Page 12 of Little Treat

In a giggle, I couldn’t help myself. “So, itwason me,” I said.

“He’s one of the assistant—”

“I know, I know,” I said. I’d spent a while looking at his profile on the sports websites last night once I got home. I knew all about him now, and it didn’t seem quite fair that he had all his information out there for the world to see, and I was just a picture on a website about a family of chocolatiers.

My mom just giggled. “How could you not tell us?” she asked.

“Does this mean you’re not mad about the free box of chocolates I handed him earlier?”

“Free,” my father huffed. “No, that’s coming out of your money.”

I rolled my eyes. “What money? I’m on an apprentice’s wage, it’s practically pennies.”

“Anyway, why isn’t he out at the away game?” he asked. “And does he know they’re on a losing streak? What is he doing here?”

My eyes were getting more of a workout than they had in weeks. “He’s on vacation, he’s stressed, and if anything, I’m helping to relieve some of that.”

They both shook their heads, my father using his hands to hide his eyes. “We don’t want to know,” he grumbled.

It was their fault completely. When I came out as gay, they wanted to know everything about it. They’d raised two straights—my brother and sister—so raising me, a gay, now that was new for them. They had a whole dictionary of terms they wanted to know about, and then quickly wanted to forget. And now, whenever possible, I liked to tease them and remind them they asked for it originally.

“Okay, well, if you’re seeing him now, tell him we want a better season after Christmas,” my father said.

“I’m not telling him that.”

“Have fun and stay safe.” My mother’s favorite stock phrase.

“Don’t worry, I will,” I said, biting my tongue a little.

Logan was waiting me for in the cafe. It was supposed to be dark out, but with the wattage on the Christmas tree in the town center, we could probably be seen from space. I walked towards the cafe, and that’s when I was hit—on my back.

He was standing beside one of the winter festival snowmen. It equaled him in height, and made for the perfect cover.

“I thought you were waiting for me,” I said, dipping to collect snow in my mittens. Not ideal for collecting or even compressing snowballs.

“Oh, I was waiting, right here,” he said. “You don’t get to throw a snowball at me without getting one back in return.”

“You’re starting something you’re not gonna win,” I said. As the youngest sibling, fighting talk was in my DNA. I tried with both hands, pushing the snow together, and when I thought I had it, I pulled my arm back and catapulted it at him. It disintegrated almost immediately, showering him with nice fluffy chunks of snow, which only made him look more attractive.

“Okay,” he said, raising both hands up. “You winthis.” We walked toward each other.

“Good.”

And as we connected, his deep breaths fogged up the air around us. “I think I actually win everything else,” he whispered. “I’ve kinda got you a gift, but we’ve got to wait until we—”

“Logan,” I interrupted him. “My folks actually recognized you. I had to tell you, in case this is like not something you wanted to happen, and I also want to say sorry for kissing you out in public earlier.”

He smirked and rubbed the tip of his pink nose. “Don’t apologize,” he said. “That’s the most normal I’ve felt in a long time. I forgot we were even in a public place.”

“Okay, but I—”

“I leaned in for it,” he said.

“They also said, since you took my virginity, you’ve got to marry me.” I couldn’t keep a straight face.We laughed, and he pulled me into a straight-jacket kinda hug before planting his warm lips on the cold of my cheek.

“I guess we’ll have to search for the person who took it,” he said. “But what I was gonna say is, we’ve got to wait until we’re back at the resort—assuming you’re still coming, you said you were packing a bag.”

I nodded. “I was, and then my parents got in the middle of it and I wanted to get out of there immediately, so I figured I’d go back for it before we head up to the resort.” I kissed him on hisnose, just because it looked like it was in need of a little warmth. “Also, I know I can be a bit of a brat, but tonight, I do want you to take care of me.”