. “I’m not helpless.”
“I never said you were, darling. Only you haven’t introduced me to any dates since Fynn, have you?”
“Well, maybe I’ll bring a date to your dinner party then,” I said.
“Oh?” She looked delighted. “That would be lovely, dear. Will you really? I think it might be easier for everyone involved if you showed up with a date.” She leaned in conspiratorially. “Besides, it won’t hurt for Fynn to see what he’s missing, will it?”
I smiled weakly as I realized my mouth had just written a check that I might not be able to cash. Jaxson had agreed to one fake date, not two. But I couldn’t bring myself to dim the hopeful light in my aunt’s eyes.
“I think Fynn is happy with Hugh, but I suppose a buffer couldn’t hurt.”
But setting aside my pride and begging Jaxson Hicks to be my plus one for another event? That was going to hurt plenty.
* * *
When I returned home, Jaxson was in his front yard, pulling a tangled mess of Christmas lights from a battered cardboard box. I doubted I’d get a better opportunity to talk to him about the bonus date I’d signed him up for, so I hesitantly approached.
“That looks daunting.”
Jaxson glanced up at me. “I promised Tori I’d put up Christmas lights.”
I peered dubiously at the tangled cords. “You sure you can make these work?”
“They’ll look good when I’m done,” Jaxson said brusquely. “I promise not to make the neighborhood look bad.”
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
“Weren’t you?” He stood, jerking at the cords so roughly I thought they’d break. “I know how concerned you were when I moved in that I might bring down property values.”
I grasped his hands. “Jaxson, no. That’s not what I meant.”
He stilled. “No?”
“No.” I dropped my hands. “I know we didn’t see eye to eye about you leaving school. I should have handled it better. You were emotional—”
He made a frustrated noise, and I realized I was botching it again.
“Rightfully so! You had a new daughter,” I said quickly. “I was fixated on the academics, on the statistics. I wasn’t empathetic enough. I still think you should have stayed in school, of course.”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course.”
“But you’ve done well for yourself. And when you moved in, Jaxson, I was happy to see you doing so well. What I said was that the house had been bringing down property values for a while, so I hoped you’d take better care of it. The previous owner hadn’t been the best about maintenance…”
Jaxson huffed. “Still, you felt you had totellme to take care of my home.”
I winced. “So, I was a condescending asshole, you mean?”
He laughed, and the sound was so warm it startled me into smiling back at him. “Just a little bit, Professor.”
“Please call me Christian.”
“Christian,” he said softly.
The moment lengthened as tension coiled. Not angry or hostile, but expectant. As if we were both waiting for something.
Then he shifted, and I realized I was standing far too close to him. I could feel the warmth of his breath in the crisp winter air. I took a step back and cleared my throat. “So, uh, you’re really going to untangle all these Christmas lights, hmm?”
