Page 49 of Melting His Grumpy Heart
Jake’s eyes met his. Something shifted in his expression, a softening around the edges. “Thought you might like it, being Christmas Eve and all.”
Ru reached out impulsively. It was the lightest of touches, Jake’s thoughtfulness catching him unawares. “Thank you.”
His throat thickened. It would be so easy to take a step forward, to lean in and press his lips to Jake’s, to wrap his arms around him, to feel Jake’s strong body hard against his. To sweep aside this strange no-man’s-land that had arisen between them. Jake’s eyes darkened as a flush crept up his face. Tilting his head, Jake licked his lips.
Monty broke the moment. Whining and yelping, as he balanced on his hind legs.
Ru and Jake stumbled back a step at the same time.
“Bloody animal never stops begging for food.”
Ru nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
“I’ve, erm, made soup,” Jake said abruptly. “Nothing fancy. But it’s ready, if you’re hungry.”
“I am, thanks,” Ru said, finding his voice, not missing the uncertainty behind Jake’s gruff offer, as though unsure whether his invitation would be accepted, as if the careful distance they’d maintained might extend to finding an excuse to not share a meal.
Jake nodded, a small smile lifting his lips. “Come on, then. Before it gets cold.”
They ate mostly in silence, not strained yet not quite comfortable. Monty’s determined attempts to convince them both that dog food was clearly inferior to whatever they were eating helped ease the tension.
“Does that ever work?” Ru asked, as Monty placed a paw on Jake’s thigh, big brown eyes wide and imploring.
“More often than I’d like to admit,” Jake confessed, the ghost of a smile touching his lips as he absently stroked the dog’s head. “He’s a persuasive little sod.”
“He’s got you wrapped around his finger. Or paw. I think it’s sweet.”
Their eyes met across the table, holding for a beat too long. Jake looked away first. “I shouldn’t indulge him the way I do.”
Ru said nothing, as he spooned up some soup. A piece of yellow pepper sat in his spoon. “Same colour as my bruises are turning,” he said, gingerly prodding his nose with his free hand.
“They’re fading. They’ll be gone in a few days.”
Jake reached across the table, fingers brushing lightly over the discoloured skin. The touch was gentle and Ru’s breath hitched. Jake’s eyes widened, realising what he’d done a moment too late, his hand freezing against Ru’s skin, eyes meeting Ru’s with sudden, stark awareness
“Almost healed.” Jake said, his voice soft.
Almost healed…Ru nodded, his voice lodged in his throat.
Monty chose the moment to roll onto his back and demand belly rubs from Jake. Ru let out a long, quiet breath, unsurewhether to be pleased or annoyed at the dog’s antics. He raked his hair back from his face with an unsteady hand.
After lunch they retreated to the living room.
“I’m so glad you put the tree up. Christmas doesn’t feel right without one. Cooper would always insist on having anurban, contemporary tree,” Ru said, air quoting the words. “In other words, a big bundle of twigs with a few plain white lights hanging off them. I’d take the piss, because it was the only way I could get my own back on him, and ask if he was waiting forHello!magazine to knock on the door to do an emergency photoshoot of the rising star’s home at Christmas. He’d get the right hump with me, so much that I’d wonder if I’d hit a nerve. Wouldn’t have minded so much, but it was my flat, not his.
“It’s funny,” Ru said, his lips twisting in a wry smile, “how all that feels like a lifetime away. Cooper, too, for that matter. Just a few weeks ago, I was still licking my wounds, but now…” He looked away, into the fire.But now… Everything had changed, revealing a new and different landscape.
“It’s stopped raining.”
Ru turned to see Jake standing at the window, peering through the curtain. He’d been so lost in his thoughts he hadn’t noticed Jake get up.
Jake flexed his shoulders before planting a hand on the back of his neck, his fingers squeezing and rubbing.
Ru’s eyes narrowed. “Are your neck and shoulders sore?”
“Hmm. I was shifting some stuff around in the barn earlier. Reckon I might have overdone it. I’ll take some painkillers in a bit.”
“It’s not pills you need. Come here.”
