wanted Belinda.
Maybe Ken was right. Maybe it was worth a shot. Maybe he could make an effort and not let the best thing that had ever happened slip away without even reaching out for it.
He stood staring at himself for almost fifteen minutes as he came to a number of conclusions.
Then he dug through his closet until he found scissors, a razor, and a comb.
AT FIVE O’CLOCK THAT afternoon, Fitz went back over to Belinda’s house with the supplies he’d need to fix her fence.
He’d done a rough estimate in his mind about the best time to go over. He knew she was having Christmas dinner with Ria and Jacob at one, and they’d need time to eat and hang out and exchange presents and whatever else they were doing.
But Ria and Jacob weren’t likely to stay at Belinda’s all day. Not with a new baby. So he figured five was a good time to show up.
She might be alone, in which case he could keep her company. And either way, he had a good excuse. He wanted to fix her fence anyway.
There were no extra cars in the driveway when he arrived, so he figured his timing had worked out well. When he was hit with a sudden case of nerves, he decided to just start working at the fence. She’d probably see him and come out to say hello.
He’d been working for about fifteen minutes when he saw the front door open. His heartbeat accelerated. He felt like a teenage boy with his first crush. He was too excited and self-conscious to even turn around.
“Hey,” he heard her say as she walked toward him. “You didn’t have to do this on Christmas day.”
“That’s all right.” He steeled his will, straightened up, and turned around with a smile. “I don’t mind.”
He’d trimmed his hair and cleaned up his beard. He wasn’t ready to shave it off completely, but it was a lot shorter now. Neat. He thought he looked better, and he wanted to know what Belinda thought.
As soon as she saw his face, she squealed and jumped backward, dropping the wrapped gift she’d been holding.
“What the hell?” he muttered with a frown. That was not the reaction he’d been going for.
“What happened?” she demanded, flushed and wide-eyed. She leaned over to pick up the dropped gift.
“What do you mean, what happened? What do you think happened?”
“I almost didn’t recognize you. Talk about a surreal experience. I thought it was you, and you turn around and it looked like someone else.” Her eyes were running up and down his body, as if she were searching for proof of his identity.
“Of course it’s me,” he grumbled, vaguely annoyed at himself for being so disappointed. What had he thought would happen? That she’d be so overwhelmed with admiration she’d fall into his arms? “Who the hell else would it be?”
“That’s the point. I thought it was you, but then you didn’t look like yourself.”
He rubbed his shorter beard distractedly. “It was getting too long. I figured it was time for a once-a-year trim up.”
“Do you really do it once a year on Christmas?” She appeared to believe his spontaneous explanation. Her expression was amused and interested. “I don’t remember it from other years.”
“That’s because you weren’t paying attention.”
It was a straight-out lie, but it worked. She let the subject drop and said instead, “But seriously, you don’t have to do all this on Christmas day. It could wait.”
“I didn’t have anything else to do. I wanted to.”
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she glanced down, her thick, dark eyelashes spreading out against her smooth skin.
She was so beautiful. Touchable. He gripped the drill he was holding with both hands so he wouldn’t try to touch her.
Fitz suddenly realized she was dressed up. She had on a new red top that slid off one of her shoulders and wore black leggings and simple jewelry. She also had makeup on.
“You look really nice,” he heard himself saying.
Her cheeks got pinker as she darted a quick look up. “Thanks.”
“I thought you would have changed clothes since your guests are gone.”
“Oh. Yeah. I, uh, I’m going out.”
Maybe the words could have meant anything, but the way she said them made their significance very clear. Fitz’s body tensed up. He sucked in a breath. “Going out?”
“With Charles. He called. A while ago.”
“He asked you out on Christmas?” He really shouldn’t sound so rough and outraged. He had absolutely no right. But he was suddenly pulsing with resentment.