Page 29 of Daddy's Christmas Elf
A potato and pizza wagon. It sounded so… small. Benny and Lenny had laughed, deriding his idea when he’d told them, but they hadn’t been the only ones and it was why he kept it to himself. Until he’d told Grey. Grey, who hadn’t laughed or looked at him as though he’d lost his mind. It wasn’t much of an ambition, not in the grand scheme of things, but it was his, yet that sharp, clear vision he’d always tried to focus on now seemed blurred and a lot further away.
Eli closed his eyes against the sudden upwell of tears. Today, everything had been different. Winded and shaken, all the worry, all the tension, all the hollow feeling in the deepest, darkest place in his heart that made him feel so, so lonely, it'd all been swept away as Grey had cradled him in his arms and held him close.
The living room door creaked and Eli snapped his eyes open as Grey shouldered the door wider, carrying a large tray.
“How do you feel now? Better for your bath?” Grey smiled as he set the tray on the coffee table, laden with steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a selection of sweet Christmas treats.
“Much better, thanks. I’ve got a few bruises, but that’s all to show for my spectacular display. I was like that cheese they roll down the hill in Gloucestershire, but the human variety.”
Eli forced a laugh. Easy, breezy, just as ever. But Grey didn’t laugh, as he sat next to Eli and looked at him with his deep, assessing, disorientating stare which felt like it was reaching all the way down into Eli’s soul.
“If you’d have hit that tree you’d have been seriously injured. Or worse.”
Eli looked down, unable to hold Grey’s intense gaze.
“Yes. I was lucky you were there to save me.”
“Somebody had to.”
Trevor twitched, barked himself awake, slipped from Eli’s lap and made his tail-wagging way out of the living room. In the grate, the flames hissed and crackled as a log shifted, sending up a spray of sparks. From outside, the muted sound of a car door slamming, followed by laughter.
Eli plastered a smile onto his face, so damn bright and breezy, as he looked up and forced himself to meet Grey’s gaze.
“Thank you, for scraping me off the ground. I may not be very tall, but I’m no light weight. Couldn’t have been easy lugging me down the hill like some giant sack of spuds.” Eli smiled wider, in the hope Grey would laugh, but instead Grey kept his level, serious gaze fixed on him.
Grey shook his head. “You were no weight at all, and like I said, somebody had to rescue you.”
Rescue you…The words wound their way around Eli, warm and caressing, like the softest blanket. Eli swallowed as the air in the room grew denser and heavier, as his pulse picked up and his skin goose bumped.
Rescue… me.
The world had contracted to this one room, where only he and Grey existed. Slowly, they leaned into each other as though pulled by an invisible thread. Heads tilted, lips parted, Eli’s eyes fluttered to a close, ready, needing, craving the kiss and whatever else it might bring.
Warm, strong hands rested on his cheeks, holding him still. Eli’s eyes flew open.
“What?”
Grey shook his head.
“It wouldn’t be right.”
“B—but…” Eli stammered as confusion fogged his brain.
Grey, still holding his face between his palms, stroked his thumbs across his cheekbones, wrenching a sigh from deep inside of Eli.
“I don’t understand.” But as Grey’s gaze roamed across his face, taking in every inch of him, in his heart Eli did understand.
Grey gave a gentle huff, as his thumbs continued their soft sweep across Eli’s cheekbones.
“You’re here with me because you were in need of help. Dire need. Need which was caused—”
“No, you’re not to—”
Grey pressed a finger to Eli’s lips, and it was everything Eli could do not to suck that finger deep into his mouth.
“All the time you’re here, you’re under my care and protection. What sort of man would I be if I tried to take advantage of the situation? That’s not care and protection, it’s an abuse of power. There’s a difference, and I won’t cross the line.”
“But—”
