Page 62 of Dragged Home for Christmas

Jim stilled. “Oh?”

He smiled. “Let me teach you to cook.”

Jim guffawed. “Honey, you can sure try. And you might even manage it by the time I’m, say… sixty.”

“You’re going to be that much of a challenge?”

Jim waved his hand. “Just keepin’ it real.”

Kris slid his hands down to Jim’s ass. “And as to the idea we’ll still be together when we’re that old?” His face lit up. “I like that.”

Jim’s heart soared. Finding someone to grow old with might not be everyone’s goal, but it was his, and he couldn’t be happier.

Kris shuddered out a sigh. “I’m glad we had the talk.” He chuckled. “I was so nervous. I thought I’d have to tie myself up and slap a bow on me, then crawl beneath your Christmas tree.”

He smirked. “That option doesn’t have to be off the table.”

“Why can’t I look yet?” Mike complained for the umpteenth time.

Sam booped his nose with the round end of the makeup brush. “You can look when I’m done.” He went back to working on Mike’s cheekbones. “Now, have you found asong yet?”

“Maybe?” He’d been watching a movie, and one of the scenes had given him the idea. He’d need to nail the lyrics, but it was doable.

Sam paused, brush midway between the pot of powder and Mike’s face. “And? Are you going to tell me?”

Mike grinned. “Nope. It’s going to be a surprise.”

Sam sat back. “You’re saying you’re going to work out your first routine all by yourself?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m learning from the best, aren’t I? I watch you guys rehearse every chance I get, I take notes…” He smiled. “I just want it to be a surprise, okay?”

Sam laughed. “Fine. Now keep still and let me finish.”

There was something so intimate about sitting there while Sam worked on his makeup. The light touch of his fingers, the way he concentrated, the closeness of him…

Mike studied the face he’d come to love, the deep brown eyes that could hold so much laughter, compassion, concern… He loved Sam’s neatly trimmed beard and mustache, his slender neck, even the elegant line of his nose.

Guess I’m as smitten as smitten can be.

Sam put his brush down. “Now lean forward, and we’ll put your wig on. That way you get to see the whole effect.”

Mike’s heart pounded as Sam wrestled the wig into position. He raised his head and sat patiently while Sam worked on obscuring the lace lining his brow, then primped and fussed with his purple-blue locks.

At last, Sam sat back. “Okay. Time for the big reveal. Go check it out in the mirror.”

Mike stood and walked over to it, his heart thumping. When he saw his reflection, he gasped.

“That’s… that’s really me?”

Thin dark blue eyebrows replaced his thicker ones that had been hidden beneath a layer of stage makeup. His eyelids shimmered with a sparkly blue sheen, and long, thick black eyelashes curled beneath them. Blusher gave his cheekbones a sculpted appearance. His beard and mustache were dark blue too.

I look amazing.And nothing like Mike O’Neill.

“Well?”

He turned to look at Sam. “I love it.”

Sam beamed. “Me too. Now, let me take off the wig, and then we’ll get you cleaned up before Ellen arrives to set up the exhibition.”

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