He imagined Ella suddenly appearing in the middle of a pentagram, or whatever it was people used for these things, and grinned to himself. She’d be all feisty and put upon. It took him a moment to realise Dom was talking. “Sorry, what did you say?” Henry flushed at being caught not listening. “I was busy imagining my sister as a demon.”
Dom laughed. “Is she really that bad?”
“No, she’s great.” He pulled his phone out to show Dom the two unread texts on the screen. “Just nosy.”
“Ahh. Well, while you were daydreaming about demon sisters, I was telling you that me and my brothers work at the family garden centre slash café slash Christmas shop at this time of year.”
“Oh.” That was so not what Henry had imagined him doing for a living. He gave Dom a quick once-over out of the corner of his eye as they walked. Now that he thought about it, yeah, he could picture Dom working outside, hefting heavy plants and bags of compost around. “You must know a lot about plants and shit then?”
Oh my god. Really, Henry?
He should come with a muzzle for times like this.
Dom gave him a quizzical look, which he thoroughly deserved, and Henry nudged him with his shoulder.
“Forget I just said that ridiculous statement. What I meant was that you must... um...” Words failed him. He knew absolutely nothing about gardening, and Henry wished the wooden planks would part and swallow him whole. “I have no idea.”
Fortunately, Dom chuckled and nudged him back. “To answer yourridiculous statement,I know a fair bit about plants and shit. Hard not to when you grow up around it all. But I’m more of a jack of all trades. My eldest brother, Simon, is the resident expert. He’s got a degree in horticulture—which is wasted working there, in my opinion—but he’s happy enough. He also works part time in the gardens at one of the local estates, so I guess he’s using his degree in that aspect.” He came to an abrupt stop and huffed out a laugh. “And that was way more information than you wanted or needed to know about my family. I’m so sorry.”
Henry grinned at him. “I guess I’m not the only one who waffles when nervous.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“What’s your excuse then?” Henry had a moment to wonder if he’d offended him before Dom’s wide smile set him at ease again.
“Touché.” Dom blew out a breath. “Okay, so I’m not exactly nervous, but I do have something on my mind.”
A prickle of apprehension ran down Henry’s spine. “Okay.”
Dom caught Henry’s arm and gently brought them to a stop. He turned and leant on the wooden fence and Henry mirrored his stance. “We’re only here for a week, and I don’t know about you, but I’d like to make the most of that time. So, I have a proposal for you.”
Oh.
Henry liked the sound of this. His lips curled at the edges. He hadn’t smiled this much in ages. “Go on.”
Dom met his gaze, those piercing green eyes of his capturing Henry’s attention and keeping it. “Firstly, please feel free to turn me down flat, I won’t be offended. The thing is, I was quite prepared to spend the week on my own, but now that I’ve met you that’s not so appealing any more. I know it’ll only be for the next six days, but what do you say to spending them together? No strings. We can do all the things or none of them, I don’t care.” He slid closer to Henry until their shoulders brushed. “I like you, Henry.”
Henry swallowed, mouth suddenly dry as a bone. “I like you too.” He didn’t even care that it came out all breathy, too caught up in the heat of Dom’s gaze.
“I think we’d have a great time. Whatever we end up doing.”
Me.Henry thought, licking his lips.You could end up doing me.
He didn’t need a mirror to know that his cheeks were flushed. Henry felt the heat creep over his skin as his mind dropped to the gutter and filled his head with all the dirty things they could do in a week. He glanced at the tall, beautifully lit Christmas tree still visible at the top of the path and the words spilled out before he could stop them. “Sort of like a no-strings Noel?”
Dom stared at him, as well he might.Christ Henry.“Hmm, I guess we are surrounded by all things Christmas.” His gaze dropped to Henry’s mouth, lingered for a moment, then drifted back up as though drinking Henry in. “Well? What do you think?”
“Yeah.” Henry had to clear his throat to get the word out.
“Yeah?” Dom gave him a gentle shoulder bump, grinning widely.
“Yes,” Henry repeated, voice a lot steadier this time. His smile must have matched Dom’s because it was so wide his cheeks hurt. “I want to spend the week with you.”
Dom leant closer to whisper in Henry’s ear. “Even if it means walking on swinging planks through the trees?”
Hot breath tickled Henry’s ear and he shivered. “Mm-hmm.” Then Dom’s words registered, and he straightened. “Wait, what?”
“Up there.” Dom pointed to the high walkways barely visible through the trees.
