Page 116 of 'Tis the season of Wicked Deeds

Yet I’ve spent the last half hour gazing and chatting with him.

Meanwhile, an invisible clock keeps chiming in the back of my head.

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

I should be overjoyed that in a few hours, it’ll be a new year. Yet I’m dreading it. To distract myself, I peer at Kingston. The stubble around his jaw has grown over the past week and is on its way into a full beard, complementing his outfit.

His dressing style is so versatile and fashionable that everything suits him without taking away from his bad-boy ruggedness. Be it rough and leather attire, elegant and sexy business suit, or the one today. It’s too hard to pick a favorite.

Men and women alike kept giving him long awe-filled glances at the train station while we waited. Some even stared with keen curiosity as they tried to take a peek at his face under the baseball cap he wore before taking it off as soon as we stepped on the train. He, on the other hand, remained blind to the attention of strangers.

“Aren’t your grandparents going to miss you?” I ask, feeling a tad guilty I’m keeping him away from his family on the night leading to New Year’s Day. “I hate to be the reason you aren’t celebrating with them.”

“I told you not to worry,” he reassures me, his brown eyes warm and sparkling. Hair mussed from when I ran my fingers through them while kissing him. “They like to have a simple evening and go to bed early. I would’ve gone to meet them in the morning, even if we didn’t have plans.”

Aware he’ll never lie, I relax.

“I need to thank your nana,” I tell him. “She was the one who encouraged me to call my mom, and I’m so glad I did.”

Surprise flickers on his face. “Really?”

“Mmhmm. Will you thank her for me?”

“I’ll give you her number and you can text or call her yourself,” he suggests. “She was asking for yours the other day to send you recipes.”

“Oh yes, I completely forgot about those.”

“Give me your phone. I’ll do it right now.”

I take it out from my mini purse and pass it to him after unlocking it. He quickly programs the number into my contact list and returns it.

“I’ll talk to her tomorrow,” I tell him and sip my coffee before it gets cold. “Now will you tell me where we’re going?”

He chuckles and runs a finger up my arm resting on the handrest between us. In a teasing manner, he murmurs, “So impatient.”

“I can’t take the suspense.” I pout and express just how much with an example. “I really can’t. I don’t even start watching a show unless the full season is complete. Cliffhangers are the worst.”

“You’re a cute little weirdo.”

I roll my eyes and glare half-heartedly.

“I’m still not sharing,” he says with glee, and shrugs. “So, you’ll have to wait and see.”

“So mean.”

“Do you not know how surprises work?”

“I think we’ve had enough surprises between us to last a lifetime.” I think about the biggest one about me not being Tina on my first night here. Curious, I ask him, “Did you really believe all the things I said on our first date, including the one I said about not liking you?”

A speck of tension flits in his pupils before blurring away as he meets my gaze. The corners of his eyes crinkle as if he’s recalling the memories. A small smile curls his mouth, and he replies, “You had me doubting my instincts, I won’t lie. One moment, I’d swear you were flirting back, and the next, you’d blurt out the rudest but funniest thing I’ve ever heard, making me question if I imagined the former. At the end, when we were leaving, you made a little sound and when I glanced over, I saw a tinge of the disappointment that I was feeling too. I knew I couldn’t walk away without trying one last time. So, I took a shot and kissed you. I was prepared for you to push me away or slap me, but then you kissed me back.”

“Then why didn’t you try to set up another date?”

What looks like regret shades his face, and he glances away for a beat before confessing in a deep voice, “Because the look in your eyes after we pulled apart was pure panic. The kind one has after making a mistake. I didn’t want to be a mistake to you.”

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