A Trip to Remember (3 page)

Colin tugged it down and ran a hand through his hair to put it back to rights. “Are we going to pretend this isn’t weird? It’s Christmas weekend, and we’re strangers, and you were supposed to spend the holiday with your family. Are we going to try and celebrate it or just ignore the holiday?”

Logan scratched at his jaw. “I told you, it’s only weird if we make it weird. Stop focusing on the stranger aspect of it. We’re stuck, so we should make the most of it. I’ve got a kitchen full of Christmas food, and I’m not going to let it go to waste. If you don’t want to partake, that’s on you.” He arched a brow, lips quirking up at the right corner. “Are you really going to turn down a Christmas dinner? Made by me? I’m a fantastic cook I can assure you.”

“You’re going to make me Christmas dinner.”

“No, I’m going to make dinner and make you watch me eat it all while not allowing you a single bite.” He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m making Christmas dinner. If you want to eat it you’re more than welcome to.”

He straightened up. “Come on, I’ll show you the house.”

He led Colin on a tour of the rather large house, pointing out his many guest rooms and his own room, which was two doors down the hall from Colin’s. The ground floor didn’t have any bedrooms, but it did have a game room (filled with actual arcade games, a pool table, Ping-Pong table, and a state-of-the-art video-gaming system), a kitchen worthy of a master chef, and a gym that included a heated pool and hot tub. The walls to the game room were glass. Colin could see the frozen wasteland that was Logan’s backyard. It was a really large backyard.

Colin had to bite his tongue to refrain from asking just what Logan did for a living.

“This is some place you’ve got,” he said, for lack of anything more tactful to say.

“You’ve got full run of it while you’re here. I’ve got some extra swim trunks you can borrow if you want to use the pool.”

“Swimming at Christmastime,” mused Colin. “Feels a bit weird, yeah?”

Logan arched his brow, his expression the picture of judgmental. “Most gyms in Toronto have an indoor pool. It’s not that weird.”

Colin ran a hand through his hair, looking out over the still surface of the water. The one and only time he’d used a public gym had been when he was in college, and it came packaged with his tuition. He’d figured if he was going to be forced to pay an athletic fee, he might as well use the gym to get his money’s worth. He preferred to work out in the privacy of his own home.

“It’s nice,” he said. “Maybe I will.”

“Don’t strain yourself.”

When he turned around, Colin sarcastically mimicked him behind his back.

“So, what do you want to do?” called Logan, already out in the hall.

Colin caught up with him, stuffing his hands in the pockets of the sweats he had on. “Ummm.” He thought of the game room and the heaven it represented. “Ping-Pong?”

I
F
L
OGAN
hadn’t made his fortune from being a Ping-Pong champion, Colin was going to be forced to judge him because obviously the man had spent way too much time playing the game. He was a master at it, and he didn’t even look like he was trying. Colin, on the other hand, felt like he was playing a game of tennis with Andy Roddick. He was actually sweating. His arm was sore.

“I hate you,” he said, or rather huffed, as the little ball went sailing past him.

Logan beamed. “I can’t help it,” he said. “I’m just that good.”

“You’re a cocky asshole,” said Colin.

Logan’s grin just got bigger. “Are you going to go get that ball?” he asked. Colin threw his paddle at him, and a laughing Logan dodged it easily. “Now you’ve got to pick that up too. Look at all this work you’re giving yourself.”

The paddle was on Logan’s side of the table, but damned if he didn’t make Colin walk over to grab it. He smirked the whole time. Colin kind of wanted to throw the paddle at him again. Did Logan have any clue what that smirk did to Colin? It was simultaneously beyond attractive and yet extraordinarily irritating.

“We can play something else,” said Logan.

“Are you going to suck at any of your other games?”

“Probably not.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Despite this, Colin only managed another twenty minutes of Ping-Pong before he had to give it up. Between frustration and the ache in his shoulder, he couldn’t take it anymore. “Video games,” he said. “Let’s do that.”

While Logan got all of his stuff turned on and set up, Colin wandered to the windows and looked out at the winter wonderland that was Logan’s backyard. “I’m surprised you don’t have a skating rink back here,” he joked.

“There’s a pond,” said Logan. “I skate on it when it freezes over.”

Of course he did. Colin squinted, like that would help him see through the thick haze of snow. It was coming down quickly, making it difficult to see anything. The pond was probably buried beneath the snow anyway. “What is it you actually do?”

“I’m a personal trainer.” Logan came up beside him. “This is going to ruin all my decorations.”

He looked at Logan rather than the snow. He could definitely see personal trainer making sense. “You had decorations out there?”

“Yep.” He pointed a finger a little to the right. “If you concentrate, you can see the top of one of my candy canes poking out. A couple of them have already blown away.”

“At least you have power,” said Colin. “My place had lost it when I left.”

“I’ve got a generator,” replied Logan. He put his hand on Colin’s shoulder. “Come on, time for me to kick your ass some more.” He’d definitely figured out how to poke at Colin’s competitive side and was taking full advantage.

“I’m picking the game,” Colin warned him, not about to back down from the challenge.

“By all means.”

Colin collapsed on the couch, biting back a moan when he found out just how comfortable it was. He wiggled himself into place, sinking into the cushions that molded to his body. Logan tossed a controller on his lap, jarring him from his appreciation.

He surfed through Logan’s extensive collection of games and in the end chose Mario Kart. He was awesome at Mario Kart, a champion if there ever was one. At least with it he’d stand a chance.

Logan didn’t look like he cared.

Colin hunched forward on the couch as they started, fully focused on the screen. Before long they were screaming and shoving as they tried to make one another wreck. When Colin’s car shot across the finish line first, he raised his arms in the air and gave a shout of triumph.

“Wow,” said Logan, laughing. “Someone’s competitive.”

“Oh my God,” said Colin, turning to look at Logan’s smirking face. “You have room to talk.”

“I’m a much more graceful loser than you are.”

Colin pointed his controller at him. “So you admit you are a loser?”

Logan picked up one of the throw pillows and beat Colin about the head with it. “I admit nothing,” he said. “Let’s go again.”

With each loss he got a little less graceful, until he finally threw the controller down and tackled Colin. “You’re cheating!” he accused, trying to wrestle the controller from Colin’s hands while they both giggled crazily. On the screen his little car went careening off the road. A second later they went careening off the couch.

“Oof,” Colin grunted, squished beneath Logan’s bigger body. He shoved at him, and it devolved into a ridiculous skirmish, the coffee table getting pushed aside as they rolled around on the floor.

Colin’s elbow made contact with something hard, and the pain was blinding; his noise of discomfort was enough to freeze Logan on top of him. “Did I break you?” asked Logan. He actually looked worried.

“My elbow,” gritted out Colin.

Logan contorted himself, trying to get a look. His entire weight was resting on Colin, shoving the breath from him. Their hips were aligned, their chests pressing together. Despite the throbbing in his arm, Colin was more than aware of their proximity and all of the muscles that were pressed along him. The gym was definitely not just for show.

“I guess this means I win,” said Logan, smiling widely down at Colin. The corners of his eyes were crinkled. He had a dimple in his right cheek. Colin thought he was way too cute to be such an asshole.

He brought his free hand up and shoved Logan’s face away so he didn’t have to look at it. Logan started laughing, making his body shake over the top of Colin’s. Colin’s hips twitched. No, he thought, that was not happening. “I can’t breathe with your heavy ass crushing me,” he said, hoping the strain in his voice lent credibility.

It must have, because Logan rolled off of him almost immediately. Their antics had moved the coffee table far enough back that Logan could flop down beside him. Their shoulders brushed.

“No more games,” said Logan.

Colin wholeheartedly agreed. He was finding Logan’s competitiveness just a little too appealing.

“We can watch a movie,” suggested Logan. “Or TV. They’ve got all the Christmas specials on.”

Colin rolled his head to the side to look at Logan. “You sound way too excited about that.”

“
A Charlie Brown Christmas
is a classic.”

Colin scrunched his face up.

Logan pushed himself up and grabbed Colin’s hand. “Come on,” he said. “We’re going to fix this.” He hauled Colin up like he weighed nothing and kept hold of his hand as he dragged him through the house and into the living room. He shoved him down onto the couch next to Shea, finally releasing his hand. “Stay,” he said.

Despite Shea being right there, Colin was pretty sure Logan was talking to him.

T
HREE
HOURS
of
A Charlie Brown Christmas
,
Frosty the Snowman
, and
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer
(it was still on, save him) wasn’t doing anything to foster a love for Christmas shows in Colin’s apparently cold heart.

“This is so cheesy,” he said as he watched Santa run over Grandma for a second time.

“That’s the point,” laughed Logan, sinking farther down the couch. His socked feet were mere inches from being pushed underneath Colin’s thigh. He was sprawled across one side of the couch, legs bent at the knee and torso twisted into the corner and cushions. Colin had his legs propped on the coffee table and his side supported by a snoozing Shea. It shouldn’t have been so cozy.

“I can feel my brain cells melting.”

“That’s the receding hypothermia,” said Logan. “
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
is up next. If you can’t take it, you don’t have to stay on my behalf.”

“I’ll stay,” said Colin, wiggling so he was a little lower on the couch. Shea, apparently peeved at the movement, leapt from the couch and curled up on the rug in front of the fireplace. “Not cool,” muttered Colin.

He spent the first fifteen minutes of
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
shifting around trying to find a comfortable position.

“If you don’t sit still, I’m going to lie down on you,” warned Logan, poking at him with one foot.

He flipped him off but did settle down with his back to the armrest and legs bent in front of him. As the hour went on, he sank lower and lower till his head rested on the armrest, and his legs were tangled with Logan’s. The awareness of just how intimate their position was provided a distraction from the TV, but Colin wasn’t sure if that was better.

Their ankles touching, warm skin to warm skin, shouldn’t have felt like a big deal, but it did. Colin was acutely aware of that point of contact, the only point that wasn’t covered by clothes. Whenever Logan laughed at something happening on the TV, he’d bump his leg into Colin’s, and their skin would slide.

Maybe he was losing his mind.

He tried to focus on the film but quickly ended up watching Logan’s face instead. If he wasn’t smiling fondly, then he was laughing, his dimple and laugh lines embedding themselves on his face. Colin didn’t think it should be so endearing that a grown man was so into Christmas movies.

When Rudolph finished, Logan turned to look at him. Colin hastily tried to look away so it wouldn’t seem like he’d been staring. Logan chuckled, knocking their legs together. “I’ll give you a break from the Christmas marathon,” he said, grabbing the remote and switching it off. He stretched, arching his back, and Colin watched as he then tilted his head back, stretching his neck in the same move.

Colin swallowed, willing himself to get some control.

“What do you do for tradition?” Logan asked him. “Obviously it’s not movies.”

Colin’s lips were dry, so he licked them. It had the added bonus of giving him time to think. “I go visit my parents. For the last couple of years that’s meant skiing, but we don’t have anything we consider a tradition really.” And they didn’t. They had different food from year to year, they went to different places to celebrate, and they didn’t decorate together or go look at lights. Some years they weren’t even all together. “We’re not really a family of tradition, I guess.”

Logan hummed, looking thoughtful. “If you had to pick a
Christmas tradition, what would it be?”

Colin thought about it. “I guess it would be driving around and looking at the lights. People do the craziest things with their decorations.”

“Well that won’t work,” said Logan. “We can’t go around looking at lights when there’s a blizzard.”

“You should have specified,” said Colin. “You didn’t say we had to be able to do it.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Pick something we can actually do.”

Colin tried to think of Christmasy things. “Um.”

“It’s not rocket science,” teased Logan. “Just think of something you like doing.”

“Hot chocolate and a nap?” he tried.

“Now that I can do.” Logan disentangled their legs, much to Colin’s dismay, and stood. “I’ll get the hot chocolate, why don’t you pick a book? There’s a closet of them off the hall going to the game room.”

Loath as he was to leave the comfort of the couch, Colin shoved himself up and got moving. “You put your books in a closet?” he asked.