Page 91 of Out of the Shadows
DANIEL
“I love Christmas. It’s the time of goodwill to all men, and stuffing your face with as much festive food as possible. Don’t you agree, cutie?”
Wallace, who can hardly be called a cutie, blinks his one good eye and twitches what’s left of his ears, and purrs from where he’s taken up residence in the corner of the bedroom. Wallace hardly purrs for me, but he does for Cosmo. I can’t blame him, because if I were a cat, Cosmo would have me purring from dawn to dusk.
Cosmo rips open the box of mince pies from The Bakehouse, the artisan café and bakery not far away, and dives in.
“Oh. My. God. These are an orgasm for the tastebuds.” His groan reaches a Filth Factor of ten, as he smacks his lips and drops crumbs all over his naked chest.
“Don’t you want a proper breakfast?”
I do, because I’m starving. I want a full English and a heap of toast along with a vat of coffee. It’s no wonder, after the energetic morning we’ve spent together in bed.
“No. It’s Christmas—”
“It’s not, it’s weeks away.”
“I’ll treat that remark with the contempt it deserves. As far as I’m concerned, Christmas starts on 1st September, a date which has been and gone, and that means if I want mince pies for breakfast, I can have mince pies. Or chocolate. I’d have chocolate any time of the year for brekkie.”
With his messy hair and the golden crumbs sticking to his lips, he looks loose and relaxed and thoroughly debauched. I lean over, and lick away the crumbs and the powdering of soft white icing sugar from his lips.
“That’s nice,” he murmurs as his mouth softens to let me enter.
He tastes of warmth and Christmas spices, rich buttery pastry and sugar. But it’s not enough to disguise the tang of my release that lingers on his tongue. His arms coil around my neck, pulling me in as we deepen the kiss.
“Round two?”
I can’t help laughing as I untangle myself. “I wish. I’m not in my twenties anymore.”
Cosmo settles back into my crumpled and dishevelled bed, the box of mince pies abandoned by his side.
“No, that’s true. But you’ve never had anybody like me before, have you?”
I hesitate to answer. There’s so much truth in those words. But if he notices he doesn’t show it as he dives back for more mince pies.
“We can go Christmas shopping,” he says.
“You’re kidding. I don’t even think about buying anything until Christmas Eve.”
“Were you always such a grinch? All the shops have already got the Christmas goodies in.” He holds up another mince pie, underlining his point, and a point is exactly what he has.
The festive season is looming. It’ll certainly be different to last year. Geraldine and me, under the heat of the Caribbean sun where, apart from the gala Christmas dinner we attended at the exclusive all-inclusive resort, all we did was sleep under the shade by the swimming pool, or each find our own corner in our suite where we’d both hunched over our laptops as we worked.
“… with my mum and her latest boyfriend, but I don’t fancy that. He’s okay, but he’s really boring. Ten minutes in his company and you want to stick your head up the turkey’s bum.” Cosmo’s looking at me, and waiting for an answer to a question I’ve not heard.
“You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you?”
“Something about turkey bums?”
He rolls his eyes. “Christmas. And arrangements. Freddie and Elliot are spending Christmas with James and Perry, because Perry’s a fabulous cook. And they’ve asked us to join them, but to be honest I—”
“No.”
The word is out of my mouth before I can stop it. Cosmo’s flinch jerks his whole body and, Jesus, I could kick myself.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I didn’t mean to be so blunt, but I’m going to my parents. I’ve not spent the last two Christmases with them, and they’re getting on in years. My sister will be there with her family, and I don’t see them often enough, so when I got cornered a while back I said yes. Since then, I’ve honestly not given Christmas a second thought.”
The shock that flashed in his eyes has gone, replaced by a blank coolness.
