by Abigail Roux
“Thank you,” Julian said to him softly. He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it again without saying anything. He tilted his head to the side and gave a small, almost embarrassed smile as he wrapped his scarf around his neck. It occurred to Cameron that Julian often dipped his head to one side or the other, or even ducked his chin as he spoke, and it was clearly because he was so tall. It was the only way to keep eye contact with someone so much shorter than he.
Cameron put his hands behind his back, fingers worrying at the roller as he watched Julian get ready to go. He had no idea what to say. Nothing sounded right. Instead, he skimmed over Julian’s body one last time, trying to commit it and the feel of it against him to memory. As Cameron watched him, Julian lowered his head and began to walk slowly toward the door.
Then he stopped suddenly, turned around, and moved quickly toward Cameron to roughly pull him close and kiss him.
Cameron almost choked as he was grabbed and kissed within an inch of his life, and he held on tight for the length of the moment, savoring it, soaking it in. Julian held him so tightly that Cameron thought he might have bruises when it was over.
Julian detached himself just as suddenly as he’d moved before. “I hope to see you tonight,” he murmured as he backed away. “Merry Christmas,” he offered before turning and heading for the door on those silent cat’s feet.
“Merry Christmas,” Cameron echoed as Julian exited the apartment without looking back.
Cameron stood there for long minutes, staring at the door after Julian left before wrapping his arms around himself and turning in place, feeling lost and overwhelmed. Finally, he went over to the playpen, liberated the puppies, and sat down on the floor, letting them cavort around him while he reflected on what had been an odd, amazing night.
The snow falling heavily outside almost obscured Cameron’s view of the street and the city beyond. A few candles filled the apartment with a popular scent of the season, and he had switched on the tiny twinkle lights he’d hung in the windows. His favorite Internet radio station played jazz holiday tunes, and he felt that was about all he needed for the holiday mood this year.
The afternoon and early evening had come and gone without so much as a hint of Julian’s return, and Cameron had convinced himself that it was what he’d expected, trying to ignore the disappointment.
He’d abandoned his book on the couch in favor of fixing himself dinner, using a recipe from Jean-Michel, the chef at the restaurant. It wasn’t exactly Christmasy: a thick, meaty lasagna with several layers that had required Cameron to search out a kitchen store the week before to buy extra-deep lasagna pans. He chopped and grated and cooked ingredients for almost an hour; one pan of lasagna was done and had been in the oven about two hours. Now he was putting the second together to freeze for another time.
Washing his hands for the umpteenth time, he paused to finish his glass of wine and refill it, grunting in surprise to find he’d somehow managed to finish the entire bottle. Shrugging, he set it aside and pulled another bottle off the rack. No reason not to get more than tipsy tonight, he thought wryly. No work tomorrow, no one to be presentable for, nowhere to go. He looked down at the huge lasagna and smiled. And he’d have food for days. Weeks, maybe.
Without warning, the puppies started yapping hysterically and ran for the front door. Cameron looked after them in surprise. He hadn’t heard the bell ring or buzzed anyone into the building. Frowning, he glanced at the clock. Seven-thirty. With a soft harrumph he rounded the bar to walk toward the door, carefully shooing the puppies away with his feet before peering through the peep-hole.
He jerked back in surprise and allowed himself a moment to quietly panic before he pulled off the chain and opened the door.
“Hello, Cameron,” Julian greeted in a soft voice. “May I come in?” he requested.
Blinking several times, Cameron stared for a long moment before shaking himself and stepping back. He thought vaguely that he should ask how Julian had gotten into the building, but when Julian spoke, the thought totally disappeared from his head.
“Thank you,” Julian murmured. When he stepped into the apartment, his dark clothing glistened slightly; it was soaked through and flecked with ice crystals.
Cameron closed the door behind him after counting the puppies now flopping around Julian’s feet, and his eyes moved upward over Julian’s clinging clothing. “You’re all wet,” he observed stupidly. “I’ll get you a towel,” he added, blushing slightly as he turned to head toward the bathroom.
“A towel won’t do me much good,” Julian answered with a wry smile as his hair dripped and rivulets of melted snow ran down his face, catching in his beard.
Stopping, Cameron looked at him more closely and stifled a laugh. “What’d you do? Snow angels?”
Julian gave him a self-deprecating smile and lowered his head to run his hand through his wet hair. “Well, I considered one, but at the time I still had a dry sock to consider,” he joked. “I was walking. I had to leave my car because of the blizzard. You were much closer than home,” he admitted, looking slightly abashed. “I’m sorry,” he offered.
Cameron frowned. “Leave your car?” he repeated dubiously. On the well-snowplowed Chicago streets?
Julian pursed his lips. “You really want to know?” he asked, repeating himself from the night before.
“I think so,” Cameron answered before considering it.
“I hit an ice sheet,” Julian said right away. “The car was pretty much done for the night after that.”
Cameron cocked his head and looked Julian up and down, not seeing any injuries. “Are you okay?” he asked as worry flared.
“I’m not hurt,” Julian assured him quickly. “I may be sore tomorrow,” he added as he pointed to his chest and rubbed it. “Safety belt,” he explained.
Still concerned, Cameron nodded toward the bathroom. “There’s towels in the basket if you want to shower. You must be freezing. It’s like ten degrees outside even without the wind.”
Julian nodded and watched Cameron with a curious expression. “Do you mind?” he asked seriously. “I can call for a ride and go.”
“Of course I don’t mind!” Cameron said in surprise. “I wouldn’t turn you out soaking wet.” He pointed at the bathroom. “Go,” he said firmly.
Julian’s lips twitched in amusement, and he nodded obediently as he began to loosen his tie. “Yes, sir,” he drawled in a soft, low voice.
Cameron raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, watching in interest. Every time they spoke, a little more of Julian’s personality seemed to creep forth. It was anything but cold and foreboding. There was actually humor buried under there somewhere.
Julian removed his coat as Cameron watched, hanging it carefully on the coatrack beside the door. He turned and considered Cameron’s gaze. “Did you want to help me?” he asked in amusement.
Reaching out to touch Julian’s hand, Cameron could tell he was nearly frozen. “If that’s what it takes to thaw you out,” he said frankly. “I’m surprised you’re not blue. Get moving. I’ll try to find you something dry to wear.”
“Thank you,” Julian murmured before turning and heading for the bedroom, undressing as he went.
Cameron followed along behind, taking the wet clothes as Julian pulled them off. Once in the bedroom, he slung them over a chair and went digging in his dresser. It would be a neat trick to find anything to fit Julian, but Cameron thought he had a couple oversized pairs of sweatpants and T-shirts that might work. For all that Julian was tall and broad-shouldered, he was very trim through the middle.
Cameron couldn’t dry Julian’s clothes for him; it was all high-class, dry-clean-only stuff. He cringed as he looked at the expensive labels. He couldn’t afford to breathe the air in those stores. Not many people could.
Julian made short work of showering, apparently just getting reasonably warm. He re-entered the bedroom with a towel around his waist, but water still ran down his chest and shoulders in thin st
reams.
Cameron glanced up from where he knelt in front of the fireplace beside the bed, having set it to burning. He stood and gestured to the clothes spread out on the foot of the bed before walking over with a frown. “If you don’t dry off, you’ll be right back where you started,” he scolded.
Julian smiled. “At least I’ll already be out of the wet clothes.” He licked his lips as he looked at Cameron fondly. “You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”
Cameron narrowed his eyes. “What makes you ask that?”
“Because you’re a little less… twitchy,” Julian pointed out with a cock of his head.
The huff that was Cameron’s reply didn’t do anything to counter Julian’s statement. Neither did Cameron reaching out to yank the towel from the other man’s hips and tossing it over his head to roughly dry his dripping hair. Julian grunted in surprise and lowered his head obligingly. Cameron continued rubbing until he thought Julian’s hair might be sufficiently dry, and then he pulled the towel away and slid his hand into the damp hair to check. Julian watched him from under lowered lashes, his dark eyes shining.
Appeased, Cameron took the towel and dried Julian’s neck, shoulders, and chest before stepping back and pointing at the clothes expectantly.
Julian gave him an amused smile.
“I might have had some wine,” Cameron said reluctantly.
“No kidding.” Julian laughed.
Cameron turned up his nose. “Fine then,” he said, letting the towel drape around Julian’s neck and shifting his weight to step back.
Julian snagged him and pulled him closer, kissing him with a small snicker. “I quite like you like this.”
Smiling again, Cameron curled his arm around Julian’s neck. “Don’t do it often,” he admitted. “Usually working.” He ran his lips along Julian’s jaw and down the side of his neck, humming softly as he breathed in the other man’s scent.
“How much have you had?” Julian asked in interest.
Cameron flushed and hid his face in the crook of Julian’s neck. His answer was muffled in warm skin.
Julian laughed harder as he wrapped his still-damp arms around Cameron and hugged him. “That much, huh?” he prodded.
Cameron pulled back, looking obstinate. “Some. A bottle. Maybe.”
“Uh-huh,” Julian responded. “Well, come on; give me some,” he invited with a smile as he turned Cameron around and began pushing him out toward the kitchen, heedless of the fact that he was still nude.
Clearly, Julian was a man who was either used to being naked or was very comfortable with his body. Possibly both, Cameron speculated. He laughed as Julian urged him along. “I was getting ready to open the next bottle when you knocked,” he explained. “I’m making lasagna!” he claimed, as if that justified it.
“Sounds like a drinking task to me,” Julian affirmed with a sage nod.
“You’re humoring me,” Cameron accused as Julian pushed him into the kitchen.
“Yes,” Julian answered with a laugh.
Cameron stopped at the bar. “You’re laughing at me too.”
“Only a little,” Julian insisted with sincerity.
Cameron reached out to snag the corkscrew and slid around the bar that separated the living room and the kitchen, putting it between him and Julian. “No wine for you,” he muttered.
Julian snorted and turned his head a bit when the sound of tiny feet came stampeding around the corner toward them. “Oh, fun,” he commented as the puppies lobbed themselves at his bare ankles.
Cameron snickered at the look on Julian’s face. He set the corkscrew on the bar and walked over to the lasagna fixings. “How was work?” he asked.
Julian looked up at him, a hint of the guarded mask appearing before he looked back down and gently lifted his foot, trying to shake off a puppy without booting it across the floor. “It was… predictable,” he answered vaguely.
“Predictable,” Cameron commented. “Sounds… exciting. Although, I guess you would think my job is predictable.”
“I waited tables once,” Julian told him. “Once, as in one night,” he was quick to clarify. “Nothing predictable about that. I’m much better off doing what I do, thank you.”
Cameron looked over his shoulder, grinning. “I can’t see you as a waiter,” he agreed. “You sort of have to talk to people, you know?” He turned back to the pan and finished layering the second lasagna.
“I talk,” Julian responded, sounding affronted by the implication that he didn’t.
Cameron wiped his hands off on a dish towel and covered the deep pan with aluminum foil. “Uh-huh. And just how many dinners at Tuesdays did it take before you said word one to me?” He glanced to Julian as he carried the pan over to the freezer.
“I was nervous,” Julian offered lamely.
Cameron shook his head in disbelief as he shut the freezer door and turned around. “Then why sit in my section every Tuesday for who knows how many months?”
Julian grinned and finally wrapped the towel around his waist again after wresting it from two growling dogs. “Ten. Because I liked to watch you.”
Cameron blinked. Ten months. Wow. That long? “Watch me, but not speak to me.”
Julian sighed as his smile fell, and he lowered his head for a moment. “I was afraid I would say something out of line,” he said seriously.
Cameron’s brow furrowed. “Out of line?” He tipped his head to one side as he walked back to the bar and started opening the bottle of wine.
“Blake Nichols is a very good friend of mine, as well as a business partner,” Julian explained softly. “It wouldn’t do to get on my knees in the middle of his restaurant and beg you to come home with me.”
Cameron fumbled with the corkscrew while he blinked in shock that was aided by too much wine. His mouth dropped open as he tried to say something, but nothing came out; he could do nothing but stare at Julian with wide blue eyes.
Julian returned the look earnestly, waiting.
“Would you really have done that?” Cameron finally managed to ask.
“Probably,” Julian answered with a nod. “Blake told me I couldn’t,” he added in what was nearly a sulk.
Cameron’s eyes widened again. “Probably?” he repeated weakly.
“I would have been subtle,” Julian insisted with a straight face.
Cameron was completely bowled over. “Subtle? How is getting down on your knees and begging subtle?”
“I could make it subtle,” Julian insisted under his breath as he waded through the puppies and around the bar to join Cameron. He took the wine cork with one hand and Cameron’s hand with the other before he gracefully dropped to his knees in front of him and looked up at him with impish dark eyes.
Cameron had not one single idea what to do. All he could do was stare down at the gorgeous sight in front of him. That glittering gaze held him mesmerized as he tightened his fingers around Julian’s.
“See?” Julian asked innocently. “It’s less subtle when I’m naked, but you get the point,” he said in a low voice, obviously trying not to smile a as he released Cameron’s hand and slid his hands up the backs of Cameron’s calves. It was obvious he was enjoying himself, but Cameron wasn’t quite getting the joke.
Cameron waffled a little and finally lifted his free hand to ghost over Julian’s short hair. He thought about it for a long moment before finally murmuring, “Point taken.”
Julian grinned up at him and let his hands move up over the backs of Cameron’s thighs. “Were you cooking?” he asked.
“Cooking?” Cameron repeated in a daze, hand still moving lightly over Julian’s head to curl down and coast over his ear and cheek.
Julian laughed softly, seeing the effect his actions were having.
Cameron shook his head to clear it and dipped it to one side. “I would have said yes,” he whispered.
Julian gave that a genuine smile that warmed his eyes to a deep brown. “That’s good to know.”
Cameron fe
lt a flash of panic. “You’re not going to try it, are you?”
As he put a hand to his heart, Julian gave him the most angelic face Cameron had ever seen. “Try what?” he asked.
Visibly worried, Cameron reached down to tug at Julian’s hand, urging him to stand. “Not that I would mind the effort,” he clarified as Julian grunted and got back to his feet slowly. Cameron looked up at him. “C’mon; I’ll feed you,” he said abruptly, trying to dispel the sudden tightness in his chest. “But you’d better get dressed or I’ll get distracted again.”
Julian smirked as he looked down at his towel. He watched Cameron moving toward the oven for a moment before turning on silent feet and padding across the main room to disappear behind the screen. Cameron’s eyes lifted to watch him the whole way, and he slowly licked his bottom lip. Once the man disappeared behind the dividing screens, he let out a shuddering sigh and practically collapsed against the counter.