Read Hapless for Free Online Page B

their bed. “Like, replaced-by-an-alien weird. Are you okay?”
    Ty shifted around among the nest of blankets. “I’m fine.” He wasn’t, but he couldn’t very well tell Micah he’d been trying to propose to him since right after Thanksgiving, and still hadn’t.
    “Okay, I just… did I do something? Is it because we couldn’t go to South Carolina to see your folks? I have to work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go on your own.”
    Ty frowned, Micah’s words sinking into his skin, piercing him to the marrow. He rolled over and slung an arm over Micah’s middle.
    “And miss Christmas with you? Never.”
    “Are you sure?” Micah’s tone was timid and small. “You seem distant and… sad.” He cleared his throat and seemed to disappear amid the pillows. “You don’t want to break up, do you?”
    “No!” Ty replied quickly, forcefully. He squeezed Micah tighter and pressed his face into the crook of Micah’s shoulder, his heart aching that he even allowed the seed of that thought to plant in Micah’s brain. And if he could kill the idea, Ty would propose right then, but he didn’t trust that the apartment wouldn’t burn down around him if he did. “No, of course not. I’m sorry. I’ve been stressed.”
    Micah shuddered next to him, letting out a heavy, wet breath. “Good,” he said. He clutched Ty’s hand. “So the romance novels burning you out? I find that hard to believe.”
    Humor was Micah’s defense mechanism, and Ty latched on to it. “Two words—moist cavern. I didn’t know if they were talking about sex or spelunking.”
    Micah laughed. He twined their legs together. “Tell me more about these wet caves.”
    “Are you sure? The world of romance can get pretty hairy.”
    “That’s what she said.”
    Ty chuckled helplessly into Micah’s skin. “Fine. I’ll tell you all the sordid details.”
    Ty did in excruciating, hilarious detail that had Micah in stitches. Whispering in the dark, entwined with his happily ever after, Ty knew Christmas was fast approaching, and he vowed to do better. He would set the idea of being engaged aside until after New Year’s, and would try to enjoy the moment.
    He could do that.
    Well, he could try.
     
     
    S ITTING IN the glow of their Christmas tree with the apartment lights turned low and sipping the hot cider Micah had made in the crockpot, Ty should be happy. He should be so happy to be sitting with his boyfriend, their feet propped up on the coffee table, the soft lilt of Christmas carols filling up the apartment. He wasn’t. He tried, but he still felt like an utter failure.
    Christmas Eve. It was Christmas Eve, and Ty still had the ring tucked away in the sock drawer. He’d tried. No one could say he didn’t try, and maybe, maybe he should just suck it up and propose right then.
    It was romantic. There was no doubt about it. Wrapped up in Grandma’s afghan together, Micah tapping out a beat on Ty’s thigh with his talented fingers, their bodies pressed together, their hearts beating in sync. He’d never felt closer to Micah than right then.
    Their past year together had been… well… perfect. Not counting Ty’s last few awful weeks.
    It wasn’t their first Christmas as a couple, but it was their first Christmas where they were both finally settled. They had jobs. They had incomes. They had friends and hobbies and their future stretched out in front of them, unknowable but hopeful. So hopeful. And all the bumps in the road they would surely encounter would be met head-on, together instead of as two different entities.
    Ty’s heart seized with the weight of it all. When he breathed, Micah breathed with him, and it was significant and tender, and everything that made Ty want to be with Micah forever was tangled up in the moment.
    “Hey,” Micah said softly. He squirmed around on the couch and took Ty’s cup from his hands. He set it on the table. “I want to talk to you.”
    Ty raised an eyebrow while Bing Crosby crooned