Long_Way_Home Read Free Page A

cold hands with both his warm ones and grinned. “Let’s take this to my place. I’ve got a tree up and the furnace works. I’ll even throw in a fire if you want.”
    “Great, let’s go. I really wasn’t looking forward to freezing my ass off all night.” He leered at me and I was struck by how easily he seemed to be accepting all of this. “I’ll keep your ass warm.”
    “Is that a promise?”
    His eyes were intense as he stared at me. “You know it is.”
    I ran upstairs to get my coat and grabbed my mom’s gift off the bed, stuffing it into my bag. Jake was bent at the fireplace when I ran back down, banking the fire before pulling the screen into place. He grabbed my hand, pulling me to the door as if he couldn’t get me over to his place quick enough.
    I studied his profile in the blue light reflecting off the snow as he drove. “You seem sure that this is what you want.”
    “This is all I’ve ever wanted, Andy,” he said. The intensity in his voice shook me. “All I ever dreamed about.” His hand found mine, and we held hands all the way to his place.

18
    The Long Way Home / Catt Ford

    I balked suddenly at the door. “What about your parents?”
    “They went to Florida this year. Something about old bones getting cold too easily.” He dragged me inside and I had just the glimmering of a suspicion about who his parents went to Florida with, but then he was unbuttoning my coat with eager fingers. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t drag you over here to have my way with you if they were here. We could have gone to a hotel.”
    “Motel 6?” I was unbuttoning his coat just as eagerly.
    “Only the best,” he said with a grin.
    Once both our coats were off and we tossed them onto a chair, he seemed nervous and at a loss.
    “First time?” I hardly knew which I preferred, that he knew what he was doing or that he’d waited for me. And despite my experience, I was nervous too.
    “Yeah.” He swallowed hard. The hopeful expression on his face melted me. This was so much more than just sex, for both of us.
    As if to break the tension, Jake went to the fireplace and built a fire. Of course, for him the flames came easily; the wood caught right away, giving off a welcome warmth.
    Then he went to the tree and turned on the lights, illuminating all the colors of the glass balls. His family still 19

    The Long Way Home / Catt Ford

    used the old bubble lights. He flicked one with a fingernail to get it started, and it made me remember how he and I had always circled their tree, hunting down every last one to make sure they were all bubbling properly.
    I smiled at him as I joined him and we went through the familiar ritual together, as if this was our home and our tree. It gave me a thrill just to think about it.
    “Did you eat yet?” he asked, when all the lights were frothing like champagne.
    I looked at my hands. I hadn’t realized how dirty they’d gotten while I was fiddling with the furnace. “No, I didn’t have time.”
    “Hungry?”
    “Yeah.” I followed him to the kitchen and washed my hands at the sink, while he got out a familiar blue box. I hadn’t realized how hollow I felt inside. “Mac and cheese?”
    “Comfort food.” He grinned and started making it.
    “So can you cook?”
    “Worried that you’ll starve?” he chuckled. “I have everything ready for a big Christmas dinner, so I was planning on something easy for tonight.” I wanted to go and wrap my arms around his waist and look over his shoulder while he cooked but I just wasn’t 20

    The Long Way Home / Catt Ford

    comfortable enough yet. Everything seemed like it was happening too fast.
    He must have seen my face, because he asked, “A little weirded out?”
    I smiled at him. “A little. I wasn’t expecting to see you at all and it’s just….”
    “Something you’ve been wanting all your life and thought you couldn’t have, and then suddenly in half an hour, it becomes a reality?”
    “Like my fairy godmother