Page 55 of A Love Like Christmas Time
I’m still not used to this. For months, he was the icy, grumpy café owner I had a crush on. There were cracks in his surface, occasionally showing the kind man underneath the resting murder face, but now? Finally, that side of him is surfacing more often.
The side that makes him offer me his arm as we step onto the sidewalk so I can cling onto him in case I lose my footing again. That makes him walk facing the street, so I’m not hit with snow slush when a car drives by.
He pretends to look ahead, yet I catch his eyes darting to me when he thinks I’m not looking, and it’s making my heart beat into my throat.
I could walk around clinging to him for hours. Disappointment tugs at my chest when he unlocks a door at the side of the Henry’s Vet Clinic building and motions for me to walk in ahead of him.
“You can leave your shoes down here. Wear the house shoes over there.” He points to my right.
“You should get some bunny slippers,” I mumble when I see the boring gray felt slippers. “They would be a lot more fun to walk around in.”
“Do I look like the kind of guy who would have bunny slippers?”
I toe out of my shoes as the door falls closed. Suddenly, Caleb is so close behind me that every movement makes me brush against him.
“I don’t judge people by their appearance.” I shoot him a grin over my shoulder, trying to hide how nervous his sudden closeness makes me. “And you could get them as guest slippers.”
“I don’t get any guests,” he points out.
Blood rushes to my cheeks, and I quickly turn away from him to hide them. “Aw. I feel special.”
“You are.” My stomach flutters, and I spontaneously forget how to breathe.
Slowly, I turn around, and when my eyes meet his, the intensity in them almost makes me stumble.
There’s a lot he’s saying without talking at all. I can see it. No words needed.
He thinks I’m special.
I bit my lip, finally toeing out of my snow-clad boots and slipping into his way-too-big slippers.
“They’re way too big,” I point out with a smile, averting my eyes, because if I look at him any longer, I’m probably going to burst into tears.
All I wanted was for someone to see me, and hedoes. There’s not a single doubt in my mind.
“Be careful on the stairs,” he says, oblivious to my emotional revelation, gesturing for me to go ahead.
I climb them slowly with careful steps, fighting to keep the slippers on. The stairs are steep and narrow, and I can barely make them out in this dim light. But he’s right behind me. I can sense him.
“I won’t let you fall,” he assures softly as I dig my fingers into the railing.
“Okay,” I whisper and slowly climb my way further up. If he says it, I know it’s true.
He won’t let me fall.
God, we were meant to start baking the gingerbread for our Christmas market booth, but the tension between us tonight is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I doubt tonight will be as productive as I thought.
Once we’re upstairs, he brushes past me, his hand softly sliding around my hip, sending goosebumps all over my body and making my breath hitch.
“Here we are,” he mumbles, opening the door and walking in first.
Curiosity buzzes in my stomach as I step inside, the sudden need to see his apartment crashing over me like a wave.
For some reason, I imagined a bare-bones kind of place, with only a bed, a simple kitchen, a table with one chair, and maybe an armchair.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
My eyes widen, gaze jumping around the open-plan apartment, trying to take in everything. It’s homey.
