Tic-Tac-Mistletoe - N.R. Walker Page 0,15

anyone else?”

“Well, because I have eyes. And honestly, the only guy who could beat your cuteness would be Chris Evans. Does Chris Evans live in Hartbridge?”

He was smiling now. “No, he does not.”

“Then you win.”

He chuckled. “No, there’s no boyfriend. There hasn’t been for a long time. Hartbridge isn’t exactly gay central. What about you? Leave a trail of crying men at the airport?”

I snorted. “Uh, no. Some friends, sure. But no one was busting my door down begging me not to leave.”

Ren took a deep breath and exhaled with a sigh. He opened his mouth to say something but a staticky buzz sounded and it startled me. “Oh, the radio,” he said, standing up. Static crackled again as Ren opened the door and snatched up the receiver just as a guy finished saying something about taking a car back to town. “Thanks, Robert. Message received. Over.”

“Should be able to take a look at it tomorrow. Over.”

“Thanks for the call-out. We’ll be in touch in the morning. Over and out.” Ren hung the receiver in the cradle and gave me a smile. “Well, your car’s taken care of. So that’s one thing. We’ll know tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I said again. “I hate to think what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

He smiled, all lazy and warm. “I’m glad I found you.”

Maybe there was a spark between us, or maybe I was so tired I was bordering on delirious. God, I wanted to stay up and find out if I was imagining it, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. “I think you were right about having a belly full of food. I wish I could stay up and talk more—I’d like to because you’re kinda great—but I’ve been up for thirty-six hours. My brain’s not working. As you could probably tell by the ‘you’re kinda great’ comment.”

He just kept right on smiling. “You should go to bed.”

As much as I wished otherwise, I couldn’t fight it. I nodded and went back to the table, taking my plate to the sink.

“Leave that,” he said. “I’ll take care of it.”

I leaned against the counter, not minding one bit how close we were. “Ren?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you found me too.”

Chapter Four

Ren

Hamish was just about dead on his feet. His blinks were getting longer and his head was nodding like it was too heavy to hold up. And heaven help me, I wanted him to stay up so we could chat all night long too, but there was no way.

I’m pretty sure he was asleep before he even got into bed, before his head was on the pillow.

I liked him. Talking to him was as easy as a summer breeze. I told him things I hadn’t told anyone. For no other reason than it felt the right thing to do. Like my heart needed it, cathartic, exposed, and I thought I would feel ripped open when he went to bed and I was alone. But I didn’t.

Sure, talking about my dad left me feeling a little raw. But I felt better after my conversation with Hamish. Like talking to him about my dad helped somehow. Normally, whenever someone mentioned my dad, it felt as though they’d taken a cheese grater to my heart. But it didn’t this time.

He’d lost his parents too, so maybe it was because he understood. Maybe it was because he was a complete stranger and he hadn’t grown up in this town and knew my dad all his life. He didn’t look at me with pity.

He looked at me with those dark soulful eyes, his long dark lashes, and all I could see was understanding.

Weird, huh? That I’d known him for just a few hours and yet it felt like he knew me better than most people I’d known my whole life.

I was almost certain he was gay, or bi at least. I never liked to assume or judge people, and he could have been as straight as an arrow for all I knew. But his eyes would fall to my lips too often for it to be nothing. Straight men didn’t do that. They just didn’t. Well, not any I’ve ever met. Not to mention Hamish’s voice was melodic and he talked while using his hands with a flourish, and I was pretty sure he put on some kind of lip balm after his shower . . .

But I had to know for sure.

And, if I was being truthful, I wanted to be honest with him.