Apparently Dom thinks so.
Probably.
“Don’t call me that,” he groused. “I’m not five.”
“You act it.”
“When?” He stopped abruptly and glared at her, making her laugh. Crossing his arms made her laugh even more, and a reluctant smile tugged at his lips. “Oh fuck off.” He marched in the direction of some Nordic Firs, ignoring her calls for him to wait.
“I’m sorry,” she said, catching up to him and looping her arm through his. “What happened? I thought you were happily getting to know him through texts?”
Henry frowned. “It sounds shit when you put it like that.”
She pinched his side, making him startle. “No, I think it’s a good idea. You had a no-strings arrangement. So while you probably had a lot of sex, you can’t really get to know each other well in a week. No matter how much time you spent together.”
“I suppose.”
“Makes sense to take a little time communicating before taking things further.”
Who is this person and what have they done with my sister?
As if reading his mind, Ella glanced over at him. “What? I know things!”
By mutual agreement, they stopped in front of a pile of trees and started the arduous task of sorting through everyone else’s leftovers.
Henry dutifully held up tree after tree while Ella squinted at them, then invariably shook her head. “I don’t think Dom was interested in seeing me again.”
Ella stopped inspecting the tree he held and looked at him. “What makes you say that? I thought you said you got the feeling he really liked you.”
“I did.” He ran a hand through his hair, glancing up at the sky when it felt damp. “Is it snowing?”
“Barely.” Ella motioned with her hands for Henry to continue.
Henry bit his lip, not wanting to sound ridiculous, but he let the words spill out anyway. “I put a kiss on my first message and he didn’t send one back.”
Oh kill me now. That sounded so much better in my head.
Ella stared at him, lips twitching.
“Yes, fine, laugh it up.” He glared at her as she failed to stifle giggles.
“I’m sorry, but is that it? Really?”
“Of course that’s not it. And yeah, it might sound stupid to focus on that one thing, but I think it says a great deal. I have to actively stop myself adding kisses to Jason’s texts, let alone someone I’m fucking.”
A shocked “Honestly!” from behind had him closing his eyes and counting to ten while Ella apologised on his behalf.
Why me?
When the offended lady had moved away, Henry carried on. “My point is, adding a kiss is force of habit for most people.”
“So you think he didn’t add an x on purpose?” She still didn’t look convinced by Henry’s reasoning.
“Yes. So as not to encourage me.” He set the tree down and scrubbed a hand over his face, groaning when his gloves were a little sticky with tree sap.
Awesome.
“I just got the feeling that he’d rather leave it as a holiday fling and not take it any further.”
