by Heather Long
“Um, we usually get one like the week before—”
“Yeah, that doesn’t work for me,” Archie said, grinning. “I want to do a tree, we can pick out any color you like. You can get a rainbow one.”
“Then we’re going to set it up in here,” Coop picked up the thread. “And we’ll all decorate it.”
They were certifiable. “When did we make this plan?”
“Last night, while you and Bubba were ignoring our text messages.” Archie told me with a grin, then dropped a kiss on my nose. “I asked Bubba if he wanted to go when you were getting ready for bed. He said if he woke up on his own, sure. Otherwise, he was going to sleep.”
“Jake would rather have his teeth pulled than go shopping today,” Coop said as he snagged a jacket and pulled it on. “So that means it’s just us.”
And apparently, I didn’t get a vote. Then again…they were both so adorably enthusiastic.
“I demand more coffee.”
Archie’s grin widened. “And you will get it.”
Thankfully, their enthusiasm proved contagious, because there was a freaking line outside our first stop. Even bundled up, I huddled between Coop and Archie as they began “observing” the crowd.
Oh, hopefully no one heard us, because by the time they did open the doors, I was giggling so hard I was almost crying.
Coop snaked a cart, and they began wandering, almost idling as others around us dashed madly. Thankfully, the store had a coffee shop and they opened early. Archie put an order in on the app as we made our way through electronics and the guys debated the latest new gaming systems.
Then another sweep through clothes, and they both paused at the ugly sweaters.
I cracked up.
The first one had a reindeer on it and said Dat Ass Doe. They got progressively worse from raunchier to funnier and to just pure groaners. “We should get matching ones,” Archie said, giving me a speculative look.
“Sure, why not?”
“Because I think you’d look cuter in this one,” Coop argued holding up what looked like an oversized hoody sweater in brown and white. He twisted it so I could see the little tail and the ears. It was a doe sweater that would cut off at mid-thigh. He waggled his brows playfully at me.
Maybe it was how early it was or the lack of caffeine, or the fact that I was still high on all the endorphins from the day before but I grinned. “If you’re daring me to wear it, I will.”
Both boys gaped at me for all of thirty seconds before Archie snagged it from Coop’s hand, checked the size and dropped it into the basket.
“Sold,” he declared. Though we weren’t done. We ended up with ten ugly Christmas sweaters, some for me, most for them, and at least two I had every intention of stealing at some point.
It was absolutely ridiculous.
We split up while Archie went for the coffee, and Coop directed me back to the Christmas decorations. Then the crazy shopping really began. When Archie joined us with the coffee, I settled in to be entertained as they debated every single Christmas tree on sale.
“I don’t really need a seven foot tree,” I’d argued. Not that either of them listened to me. I don’t think I’d ever had a large tree.
“All the more reason you should have one,” Archie pointed out.
“Besides,” Coop said, siding with him. “When we all get that place for school, we’re going to need a tree there, too. Consider this an investment for future Christmases.”
Uh huh.
Still, while they argued the differences between the fake fir trees and the blue spruces, green or white—there was also a dark blue one that was really pretty—I kept looking at a pure white one that had multi-colored lights that alternated with soft golden ones. It was pretty and sweet.
“That one,” Archie and Coop said at the same time, and I snapped my gaze to them. They were both staring at me.
Face heating, I shook my head. “It’s too much, and it’s huge.”
“That’s why we brought my car,” Coop told me, then pressed a kiss to my forehead. “C’mon, Arch, put your back into it.”
They got the box and wrestled it over to the cart, then glanced at the decorations. We were spending a fortune, and I was trying to do the mental math when Archie nudged me.
“Stop,” he told me. “This is my treat.”
“You can’t pay for everything,” I argued, and he slid an arm around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to my temple.
“I can do whatever I want, it’s Christmas. Now don’t be a Scrooge.”
Hey!
“I’m not a Scrooge!” I elbowed him just before he danced away, laughing. He came back with a Santa hat and tugged it onto my head.
At my glare, his smirk grew.
Boys.
I grunted, and he laughed. They finally settled on some colored balls—blue because they actually were the prettiest colors—a couple of ornaments with the year on them, and though Archie hesitated when he spotted the Wizard of Oz ornaments, I grabbed them anyway.
And I was paying for them.
That was a fun argument all the way to the front of the store.
The coffee helped, because after we left that store, we headed over to the mall and from there to another electronics store. Archie swung through another drive thru for coffee and breakfast when I started to flag. It wasn’t even eight in the morning, and we’d been to eight different places.
They were insane.
But their good mood was contagious. They almost had me convinced to do a picture with Santa, but thankfully, none of those places had their Santa’s open yet.
Jake and Ian were both awake when we got back to my apartment. Ian’s very thorough kiss had me grinning as Jake swooped in to pick me up for one of his own. “I love the hat,” he teased. Yes, I was still wearing the Santa cap. Archie and Coop both insisted.
They helped Coop and Archie bring in the bags, giving us hell over the sheer amount we bought. I had splurged, a little. I’d found some mugs for the guys that I wanted to add to my kitchen, different ones with different sayings for each of them.
I’d also managed to sneak away in the mall while Coop and Archie were checking out the new games display and found boxers. They were goofy and maybe a little corny, but since I had managed to now steal a pair of boxers from each of them—I needed to grab some from Ian, but he didn’t wear boxers as much—I wanted to get them special pairs of their own.
Since they also had bags I wasn’t allowed to see, I kept hold of these two and carried them off to hide somewhere in my room. Except, there was literally nowhere in my room the guys didn’t go or have access to.
I ended up stashing them all with the cleaning supplies in the hall closet behind the vacuum. The little robot of Archie and Jake’s was still motoring around the apartment, and the one in the closet hadn’t been pulled out in days.
Fingers crossed, I’d find somewhere else to hide the stuff when they weren’t looking.
Ian caught me in the hall and slid an arm around me before tugging me in close. “Hey,” he murmured before giving me another slow, toe curling kiss. “How are you doing?” Palm spreading over my ass, he rubbed a slow circle over the part he’d given more than one solid spank the night before.
The yoga pants and panties might as well have not even been present for the intensity of sensation sweeping through me at the light contact.
“I’m good,” I said, biting my lip. “How about you?”
“I’m amazing,” he said, then the corner of his mouth curled up. “I would rather have woken up to you than Jake, but Archie told me they planned to steal you this morning. Did you have fun?”
“I did.”
Whatever else I was going to say evaporated as he closed the distance between us and slanted his lips over mine. I sighed into the kiss as he stroked his tongue along mine. Every hard muscled inch of him fit right up against me, and the squeeze of his hand on my ass had me thinking about the night before.
“Ahem,” Archi
e said. “Not to intrude, but I’m going to intrude. Can the canoodling and come help with the tree.”
Ian lifted his head and said, “Five minutes,” before he swooped back down to take my mouth again. A groan wound up through my throat when he picked me up.
“Well, I’m going to guess things are working out,” Coop said.
“No shit?” Jake retorted.
“I’m timing this because she’ll need air eventually.”
At Archie’s comment, laughter burst through me and Ian lifted his head with a grin before he made a face at them. “Thank you for the comments from the peanut gallery.”
“You’re welcome,” Coop said with a small bow.
“Tree,” Archie reminded us. “Kissing later.”
Ian grumbled a noise of disagreement, and for a second, my chest tightened. But when he glanced at me and turned his back on the guys, he winked. Relief swarmed me, and he gave me another peck on the lips. “To be continued?”
Oh most definitely.
For the next two hours, the guys got the tree out and set up, then fluffed it. I’d never seen so much debate over “fluffing” before. It was enough that I actually filmed some of it and sent it to Rachel, who sent me back a series of laughing while crying emojis.
The ornaments we’d bought barely covered the tree. Ian and Jake had a similar reaction to the Wizard of Oz ornaments I’d picked up that Archie and Coop had, but I refused to be dissuaded. “I had fun that night… You know we had good memories, too. I’m choosing to remember the good ones. Besides, breaking Sharon’s nose was a good one for me, too.”
There was a beat, then they all started laughing and the worry over the ornaments went away. I had another box with some of the more meaningful ornaments to me socked away. Some I’d made in elementary school. There was one that Coop had made me when we were in first grade, and I had another that Jake had made in third.
Their faces were priceless.
“You kept that?” Jake asked as he stared down at the lumpy blob of clay with a hook in it. It was supposed to have been a train engine, but pieces had broken off and the paint had faded. I could still see it though, just the way he’d made it, and my name was still inscribed on the bottom.
“I liked it,” I told him.
“I could probably make you a better one,” he mused, and I snagged it back from him.
“That’s fine, but I’m keeping this one.”
“Don’t argue, man,” Coop told him as he held up the smashed face cat ornament he’d made me. “We’ll just call it less than modern art.”
Still. The tree seemed kind of barren.
“Okay, I’ve got some stuff at my place,” Ian said. “Some ornaments and gift ones that I have set aside that are mine. I’ll go grab them. I know where they are.”
“Ditto,” Jake agreed.
Before I knew it, they were all splitting up, and I got a series of quick kisses before they took off. In the silence after they left, Tiddles wandered out to stare at the tree with me. He glanced at me like all the noise and interruptions to his routine were my fault.
“Hey, they haven’t decorated you yet,” I teased him. At the same time, the tree warmed the whole living room up. It made it feel cozy in a way I didn’t think it ever had. More, despite the absence of the guys, it didn’t feel so empty.
Coop wouldn’t take long, so I headed back to grab the presents I’d managed to get and found the wrapping paper stored in the back of my bedroom closet. The wrap job I did was pretty awful, but the wonders of tape and bows helped.
I’d just finished wrapping the last one when the front door opened.
“I’m back,” Coop called. “You are not going to believe what I found.”
“Yeah?” I gathered up the hastily wrapped packages and managed to balance them. Coop turned from rummaging in a box on the coffee table and stared at the presents before he hurried over to help me. “I got them.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled, then gave me a kiss with a little nip on the lip. “But I’m here to help, and it gives me an excuse to see if any of these are for me.” He always was a little impatient with presents. Not that it stopped him in the slightest from giving each one a shake before he slipped them under the tree.
I laughed and wandered over to the box. “What did you find?”
“Oh,” he said, and reached in to pull out a series of three oversize round ornaments that were definitely handmade and shedding glitter. In the center of each one were pictures—of us.
“Oh my god,” I exhaled and stared at them. “We were so tiny.”
“And buck-toothed,” he teased, nudging the one I took. “But you still have the best smile.”
I rolled my eyes. “And you couldn’t believe I’d kept the ones you made me.” I stuck my tongue at him.
He gave my ass a squeeze. “I think that was Jake. I know what a sentimental sap you are, even if you try to hide it.”
“Pfft, I’m not a sap. I barely like hugging most days.”
“Not true,” he argued, sliding his arms around me and pulling my back to his chest. “You do like hugging. You just like hugging the right people.” When he rubbed his cheek against my hair, I melted a little and leaned into him.
“You give great hugs.”
“Exactly,” he murmured. “I’m the right people.”
Eyes closed, I just let him hold me for a minute. “I’m not freaking out.”
“I know you’re not,” he agreed, and at the same time, I didn’t want him to let go. “This is not a ‘freaking out’ hug, this is a ‘damn, you’re hot and I want to rub my dick against your ass’ hug.”
Laughter bubbled right up through me, and I snort-giggled. He licked his index finger and made a sizzling sound as he marked an imaginary point. When I glanced up at him though, his gray-green eyes were warm, if a bit concerned.
“Well, your dick gives great ass hugs,” I said, waiting until we’d pulled apart and he went to take a drink. Water sprayed out of his nose, and I grinned, marking my own point in the air. We were still laughing when the guys got back.
They brought with them treasures each. Among Jake’s stash were a pair of ornaments he’d picked up during the time he’d lived in Germany. We didn’t talk about when he was gone so much, but Coop and I had both felt his absence. As sorry as I was for his parents, I was so glad that his mom had moved back.
Ian had a bunch of sports and music ornaments, including some cartoon characters playing instruments. Archie had these crystal snowflakes and teardrops. They were fancy as hell, and I had a feeling they belonged to his grandmother. He also had some light up ornaments and action figures.
To say the tree had a most eclectic theme when we were done would be understating it. It was a little lopsided, and we didn’t have anything for the top of it. I had Jake put my Santa hat on it for now.
Archie passed out the sweaters and told everyone to change. After, we got together in front of the tree, and he worked it out with his phone to do a group selfie of all of us in front of our crazy ass tree.
He even managed to get one where Coop and Jake were both kissing my cheeks, which meant we had to do another with Archie and Ian doing the same thing. I loved the snaps he got and made him send almost all of them to me. I’d also noticed a couple of other presents had been snuck under the tree while we’d been decorating, not that I commented.
I’d save my shaking for later.
After we’d cleaned up, we settled in for leftovers—of which we had tons—and movies. First up, predictably, was Die Hard. It definitely qualified as a Christmas movie. I dozed off during one of the next films, curled up against Jake, and woke up snuggling Coop.
“Had to pee,” Jake told me with a grin. “Then he wouldn’t give you back.”
“You wizz, you lose,” Coop chortled, and that had Archie rolling his eyes.
Still, it was an awesome day, and by the time we wandered off to bed, I was full, the house was Christmassy, and I couldn’t believe our week of fre
edom was almost over.
Oh, and the guys were going running in the morning.
No, thank you.
“Don’t worry,” Coop whispered against my ear. “I have other workout plans.”
I was definitely not worried.
Chapter Twelve
You Can Tell Me Anything
“I can’t say I really did the homework,” I admitted. I wanted to apologize, but at the same time… “It was the holiday, and I got distracted by a lot of things.”
“Good distractions?” Erin asked.
It was Monday, and I had three appointments this week since I’d had none the week before. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The last appointment here had just been kind of brutal. I supposed that was the point, right?
“I think so,” I told her, leaning back on the love seat and sitting cross-legged. I’d slipped out of my boots. She’d told me on my very first visit that I could make myself comfortable. The weather had turned a little balmy after the cold storms of the weekend. But it wouldn’t last.
“Do you want to talk about the distractions? What made them good?”
“The guys,” I admitted. “Thanksgiving was amazing.” A smile pulled at my mouth. Thanksgiving had been more than amazing. The only place it might have been better was if all five of us had been together all day. “But…for starters, I got a new job because my old one wants me to take more time to heal and to get through the holidays.”
That still stung, no matter how well-meaning Marsha was.
“I’m delivering food. Coop and Jake both do it, and I’ve gone with them while they work. It’s not bad, and I get to drive and I kind of like it. The guys took turns going with me, in case I needed help to carry stuff. They’re also really great about just hanging out.”
“That sounds nice,” she said.
“It was, it is. I’m going to work tonight, probably after we do our weekly ‘where are we all at on homework.’ Semester finals are coming up, and I will hopefully be out of this cast before then.” More and more, I just wanted it off. It itched. At least I didn’t need pain meds hardly at all. I barely noticed it, except for the stupid cast.
