Page 63 of The Christmas Accomplice

“Nope. Just listen to me, okay?”

“Oh, okay.”

“Are you listening?”

She gave several vigorous nods.

Reece leaned in over the desk a bit and said in a quiet voice, “Stop asking me questions.”

Nick’s eager expression condensed into something much surlier, and she snatched her hands free. “Fine. No more questions.”

He knew he’d hurt her feelings, and he tried to think of how to backtrack and fix it. “Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’ve got a mental checklist playing on a loop in my head, this activity is nothing like I’ve done before, and I’m trying really hard to keep myself together when my heart feels a little broken.”

A sudden rush of tears shocked him, and he grabbed his mug and the binder and hurried around the corner of the front desk to the employee access door. Nick had the door open before he could swipe his badge, and she grabbed him in a strong hug. Reece tried to hug her back, but couldn’t quite manage it as he held his coffee in one hand and the binder in the other.

“I’m sorry you’re having such a shitty time,” she whispered. “But I’ll be right here eager and willing to help out however I can.”

“Can you turn back time so I know what questions to ask Welton right from the start?”

“If I could turn back time, I’d have a completely different hair color, and I wouldn’t have given that doofus dude at the bar last night my phone number.”

“You love doofus dudes.”

“I do. Almost as much as you love hot gay nerds.” She took a step back and smiled up at him. “You never told me last night what happened between you and Welton. Was it bad?”

“You know that goofy guy, Dean, who I keep running into?”

“The one with the big nose but he manages to make it work?”

“Right, that’s the one. He and Welton are a couple.”

Nick’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “What?”

“I overheard them talking in the restaurant.” He stepped around her and set down the coffee and binder.

“Oh my God. What did he say when you asked him about it?”

Reece blushed and glanced at her before looking away. “I haven’t talked to him since.”

“Oh. Well, I… Oh.”

A guest approached the desk, and Nick stepped up with a smile. Reece finished his coffee and thought about Nick’s reaction. Had he been too quick with his dismissal after overhearing Welton and Dean? He’d been so shocked and hurt at the discovery that he hadn’t considered hearing Welton out. The fact of the matter was Welton had lied to him about knowing Dean, and Reece wasn’t sure he could forgive that.

Could he?

Once Nick finished assisting the guest, she stood before him holding a notepad with a pen at the ready. “Okay, tell me what you need me to do.”