by Bru Baker
“I can totally help,” Grant blurted. Anything to see him again, even if it was just for a few minutes. They’d shared an awkward bro hug after Aubrey’s last lesson, and it had haunted Grant all week. Even if Josh wasn’t interested in him, Grant still wanted to be friends. He was smart and funny, and Grant felt as comfortable with him as he did with his closest friends. He didn’t want to let him walk out of his life twice.
“Really? Because it’s a huge ask.”
“I know Aubrey was especially excited to give it to your mom. I want to help. What time do you want to come by?”
“Aubs is with Jill, and they’re doing presents since Jill’s scheduled to work on Christmas Day. But they’re doing that early. Like, crack of dawn early, I bet. Maybe after they’ve had a chance to play with all of Aubrey’s new toys and have lunch? Would our usual time work?”
Grant literally had no plans that didn’t involve his bed, so he was wide open. Though that made him think about Josh in his bed, which was definitely not something he needed to be imagining while the mom in the corner watched him like she was expecting him to kidnap her kids at any moment.
“I’ll meet you at the studio at three,” he confirmed.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Josh said. “Really. I’ve never seen Aubrey this upset. She was absolutely gutted.”
“We’ll make one that’s even better than the last one. You can tell her I promise.”
“I will.” Grant could hear the smile in Josh’s voice. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Grant hung up and forced himself to take a deep breath. He still had customers, and he had to close up after he ushered them out. He did not have time to freak out about seeing Josh again.
One day until Christmas
HE’D BEEN texting with Krista all morning, but Grant conveniently left out his three o’clock appointment. She’d have his balls if she knew he was going in on Christmas Eve.
Since he didn’t want to be too early, he forced himself to stop for Starbucks on the way in. He ordered his usual seasonal latte and a plain coffee for Josh, since he remembered he didn’t like anything fancy in his coffee. He got a hot chocolate for Aubrey too. Since she’d talked about burning her mouth on it before, he ordered it cooler than normal.
It was still a few minutes before three when he turned the corner and the studio came into view, but he could see Josh was already there, leaning against the concrete wall near the door.
“Thanks for being willing to do this,” Josh said, the words spilling out in a rush before Grant could even say hello. “She’s usually an easy kid, you know? But then the snowman got damaged somehow, and she just, I don’t know, freaked out. I’ve never seen her like that. Inconsolable.”
Josh looked a little frantic himself. His usually carefully styled hair was mussed, and he kept checking his phone. Grant noticed with no small degree of satisfaction that he was wearing the Batman scarf.
“It’s no problem. I’m not going anywhere for Christmas, and my roommate is already gone, so to be honest you’re saving me from boredom.”
Josh offered him a smile that was more like a grimace. “You mentioned being alone for Christmas, but I wasn’t sure if you were just trying to make Aubrey feel better about missing her mom on Christmas Day.”
“Nope. I really am one of the sad sacks who goes to the movies alone on Christmas Day.”
Josh’s gaze was intense. “There’s nothing sad about you,” he said. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, giving Grant an idea of how it had become so mussed. “Even if you aren’t busy, it was shitty of me to ask you to do this. I mean, it’s Christmas Eve. You shouldn’t be working.”
Grant handed the coffee carrier to Josh and opened the studio, letting Josh walk through before he closed the door behind them. “Well, since there’s no way in hell I’m letting you pay me for today, I’m technically not working, right?”
“Grant, no,” Josh said. “You absolutely have to let me pay you for this. And the real rate. There’s no way you actually charge thirty-five dollars for a private lesson.”
Grant squirmed under Josh’s stern look. “About that,” he said, shrugging out of his coat. “We don’t offer private lessons.”
Josh gaped at him. “But last night on the phone you said you didn’t offer them on Sundays.”
“We don’t,” Grant said agreeably. He picked up his coffee and took the lid off, blowing on it. “Or any other day of the week.”
Josh stared at him for a long moment and started to laugh. “You could have a future in law if you wanted,” he said.
“Nah, I’m happy here.”
“Here in the art studio you own,” Josh said, looking around. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner. I was so worried you were being taken advantage of.”
“It never came up,” Grant said, flustered at the idea of Josh worrying about him. He looked at the clock and realized Aubrey was almost twenty minutes late. What if something had happened to her?
Josh’s phone dinged, and he swiped at the screen, his expression thunderous, then amused. “She’s not coming.”
“Can Jill not get her here?”
“No, Jill never knew anything about it. The snowman is fine. Aubrey just told her about the phone call. That little sneak.”
“The snowman is fine?”
Josh held up his phone so Grant could see the screen. It was a slightly blurry photo of a beaming Aubrey holding up the completely intact snowman. The text said, Merry Christmas, Uncle Josh. I hope you like your present. Will you bring him to the movies tomorrow?
Grant blinked, frozen to the spot.
“She set us up,” Josh said, his voice rueful. “She’s a seven-year-old matchmaker.”
Grant looked up at him, fascinated by the blush spreading across Josh’s cheeks. “So I’m your Christmas present? Did she want you to have an art lesson?”
Josh thumbed the screen off and pocketed the phone without breaking Grant’s gaze. He shook his head. “No,” he murmured. He stepped closer and tilted his head, bridging the gap between them until Grant could feel the heat of his lips and smell the coffee on his breath. “Is this….”
When he paused, Grant surged forward and kissed him, chastely at first and then with more enthusiasm when Josh responded by wrapping his arms around Grant and pulling him closer. Grant was almost giddy with the knowledge that Josh’s full lips felt as amazing as he’d fantasized they would. He ran his hands over Josh’s back, frustrated by the bulky pea coat. Josh shrugged it off and let it fall to the ground without breaking the kiss, and Grant made a happy noise as his fingers found Josh’s waistband. He tugged the shirt up, groaning when his fingers finally found purchase against the smooth, warm skin of Josh’s back.
The jingle bells over the door tinkled, and Grant broke away from Josh, startled. Though not nearly as startled as the woman standing in the doorway. It was the mother from last night—because of course it was.
“We forgot Evan’s mittens,” she squeaked.
He was sure they made quite a picture, with their pink faces and clothes in disarray. Pretending it was business as usual and she hadn’t just walked in on him trying to climb Josh like a tree, Grant ducked under the counter and came up with a box of scarves, mittens, and hats.
She grabbed a pair toward the top and darted back toward the door.
“Merry Christmas!” Josh yelled after her, and Grant gave in to the giddy giggles he’d been fighting since he saw the text message from Aubrey.
“I think we traumatized her,” he said, trying to catch his breath.
“She’s lucky she didn’t walk in a few minutes later,” Josh said, his voice hoarse. “I’ve had fantasies about bending you over one of these tiny tables. Every time we sat at these damn things, I couldn’t help but think about how nice you’d look splayed out on one.”
Grant’s laughter dried up, replaced by a skitter of pure want that lanced up his spine. “We don’t have any curtains,” he said sadly, glancing fro
m the tables to the window. “And I don’t think I’d be able to walk afterward, and not for fun reasons.”
“You’re probably right. I’m not sure how that would work logistically. Besides, if I’m going to hobble you, I definitely want it to be because of fun reasons.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Jesus, that day you were making the wreath with Aubs and you talked about bottoming, I couldn’t stand up for a good ten minutes because of how hard hearing you talk like that made me.”
Grant preened. He’d figured after the kiss that his crush hadn’t been one-sided, but it was nice to have confirmation that Josh had enjoyed their flirting as much as he had.
“I’d better lock up before anyone else wanders in off the street,” Grant said.
“Any chance you’d want to take Aubrey up on her offer of the movies tomorrow?” Josh sounded almost shy. It was endearing. As if Grant would say no after the heated kiss they’d just shared.
“Absolutely,” he said. He swallowed and gathered his courage. He was always cautious in his relationships. He was more one to pine from afar than to actually act on things. So he channeled Mel, straightening his spine and looking directly at Josh. “You don’t have Aubrey tonight, right? It’s traditional to open your presents on Christmas morning, but sometimes people open one on Christmas Eve.”
Josh’s eyes darkened. “I don’t see why I couldn’t unwrap it tonight and tomorrow morning,” he said, his voice husky.
Grant shivered, and his hands were shaking when he picked his keys up. “That sounds like a good plan.”
Josh was into his coat in record time and holding the door open—with the mostly empty coffee carrier in hand, Grant noticed—before Grant had turned off the light or put on his own coat.
Josh pitched Aubrey’s cold hot chocolate into the trash can in front of the shop as Grant locked up. He grinned when he saw Grant watching him. “We can buy her another one tomorrow when we take her to the movies.”
Grant’s heart stuttered. He really liked the sound of that. They’d teased Krista about using the royal we too early in her latest relationship, but it felt natural with Josh.
“We can,” he agreed.
Josh held his hand out, and Grant slipped his gloved fingers into Josh’s bare ones. He laughed when Josh tucked their joined hands into the pocket of his Batman scarf.
“Do you think Aubrey was planning this from the beginning?” he asked as they started off toward the L.
“Maybe,” Josh admitted. “I told her I thought you were hot the day we met you, and she ratted me out to Jill. Then they ganged up with my mom, and all three have been driving me nuts about asking you out.”
“Why didn’t you?” Grant blurted. “Ask me out, I mean.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I thought you were straight! This whole time I thought you were Aubrey’s dad and Jill was your ex-wife.”
Josh choked. “Gross!”
“How was I supposed to know? I thought you were pining after Jill, and even after I knew you were siblings instead of exes, you never made a move. I figured you were either straight or not interested.”
Josh’s lip curled. “Please never use the words ‘Jill’ and ‘pining’ in the same sentence again.”
Grant laughed and squeezed his hand. “The point stands, though. How was I supposed to know you were into me?”
“Because I spent half of each lesson staring at your ass, for starters.”
“Contrary to what I tell my students, I don’t have eyes in the back of my head.”
Josh rumbled out a quiet laugh. “It felt weird. I mean, you were Aubrey’s teacher. I didn’t want to overstep and make you uncomfortable.”
“I swear, that kid’s seven going on seventeen. She’s scary observant.”
“Try seven going on thirty-seven,” Josh muttered. “But you’re right. I probably never would have gotten my head out of my ass and asked you out without her meddling.”
“We would’ve gotten away with it, if not for those meddling kids…,” Grant said, stumbling a bit when Josh stopped short.
Josh pulled Grant close, still holding his hand. “You are such a dork,” he said fondly, before leaning in and kissing him again.
Grant was giddy from the taste of him. “Your dork,” he said. “Aubrey gave me to you, and homemade presents can’t be returned.”
“Homemade from the heart,” Josh said solemnly. “Best kind of gift there is.”
BRU BAKER got her first taste of life as a writer at the tender age of four, when she started publishing a weekly newspaper for her family. What they called nosiness she called a nose for news, and no one was surprised when she ended up with degrees in journalism and political science and started a career in journalism.
Bru spent more than a decade writing for newspapers before making the jump to fiction. She now works in reference and readers’ advisory in a Midwestern library, though she still finds it hard to believe someone’s willing to pay her to talk about books all day. Most evenings you can find her curled up with a book or her laptop. Whether it’s creating her own characters or getting caught up in someone else’s, there’s no denying that Bru is happiest when she’s engrossed in a story. She and her husband have two children, which means a lot of her books get written from the sidelines of various sports practices.
Website: www.bru-baker.com
Blog: www.bru-baker.blogspot.com
Twitter: @bru_baker
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bru.baker79
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/6608093.Bru_Baker
Email: [email protected]
By Bru Baker
All in a Day’s Work (Multiple Author Anthology)
Branded
The Buyout
Campfire Confessions
Diving In
Dr. Feelgood (Dreamspinner Anthology)
Homemade from the Heart
King of the Kitchen
Late Bloomer
The Magic of Weihnachten
More Than Okay
With Lex Chase: Some Assembly Required
Talk Turkey
Traditions from the Heart
DREAMSPUN BEYOND
#7 – Camp H.O.W.L.
DREAMSPUN DESIRES
#31 – Tall, Dark, and Deported
DROPPING ANCHOR
Island House
Finding Home
Playing House
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Homemade from the Heart
© 2017 Bru Baker.
Cover Art
© 2017 Brooke Albrecht.
http://brookealbrechtstudio.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64080-310-7
Published
December 2017
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America