Page 36 of The Christmas Accomplice

Welton shifted position and looked toward the fire. “I don’t know…”

“Come on, tell me how you met and why you’re attracted to him. Other than the fact that he’s pretty damn hot.”

Welton looked at him from the corner of his eye. “You think he’s hot?”

Dean let out a surprised bark of a laugh. “Of course I do! He’s tall, he’s got those dark eyes and short, kind of curly hair and a nice trim beard. And the size of his hands… holy hell.”

Welton couldn’t help smiling, and felt that familiar heat of his blush again.

“And you must really like him if you’re already blushing. So, have you slept with him?”

“What? Oh my God. No! Sheesh. I haven’t slept with anyone since—” Welton stopped and stared. “I mean…”

Dean’s eyebrows went up, way, way up. “You haven’t slept with anyone since we broke up? But that was months ago. Like, nine months ago.”

“Shut up.”

“Dude. Did I fuck you over that badly?”

“No, don’t flatter yourself.” He heard how that sounded and made a face. “Sorry. That came out wrong.”

“It’s all right,” Dean said. “I understand.” They were quiet a moment, then Dean inched forward on the couch cushion and fixed Welton with an intense look. “I know I really fucked things up. I will take most of the blame for the shit that happened between us and the crappy breakup, okay?”

Welton didn’t know what to say, so he settled on a quick nod and a sip of his coffee.

Dean made a face and said., “Oh, no, Dean, I was at fault, too. It takes two people to wreck a relationship. I’m sorry for whatever I did to add to things.”

“Fine, I’m sorry for the terrible things I contributed as well,” Welton said. He couldn’t help a quiet chuckle.

“All right, thank you. Was that so hard? Not to haul old complaints out on our ex-boyfriend holiday vacation, but getting you to open up about anything was like cracking a goddamn safe.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to talk to you. How to talk with you, really. You’re so outgoing and live every moment to its fullest, and it felt like you always needed to be in motion, and I’m not like that. I don’t really know how to live every moment to its fullest.”

Dean stared, and Welton felt a little anxious. “What? I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t. This is actually the most honest conversation we’ve ever had.”

Welton snorted. “Too bad it’s about nine months too late.”

“Yeah, too bad. But this trip isn’t about us, right? This trip is about me helping you make things work with Rex—”

“Reece.”

“Right, Reece. So, what do you say? Will you let me help you out?”

Welton took a breath and slowly let it out. “All right, fine. But he doesn’t know we used to be together. Okay? And I reserve the right to tell you to back off and you will, immediately. Deal?”

Dean’s smile could have powered the whole resort. “Deal. Now tell me what you two have done together so far.”

Reece usedhis employee keycard to let himself behind the front desk. Nick looked up from her computer and frowned.

“I thought you had the late shift tonight?”

“I do.”

“You do understand the late shift means you don’t need to be here until later, right?”

Reece chuckled. “I know.”