New York Christmas Read Online Free Page A

shouted.
    “Here at three thirty then?”
    “Yeah.”
     
     
    Daniel grinned widely. “It’ll be good to catch up.” He apologized to the macchiato guy and then with a wave of his hand, he walked through the shop as people parted to let him through again.
    “Excuse me? Hello?” Chris blinked back to the here and now and realized the customer in front of him was staring and had an irritable expression on his face.
    “Sorry, sir. What was it you wanted?”
     
    The day was long and Chris was ready for a shower and a good book by the time the doors shut at seven pm. He took advantage of Ame not being in sight and took the stairs two at a time to his room. The last thing he wanted was to talk about was what had happened today, and Ame was an expert at getting information out of him.
    “So tell me about tall-dark-haired-friend-from-college, turns-out-to-be-a-cop Daniel.” Ame was waiting for him at the top of the stairs with her arms folded over her chest and a smile quirking her lips.
    “Nothing to tell,” Chris said. He even opened his hands palm up to indicate innocence in all things Daniel. He though he had her believing until she revealed what was on the small table next to her. Two bottles of wine. That only meant one thing.
    Chris sighed at the inevitability of it all.
    “For your sake I so hope he’s gay or at least bi.”
    “Ame.”
    “Seriously, Chris, he looks hot and unrequited lust for experimenting straight guys is your raison d’être. You need to get out and actually have some of that real butt sex the school was accusing you of, with an actual gay man.” He opened his mouth to speak but she hushed him with the gentle touch of one of her fingers on his lips.
    “For god’s sake, Ame—”
    “A night in, I think,” she said.
    “I’m tired—”
    “Some guy walks up and has you nearly falling to your knees with your tongue on the floor? I wanna know details.”
    With a sigh he gestured her in. She scrambled up onto his bed and then arranged herself against his pillows, like every other night they shared wine and pizza. Speaking of which…
    “Did you already call for pizza?” Daniel asked. He couldn’t help the attached sigh.
    “Double Pepperoni, extra peppers, it’s fifteen out. Now pass me a glass.”
    He kept two wine glasses in his small bedside table, just for nights like this. He couldn’t imagine having a man in this room, this symbol of his failure, but he could enjoy what Ame affectionately called her ‘girls’ night in’. After Chris handed her the first glass, she filled it to the brim with red wine and passed it back to him. She repeated the same for her glass and then with a sigh he sat on the edge of the bed and swallowed a huge mouthful of grape goodness. It would be him that went down to get the pizza at the back door but for ten minutes or so he could let the wine dull his thoughts. Having a muddled brain with no sense in it made it all that much better to give Ame the truth.
     
     
    The pizza arrived and Ame gave him until he had finished the second slice before the questions began. And when they did he couldn’t believe she went straight for the jugular.
    “So Chris, when did you fall in lust with Daniel?”
    When Chris finally stopped coughing he covered his shock with a simple raise of his eyebrows.
    “What?” he said. He used that tone of disbelief that had worked so well with his parents when he was younger. The one that spoke of complete innocence. Ame thumped his leg, causing his red wine to wobble dangerously. That would be an awesome end to the evening: sleeping in a wet patch that wasn’t put there by hot and sweaty sex.
    “Your face, and don’t deny it, you went all red and then tongue-tied, so spill.”
    “What exactly do you want to know? You’ve seen how I get when someone remotely good-looking comes to the counter.”
    “This was different,” Ame said. And she was right.
    “You’re not going to let this go, are you?” Ame shook her head