Blue-Eyed Soul (17 page)

Remey smiled. "Are you sure it's not too much? It, uh, looked a little hard." He waved one hand at Aleks, with a smile. "You're all sweaty."

Aleks laughed. "Yes, I'm sure." He crouched down and tied both ends of the rope around the trunk, then brought the big loop of the rest of the rope over his head and across his shoulders, where he could bear the most weight. "Let's get going!"

Remey kept Willow's hand in his as they headed back toward the car, following the trail of their own footprints. Willow was skipping through the snow, kicking it up every which way and chattering about an episode of
Dora
she'd watched earlier, but Remey couldn't focus on anything she was saying. Of course, she didn't much require his input. She seemed to be pretending she was on an adventure with Dora.

All he could do was keep sneaking glances at Aleks, imagining how his skin must be damp with sweat under his clothes and wanting to lick him from head to toe. Pushing the images out of his head, Remey fanned his face with his free hand and resolved to listen to Willow, except Aleks caught him and sent a smoldering glance his way.

And there goes my resolve, he thought, his cheeks flushing even more.

Remey didn't think he'd ever been so obsessed with sex with anyone. Then again, he'd never dated a guy and been pretty much constantly cock-blocked by his daughter and the rest of his family. Remey adored Willow, and he liked Stevan and Jess a whole lot, but right about now, he thought he'd give anything for a whole twenty-four hours alone with Aleks.

They reached the car, and Aleks heaved the tree onto the roof, with Remey's help. Aleks dusted his hands off on his jeans and nodded, slinging his bag back onto his shoulder. "There. It'll be fine there for now. We'll tie them both down when we find you a tree. You don't happen to know how high your ceilings are, do you?"

Remey pursed his lips. "Pretty high. Nine feet, I think. So a taller tree?"

Aleks shot him a grin. "You'll need a ladder to decorate it."

Remey stuck out his tongue in response. He should have known there was a joke about his height coming.

Aleks leaned in close. "Don't threaten me with your tongue and not plan to follow through, Remey." His voice was low.

Remey shivered. "Who said I didn't plan to?" Then, remembering they had company, Remey blushed and shook his head. "Thank you for this, by the way. I've never been Christmas tree hunting before. It's the only kind of hunting I'd ever do, to be honest." Remey met Aleks's eyes. "Thanks for thinking of me."

Aleks looked like he wanted to kiss him, and then he did, a small, quick kiss before pulling back. "I think of you a lot," he admitted, turning to grab the ax again. Willow was giving them a curious look, but didn't ask about the kissing. Good, because Remey didn't think he could handle being present for
that
talk.

Remey didn't say anything as they headed back into the forest, but he was smiling and didn't stop the whole rest of the trip.

* * * *

"Sorry it took so long for her to fall asleep."

Remey glanced up as Aleks came into the living room, looking a little worn out after wrangling Willow into bed. It had been a long day. He shrugged, slipping his phone into the pocket of his jeans.

"It's okay. I guess she was still pretty keyed up."

Aleks nodded, setting the baby monitor he carried on the coffee table, plopping down next to Remey and sliding an arm around his shoulders. "A bit, yeah." He shot Remey a mischief-filled grin. "Having you around all day gets her worked up. Me, too."

Remey laughed, leaning in close, Aleks's warmth pressed all along his side.
It's incredibly nice to sit with him like this at the end of a day spent together, just like a--
Remey pushed the thought out of his head and tipped his face up to brush a quick kiss across Aleks's lips. This was no time to be thinking about how cozy and domestic the whole day had been.

"I guess so. Maybe I should go home and let you settle down, too?" he asked, half teasing and half serious. He didn't want to go, but if Aleks would prefer he did, Remey would.

Aleks laughed. "I'm not three anymore. I can handle the excitement, I think." The double entendre made Remey's heartbeat kick up a few notches, and Aleks bent to kiss him, this time more slowly, thoroughly. When the kiss broke, Aleks smiled. "C'mon, let me refill our hot chocolate. Grab the baby monitor."

Remey gave him a curious look, but nodded and followed him into the kitchen. "Um... aren't we coming back to the couch?"

"No. Trust me." He took the monitor from Remey, set in on the kitchen counter, then waved toward the front hall. "Coats. Grab them."

Remey laughed. "You do know it's snowing outside, right?"

Aleks snorted. "This is New England, Remey. Better get used to it. Go on."

Remey wasn't sure what Aleks had up his sleeve, but he was curious and thoroughly smitten, so he smiled and went to go get the coats. When he came back, Aleks had all the stuff for a batch of hot chocolate on the counter. Remey set the coats on one of the chairs.

"Now what?"

"Now I finish this, then we go sit out on the porch swing and watch it snow. There's a blanket in the mudroom, don't worry."

Remey smiled as Aleks heated milk for their hot chocolate, then ducked into the mudroom off the kitchen to grab a blanket. Aleks wanted to sit out in the snow and the dark with him? Remey's shivers had nothing to do with the cold, anticipating what might happen out there.

Remey set the blanket with the coats and went to stand beside Aleks. "I wouldn't be worried anyway... not with you there to keep me warm," he murmured, and Aleks met his gaze with a sultry smile.

"I can definitely keep you warm. But the blanket will be nice, too." Aleks poured the milk into their mugs and added the cocoa mix, grabbing a few marshmallows out of a bag on the counter to sprinkle on top of Remey's, then handed the two mugs to him. "There. You carry those. I've got the blanket and the baby monitor."

Remey led them both out to the front porch, setting their mugs on the little wooden tables on either side of the swing before he sat. Aleks sat, too, spreading the blanket over them and pulling Remey close up to his side underneath the thick coverlet. Remey let out a sigh of pleasure as he snagged his mug, wrapping his gloved hands around it. "Mmm. This is very nice. I like the way your mind works, Aleksander."

Aleks smiled. "Too bad you weren't here in the summer. There was a solar flare and we could see the Northern Lights. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

Remey let out a breath, drawing his legs up under the blanket so as much of him was covered as possible. "I bet. I did a show in London a couple of years ago, and before I flew home, I took a ferry over and spent a couple days in Ireland, driving around and looking at all the ruins and the little towns. I saw the most beautiful double rainbow when I was visiting this incredible castle. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Remey slid a glance over to Aleks. "I think this comes in a close second, though."

Aleks smiled. "This is nothing. Wait until winter sets in for good, when everything's blanketed and the snow hasn't been so much as breathed on yet." He shook his head. "Best thing ever."

"I wasn't exactly talking about the snow," Remey murmured.

Aleks glanced down at him. "I know." His face went serious, brows furrowing. "Remey."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know if I can be with a celebrity. It's not just me. It's Willow..."

Remey set down his mug and reached up with his gloved hand to touch Aleks's face. "I know. But you wouldn't be dating a celebrity. You'd be dating
me.
I'm not the fame and the awards and the screaming fans, Aleks. I'm not. It's a persona, a facade, an act. This is me. What you're seeing, what you've seen from the beginning. This is real."

Aleks took a deep breath. "I hope so. I do."

Remey took those words as a victory. It was farther than Aleks had been willing to admit so far. He did want more, hoped for it even. Now Remey had to not fuck it up. Aleks was letting him in, and Remey was pretty sure he wouldn't get a second chance to do this right.

He sighed into the kiss, his hand clutching Aleks's coat under the blanket, pulling him in closer. Part of him wanted to suggest they sneak upstairs, since Willow was out like a light. He reined in the insane desire, but it was always present when he and Aleks were together. This wasn't about sex or desire. Remey wanted to show Aleks, to prove to him, that there could be so much more between them. He knew he was dangerously close to falling fast and hard for Aleks, in a way he'd never fallen for anyone else.

Breaking the kiss, Remey trailed his fingertips along the line of Aleks's jaw, nibbling at his lower lip. Aleks smiled and kissed him again, deep and slow. Remey kissed him right back, sliding both hands under the blanket to press against Aleks's chest, smoothing across the muscled width. Aleks broke the kiss, his fingertips brushing across Remey's cheek.

"You warm enough?"

Remey nodded, tucking his body snugly against Aleks's. "More than. You're pretty good at this human furnace thing, you know."

Aleks grinned. "Can't have you getting sick and endangering your million-dollar voice before the concert. I'd have a lot of disappointed people on my hands."

Remey laughed, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. I've already stocked up on plenty of tea and honey for the winter. Of course, I haven't even touched it yet. I keep getting seduced by the idea of hot apple cider instead."

Aleks grinned. "Next time we do this, I'll make sure to have some on hand."

"There's going to be a next time?" Remey peered up at him.

Aleks smirked a little, amused. "Don't play humble with me. You know there will be."

Remey shrugged with a smile. "I hoped." He leaned against Aleks's side and let out a sigh, reaching for his mug. "I like it here."

Here in Haven, here at Aleks's house, and here in Aleks's arms. Maybe he'd been so good this year he was going to get love for Christmas.

Remey jolted at the strident chime of his doorbell, a dissonant chord coming from the piano as his fingers landed on the wrong keys. Pushing to his feet, he checked his watch, frowning a little. It wasn't quite eleven on a Wednesday morning, which meant Aleks was at work, and Remey didn't get an awful lot of visitors. Grabbing his cardigan from where he'd tossed it over the arm of the couch, he shrugged it on and went into the front hall, opening the door. His jaw dropped when Allison wiggled her fingers at him, her flushed cheeks peeking over a vivid striped scarf.

"Alli! What are you doing here?" he managed as she threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over with the force of her hug.

"Visiting you, Cajun. What does it look like? Come on... let me in. I'm freezing!"

Remey laughed and grabbed the larger of the two suitcases Alli had lugged up onto the porch, gesturing her inside with her smaller suitcase and her huge purse. "I thought you were on some tropical island," he teased, taking her coat and scarf and hanging them up.

"I was, but I got bored. Plus I heard some very, very juicy gossip from Rory when he called me... something about a big piece of tall, ginger, and gorgeous you've been seen with."

Remey flushed as he motioned Alli to follow him into the kitchen at the back of the house. "Come on. I'll get you something warm, then you can tell me all about your trip, and I'll give you a tour of the house."

Allison gave him a long-suffering look. "Please. Do you think I flew all the way out here and then drove from the airport to tell you about my trip and see your house? No way. I want details about this new man, as many of them as you want to tell me. And maybe a bunch you don't want to tell, but will because you love me so much."

Alli gave him an arch look, and Remey finally sighed and smiled.

"Brat-child, I swear. Alright. Come in the kitchen; you do need something warm."

Alli kicked off her heels in the entryway and let out a yelp as her bare feet connected with cold wooden floors. Remey laughed.

"Then you can loan me a pair of fuzzy socks because, holy tits, it's cold."

Remey led her to the kitchen and put a kettle on to heat while he jogged upstairs to get her some socks. When he came back, she was tucking her cell phone back into her pocket with a guilty look on her face.

"Tell Rory I said hello and, yes, I'm alive and in one piece and not, as feared, gone insane," Remey said dryly as he came back in the kitchen, tossing a pair of rolled up, wooly socks onto the counter in front of her.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed the socks. "Well, we're worried."

Remey laughed quietly, pulling out a box of herbal tea. "There's nothing to worry about. I'm loving it here."

Alli gave him a look that said, Yes, which is part of why we're worried.

Remey smiled and shook his head. "Stop thinking the worst. I'm not having some existential crisis, I promise. I know precisely who I am and I haven't come here to find myself."

Allison pursed her lips, brows raised as she tugged the socks on and up to her knees. "Oh, believe me, I've heard what you've been finding up here, Remey. Really? A small-town teacher with a child? It's all very movie of the week, isn't it?"

"Better than a soap opera drama," Remey reminded her, getting a pair of mugs from the cabinet, along with a squeeze bottle of honey. "I've had enough drama to last a lifetime, thank you."

Alli rolled her eyes as she scooted up to sit on one of the high stools at the island, playing idly with the bottle of honey. "Yes, okay, Theo turned out to be a lying, stealing little asshole, who was all too happy to try and use your talent to launch himself. But, Remey, he was two years ago. You can't tell me you're still licking those wounds."

Remey sighed, taking the stool next to Alli's. "Of course I'm not. But I am sick and tired of L.A. and have been for a while. Even before the tour. This feels like home, Alli. And it's not only because of Aleks. It's the town itself."

"You're not going to tell me it reminds you of Louisiana, are you?" Alli gave him a sharp look as the kettle whistled and he went to fill the mugs.