Page 103 of Too Close To Home

Jake held Harrison’s gaze for a moment longer before finally stepping back. He knew when he was being cautioned. And Harrison straightened away from the tree, rolling his shoulders as if reacquainting himself with gravity. He wiped a hand across his mouth, stubble scratching against his palm, then looked back at Jake.

Yeah.

Awkward.

Really bloody awkward.

Jake cleared his throat and crouched, spotting the phone lying half-buried in the leaves where it had fallen during the chaos. The torch was on, lighting the surrounding trunks from below, making the whole clearing look faintly haunted.

He picked it up and held it out. “Think you dropped this.”

Harrison took it, their fingers brushing briefly in the exchange.

“Thanks.” Harrison didn’t react to the touch. He switched the light properly in his hand and glanced down the track, then back at Jake. “We should head back before your woodland friends come to investigate the noise.”

Jake snorted. “Badgers can have a nasty bite.”

“Not only the badgers.”

Jake arched an eyebrow.

But Harrison didn’t elaborate on that.

So Jake gestured back towards the path. “Come on. I’ll show you the way out before you end up halfway to Mansfield Farm.”

Harrison gave a small nod and fell into step beside him.

They walked back through the trees in a strange, companionable silence, boots crunching softly over the damp ground. The mist had thickened while they’d been standing there, curling low between the trunks and dulling what little light reached them from the village beyond. Jake kept his hands shoved firmly in his jacket pockets. Partly because it was cold. Mostly because he didn’t trust himself not to reach for Harrison again.

Which was… unsettling.

To be this aware of someone else. To wonder what Harrison was thinking as they walked side by side. Whether the detective was replaying it too. Whether he regretted it already. Whether he was trying as hard not to look.

The irony wasn’t lost on Jake.

Plenty of men had stood in front of him before, Brodie included, trying to work out if they’d read the signs right. If Jake really was as indifferent as he pretended to be, or if there was something more going on in his head that he wasn’t saying out loud.

He’d always known the answer then.

Tonight, he didn’t.

Though Harrison had kissed him first. That much was true. But maybe it was to shut him up. Maybe it was a total accident. Maybe Harrison had had too much beer, not enough sleep, and he’d seen a ghost in Jake.

When the hedgerows finally came back into view, Harrison slowed. The path split there. One way towards the village and Larkspur Lane, the other towards the pub where Jake had left his van.

“Well,” Harrison said.

“Aye.”

Another silence.

Jake could feel the pull of it again. Fucking ridiculous. Apparently kissing the man three times hadn’t got it out of his system.

So he stupidly said, “Offer’s still open for that lift…”

Harrison’s expression tightened as if weighing something he didn’t quite trust himself with.

Then he let out a slow breath. “Probably best I don’t.”