Page 60 of The Best Christmas Choir Ever

“Only because you and Warren were stirring up a protest in the dining room.”

“You’ve managed to get away with it again this year, Guerrero. Next year you won’t be so lucky. So enjoy whatever alliance you currently have with the admin staff. We’re coming for you.” She gave him the universal I’m watching you signal before slinking away to the other side of the common room where she’d conned Doris into making inappropriately shaped decorations for their tree.

Every year Glendale decorated ten trees. One for every floor of the building. The residents from each floor usually decided how they would decorate their allotted tree.

Julian always ended up decorating the one destined for the lobby. He glanced around to see if he could find some of his own help, but Maggie was busy micromanaging tinsel and Frank was trying to program a set of lights to blink in time with music.

Julian returned to his tree, wondering if he should attempt something more creative than the usual glass balls. Though if he was being honest, he was too exhausted to care. He’d spent most of last night getting reacquainted with Charlie in the best possible way. Leaving her asleep in bed this morning had been torture, but he also knew the residents needed some sort of supervision or else this tree situation was likely to run amuck. With Harriet left unchecked, he’d be plucking phallic-shaped ornaments off every tree in the building.

“I think you missed a spot.”

Julian leaned around his tree, finding Charlie standing on the other side. The fact that she was still smiling at him must be a good sign.

He was tempted to lean over and kiss her. To wrap his arms around her waist and feel the length of her body pressed against his. For a long moment it was all he could think about. A part of him knew he should be concerned about the speed of his deepening feelings, especially knowing that Charlie’s feelings about him were mixed up with Tom and her fears and the grief that still plagued her, but the rest of him shoved that concern aside. And it was so easy to do when she was looking at him like that.

“Just there,” she said, pointing out a huge gap in his decorations.

“I was actually waiting for someone of the shorter persuasion to come along and help fill the hole.”

Charlie’s lips puckered. “I’m not going to react to being called short purely because your ornament distribution is embarrassingly uneven. The bottom of your tree is practically naked.”

Julian held her gaze, knowing she’d said that on purpose. “Good thing you’re here then. I’d hate for someone to see the tree in such a revealing state.”

Her lips curled into a smirk.

They hadn’t talked about what last night meant. But the fact she was standing here, teasing him, was all the reassurance he needed this morning.

Charlie held her hand out for an ornament. “Put me to work.”

“Actually,” Julian said, stroking the center of her palm in a slow circle. Her eyes widened. “With hands like that, I might have a better use for you.”

Charlie wiggled her fingers at him. “These old things? I wonder what better use you could have in mind.”

They both knew exactly what she could do with those hands. And that mouth. And that body. But right now Julian wasn’t thinking about that. Well, not only that. Instead, he picked up the giant tangle of lights Harriet had delivered him and dropped it into Charlie’s waiting hands.

The weight of the tangle made Charlie grunt. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“This should be illegal,” she complained, pouting at him.

Those lips should be illegal, Julian thought, tearing his gaze away.

Charlie dropped into one of the wingback chairs, making herself comfortable. Her delicate hands tugged at the knotted light strand, carefully brushing over the tiny bulbs.

Julian needed to turn his focus elsewhere. Watching her make quick work of the tangle with her slim fingers was making his skin prickle with desire.

“Personally, I’d just buy new lights,” Charlie said.

Julian cleared his throat. “So would I, but you know, trying to make the dollar stretch.” He glanced over. Charlie had worked part of the strand between her teeth. He grumbled. That wasn’t helping.

“I think you can find ten dollars in the budget for new lights,” she said.

“But it’s not only one set of new lights. If I get new lights for this tree, then everyone wants new lights and fancy ornaments and better decorations, which is definitely not in the budget. Plus I think it’s kind of fun seeing what the residents come up with every year when they have to sort of improvise their decorations. They get very creative.”

Charlie had grown distracted with something across the room. Julian spied over her chair. She was looking at the tree that Harriet and Doris were decorating.

“Not sure you want them getting that creative. Does that tin soldier have a—”