Page 56 of Role Model

Chiron had indeed chomped down on the big, fluffy pom-pom on the end of Ilya’s hat and was tugging aggressively at it while Ilya laughed. Harris, thank god, was capturing the whole thing on video with his phone while Gen took rapid photos.

The fans were going to love this.

“Maybe some where you’re kneeling or sitting, Ilya?” Gen suggested. “In front of the presents under the tree.”

Ilya lowered himself until he was sitting cross-legged, which was super cute, and Chiron stood on the floor beside him with his little paws on Ilya’s thigh.

“Ugh, that’s adorable,” Gen said, snapping pictures. “Stay like that.”

“Whoa. What’s this?”

Harris didn’t need to turn around to know that it was Troy who was asking, but he still turned so quickly he nearly gave himself whiplash. Troy was standing in the doorway wearing workout clothes and an honest-to-god smile.

“Hi,” Harris said. He hadn’t seen Troy since their drive together before the road trip, and, damn. He was still very hot. “We’re, um, doing a little holiday photo shoot. It’s like a virtual Christmas card that we’ll post to our accounts.”

“Ah. Looking good, Ilya.”

“I know.”

Troy glanced uneasily between Harris, Gen, and Ilya, then said, “I, uh, brought you an eggnog latte, Harris. But I can just leave it.”

“No!” Harris said, too quickly. “You can stay. And thanks. For the latte.” He took it from him, the warmth of the paper cup seeping into his fingers as warmth from something else glowed inside his chest.

Gen let out a huff of laughter that Harris knew meant you are into this guy and being very obvious about it. To Harris’s alarm, Ilya made an almost identical sound.

He tried to ignore both of them. “We’re almost done, if you want to sit, or...”

“There are other sweaters,” Ilya said, then nodded at the table loaded with Christmas costume pieces. “You should get in here.”

“Oh. No. I was going to do a workout and, um.” Troy gestured to his gym shorts.

“Sweater, hat, shoot from the waist up. Come on, Barrett.”

Harris loved this idea, but only if Troy was into it. “It would be awesome to have two of you in the photo.”

“The fans will like you more,” Ilya said bluntly. “You, me, puppy, Christmas shit. No one can resist that.”

Troy glanced at the table, then at Harris, then back to the table. “Okay. Sure.”

“Harris, help him pick a sweater,” Ilya said, because he was apparently in charge of this photo shoot now. “No! Chiron! Come back.”

Chiron had lost interest in Ilya and was bounding over to Troy.

“Hey, buddy,” Troy said, crouching and scratching Chiron’s ears. “I missed you.”

Troy glanced up and locked eyes with Harris. His lips parted like he wanted to say something, but then he looked back down at the puppy.

Harris went to the table and selected a blue sweater with a Christmas lights design knit into it. “Try this one,” he said. He did not say that it would make Troy’s eyes look amazing. Not that his eyes needed the help.

Troy gave the sweater a rueful look, but accepted it and put it on over his performance T-shirt.

“Is there an elf hat?” Ilya asked.

“No,” Troy said flatly.

“I think you mean yes,” Harris said, holding up a felt elf hat with bells dangling off it. He placed it carefully on Troy’s head then, boldly, he tucked an unruly tuft of black hair behind his ear. Troy’s eyes blazed into him for a moment, brighter than any holiday lights.

“How do I look?” he asked quietly.

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