Under the Mistle-Foe (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

JETT

I thought I was seeing things when he first turned around. My heart almost stopped, thinking that I was placing him onto the faces of random people because, if we were being honest, he was never far from my mind, even after five years without seeing him. Although every time I thought I’d caught sight of him in the past, it was never a grown-up version of him.

Rapidly blinking my lids, I thought the image I saw in front of me would finally change and confirm it wasn’t who I wanted it to be. But nothing changed, and the man who stood in front of me continued to look like Remy Trent. A mature, very sexy version of the man.

Fuck. If I was dreaming, I never wanted to wake up.

He’d grown his brown hair out to about shoulder length, and along with his facial hair and those sexy glasses he wore like a model, he was a wet dream come alive.

It really made me wonder just how long this man was going to take over my fantasies. One thing was for certain: those matchmaking dates I’d gone on did nothing to help me get over this man .

“Bruce and Micah are here somewhere with their partners. I just didn’t want to third wheel, so Remy here saved me from my fate of wandering around by myself.”

Kaysen’s voice shocked me out of my daze and made me realize I’d been staring at Remy for longer than what was socially acceptable. I was so focused on him that I’d even forgotten all about the biting wind blowing ice daggers against my face.

Remy must have noticed my staring too, because he was currently giving me a weird look. I quickly flicked my gaze away before I started overanalyzing each one of his micro-expressions and focused on the youngest Brooks brother instead.

“You here by yourself too?” Kaysen asked.

“Sure am. The folks had an emergency at the office and weren’t able to make it back in time for the festival kick-off. My mom’s super bummed about it,” I replied.

My eyes returned to Remy, even though I told myself I would stop looking at him. The pull to him was too hard to resist. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m just here to help Dad until his leg heals.”

God, even his voice had matured into pure perfection. It was a bit deeper now, though not as deep as mine, and silky smooth. If he started a podcast, I’d be his number one fan. Having that delicious voice rumbling close to my ear? Talk about heaven.

Even I wanted to wince at that thought. It seemed that even at twenty-four, I was still cringe around Remy Trent.

“I heard about the accident. How’s he doing? I haven’t had a chance to visit the diner recently.”

“The man thinks he still has two perfectly working legs and won’t stop or slow down for a second. He thinks he’s a god or something,” he said with a huff .

I smiled at his scowl. This was something that hadn’t changed about him. Even as a teen, he’d nag or complain to his dad whenever he was worried about him overworking himself.

“I’m sure if Adam were here right now, he’d insist that he is,” I commented, and Remy laughed. I watched, fascinated. I’d never gotten to see Remy laugh up close and personal.

Back then, I’d put my foot in my mouth too often to earn anything but a frown from him. And instantly jinxing myself, Remy stopped his laugh like he was also remembering that I was the person who’d acted so foolishly in front of him in high school.

Then we were staring at each other awkwardly again. I shot a glance at Kaysen, hoping he’d save the moment, but he was ignorantly watching the stage with excitement.

I couldn’t blame him, since the Heath Kelly was actually here in our little town. If Remy wasn’t right in front of me, I’d be shooting heart eyes toward the stage as well, but now that he was, I couldn’t look anywhere but at him.

“So, how’s the promotion going?” I asked, trying to think of anything to fill the silence. That didn’t make any sense since we were surrounded by hundreds of people and Heath’s voice was booming through the speakers, but it still felt like there was a void surrounding Remy and me, and I desperately needed to fill it.

It wasn’t until I saw the deep furrow of his eyebrows that I realized what I’d just said. As it seemed to be the norm around him, I ran my mouth without thinking once again and slipped about something I shouldn’t have known.

“Is my dad going around bragging about that when it hasn’t even been finalized yet? Sounds like something he’d do,” he said with a scoff, but he couldn’t press down the little smile that was forming in the corner of his lips .

My heart, which was threatening to beat out of my chest, calmed down just enough to stay inside me.

Could being around someone be bad for one’s health? Because I swore my heart worked double time whenever Remy was around. But even if being around him wasn’t great for my heart, I didn’t think I could pull myself away.

The small smile slipped from his face, replaced with a stony hardness that I hated so much more than his angry expressions.

“They put the promotion on hold since I took an extended leave.” He sighed and ran a hand through those luscious locks.

My eyes followed his movements, wishing instead that it was my hands stroking through his hair to comfort him. I was never good at comforting people. I never knew the right things to say, and would more often than not say something wrong, and the probability of that happening around Remy was already high to start with.

So instead, I gave him what I hoped was a comforting pat on his shoulder and put in as much sincerity as I could when I said, “I’m sorry.”

Remy’s chocolate-colored eyes watched me as if studying my expression, probably trying to figure out if I was being genuine. I squeezed his shoulder again,needing him to know that I was.

There might have been a ton of misunderstandings between us in high school—and I took full blame for that—but this was something I had to convey to him correctly.

I needed him to know that I cared.

His stare lasted another second more, and just when I feared he’d take my words wrong, just like all the other times, he chuckled. The soft vibrations of the action tingled under my palm, and I realized just how close we were—closer than we’d ever been before .

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this when I haven’t told anyone else,” he said.

His head was turned toward me. I could feel his hot breath glide over the back of my hand. I pulled my hand back, almost like the heat of him had burned me, then slipped them into my pockets as casually as possible so it didn’t seem like I was avoiding his touch.

Or maybe I was jailing my hands so I wouldn’t seek to feel more of him.

Remy didn’t seem to notice, however. He faced the stage again, his expression turning stony once more. “So you better not tell anyone else.”

“I won’t. I pinky promise,” I said. He didn’t respond, and for a second, I wondered if I’d spoken too low that he hadn’t heard me, but then he faced me again, a soft smile gracing his lips as he shot me a thanks.

I just stared back, my mouth hung open like an idiot. I never dreamed of Remy intentionally smiling at me, or hell, even giving me his thanks, because god knew I’d never done anything to deserve it before.

It felt like we were finally getting somewhere, forming a small connection that was beyond me being some person he tolerated in high school.

And the hopes of being in Remy Trent’s life that had diminished over our years apart lit up again. Even if it was a minuscule chance, maybe something could grow between us. Even if it was just friendship.

At that moment, bright light exploded from behind Remy. Oohs and aahs sounded around us, almost drowning out the exclamation of surprise that came from Remy. “Look! They lit up the tree! Wow, I forgot how beautiful it is…”

He craned his neck up to see the myriad of colorful lights that shone against the giant Christmas tree. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from him to enjoy it. All I could do was stand there and watch his delight at the show. This view had to be more beautiful than anything the lights could come up with.

The lighting of the Christmas tree stole the hearts of most people here, but not mine. My heart was already stolen by the man standing beside me.