“Organized, sure. But I’m really not much of a decision-maker. Definitely not on the scale of the decisions you’re supposed to make.”
“I figure if the whole thing crashes down around me then I won’t have to go into work the next day, so either way it’s not so bad.” Grant shrugged. “I’m really not as important as you seem to think I am.”
“Well, you seem pretty important from my perspective. And you sign my paychecks, so I’d rather you didn’t tank the company,” Sunny said. “But no pressure.”
“I’ll try. For you. But no promises.” Grant yawned widely. “Oh. Excuse me.”
Sunny’s heart melted, which was something that happened a lot around Grant these days. “You should take a nap,” he said, not wanting Grant to stay up for his sake. “I can take care of everything else.”
Grant hesitated, staring into the fire for a few more moments. “You sure? Because I didn’t bring you here to leave you with all the work.”
“I’m sure. You’re about to have a long few days. Consider this a Christmas gift.”
Grant reached out to squeeze Sunny’s shoulder. “You’re one of a kind, you know that?”
Sunny grinned. “I know. Go. I’ll wake you when I’m hungry if you’re not already up. Deal?”
“Deal. I haven’t forgotten that I owe you dinner,” Grant said.
“I saw the extremely nice steaks among the groceries, so I’ll hold you to that.”
Sunny was looking forward to dinner with Grant for a whole host of reasons, but the steaks were right near the top of the list.
Grant himself, obviously, was the first entry.
“Okay, I’m going for a nap,” Grant said, turning to head for the stairs. “If you decide you need one too, just… leave it, and I’ll take care of it later.”
“I always keep my promises,” Sunny said.
“That’s my line,” Grant called from the stairs, disappearing up to the landing.
Sunny waited until he heard the bedroom door close behind Grant, then grabbed the car keys from the coffee table to get to work.
This place was going to glitter from the floor to the ceiling, and Hope was going to love it.
11
Grant walked down the stairs to find Sunny napping on the couch. A nap he clearly deserved, because the whole house was covered in decorations. There was barely a space that didn’t have lights or tinsel or actual, literal boughs of holly, the whole downstairs space sparkling.
Even the bannister on the stairs had tinsel wrapped around it.
Sunny started as Grant walked into the room, sitting up under the blanket he’d been curled up with. Grant tossed another piece of wood on the fire and went to sit down next to him.
“This is beautiful,” he said. “Or at least… I assume it’s beautiful. It definitely looks like something Hope would enjoy.”
“I took your glitter instructions very seriously,” Sunny said.
“That, I can see.” Grant smiled to himself. “And it’s very festive. You hungry?”
Sunny’s stomach growled before he could answer, making him blush. He cleared his throat, the tips of his ears bright red. “I can wait if you’re not.”
Grant chuckled. “Well, I’m starving. How do you like your steak?”
“As long as it’s at least slightly cooked on the inside, I don’t care.”
“So medium-rare?” Grant checked.
Sunny nodded. “Sounds good. I trust you.”
Grant stood, stretching his arms high above his head and yawning again. He felt as though he could do anything right now.
As he eased them back down, he noticed a brightly-wrapped package under the tree.
“What’s that?” he asked, frowning.
Sunny cleared his throat delicately again. “That’s, uh. That’s a Christmas present for you. From me.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” Grant said, though his heart swelled at the thought.
Sunny stood beside him, stretching as well and following Grant as he headed toward the kitchen. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. This is the most comfortable, fulfilling job I’ve ever had, and that’s because of you. This is my way of thanking you for that.”
Grant paused in the archway between the living room and the kitchen, floored by everything Sunny had just said.
Sunny felt fulfilled in this job. That was what everyone looked for, wasn’t it? To feel as though their life had purpose, even if that purpose was to run around after someone else putting out fires.
In any case, Sunny liked his job. He was happy. That probably meant he wasn’t going to leave Grant any time soon.
That made all the difference in the world. He’d been so afraid that Sunny would get sick of him, and now he was hearing that it wasn’t going to happen.
Before Grant could react, Sunny kissed him on the cheek.
He turned to look at him, blushing darkly and blinking, confused, but not mad at all.
Was Sunny coming onto him?
Did he want that?
“Mistletoe,” Sunny said, pointing above Grant’s head.
Grant looked up, curious. Above him was a little sprig of fake leaves and berries, which he assumed were meant to be mistletoe.
His stomach sank. Maybe he had wanted Sunny to be coming onto him.
That was stupid, and it’d cause so many problems, but there was a tiny part of him that just wanted…
Well, that wanted his happily ever after to be with his kind, sweet, gorgeous PA. Who took care of him and didn’t seem to mind that he was kind of a nightmare.
Sunny was pretty much a unicorn. Grant knew that he was being ridiculous thinking for a single second that Sunny might actually want him, but it was so nice to fantasize about it.
Which told him all he really needed to know about how he felt about Sunny. Pretending he didn’t know wasn’t really productive.
“Oh,” Grant said belatedly. “Yeah, right. Couldn’t let it go to waste?”
“Something like that,” Sunny said, grinning up at him. “I’m gonna go wash up before dinner.”
“I need about twenty minutes, so take your time,” Grant called after him as he headed up the stairs, his heart pulling as he watched Sunny go.
He would have given anything for Sunny to mean that kiss, as much of a disaster as it would have been.
12
Sunny started awake when he heard footsteps on the stairs, rolling over on the couch to watch Grant walk into the living room.
“What’re you doing down here?” Grant asked. “I expected you to still be in bed.”
“I am in bed,” Sunny said. “The heater in my room isn’t working. I guess it could be fixed, but I was too tired and cold to do anything about it.”
“You should’ve woken me up.” Grant scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I coulda fixed it for you.”
“I didn’t want to bother you. I was fine down here.” Sunny wrapped the blanket he’d been sleeping under around his shoulders.
“Well, I wish you’d woken me,” Grant said as Sunny headed for the window, peering out at the blanket of snow that had fallen overnight.
“I didn’t freeze to death. The couch is actually very comfortable.”
The road was covered in snow, and it was still snowing. Sunny had been planning on leaving this morning, but there was no way Grant’s sensible small car would make it down the unfinished road back to the highway in this much snow.
Even if there was some chance it would, he wouldn’t have asked Grant to take the risk.
Behind him, Grant whistled lowly.
“You ever seen snow like this?”
“No, never,” Grant said. “I’ve seen snow and all, but this is… it’s just white for miles.”
“Yeah,” Sunny murmured, feeling Grant’s warmth behind him. The temptation to lean back against him, grab his arms and wrap them around his waist, was almost too strong to resist. “We can’t drive in it.”
“I was starting to come to th
at conclusion,” Grant said, stepping forward, his shoulder brushing against Sunny’s. “They’ll clear the roads. In the meantime, I was thinking pancakes for breakfast.”
“Are you making them?” Sunny asked, turning his head to look at Grant.
He was beautiful in the morning. He was still in his sensible blue plaid pajama pants and soft-looking grey Henley, and his hair was tousled, and he was the kind of guy who had to shave every morning to look neat.
Scruffy was definitely a look on him. He’d never looked warmer or more comforting than he did right now.
“Of course. You’ve been off the clock since yesterday afternoon, so you’re my guest now. And I was raised to treat guests right,” Grant said.
Sunny had no doubt that was true. Grant was one of few people he’d ever met who he would have called a gentleman without any trace of irony.
“So you’re not my boss right now?” Sunny grinned.
Grant chuckled. “I sometimes think you’re my boss. You tell me what to do, I just do it,” he said. “Cute PJs, by the way.”
Sunny blushed at the compliment, remembering the reindeer pajama pants he was wearing. At least Grant hadn’t said anything about him sleeping in a hoodie for warmth.
“Thanks. I have a whole collection of Christmas ones,” Sunny admitted. “I appreciate your more grown-up choices, too. Although I think you could pull off novelty pajamas and still manage to look like an adult.”
“Probably the greys. Once your hair starts going, people just assume you must have your shit together.”
Sunny raised an eyebrow. “Did you just swear?”
Grant shrugged. “You’re off the clock. I’m not your boss right now. I’m allowed to swear around you. Unless, uh…” Grant scratched the back of his neck. “That is, unless you’d rather I didn’t?”
“No, please, by all means,” Sunny said. “It’s kinda cute, actually.”
“Cute?” Grant asked, his eyebrows climbing toward his hairline.
Sunny wet his lips, realizing he probably shouldn’t have said that, but deciding to stick to it all the same. “I stand by my assessment.”
Grant blushed, the tops of his cheeks going pink as he stared out the window at the falling snow. “No one ever calls me cute, but I’ll take it. I’m gonna make breakfast.”
“Do I have time to shower?” Sunny asked.
Grant shrugged. “As long as you’re fast enough to stop me eating all your pancakes.”
Sunny laughed, darting past him and heading for the stairs. “I’ll take that as a challenge.”
Despite claiming that the couch was comfortable, Sunny’s muscles were protesting at having been curled up on it all night. He hadn’t wanted to make Grant feel any worse than he obviously already did, especially since it wasn’t even slightly his fault.
The warm spray of the shower was a welcome balm for sore muscles, leaving Sunny moaning happily as the worst of his aches and pains melted away under the surprisingly good water pressure.
His mind kept going back to kissing Grant’s cheek yesterday. Every time he remembered it, his stomach flipped over again, nerves and excitement both swirling inside him.
Sunny wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting in response, but a blush and a tiny smile was probably the best outcome, all things considered. He really didn’t need to get involved with his boss.
No matter how much he was realizing he wanted to.
It was just a stupid little fantasy, and he’d get over it. Keeping his job was way more important than getting to fuck Grant, even if Sunny was pretty sure it’d be some of the best sex of his life.
Knowing that breakfast was on the line, Sunny gave his hair a quick wash and scrubbed himself down quickly, not pausing to savor the warm shower as long as he normally would have on a cold morning.
He got down just in time to find Grant setting out syrup, the smell of bacon filling the kitchen.
“Pancakes and bacon,” Sunny enthused as he settled on the other side of the kitchen counter. “You’re spoiling me.”
“I get the feeling you could stand to be spoiled a little,” Grant said. “Besides, I’m spoiling myself. The older I get, the more I realize that I only get to do this once. So. Pancakes and bacon, because life’s short. There’s also plenty of ice cream if you want it.”
Sunny shivered at the thought, despite the fact that the kitchen was warm and cozy.
“I don’t want it, but I’m not about to judge you for following your bliss,” Sunny said, grabbing a pancake from the stack eagerly.
“I don’t know if I’m having enough of a mid-life crisis to actually go through with eating ice cream for breakfast,” Grant said, taking a pancake for himself. “I did think about eggs, but I wasn’t sure how you liked ‘em.”
“This is already a huge breakfast. But for the record, I won’t eat them unless they’re scrambled,” Sunny said. “That way I’m sure the yolk is cooked. I hate runny egg yolk.”
“Weirdo,” Grant said, but he was smiling. “If you can’t spread it on your toast, what’s the point?”
Sunny wrinkled his nose. “Gross. I guess you’re not perfect after all.”
Grant looked up from his plate. “You thought I was perfect?”
Sunny’s stomach bottomed out. He hadn’t intended to say that out loud, and there wasn’t really any covering up how it sounded.
Thankfully, a thud from outside the window grabbed Grant’s attention instead. Sunny looked around in time to see a second heap of snow fall off the roof in front of it, wincing as it fell.
It wasn’t impossible that the roads would be cleared today, but Sunny didn’t like their chances of that.
“That’s a lot of snow,” Grant said.
“Yeah.” Sunny took another bite of his pancake, relieved that he’d gotten away with calling Grant perfect with complete sincerity. Maybe the snow wasn’t so bad if was going to give him well-timed distractions.
“We’ll get you home.” Grant turned back to his own plate, grabbing a rasher of bacon to go with his second pancake. “Promise.”
Sunny nodded, but he wasn’t entirely convinced.
As much as he would have liked to go home for Christmas, though, being stuck in a log cabin with Grant wasn’t the worst way he could imagine spending the day.
If anything, he’d be sad when he had to leave.
13
“Yeah, we’ve got supplies and stuff, so it’s not a big deal,” Grant said, glancing over at where Sunny was staring out the window. “I’m sorry about this. I never even thought of it.”
“You don’t control the weather,” Julia said kindly, her tone a lot more forgiving than Grant had expected.
Julia had infinite patience with him, but this was his second screw-up in a row. The fact that he didn’t control the weather didn’t mean he couldn’t have foreseen this.
He should have looked up the forecast for the area the cabin was in, or at least the average snowfall, or even managed to have the thought that if there was going to be snow, it was possible that there’d be too much.
On the other hand, Sunny obviously hadn’t expected this either, or he would have warned Grant about it. So maybe Grant wasn’t a total idiot.
“I just miss you guys,” Grant said. “I wanted the perfect Christmas for Hope. She deserves it. I’ve been a crappy dad this year.”
“You’re doing your best,” Julia said softly. “And we’re all happy and safe in a nice hotel, just waiting for the road to clear so we can come up. We’ll see you soon.”
Grant sighed. He really wanted to believe that, so he didn’t argue.
At least cell reception was still fine. It wasn’t as though he was going to completely lose touch with his family.
As guilty as Grant felt that Sunny was stuck here, part of him was glad. Not being alone meant that instead of panicking, he was just disappointed.
Sunny made everything better.
Grant was still thinking about Sunny calling him perfect earlier. Or, well,
he’d called him not perfect, but in a way that implied he’d been perfect up to that moment.
And he hadn’t sounded serious about runny egg yolks being a dealbreaker, either.
“I hope so,” Grant said. “Tell Hope I love her, I know she’s in bed by now.”
“She knows you love her, but I’ll tell her. I’m gonna head that way myself, it’s been a long day. Goodnight, Grant.”
“Night,” Grant murmured, trying to keep his disappointment to a minimum.
He tucked his phone in his pocket once Julia hung up, heading over to look out the window with Sunny.
“I’m sorry you’re missing out on spending time with your family,” Sunny said as Grant approached him.
“Sorry about yours, too. You didn’t have to be here.”
“I wanted to be. And I’m glad you’re not stuck here on your own, either.”
“Me too,” Grant admitted. “Being stuck aside, it is kinda pretty out there.” He nodded to the view, watching falling snowflakes twinkle as the moonlight hit them.
The snow had at least slowed down. That was something.
“I was just thinking that it looks like a Bob Ross painting,” Sunny said.
Grant chuckled at that. “If you told me this was Alaska, I’d believe you.”
“I used to love watching him when I was little. I always thought I’d like to paint when I was older,” Sunny said.
“Did you ever try?” Grant asked.
“I tried.” Sunny shrugged. “Turns out I have absolutely no natural talent and I didn’t really care enough to practice. I still sometimes watch old episodes on Netflix, though.”
“I used to listen to late-night reruns when I was in college, to fall asleep when I was really stressed,” Grant said. “Which makes me sound so goddamn old.”
Sunny turned to face him, frowning. “You’re really not that old,” he said, his tone serious. “Not that being old is inherently bad, I just… I wish you weren’t so hard on yourself.”
Grant swallowed, not entirely sure how to respond to that. “I… I guess… I just feel old. I’m so tired.”
Although, the more time he spent with Sunny, the less true that was. Sunny had changed Grant’s entire life, including the exhaustion that used to hang over him constantly. He felt thirty again.
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