Naughty or Nice

13. Henry

13

HENRY

DECEMBER 18

I ’m on my knees, tying the laces of Rora’s boots, when the back room door flies open and Noelle storms in. Rora and I exchange a relieved look; two minutes earlier, and she would have found us in a much more compromising position. We know better than to do this at work, but in our defense, the store only closed ten minutes ago and Noelle doesn’t usually finish up for a while after closing.

She drops onto the fraying couch opposite us with a dramatic sigh and a thunderous expression. If this was a cartoon, steam would be billowing from her ears. “I need a distraction so I don’t murder my brother.”

“What did he—” I begin, but Rora holds a hand up, pausing me. She gives me a look that tells me this isn’t the first time she’s handled a pissed-off Noelle when it comes to Felix.

“What can we do to help?” Rora asks.

Noelle leans forward, elbows on her knees, her eyes narrowed. “What’s going on between you two?”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought this was a one-time thing, but you’re really in sync and you’re hanging out a lot.”

Rora shrugs, toying with the sleeve of her sweater. “We’re just enjoying getting to know each other.” What a gross understatement.

Noelle groans. “I can’t believe this is your first time home for Christmas in a decade and you’re spending more time with my uncle than me.”

Guilt rises in my chest. Shit. “I’m sorry. We can?—”

“It’s not your fault,” Noelle interrupts. “It’s my asshole brother’s. If he actually did his job and ran this place, I might not have to spend every waking moment here and I could spend some time with my best friend who I only see twice a year.”

I blink at her outburst, but Rora calmly stands up and walks out of the room without a backward glance. Noelle and I sit in a bewildered silence until she returns all of sixty seconds later, Felix in tow.

“Christmas is in a week. We don’t have time for you two to be at each other’s throats 24/7, okay? Felix, you’re going to pull your weight around here and stop leaving Noelle to pick up the slack,” Rora tells him firmly.

Felix crosses his arms, pouting like a teenager. “Or what?”

Rora raises a single brow. “Or I’ll tell your dad you’re the one who ran over his lit-up gingerbread house.”

Felix pales.

Charlie spent months making a life-size gingerbread house for their front yard, only for someone to back into it less than twenty-four hours after his big reveal. It’s been over ten years, and he still talks about it.

“Fine, I’ll help. What do you want me to do?” Felix asks Noelle.

“I need you to set up the new LEGO display while we’re closed tomorrow so I can ship the online orders. And we’re not doing Santa pictures on Tuesday, so I need you to clean up the grotto.”

Felix huffs, opening his mouth to presumably protest, but one look from Rora and he snaps it closed.

“We can come in and help too,” I offer, and Rora nods in agreement.

“Of course. What time do you want us? ”

“Oh no, you two are having your days off. Next week is going to be brutal. Take the time to hide away and enjoy … each other, I suppose.” She wrinkles her nose.

“Gross,” Felix chimes in, but Noelle glares at him.

“You can help me close tonight.” She drags him away, shouting goodbye over her shoulder.

“Let’s sneak out the back before we get pulled into another sibling dispute,” Rora says, leading me out the back door.

In the week since we said “fuck it” and let ourselves have each other, even if only for now, we’ve settled into something of a routine. I drive us to work in the morning, because Rora needs at least two cups of coffee and three pieces of sour candy before she’s road safe, and she drives us back to her place.

Charlie and Kate have been staying in Jackson for a few days, getting Charlie’s legs checked out and seeing a Christmas show, so they haven’t noticed that I’ve been sleeping at Rora’s. But they got back this morning.

I’m not na?ve enough to think we’re going to make it through the season without them finding out—I’ve been looking forward to kissing the hell out of Rora at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and there’s no way my brother and sister-in-law won’t notice that —but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to explain it to them.

We’re not doing anything wrong, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to see it that way. They’ve watched Rora grow up; they’re understandably protective of her. It feels pointless to go through the stress of explaining things when this is painfully temporary, but it’s going to be impossible not to.

“What do you want to do on our days off?” Rora asks, pulling me out of my head.

“You mean aside from you?”

“I assumed that was implied.”

I chuckle, reaching across the car to massage the nape of her neck. She seriously needs a new camera strap, but I don’t know how much it would help, considering she spends every day twisting into strange positions to capture the best angles.

Rora groans, and the sound goes straight to my cock.

“I’d like to see your favorite place in Wintermore, assuming you have one.”

She glances at me, surprised. “I do have one. We can go there.” She turns into the cul-de-sac and squints distastefully at the sheer number of Christmas lights. Most of them are covering Charlie and Kate’s house, but every house in Wintermore gets in on the action.

Rora pulls up outside their house and puts the car in park. Now, it’s my turn to be surprised.

“If this is your favorite place, then I hate to break it to you, sugar, but I’ve been here.”

She rolls her eyes, the corner of lips twitching. “This is my second favorite place. Although, it temporarily takes first place whenever Charlie makes chili and margaritas.”

“He doesn’t scrimp on the tequila.” The chili is a pale imitation of the one our gramma made growing up, but he serves the margaritas first so no one notices.

“Pack an overnight bag, and I’ll pick you up in an hour. We can grab dinner on the way,” Rora says, piquing my interest even more.

“You going to tell me where we’re headed?”

“Nope. Pack your snow boots.”

“You got it.” I lean across the console to press a kiss on her cheek, but Rora turns her head and catches my lips with hers.

I knot my hand in her hair, and she whimpers as I slip my tongue into her mouth. Sour watermelon floods my senses, and I already know I’m going to have to stock up on her favorite candy so I can still taste her when I leave. The thought sobers me, and I pull back, swallowing.

I press a kiss to the tip of her nose. “See you in an hour, sugar. ”

I close the car door, and she pulls away from the curb, flushed.

The house is quiet, and I make it upstairs without running into Kate or Charlie, giving me time to throw a couple of night’s worth of stuff in a bag. If I need snow boots wherever we’re going, there’s always a risk of getting snowed in.

What a shame it would be to get stuck somewhere with Rora…

I’m not so lucky when I make it back downstairs. Charlie, Kate, and the kids are in some kind of standoff. Well, Kate and the kids are standing. Both of Charlie’s legs are in casts, so standing isn’t really an option.

Kate turns to me. “Perfect. Henry can choose.”

“Choose what?” I ask, pushing my duffel bag behind my back as much as possible.

“What you want for dinner,” Charlie says. “Noelle and I want to order Thai food. Felix and Kate want pizza.”

Shit. “I’m actually not going to be home for dinner. I’m heading out for the night.”

Matching looks of suspicion cross their faces. “Heading out where?”

I rack my brain for a reasonable answer; I need to ask Rora how we’re handling this going forward. But I don’t get the chance to come up with anything before Felix answers for me.

“He has a date with Rora.”

Kate claps a hand to her mouth. Still, I decide she’s the safer option to make eye contact with.

“Our Rora?” she asks, her eyes widening when I nod. “Wow. That’s … unexpected.”

“Unexpected? It’s just plain wrong.” Yeah, Charlie’s pissed. “What the fuck, Henry? She’s twenty-eight. And she’s practically our daughter! What’s next? You’re going to date Noelle?”

Jesus.

“Dad!” Noelle injects, tossing a throw pillow at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. Yes, Rora is family to us, but Uncle Henry literally met her for the first time a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t watch her grow up.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s twenty-eight. You can’t possibly be okay with this.”

“I’m fine with it,” Noelle tells him with a shrug. “Rora asked me before she approached him. You know Rora; you know how rare it is for her to be interested in someone. And usually when she is, she’s halfway around the world and we have no idea if she’s safe. Uncle Henry’s a good guy.”

“She has a point, honey,” Kate chimes in. “We’re not upset, Henry. We’re just surprised, is all.”

“I’m upset,” Charlie grumbles, but the heat is gone from his voice.

I take a deep breath, finally turning to address him. “I can’t blame you for being upset. I understand how important she is to you, and I know how this looks. But she’s important to me too. I’ve only known her for two weeks, and she’s already so important to me. I want to do right by her, and that means trusting her judgment when she says she’s comfortable with my age.”

Charlie crosses his arms, his face unreadable.

“So, it’s serious?” Kate asks gently.

My heart is a lead weight in my stomach. “We’re both leaving soon. We’re just trying to make the most of the time we have together.”

Even I can hear how thoroughly unhappy I am with that answer, and there’s a beat of heavy silence before Kate jumps in, sounding much cheerier. “Where are y’all headed tonight?”

I clear my throat, forcing myself to sound less consumed by the deadline on my time with Rora. “I’m not sure. Rora’s taking me to her favorite place in Wintermore but won’t tell me where it is.”

“Oh, you’re going to love it,” Noelle says. “But make sure you take snow boots.”

“And a warm jacket,” Kate agrees. “And some blankets. In fact, I think I’ll throw some stuff together for you to take up. I have a bunch of snacks and stuff…” She trails off, heading into the kitchen before I can reply.

The energy in the room has shifted back and forth so much that I’m on the verge of whiplash.

Felix frowns between Charlie and Noelle. “So, are we getting pizza or Thai food?”