Page 28 of Reece & Holden (Gomillion High Reunion #6)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Reece

“And this one.” Holden hands me another box of yarn to restock, and I bend down to fit it into the wooden shelving.

I enjoy helping Holden in the store. In the mornings I catch up with emails and work and then in the afternoon I come and help until closing time.

Today is Saturday and there isn’t long left until the store shuts, so it’s currently empty.

I straighten up and turn around, and he’s resting his elbows on the counter with his head resting in his cupped hands and a dreamy smirk on his face.

“Did you ask me to restock those just so you could gawk at my ass?”

His smile widens and I saunter over to the counter.

“Did you?” I ask, lowering the pitch of my voice so it’s dark and gravelly. I see his eyes swirl with emerald lights.

“Can you blame me?” he asks, and I lean across the counter and claim his mouth, pulling his bottom lip into mine, tasting him until I hear him sigh with lust. I break contact.

“Now, where else would you like me to restock so you can ogle my ass?” I ask, looking into his eyes.

“Oh per-lease, can you two get a room?” Clara’s voice cuts across the store. I didn’t hear the door open, so I don’t know how long she’s been there. She may even have seen us kissing. She must have finished her shift at the hotel and come over. I think I remember Holden mentioning it.

“We have one,” I retort, my eyes never leaving Holden’s face. His mouth quirks but I like how he doesn’t break contact or act embarrassed.

“Then you can go and use it and spare my eyes.” She makes her way over to the counter and leans her back against it. I straighten up slowly, but Holden just grins at her, and she rolls her eyes at him and turns back to me.

“Look at what you’ve done to my friend. You’ve made him all sappy.”

“I like him like that,” I say, which is the truth.

“But look at him, all gooey-eyed and with a goofy grin.”

“Yeah, he’s gorgeous.” I’m not lying, but I can see the game she’s playing.

“I’m standing right here you know.” Holden pipes up.

”And do you have anything to add?” Clara asks and he shakes his head.

“No, not really,” he laughs and she groans.

”Urgh, you’re both as bad as each other. I hope I’m not so silly when I fall in love.”

I snap my eyes to Holden and see he’s looking at me, my own expression mirrored on his face, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. She said the L word. I haven’t . . . we haven’t. Oh, god.

If she notices that we look like deer caught in each other’s headlights, she doesn’t say anything, she just pushes off from the counter and heads toward the back room.

“I guess I’ll have to make my own coffee, then.” She disappears out of sight and Holden starts chewing on his bottom lip. I fixate on it, my head whirling, neither of us breaking the silence.

It’s not that I don’t feel it, I love Holden with every fiber of my being, but saying it is a different thing entirely, and I have plans to . . . soon.

She pokes her head back through the door.

“You haven’t forgotten it’s movie night tonight, have you?” she asks before disappearing again.

Holden briefly closes his eyes and takes a breath like he’s relieved, breaking the spell. I get it, because I am too.

“Of course not. Whose turn is it to choose?”

She re-enters the store, cradling a cup of coffee like it’s a gift from the gods.

“That’s better,” she says and takes a sip. “The hotel doesn’t serve decent coffee. What were you saying?

“Whose turn is it to choose?”

I watch them as they debate and bicker over what they saw last time and who chose it.

I’d forgotten that Holden said they’d agreed it was movie night tonight.

I don’t mind, though, now I’m reminded. It’s been a while since I just sat and relaxed in front of the screen, and I’m looking forward to it.

That is until Clara puts her hands on her hips and turns to me.

“I know, why don’t we let Reece choose?”

“Oh no. I don’t need the pressure of that type of important decision. One false move here and I could be blighted for life.”

Her feral grin tells me that it was exactly her plan. Okay, I take the challenge. I'll show her that she can’t intimidate me. I cycle through a dozen movies in my head, rejecting all of them until I have it.

“Guardians of the Galaxy,” I say and catch her approving look. I chose well, but she’s not going to let me off that easily.

“Which one?”

“Well, obviously we start with the first and work our way through them.”

“A movie marathon?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“I like it,” she agrees and turns to Holden. “What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me,” he says, and she makes an exaggerated groan.

“I think you’d have agreed even if he’d suggested Gold Diggers.” He lets out a giggle. The sound delights me so much I can’t help but gaze at him.

“I hope you’re not going to be mooning over each other all night.”

We both straighten up and look at her with the same expression.

“Definitely not.”

“No way,” we both say simultaneously, and she rolls her eyes again.

I finish my popcorn and stretch forward to put the bowl on the low table amidst the discarded pizza boxes from earlier.

I lean back and Holden wriggles a little, settling his head into my lap where it’s been for the last half an hour.

We started off sitting next to each other, but over the course of the evening we’ve gotten closer and closer, and now he’s laid across the couch and me, and I couldn’t be happier.

I glance down at him, and when he catches my eye I give him a tender smile, which he returns, warming my heart. He reaches for my hand and then touches my fingers to his lips before turning back to the movie. I run my fingers through his hair, softly carding it, needing to touch and caress him.

“That's nice,” he whispers, and I look over to where Clara is curled up in the large chair, seemingly engrossed in the film.

She hasn’t mentioned our behavior again all night, so I guess she’s got used to it now.

She just plonked herself into the large armchair and said, “Keep whatever you’re going to do clean, otherwise take it upstairs.

” Not that we’d do anything in front of her, but I feel like she’s accepted me as part of Holden’s life now.

We’re about halfway through the second film, and while I suggested a movie marathon, I’m not sure I’m going to make it through all of them.

The action of stroking his hair is relaxing, and I give my thoughts over to the future.

I have a few ideas, and I want to discuss them with Holden soon, but not until after I tell him how much he means to me.

I had plans for that, but actually there’s no reason to make a big moment of it.

It’s just speaking the truth. I see Holden’s eyes close and then blink open before drooping again.

“Are you sleepy, baby?” I whisper, and he nods lazily.

“Shall we go to bed?”

“Yeah.” He slowly sits up and turns off the screen. I get up and go over to Clara. Her eyes are closed and her breathing is regular.

“She’s fast asleep,” I whisper to Holden.

“She often falls asleep. It’s best to leave her.

She’ll wake up at some point and either go home or stay.

She knows she can always use the spare bedroom if she needs it.

” He passes me a blanket and I tuck it around her, then I follow him quietly up the stairs.

Neither of us speak until we’ve cleaned our teeth, got undressed, and climbed into bed.

I prop myself up on one elbow and look down at him, and I smooth his hair off his face and run my hand down his cheek.

“Baby, do you know what Clara said earlier? It’s true.

I love you. I feel like I always have in some way.

Like it was a seed planted in me many years ago and it’s taken a long time for the conditions to be right for it to grow, but now it has, it’s bloomed into something wonderful, powerful, and precious.

You were the one who planted that seed.”

I see a tear fall from the corner of his eye and roll down the side of his face. My heart clenches. Have I said the wrong thing?

“What’s wrong, baby?” I croak.

“Nothing.” He tries to smile but it comes out crooked. “I just never thought I’d hear those words from you.”

I press my lips tightly closed and swallow, trying to hold it together as I’m reminded again how hard it must have been for him.

“I hated you for so long. I had to in order to be able to cope, even though deep down I still loved you. But now I’m happy, truly happy. I love you too, and I always have.”

I fail to keep it in and my own tears fall, landing on the pillow.

“No, don’t you cry, darling.”

“I’m happy too,” I sob and pull him to me. I wrap myself around him and nuzzle into his hair. They’re tears of joy, overflowing from my heart, which burst wide open the moment he called me darling.