12 Dates of Christmas (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Unfortunately, setting up the date was harder than Nick had anticipated. Leo had a meeting in Chicago so he was gone from Christmas Falls for a few days. It gave Nick more time to plan but also, more time to worry about how it would all go over.

He was anxious as he texted Leo to tell him he was outside the back entrance to the bakery.

Be down in a sec flashed on his screen a moment later.

Nick tried not to fidget as he waited for Leo to arrive. “Hi,” he said when the door swung open, knowing he was acting over-eager but not caring.

Leo smiled. “Hi.” He sounded a little breathless and he bit his lip. “Do you mind coming up for a few? I know we have mysterious plans this afternoon and evening, but I need like five minutes to finish getting ready. My Zoom meeting went a little longer than I hoped.”

“Sure, no problem,” Nick said, tucking his phone in his pocket. “We’ve got time.”

Not a ton of time. But enough.

“Thanks.” Leo smiled as he held the door open for Nick. “So, um, how are you?”

“I’m—I’m good,” Nick said, hating how awkward they were now.

Leo had been quiet since Nick ambushed him at the bakery and broke up the moment between Leo and Heath.

God, he could have missed his chance. What if Leo had said yes to Heath? What if he’d said no to Nick? He had to get it right today. He had to.

“So, are you going to give me any hints about what we’re doing tonight?” Leo asked teasingly as he turned to climb the stairs.

Nick laughed, trying not to stare at Leo’s ass in the dark jeans he wore. Tried not to think about what Leo’s body looked like under his clothes. What he felt like in Nick’s arms.

Nick cleared his throat. “No. No hints except for what I already gave you.”

“Dress warmly in comfortable clothing and practical shoes that can get dirty. And plan to eat a snack on the way,” Leo parroted back.

“Yep,” Nick said, grinning as they reached the landing at the top of the stairs.

“Gah. This is driving me crazy!” Leo said. “I’ve spent the past few days wondering what the hell you have planned.”

“Only one way to find out,” Nick reminded him with a wink.

“True.” Leo pushed open the door to his apartment. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Nick leaned against the wall and unzipped his coat as he looked around Leo’s apartment.

The living room was small and cozy with a TV stand, TV, comfortable-looking couch, along with a miniscule table and two tiny chairs.

“How on earth did Joel ever fit at that table?” Nick asked, mystified.

Leo chuckled as he took a seat on the couch. “I wondered that too. I’m not surprised he and Hayden bought a house quickly. This place is tiny for a single person. I can’t imagine two people living here.”

“Hey. You’re still working from the couch too,” Nick said with a frown as Leo picked up his laptop from the coffee table.

He shrugged, staring at his screen. “Yeah. Haven’t had a chance to go check out those shops you mentioned.”

“We could go on our next date,” Nick offered. “That would be fun.”

Typing something, Leo shrugged. “That’s assuming you get a second date.”

“True.” Suitably chastised, Nick grimaced. “I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.”

Leo glanced up, his expression conflicted. “It isn’t that I don’t want this, Nick. The problem is that I want it so much it scares me.”

“It scares you or you don’t trust me?” Nick asked softly.

“I …” Leo winced. “I’m scared I can’t trust you. You were so adamant about not being ready to date, then … then you got jealous of Jett.”

“I wasn’t jealous of Jett,” he protested. “And you said there was nothing going on between you!”

“There wasn’t! But let’s be honest, Nick, you only acted like you wanted me after you saw me get close to him. And you got all weird about Heath Kelly too.”

“You said that wasn’t a date either!”

“It wasn’t!”

“Leo, do you think I only want you when there’s a chance you could be with someone else?”

“Honestly? A little bit.”

Nick sighed. That was … fair. He’d royally screwed this whole situation up. “I get why it came across that way. Look, I showed up at the bakery the other day intending to text you and ask you if you had time to come down and have a coffee break with me. I was going to treat you to coffee and a pastry and give you the flowers. I intended to apologize and see if you wanted to date. That was already the plan before I saw you with Heath.”

“I get that. But you’ve been blowing hot and cold with me for weeks, Nick,” Leo said softly. “I was willing to give you time. I understood why this was a big shift for you. But you walking out after we had sex and telling me you weren’t ready … that hurt . And so did not hearing from you after. So forgive me if I feel a little bit wary about trusting you know what you want right now.”

“That’s a good point,” Nick conceded. “And I am sorry. I regret the way I acted after we had sex. I want the opportunity to show you I’m genuinely remorseful.”

“I don’t need lavish apology gifts,” Leo said, gesturing to the bouquet of flowers on the coffee table.

They’d held up remarkably well. They should, for what Nick had paid. But mostly he was glad Leo was enjoying them.

“You don’t mind them, do you?” Nick asked.

Leo gave him a crooked little smile. “No. I’m just saying that’s not the most important part. What I need is to know you’re going to follow through on what you say. I need to know I can trust you. That you’re reliable and ready for what I want.”

“That’s fair,” Nick said. Because it was. It was more than reasonable. He took off his wet boots, then skirted around the coffee table and dropped to both knees so he could look Leo in the eye.

Leo blinked, clearly confused. Nick reached out, gently taking his hand.

“I’ve handled this badly,” Nick admitted. “And I know it seems like I—like I changed my mind very quickly but I am sincere.”

“What changed for you?”

Nick rubbed his thumb across Leo’s knuckles. “I went home and I thought about what I wanted. I thought about you and how I felt about moving on from Nicole and …” He laughed softly. “I found one of her books. It was about a widower finding love again and I flipped through it, trying to find the scene where he had this blinding realization about how he’d know when it was right to move on. And I had it built up in my head as this big moment in the story but it turned out to be very simple.”

“Yeah?” Leo tilted his head, his expression curious. “What was it?”

“It boils down to trust,” Nick said simply. “I need to trust myself this is right. That I’m ready. And I need to show you. You don’t have to take my word for it but I’d like if you gave me a real shot at proving it.”

Leo smiled softly. “I can do that.”

“Good.”

“And I, uhm, have a confession to make,” Leo said.

Nick arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I think I read that book.”

“You’ve read Nicole’s books?” Nick asked, surprised.

“Well, I am sure it’ll come as a huge shock to you, but I am a hopeless romantic,” Leo said drily. “I read romance books.”

“No, that part doesn’t surprise me,” Nick said with a small laugh. “I just didn’t realize you knew her pen name or read her books.”

He shrugged. “Well, I usually read queer romance but the other day, I went to Season’s Readings. They had a cute little display of holiday-themed queer romances but after I found a few new titles to buy, I was wandering around trying to figure out what else they had available and I saw the picture and little write-up of Nicole.”

“She was a local. They were proud of her success,” Nick explained.

“They should be!” Leo said. “It’s amazing. But I—I flipped through the little display of her books and I picked one up. I think it might be the one you were talking about. With Damien and Kenzie, right?”

“Yeah,” Nick said, surprised. “ A Model Husband .”

Leo slipped a hand behind the sofa pillow, pulling it out. “I finished it last night. Bawled my eyes out, too.”

He handed the book to Nick who stared down at the familiar cover in shock. “Oh.”

“Nicole was a hell of a writer.”

“She was,” Nick agreed. He flipped through the pages for a moment, then looked at Leo. “And I love that you found the same book and read it. Because maybe you can understand how it helped me get some perspective.”

“It does,” Leo said softly.

Nick set the book down. “But as much as I loved my life with Nicole, I want to think about my future now, Leo. You don’t have to promise me anything yet. But I hope you’ll be in it. Let me show you I’m sincere and that I can do better.”

“Sounds good to me.” Leo smiled, squeezing Nick’s hand, then let go. “But, let me get this email sent and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Sounds good.” Nick stood with a groan. Jesus, he was getting too damn old to kneel for that long.

Leo shot him an amused smile over the top of his laptop, then closed it. “Okay. Email sent. I’m going to pee before we go. But I swear, I’m ready otherwise.” He stood.

“You’re fine,” Nick said, resisting the urge to reach out and pull Leo close as he brushed past. “We’re okay on time.”

Nick paced the tiny living room as Leo used the bathroom, but after the toilet flushed and the water ran, he heard a rattle coming from down the hall but no sign of Leo.

“Uhh, Nick,” Leo called out a moment later. “We might have a problem.”

“What’s that?” Nick asked, walking toward the bathroom door.

“I think I’m stuck.”

“Gah. Thanks again for the rescue,” Leo said a short while later as Nick pulled his truck out onto Blitzen Street. “ So embarrassing.”

“Happy to come to the rescue any time you need it,” Nick said lightly.

It had taken a combination of Leo putting his shoulder to the door and Nick tugging with all his might but they’d finally gotten the bathroom door unstuck.

“Why haven’t you said something to Joel about fixing it?” Nick asked as they passed the Christmas Falls Festival headquarters.

“Oh.” Leo laughed softly. “It wasn’t bad at all when I moved in but it’s gotten a lot worse lately. It’s an older building, so maybe its settling a little? Or I take too long of showers or something and the wood swells from the humidity? I don’t know. But the bakery is sooo busy at the holidays and I don’t want to bug Joel. I figured I’d talk to him about it in January and since I live alone, I usually leave the door open.”

But he’d been trying to be polite with Nick in his apartment and not make it weird by peeing with the door open. Instead Nick had needed to rescue him from being trapped in the bathroom. That was so much less weird.

He stifled a groan.

“Got it,” Nick said, glancing over with a smile. “So, how’s your snack?”

When Leo got into Nick’s truck, there was a glossy white box with the Ginger’s Breads logo on it waiting on the dashboard. Leo had been snacking on the treats since.

“Um, amazing,” Leo said, glancing down at the savory mini quiche, scones, and cheesecakes. “But it’s Joel . Does he do anything that isn’t incredible?”

“Not that I’ve found.”

“You want any? There’s no way I can eat all this.”

“Uhh, maybe? It’ll be tough to do while I’m driving but sure.”

“Good thing they’re bite-sized,” Leo said cheerfully. “So when did Joel start doing little boxes like this, anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before.”

“They might have been a special request,” Nick said, sounding sheepish.

Leo gaped. “You had him make them for me?”

“Well, I mean, he does catering for the holidays and these are recipes he’s already developed,” Nick said. “So I can’t take much credit. I just asked him to pack them up in a cute little box we could take with us.”

“Still …” Leo smiled down at them. “They’re great. So what do you want? Rosemary and ham quiche? Everything scone filled with salmon cream cheese? Tomato basil cheesecake? Beef, mushroom, and cranberry hand pie?”

“Yes,” Nick said.

Laughing, Leo reached for one of the tiny quiches. “One of everything. Got it.”

Although Leo didn’t do anything but place the first of the delicious savory bites in Nick’s outstretched hand, it kindled something warm in his chest.

He had no idea where they were going or what they were doing today, but he was in Nick’s truck, listening to Christmas carols and sharing a special little meal with him.

Despite the embarrassing but sweet rescue, they were off to a good start.