Page 121 of On Thin Ice

Jacob brushed a kiss across his mouth. “Merry Christmas,” Jacob murmured. He closed the door behind them, his arm winding around Finn’s waist and pulling him in tighter against him.

Finn went easily, kissing Jacob back. He was hoping, with each passing moment and with how passionately Jacob was kissing him, like he couldn’t get enough of his mouth, that they might end up heading straight to bed.

Phone sex was all well and good, but he wanted Jacob’s hard, solid body under him and over him and around him.

But Jacob didn’t tug him towards the staircase and disappointingly, he broke the kiss, pulling away from Finn a fraction.

“Come on,” he said, sounding breathless. He took Finn’s hand and led him into the living room. There was a fire in the fireplace, wood crackling, and a small tree in the corner. A bottleof wine sat next to a trio of flickering candles on the coffee table, two glasses already poured.

“This is . . .really nice,” Finn said.

He wouldn’t have thought Jacob was a romantic, and wouldn’t have thought he’d need that, but it turned out he really, really liked it.

Jacob produced a small velvet box from his pocket.

“I just thought . . .” He sounded self-conscious. “I didn’t know if we were exchanging gifts, but I wanted you to have these.”

“Not a ring then?” Finn teased, enjoying the way Jacob flushed, as he tugged him down to the comfortable couch, tucking him under his arm.

“Little soon for that, don’t you think?” Jacob asked. “Your dad doesn’t know. The world doesn’t know.”

“But they will,” Finn said, even though he knew Jacob was right. Besides, the box wasn’t even the right size for a ring.

“True.”

Jacob looked nervous, anyway, as Finn opened the box.

A pair of silver cufflinks shone in the dim flickering light of the room. He lifted one and made a pleased noise in the back of his throat at the engraved evergreen tree on one and his initials on the other.

The metal was heavy, substantial and smooth in his palm as he stroked them.

“These are gorgeous,” Finn said, tilting his head so he could look at Jacob’s face better. “You had these made just for me.”

“This is such an exciting time of your life . . .I want you to remember it,” Jacob said, clearing his throat. “You really like them?”

And suddenly Finn’s throat felt a little tight, too. He’d come here expecting sex, and well, maybe a little bit of holiday romance, but he hadn’t been expectingthis. “I love them.”

“Good,” Jacob said.

Carefully, Finn nestled the cufflinks back into the box. “I feel bad I didn’t have anything for you . . .”

“I’ve got every single thing I could possibly want, right here,” Jacob said firmly, and the look in his eyes, content and happy, helped Finn to believe that was true.

They stayed like that for a long while. Sipping wine and just pressed up together, watching the fire.

Finn had already told him about the gift he’d given Morgan, but he hadn’t told Jacob how Morgan had reacted.

“I keep saying this, and I kinda wish he’d do it from farther away, but the man really seems to want to make things right with you,” Jacob said after Finn had told him.

“I think so,” Finn said.

Jacob’s arm squeezed him tighter, tugging him fractionally closer. “How do you feel about that?”

“Good. But also frustrated. Because why didn’t he do this two years ago?” Before Jacob could answer that question—as if anyone really could—he continued. “He’s never going to be perfect, though. He’s still going to fuck up.” The wad of cash his dad had tossed into an envelope and shoved at him promised that. But then the look in Morgan’s eyes when he’d unwrapped Finn’s plaque told another side of the story.

“No question. He’s Morgan, so he’ll do everything he can to screw it up, but in the end, you gotta believe he means well,” Jacob reminded him.

“Ugh, I don’t even want to,” Finn complained.

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