The Twelve Dates of Christmas

by Andi James

“Wow, Aiden.” He heard Chelsea let out a long breath. “This is kind of some kickass perspective you’re having on yourself.”

  Aiden chuckled. “Yeah, it only took four months.”

  “You’ve always been kind of slow on the uptake.”

  Aiden thought about the weeks he’d slowly been giving his heart to Liam without even realizing it. “I can’t argue with you on that one.”

  “God, I even hate to say it, but what about this date?”

  Aiden sighed. “I can’t do it anymore, Chels. I can’t keep running. It’s not fair to these men, or to Justin, or to me.” Aiden took a deep breath. “I can do this on my own.”

  “Well, you won’t be totally on your own… I’ll be there.”

  Aiden smiled. At least he had one good thing going in his life. “I know.”

  Chelsea paused. “It’s just…” Her voice sounded strained. “Are you sure you don’t want to do one more date? You never know. This one could be amazing.”

  Amazing or not, there was only one person Aiden wanted... someone he couldn’t have. “I’m sure.”

  She sighed loudly. “Ugh. Now I have to cancel this date. Gross. Do you want to go get some dinner?”

  “No, thanks. I’m going to catch up on some work. Love you, Chels.”

  He could hear the laughter in her voice. “I know. I’m pretty great.”

  She hung up, and he started walking again, thinking that she wasn’t wrong.

  Chapter 12

  “If you sigh one more time, I’m going to choke you with your bow tie,” Chelsea threatened through clenched teeth.

  Aiden wasn’t sure he could stop, but he would give it a try.

  He and Chelsea had arrived at the hotel earlier to get ready for the party. The firm had offered rooms for the evening to all of its employees, a way to allow the team members to have fun and save them from driving home. Aiden appreciated the gesture but had declined. The only thing sadder than waking up alone on Christmas morning was doing it in a hotel room.

  Chelsea had accepted the offer though, and she’d insisted Aiden meet her and they use the hotel room to get glam, as Chelsea called it. He made sure to tell her how ridiculous she was for dragging all of her makeup and hair supplies across town, rather than getting ready in her own apartment. She called him a grinch, told him he had no sense of beauty, and made him carry her Caboodles box.

  As she primped, Aiden had thanked Chelsea for her efforts to resuscitate his dating life, even if it had ended in disaster. After his little diatribe, he’d realized she might have taken his words as an insult to her. He knew that she meant well, she wanted him to be happy, but that wasn’t something she could be responsible for. Aiden had to make himself happy, go after what he wanted. He couldn’t keep waiting for happiness to fall into his lap.

  As Chelsea had wiggled into her gown, bright yellow and with more sparkles than a tiara, Aiden tried to tell her about Liam, about how he’d let what he really wanted slip through his fingers, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t ready to admit to anyone how disappointed he was in himself.

  Chelsea was chatting about which of the lawyers were wearing the best gowns when Aiden saw Justin approaching them, hand in hand with a man Aiden assumed was Justin's new boyfriend.

  Aiden braced himself for the usual anxiousness he felt whenever he saw Justin, but it never came. He was sure having Chelsea there with him helped, but he suspected even if he'd been alone, he would have been fine.

  "Hey, Justin." Aiden gave him a warm smile as he approached. "Some party, huh?"

  Justin looked around the room. "Yeah, it was never like this before when I came with you. I wasn't expecting all of this."

  "Neither were we." Chelsea waved her glass of wine through the air. "This is way better than we're used to."

  Their firm had always put on decent holiday parties, but they'd had a good year financially, and the party was more elaborate than usual. They'd rented a ballroom at a swanky boutique hotel and had somehow managed to make it look festive and cozy, nothing like the "we're at a corporate event" vibe of years past. Even though it was Christmas Eve, Aiden was pleased to see his firm had gone with a winter theme instead of a holiday-specific one. Soft purple lights bounced off the sparkly white decorations and almost made it feel like they were in a snow globe.

  "I wanted to introduce you to Brent." Justin put his arm around his boyfriend. "Brent, this is Chelsea and Aiden.”

  Chelsea stepped forward and stuck out her hand. "Good to meet you. Oh my, you’re just a baby!" she said sweetly. “Justin, are you picking up men on college campuses now?”

  Aiden caught the look of surprise on Justin's face, but he quickly recovered.

  Chelsea tried to hide her laugh behind her wine, then started asking Justin about his holiday plans. Even if he didn't need it, Aiden appreciated her attempt at drawing Justin's attention away from him.

  Aiden took the opportunity to study Justin's boyfriend. He didn't know why, but he was a little relieved to see Brent looked nothing like him. He was more petite and had pretty blue eyes. He also looked as if he might collapse from nerves.

  Brent's gaze met his, and Aiden smiled. "These events can be so overwhelming the first time, right? I work here, and even I'm amazed at how many people show up."

  Brent's shoulders sagged. "God yes. And I've only met maybe one other person in this room before tonight."

  Justin must have overheard Brent. He turned to him and said, "Good point. Come on, I'll introduce you to some other people." He smiled at everyone. "I'm sure we'll catch up later."

  Aiden watched them walk away, and Chelsea leaned into him. She put a hand on Aiden's lower back and whispered, "You doing okay?"

  Aiden peered down at her and smiled. "Yeah, I am."

  And that was the truth. A month ago, seeing Justin with Brent might have sent him into a downward spiral. Right then, Aiden was finding it hard to care about anything except the small pang he felt any time his mind drifted to the person he’d rather be with.

  “That’s good.” Chelsea looked up at him, batting her eyelashes, and Aiden was instantly on alert.

  “Chelsea, what did you do?”

  She placed a hand on her heart. “I didn’t do anything, Aiden. It’s possible that I set you up on another date.”

  Aiden groaned. “That is the literal definition of doing something.”

  She waved her hand in the air. “Semantics.”

  “Chels, I thought we agreed, no more dates.”

  “I know, but this one was quite insistent when I messaged him yesterday.”

  Oh god. “You rescheduled it? I asked you to cancel it!”

  Chelsea made an exaggerated cringing face. “I know. I tried! I said he was insistent.”

  Aiden sighed. “Fine, I can do one more date. It was kind of rude to cancel last minute anyway.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. It’s possible this guy would be great, maybe distract him from thinking about Liam every two minutes. “So, when is it? After the holidays, right?”

  She grinned at him. “It’s actually right now.”

  “Right what now?”

  “He’s on his way here.”

  Anger boiled up inside Aiden. “You invited some random weirdo to this party? Chelsea! He’s probably going to stab me to death later or something.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t murder you in that tux,” came a voice from behind him. “You look too good in it to get it all bloody.”

  Aiden’s breath caught in his throat at the sound he knew he wasn’t really hearing. It wasn’t possible. He turned slowly, and his heart stopped beating.

  Liam.

  “What are you…?” Aiden did some quick thinking. “Wait… you were my date yesterday? What about David?”

  Liam gave Aiden one of his dazzling smiles. “Well, it—”

  Liam was interrupted by one of Aiden’s coworkers stopping by and chatting up a storm.

  Aiden desperately wanted to te
ll Ken to go away so he could talk to Liam and get the details on just how this had all happened, but at a work party, he thought that might be difficult.

  Liam just smiled at him and slipped his hand in Aiden’s. “We can talk later, okay?”

  Aiden nodded, unable to form words. The sparks he’d felt whenever he and Liam had inadvertently touched were nothing compared to the hum in his ears that started when Liam wrapped his warm fingers around Aiden’s. Oh, they would definitely be talking later.

  Aiden laughed as he listened to Liam and Chelsea trade war stories about experiences with horrible customers. After he’d officially introduced them, they hadn't stopped talking. That was fine with Aiden. He was happy to stand by while his best friend got to know the guy he was interested in.

  In fact, Aiden was pretty happy in general. He wasn't sure he'd stopped smiling since Liam had appeared. It was such an odd feeling, but Aiden embraced it with open arms. He'd been down about Justin for a long time, and when he'd found out Justin had accepted a position at Aiden's firm, he'd rebuilt all his guards.

  But ever since he'd met Liam, he'd started to remember what it was like to just be himself. He'd missed that more than he'd realized.

  "Aiden, remember the one client who wanted an itemized list of every minute you'd spent on his case? So he could make sure you weren't overcharging?" Chelsea's grin was devious. "And how I added in the time spent on making the list for him? Man, I thought he was going to explode when he saw that charge."

  Liam laughed. "You did not."

  "Oh, I definitely did. Charged him for the phone calls about it too."

  Aiden chimed in. "He quickly learned to wait for me to contact him instead of checking in with me daily. Those phone calls add up."

  Liam gave him another dazzling smile, and Aiden couldn’t help but be taken by him. Liam was absolutely gorgeous in his navy blue suit, even if Aiden missed seeing the hints of Liam's tattoos under his work shirt a little bit.

  Maybe he'd get an up close look at those soon.

  "I think dinner is about to start," Liam said, and Aiden noticed most of the crowd heading toward the tables and sitting.

  "I scoped out our table earlier." Chelsea pointed to one in the back. "I wanted to make sure we weren't sitting with anyone objectionable."

  "Are we?" Liam asked with a laugh.

  Chelsea grinned. "Not anymore."

  Aiden didn't even want to know what she'd done.

  They made their way to their seats and talked in hushed tones while the firm's partners each took turns speaking. When the third one wrapped up, Aiden caught Liam staring at him.

  "What?" Aiden wiped his mouth. "Something on my face?"

  Liam smiled. "No."

  "What is it then?"

  Liam leaned closer. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to be your date tonight." Then he kissed Aiden's cheek.

  Aiden reached under the table and took Liam's hand in his. "I'm positive I'm the lucky one in this situation."

  He heard Chelsea mutter "gross" before she plastered a big smile on her face. "I think you're both lucky I got this whole thing going in the first place. You're welcome, by the way."

  Aiden and Liam both laughed, but Aiden knew he did owe Chelsea a huge thanks. He decided to make a toast to her, then realized his glass was empty, as were Liam and Chelsea's. "I'm going to get another drink. Do you two want one as well?"

  After they said yes, Aiden walked across the room and got in line at the bar. Not even a minute had passed when Justin approached and stood next him.

  "Hey." Aiden smiled at him. "Brent seems really nice."

  "Yeah, he is." Justin cleared his throat. “I’ve been trying to set up a lunch or something with you, so I could tell you about him in person before you found out from other people.”

  Aiden cringed. He wasn’t all that proud of how he’d avoided Justin in the past, but he knew he hadn’t been ready to talk to him then. “Yeah, sorry we couldn’t make that happen.”

  Justin waved him off. “It’s fine. We’re all busy. But hey, thanks for not making Brent feel awkward. He was kind of nervous to meet you."

  Aiden could relate. Not that long ago, he'd dreaded even the idea of Brent, let alone meeting him. "I hope he knows he has nothing to worry about from me."

  Justin chuckled. "I think he does now. And hey, I didn't know you were seeing anyone.” He gestured over to their table where Chelsea was recounting some tale that had Liam in stitches.

  “Yeah, it’s new.” Aiden pondered how many times he’d seen Liam in the past month. “Well, newish?” Justin's face was scrunched up in confusion, and it made Aiden laugh. "Yeah, I know. It's a whole long story. Maybe I'll tell you about it someday."

  "I'd like that," Justin said with a smile. "Sounds like a good one."

  "Eh. Chelsea is heavily involved."

  Justin cracked up. "I should have known."

  They moved up in the line and each placed their orders. Before he walked away, Justin lifted his glass in Aiden's direction. "Good to see you smiling, Aiden. Merry Christmas."

  "You too."

  Aiden carefully situated the three drinks in his hands and made his way back to the table. His breath caught in his throat at the way Liam's eyes lit up when he spotted Aiden.

  Yeah, he definitely needed to thank Chelsea, with more than just a toast.

  Aiden managed to make it through dinner, surviving more long speeches and Chelsea’s embarrassing stories about him. He was plotting his revenge on her as the group of partygoers was ushered from the dining room. He thought an accidental spill might work.

  “Maybe something involving red wine,” he mused quietly.

  Aiden felt a hand on his arm.

  “If you can finish your diabolical plan later,” Liam said quietly, “I thought maybe you’d like to dance.”

  Aiden was suddenly more aware of his new surroundings. The darkened room was filled with white twinkling lights hanging over a large dance floor. Aiden’s heartbeat quickened as he saw them sparking in Liam’s eyes.

  “I guess my plotting can wait.” Aiden grinned at Liam and took his hand.

  Together, they walked under the lights, joined by a sparse few other couples, and as Aiden wrapped his arms around Liam’s neck, he realized it was the first time they’d been truly alone all night.

  They began to sway to the sweet holiday music. “So, tell me, Liam. Just how is it that you wound up here?”

  “Oh, I took a cab,” Liam deadpanned.

  Aiden laughed, and Liam pulled him a little closer.

  “So, what number date is this for you?”

  Aiden did some math in his head. “Twelve.”

  “Not counting yesterday, right? When you stood me up?”

  Aiden felt a pull in his chest. “I’m so sorry, Liam. I had no idea it was you.” He sighed. “I was just so tired, you know?”

  “I get that… Dating can be exhausting.”

  Aiden chuckled. “I just can’t get over that you’re here.”

  “Honestly? Me neither.”

  Aiden pulled back. “So, if your date yesterday was with me, who is David?”

  “David who?”

  “Yesterday, when I went to the bar to ask you out, Sandy said you had a date with some guy you were smitten with named David.”

  Liam’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Aiden. “You came to Sidewalk’s End yesterday? To ask me out?”

  Aiden felt his cheeks heat. “Yeah, and you were not there. Very rude.”

  Liam chuckled. “A thousand apologies. Though, to be fair, you were not at our date either.” He tightened his arms around Aiden slightly. “Sandy has trouble with names. Very unusual for a bartender.” Liam pushed a lock of hair from Aiden’s eyes. “He was right though. I am definitely smitten. With someone who is kind and smart and funny, even though he can’t name all of Santa’s reindeer.”

  Aiden choked on a laugh, then swallowed. “This David guy sounds like the real deal.”

  Liam stared intently
into his eyes. “I think he is.” He looked quickly down at Aiden’s mouth. “How do you feel about kissing on the first date?”

  “Very opposed.” Aiden frowned at Liam, who looked worried and pulled slightly away. “But I’m counting this as our twelfth date, so…”

  Liam’s face broke into his famous smile, the one Aiden thought he might want to see every morning for the rest of his life, and Aiden took his chance. He leaned in, lightly brushing his lips over Liam’s, the buzzing instantly returning to his ears. Liam’s mouth moved with his and deepened the kiss, and Aiden pressed in closer to him.

  A commotion caused Aiden to reluctantly pull away. A quick look around made him realize it was after midnight.

  “Merry Christmas, Liam.”

  Liam chuckled. “And here I am without a gift for you.”

  Aiden nuzzled into Liam’s neck and whispered, “You are the best present I could ask for.”

  Liam grinned, his smile bright. “Oh, well, this gift gets better,” he said, with a wink. “Just wait until you unwrap it.” Liam took his turn to whisper in Aiden’s ear. “Those tattoos you love to pretend you aren’t staring at? They’re on more than just my arms.”

  The buzzing in Aiden’s ears quickly moved much lower as Liam gave him a mischievous grin. “Well, happy holidays to me.”

  He couldn’t hide his own smile as Liam swooped in, laughing, for another kiss.

  Suddenly, Aiden couldn’t wait another second to get his hands on more of Liam. He leaned in and whispered, “Would you have any interest in getting out of here?”

  Liam turned his head, placing his mouth close to Aiden’s ear. “I would have an incredible amount of interest in that.”

  Aiden shivered at the feeling of Liam’s breath on his neck.

  Liam placed a soft kiss under Aiden’s ear. “Your place or mine?”

  The idea of finding coats, saying goodbyes, and traveling across town in holiday traffic made Aiden groan. Then Liam gently biting Aiden’s earlobe made him groan again.

  He pulled away abruptly. “Okay, hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”

  Liam chuckled. “You should definitely hurry.”

  Aiden scanned the room for a glimpse of bright yellow and diamonds. He finally found who he sought in the next room, where she was flirting openly with a very attractive bartender.