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“Your dad’s a total catch,” I said. “I can’t believe that.”
“I know,” Justin told me. “My mom found someone else so quickly back in the day, and it blindsided him. It hasn’t been as easy for him.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Maybe he just has high standards.”
“And he’s fuckinglonelynow, dude,” Justin said. “He’s dying of loneliness, and he doesn’t even realize it.”
Justin’s words hit me right in the heart. I tried to play it cool, waving a hand through the air.
“He doesn’t seem that lonely to me.”
Justin pulled in a big breath of air, his expression finally softening. “Yeah, because tonight is the happiest I’ve seen him in a really long time. I was starting to wonder if he’d given up on the magic of this time of year, but tonight, it’s back.”
I shook my head. “Nuh-uh,” I said. “I refuse to believe that a man who brings holiday cheer to all of Denver would ever lose that magic.”
Rome came walking back over a minute later, a serene smile on his face.
“Justin, I know you’re dead set on that other tree, but come look at the fresh ones,” he said. “Totally worth fighting for. Casey, you might even want to get one, too.”
“I already have a tree, and you know it,” I said.
My breath hitched for a moment.
Shit. If I was trying to pretend Rome had never come over to my house, how would he know I already had a tree?
“Casey gets a tree the first moment the air is cold every year,” Justin said. “He already mentioned he has one, Dad.”
Heat flooded my body. So Ihadmentioned it. The lines were starting to blur between what Rome and I had talked about last week and what we’d said tonight, and I knew I was going to have to watch myself closer.
“So get a second tree, then, Casey,” Rome said. His smile was radiant. For a moment, I caught his eye, and the same safe, cozy feeling returned to me.
I felt athomewith him. He was attractive as all hell, but he was also so comforting.
And I knew exactly how good it felt to have his hands on me. To wrap my arms around his broad shoulders. To betrulyclose to him.
But that was exactly the thing I needed to ignore.
No matter how much my body craved him.
The rest of the night passed by without incident, and as I watched Rome get in his truck at the end of the night, I knew it might be the last time I saw him.
My latest regret, and my best Christmas memory, all wrapped up in one man.
I went home alone and successfully thought about other things until I finally tucked into bed. As I drifted off to sleep, all I could see in my mind's eye was Rome’s smile.
And I fuckingmissedhim. Missed a man I barely knew, who I couldn’t have, and who’d made his way into my deepest desires anyway.
How the hell had he gotten under my skin so damn easily?
Because he gave you the best night of your life, I thought idly as I fell asleep, hugging my pillow and wishing it could be him.
8
ROME
I picked up the short glass of whiskey, enjoying its steady weight in my hand as I swirled the liquor around a single ice cube.
“This was the right call,” I said across the bar to Harlan, the lumberjack head brewer at Jade Brewery.
