I couldn’t wait.
“I like it.” I walked over to inspect the little blue tree. It stood about a foot and a half tall and Jasper had wrapped warm-white fairy lights around it. “I was thinking the other day that we needed some more decorations.” I’d also thought Jasper might think it was overkill and so I’d not bothered. It was so much better this way. “This is perfect.”
“I’m glad you think so.” He bit his lip. “I didn’t know if I was overstepping since it’s your house.”
“You live here too.” I met his gaze, and the room seemed to fade around us as I got lost in his blue eyes.
Then Jasper cleared his throat and pointed at the food. “We should eat before it gets cold.” He took his seat, waiting for me to join him. “It’s noodles, so I thought we’d be better eating in here.”
“Yeah, good idea.” It also meant we’d have to talk to each other instead of watching the telly. Was that on purpose? I took my seat and focused on my food. “This looks really good. Thanks for cooking tonight.”
“I figured it was my turn.”
“You know I don’t mind.” I didn’t want him to think it was a chore.
He nudged my shoulder with his. “I know, but it’s nice to be able to do something for you for a change.”
“You did plenty for me last night,” I said and almost dropped my fork. The words had just slipped out.What. The. Fuck.
Jasper barked out a laugh. “Well, I guess that’s true.” His smile turned rueful. “I didn’t know if we were going to bring that up or not.”
“Kind of hard to forget.”
“Yeah, it was pretty hot.”
Not entirely what I’d meant, but he wasn’t wrong.
He nudged me again, gently. “Are we okay?”
I turned to face him, no idea how to answer that. Last night I’d gone into things thinking I could handle it, could go back to being friends. It was just sex, right?
Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Finn?”
His eyes were full of something I couldn’t read, but I got the feeling he needed me to say it was okay. Thatwewere okay. And the last thing I wanted was to make him think I regretted what we’d done. Because even if it had complicated things between us, I didn’t regret one second of it. “Yeah, Jasper.” I nudged him back and gave him a smile I meant. “We’re okay.”
He blew out a breath, shoulders relaxing. “Thank fuck for that.” Picking up his fork, he gestured to our food, smile small but there. “Let’s eat. Then we can watch a film and I can fall asleep halfway through again.”
“Okay.” Some normality would be good. Maybe it’d help us get back to being friends. I dug in, moaning at the taste. “Oh god, this is delicious.”
He beamed at me, smile huge and reaching all the way to his eyes. It lit up his whole face, bathed in warm light from the fairy lights, and he looked so gorgeous in that moment, my chest tightened.
The sooner we got a taste of that normality the better.
Friday seemed to fly by.Jasper was knackered from work when he got in and fell asleep by about nine o’clock. It was probably for the best. I was still undecided how I felt about everything, and the longer I had to avoid it the better.
Saturday I met Christian in town to finish off my Christmas shopping. Not my best idea considering how busy it was, but as usual I’d left things a bit late. I met him at the Christmas market for a drink and food before we started.
“Hey.” I slid onto the bench opposite him. The sky was a little overcast, but the outdoor bar had heaters on most of the tables.
“Got you a mulled cider and a hot dog.” He pushed them across the table towards me. “No Jasper?”
I took a sip of the warm cider before answering him. “Mmm.” I wasn’t a huge fan of the Christmas market, not like my parents seemed to be, but I did love a mulled cider and the enormous hot dogs they served at some of the stalls. “And no, Jasper’s at work till about six.”
Christian nodded around a bit of hot dog, and we lapsed into a comfortable silence as we ate.
“Any news on your house?” I asked, screwing up my rubbish into a ball.
