CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – SYLVIE
I really hadn’t known where Thomas was going with his ‘place that makes you happy’ spiel, but I wasn’t expecting it to be the town square where all the lights were twinkling brightly.
The square was bustling. All the stalls from the light switch-on were still entertaining sizable crowds, and even from here, I could see that the high street was as busy as ever.
There was something fun about late night shopping for Christmas.
“Have you finished your Christmas shopping?” Thomas asked, perusing the window the toy store.
“I haven’t really had the time to even start properly. Honestly, I was thinking I’d just sit down tomorrow and get it all on .” I glanced around. “But being here makes me feel bad.”
He tugged on my hand, slipping his fingers between mine with an almost boyish grin. “Why don’t we do some now?”
No.
That was a terrible idea.
Walking around these Christmas lights with our hands clasped and my heart fluttering was the worst possible decision I could make right now.
“Sure,” was the word that actually left my lips as I stepped up beside him outside of the toy store window.
The truth was that I didn’t want to let of his hand. There was something so strong and warm about the way our fingers fit together, and the occasional brush of his thumb against the back of my hand was more comforting than it had any right to be, even if it was through our gloves.
My fight with Hazel had been a howler. It’d been a culmination of the frustrations of the past few weeks, especially the time since I’d been here, and Thomas had once again saved me from a horribly awkward situation.
I didn’t always fight with my brides, but then again, my brides weren’t always my sister, either.
I was too emotionally involved, and when it came to my sister, my feelings were far too convoluted for me to keep a reasonable distance.
This was the first and last time I would ever organise a wedding for someone so close to me. I didn’t care how much I was paid. Never again would I cross my personal and professional life like this. It really, truly was not worth the stress I felt.
I didn’t even know why I’d gone to the pub. I really shouldn’t have. I should have stayed at home and gone right to bed after my nightmare Zoom call, but something about my room felt so suffocating that I had to get out.
I knew Hazel was there.
I also knew Thomas was there.
I went in spite of those things.
Maybe it was because Thomas was there that I went.
I didn’t know exactly what it was that I felt for him, but I knew it was more baffling and confusing than anything else I’d ever felt for another person. It was something I simultaneously wanted to throw away and hold onto, and I had no idea how to handle it all.
In the insane lead up to my sister’s wedding, Thomas felt like my only escape from the pressure. He expected nothing from me, and despite our prickly past, he’d never once judged me when I’d unloaded my problems on him.
Maybe that was why I was letting him drag me into the toy store when I didn’t need to buy any toys.
“What on Earth do you think I need to buy in here?” I asked, looking around at the stacked shelves of LEGO he’d led me to. “I’m not sure Grandpa can manage the little pieces these days.”
“You met Danny yesterday morning, right?” He glanced down at me. “He’s kind of spoilt by my mother.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I want an excuse to build a cool LEGO set,” he said after a moment. “What can I buy him that I can build and pretend it’s for him?”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever been asked.” I laughed, scanning the shelves. “I know next to nothing about LEGO, nor about what little boys like.”
“Fine. Then humour me.”
I pressed my lips together to fight my smile. “Humour you?”
He leant towards me, lowering his face until his lips were close to my ear. “Humour me,” he said in a low voice. “And let me win right now, all right?”
Let him win?
Ah.
Of course.
He was trying to distract me from my own annoyances. He was trying to give me a place to escape to.
I was going to give in.
I was going to let him distract me.
I was going to humour him.
I wanted to. I wanted to let him drag me into another world where I didn’t have to think about Hazel and her wedding and all the stress that was weighing me down.
Just for now, I wanted to be selfish and think about myself.
Not her last-minute request to change the fucking wedding favours and adjust the whole seating plan because our pseudo-cultist aunt had a bug up her arse about not being at one of the front tables.
If you asked me, the damn woman was lucky she hadn’t had her invitation rescinded. If it were my wedding, I’d have told her to fuck off a long time ago.
“Oi. Pay attention.” Thomas poked me in the side of the head. “What do you think about this cool fire engine?”
I blinked at the box he was pointing at. “I cannot believe I just heard you say that.”
He laughed and let go of my hand to reach up for it. My hand felt empty, and I folded my arms, tucking it tightly against my side as if the pressure would reduce that effect.
These unneeded feelings of mine were getting stronger by the day.
No.
By the minute.
“A Star Wars ship is probably taking the piss a bit, don’t you think?”
I stared at him. “You mean that eight-hundred-piece, ninety-quid spaceship you’re eying up? For a six-year-old? It’s a bit excessive, yes.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Do you have a cousin you could justify buying it for?”
“None that I like enough to spend that much on a LEGO set.”
“You could pretend to.”
“Why? So nobody knows that the esteemed and noble Duke of Castleton wants to play with Star Wars LEGO?”
Thomas met my eyes. “That wouldn’t do my reputation any good. It’s already taken a beating after I’ve spent the last two weeks publicly bickering with you.”
“You can’t really say that after you’ve dragged me halfway down the high street while holding my hand.”
“Hm. You’re right. I’ll just have to tell everyone it’s a lover’s quarrel.”
“If you do that, you won’t have a tongue to tell anyone anything,” I grumbled, nudging past him and grabbing the set he was lusting after.
“Let’s say I have a cousin who needs a Christmas present, shall we?
Failing that, it’s weighty enough that it’d do some damage if I hit my sister over the head with it. ”
Thomas sighed and handed me the fire engine. “Let me grab a basket while you get over your murderous intent.”
“How optimistic of you to think such a thing is possible.”
“Stranger things have happened.” He grinned and swept past me, disappearing around the end of the aisle and towards the front of the shop.
Was I really about to buy this man a bloody LEGO set? For almost a hundred pounds?
Yes.
Yes, I was.
Surely, this was further proof that I, Sylvie Harding, was losing my flipping mind.
Whatever. He had helped me out an awful lot, and if a stupid LEGO set would make him happy, then I supposed I could buy it for him for Christmas.
Ahem.
I was being ridiculous.
But Thomas had been right. I did need to be cheered up, and there was something fun about being in a toy store with all the chaotic energy it brought. I forgot how fun these places were. After all, it wasn’t exactly a place I frequented—I was hardly awash with children to buy such things for.
Although if the boxes in my arms were anything to go by, Thomas seemed to be the grown-arse man child I could buy LEGO for.
Jesus, what was I thinking? I was hardly going to spend more Christmases than just this one doing this, was I?
Ugh.
That thought kind of made my stomach hurt a bit.
“Here, I’ve got the basket.”
I jolted at Thomas’ quick return and dumped the boxes in the wheeled basket he was carting along behind him. “Is there anything else I should buy for my non-existent cousin, or is he going to be happy with just the one spaceship?”
Thomas grinned. “Just the one for now, I think.”
“Damn straight at that price,” I muttered. “Right, what else do you need to buy? For Danny. Not my ‘cousin.’ Danny. Your nephew.”
Thomas laughed and grabbed a police car LEGO set from the shelf before adding it to the basket.
“A lot,” he said, shooting me a playful grin that made his blue eyes twinkle.
“Someone’s love of Christmas lights might has me feeling a little festive this year, so I should make the most of it before my reluctant Christmas spirit dies, don’t you think? ”
My cheeks reddened, and I looked away. “Do whatever you want.”
“Stop blushing, or I might start thinking you like me, Sylvie.”
“You know what Danny needs? Board games. Let’s go there.” I gave him a light push in the back before rushing past him and darting through the store. I had no idea where I was going or where the games were, but I didn’t really care.
If I stayed there any longer, there was every chance that I would admit out loud that I did, in fact, find myself liking that pain the arse.
And that was something I absolutely did not want to do.
I wasn’t sure I could stand complicating my life any further right now and outwardly admitting that I had feelings for Thomas would do that without a doubt.
Especially since I was sure that he, too, was feeling something towards me.
If he didn’t, then he was clearly just a shameless flirt.
Well, he was that regardless, but still.
“Damn, that’s a lot of board games,” Thomas said, resting his chin on top of my head. “Where do we start?”
“By removing your chin from my head,” I replied.
“I decline.” He looped his arms around my shoulders until I was pressed firmly back against him.
I peered down at his arms circling my upper body. “Isn’t this whole thing to cheer me up? Is this supposed to make me happy?”
“You have a handsome, rich duke hanging off you. Does it displease you?”
“The notion of a handsome, rich duke hanging off me doesn’t displease me, but must it be you? Can’t you call a friend?”
“Oh, Sylvie,” he murmured, lowering his face so his mouth was close to my ear. “You just broke my heart.”
“You should be used to that by now.”
“To think that you kissed me, then so blatantly ask me to introduce you to a friend.”
My cheeks flamed once again, and I pressed my hand against his face to turn it away from mine. “Stop bringing that up.”
Thomas snatched up my hand, linking his fingers through mine from the back, and pressed his lips against my palm. “Why would I?”
“Stop flirting with me in a toy shop,” I mumbled.
“Does that mean I can flirt with you outside of it?”
“...Will you let me go if I say yes?”
“I won’t mention the kiss, but I don’t know if I want to let you go.”
“You’re just a clingy old man, aren’t you?”
“Mm, aren’t you a few weeks older than me?”
I paused. “Shut up. I’m ninety at heart.”
Thomas released my hand and laughed, straightening up, but he didn’t remove his arm from around my shoulders. The tingle that trickled down my spine spread across my skin like a spider web of goosebumps, and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from letting it show.
This bloody man.
“Mum’s buying Danny a drum kit,” Thomas said, his head jerking as he scanned the shelves. “Which board game is he going to love that’s absolutely going to piss her off?”
I pointed at the noisiest, most irritating game known to man. “Hungry Hippos.”
He raised his hand and wiggled his finger in the tapping motion in front of my face. “That one?”
I turned my head and stared at him. “Was the finger movement necessary?”
“I’m trying to show you my good sides.”
“By wiggling your finger right in front of my face?”
Thomas looked down at me and grinned, then leant in, dipping his mouth close to my ear. “I’m trying to sell you on my good points.”
“By doing that with—” I froze, then smacked him in the chest. “Stop flirting with me!”
“Don’t want to,” he muttered, and his lips brushed my hair as he spoke. “I like seeing you get flustered.”
“I’m not flustered.”
“Tell that to your cheeks.”
“Stop bullying me.”
“I’m not bullying you. I’m flirting with you.”
“I’m starting to think that my cousin doesn’t want that LEGO set after all, you know.”
He stilled. “I’ll behave.”
“Excellent idea,” I said. “Now, can we focus on the board games?”