by Sue Brown
As though he’d been waiting for the order, Angel rolled over into Noel’s arms. It took a moment to sort out their bodies and limbs. Noel wasn’t a natural snuggler, but he wanted to give Angel comfort. Angel didn’t seem to care as he sighed as though he were home, and fell asleep, his head resting over Noel’s heart and his soft hair tickling Noel’s chest.
Noel stroked Angel’s hair and thought about how right it felt. He bit his lip. He shouldn’t be feeling this good, but everything about Angel felt good, from talking to him to loving the feel of him in his arms. Angel was his prince and he was Angel’s protector. He wanted it to last forever.
Noel tightened his grip around Angel, who sighed again and mumbled something incoherent. It was a long while before Noel was relaxed enough to follow him into sleep, but when sleep claimed him too, it was good.
Chapter 11—Day 5
Christmas Eve
morning
NOEL WASN’T surprised to find the bed empty when he woke. As there were no noises from the bathroom and Angel’s phone wasn’t on the nightstand, he assumed Angel had gone in search of breakfast. He rolled over onto his back, scratched his belly, and contemplated getting up. But he didn’t actually move, because he was warm and comfortable and feeling lazy. Breakfast in bed would be good, or even just coffee.
His phone buzzed. Noel furrowed his brow as he picked it up. No one had contacted him here. He looked at the screen.
Wake up!
Noel rolled his eyes. It was Angel. I am awake.
Get up!
Soon! Where are you?
Great room. With M.
You’re twenty feet from me and you’re sending me a text?
I’ve got coffee.
I want coffee.
Get up, then.
Noel groaned. He didn’t want to move. He’d be content to spend the whole day in bed. The phone buzzed again.
Quit bitching and move.
That wasn’t fair. Either the man had a camera in here or he knew Noel far too well.
Noel sat up and squinted at the clock on his phone. 7:08.
What the hell? 7am! I’m on vacation.
Early bird catches the worm.
Go talk to a bird who cares, Noel typed out grumpily and lay back down again. He had time for another hour’s sleep, so he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.
The phone buzzed again.
Noel ignored it.
After the third buzz, Noel yelled, “All right, already. I’m up.”
He looked at the screen.
There was a photo of a small bird with a worm.
Your coffee is getting cold.
Where are you?
Noel pecked angrily at the keys. You’re not gonna give up, are you?
The reply was immediate. No.
Noel used the only Spanish curse words he knew because English wasn’t going to cut it. Then he got out of bed, tugged on sweats, combed his hair, and went in search of coffee.
Maria grinned at him as he shuffled into the great room. “Morning. Merry Christmas Eve.”
Noel flung himself down onto one of the couches. “This is not morning. This is the middle of the night. It’s still dark out there.”
Angel handed him a mug. “It’s almost sunrise.”
“It’s still dark,” Noel insisted.
“Shut up and drink your coffee. You’ll feel better then.”
Noel buried his nose in the mug and inhaled the fragrant coffee and the sweetness of the creamer.
Angel and Maria ignored him and went back to their conversation. Noel listened with half an ear. They were talking about Game of Thrones. Noel tuned out. The coffee wasn’t warm enough, but it was just about drinkable.
“Why did you get me up so early?” he asked suddenly.
Angel grinned. “The day is perfect for skiing. I want to spend the whole day on the slopes.”
“You could have gone by yourself.”
Angel looked crushed. “It’s more fun with you.”
“You mean it’s more fun when he’s not being such a dickhead,” Maria declared with a scowl at Noel. “Drink more coffee and turn into a human.”
Suitably shamed, the dickhead shuffled over to the table and refilled his mug from the pot. He contemplated making a bolt for the bedroom, but then Noel looked back at Angel and caught him staring at him with an oddly tender expression. Noel sighed inwardly. He’d stay, just for Angel.
ANGEL WAS right. The day was perfect—blue skies, no clouds, snow just right for skiing. If Noel could have frozen any day of his life to replay forever, this would have been the one. He flew down the runs, admiring Angel in front of him, feeling the slight breeze in his hair and the sun on his face. He would miss that when they went home. The slopes were busy but not enough to be annoying, and they bumped fists at the completion of every successful run. Noel kept an eye out for the gray-and-pink-suited skier who had injured Angel, but no one on the slopes fit that description, and their morning was perfect.
Over late-morning coffee, Noel admitted to Angel that his confidence in his skiing ability had increased over the vacation.
“I never thought I’d be tackling the more difficult runs this time,” he said.
“Because Adam is a beginner?” Angel asked over a mountain of whipped cream in his chocolate.
“Would have been a beginner,” Noel said, and for the first time, the thought didn’t hurt quite so much. “He’s got to strap on a ski first.”
“At least you got to stretch your ability,” Angel said.
“I did, and you improved too.”
“I learned a lot from watching you.”
Angel licked the cream with the tip of his tongue. Noel couldn’t tear his eyes away. His imagination ran wild as he thought of Angel using his tongue elsewhere. Noel fidgeted, his body reacting to the fevered wanderings of his mind. The young guy had no idea the effect he had on Noel. Then he looked up and caught Angel watching him. Crimson spread along Angel’s cheeks. Was he teasing Noel?
Noel took a hasty swallow of his coffee. He was not going to get a boner here.
“Time for another run?” Angel asked, his tone mild and way too innocent.
“Yeah,” Noel agreed, anxious to think of anything except Angel’s tongue around his cock.
They had an unexpected meeting as they walked out of the coffee shop.
“Noel. Angel.”
Noel turned to see Josie waving at them from the other side of the road. A younger woman stood next to her, looking a bit bemused. Josie said something to her, and she nodded, interest on her face.
Angel hastily traversed the road to give her a hug, and Noel followed hard on his heels. She hugged them both, and then Angel took her hands. “Hello there, birthday girl. How are you?”
Josie beamed at them both. She looked a lot happier than the last time she’d met them.
“I’m having a wonderful time, thanks to you two.”
Noel blinked. “What did we do?”
“You told my husband that his mother wasn’t going to spend her birthday taking care of our kids. It was no celebration for her,” the other woman said dryly.
“This is my daughter-in-law, Shelley,” Josie said. “Shelley, this is Noel and Angel.”
Shelley held out her hand to Angel and then to Noel. “You guys gave us a wake-up call.”
“Oh?” Noel gave her a wary look.
Shelley laughed. “Don’t worry. After the initial shouting and stomping—‘Who the hell do they think they are!’—that sort of thing, David calmed down and we talked. Josie told us how she really felt about being dragged along as the default babysitting service when it was supposed to be her birthday celebration. We’ve come to a compromise. Josie does a little babysitting so we can ski and we take her out.”
Josie nodded. “After Christmas they’re treating me to a European break with my friend, Clare. I just have to pick the city. I don’t know which to choose.”
“Can’t help you there,” Angel said. “I’ve never bee
n out of the US, but I expect a postcard.”
“Definitely,” Josie promised. She extracted a notebook and pen from her large purse and handed it to Angel, who wrote down his address. Then he handed it to Noel.
“I want to send a postcard to you too,” Josie said. “Unless you’ll be living together?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
“That’s a bit too soon,” Angel said as Noel wrote out his address.
Noel hoped she put the jolt of the pen down to the awkward angle and not the thought of living with Angel.
“You two aren’t a couple?” Shelley asked.
Angel shook his head. “We only met on the plane out here.”
She tilted her head. “Huh. I’d never have guessed. You look good together.”
Noel shot Angel a quick glance to see a faint smile playing around his lips. He agreed with the verdict on Angel, who looked amazing with his tousled blond curls and wind color in his cheeks. Then he realized what she’d said. They looked good together. They looked like a couple.
Angel bumped him on the hip. “See, honey, we’re a match made in heaven.” It was obvious by his smirk he’d seen Noel’s panic and was making a joke.
“Not if you call me honey, sweetcheeks,” Noel said flatly.
He saw Josie roll her eyes. “You two need to get a room.”
Shelley gasped. “Mom!”
“We have a room,” Angel explained. “It’s a very nice room.”
“We should go before we shock Shelley even more,” Noel said.
“It’s not you two who’s shocking me,” Shelley said.
Josie winked at Noel. He got the feeling she was thoroughly enjoying herself. Her relatives were getting to see a whole new side of her. Maybe now they’d see the real Josie, rather than just Mom.
He winked back and leaned forward to give her a kiss goodbye. “We should go if we’re going to ski again this afternoon. Have a wonderful Christmas, Josie.”
“I will.” She took his hands and squeezed them tightly. “Shelley is right. You do look good together. Don’t let him go.”
Noel stayed quiet and let Angel say goodbye. As they walked away, he heard Angel giggle. “What’s so funny?”
“You should see the look on your face,” Angel said.
“Oh, fuck off,” Noel groused and shoved him. Then he laughed hard when Angel stumbled and nearly fell.
Angel righted himself and glowered at Noel. “I’ll get you for that, mister.”
“You see, you shouldn’t have warned me, because now I’ll be expecting it,” Noel pointed out.
“You won’t see me coming. I’ll be a sneaky ninja Angel.”
“Good luck on that one.”
Angel grumbled something incoherent under his breath, and Noel laughed again.
ONE OF the things Noel really noticed about Angel was the way he constantly praised Noel for the way he did things—little things, like a smooth start to a run or skillfully avoiding beginners who strayed into their path. Even something small and insignificant like how he’d combed his hair. He was a one-man boost for Noel’s self-esteem. Angel did that with everyone, and people glowed under his attention. Hell, Noel glowed with every new compliment.
After an incident with beginners—they were lucky Noel was experienced enough to get around them and hadn’t sent them all flying, because they were busy with too much chatting and not enough looking—Noel’s heart was pounding with what might have happened. The novices hadn’t even noticed, and although Noel wanted to yell at them, he remembered what it was like being on skis for the first time and his feet going in any direction except the way he wanted them to go.
Angel skied to a halt beside him and caught his arm. “Hey, are you all right? That was a close shave. Did they even see you coming?”
“I don’t think so,” Noel said. “I’m… damn, that was close.”
“Lean against me,” Angel said, nudging Noel with his shoulder. “You were amazing. I don’t think I’d have gotten around them.”
Noel leaned against him, touched by the compliment, and they stayed where they were until Noel’s heart quit with the heavy pounding and he felt able to tackle another run. Maybe he leaned against Angel a little bit longer than he needed to.
“You feel better?” Angel asked.
Noel smiled at him. “I do.”
“One more run before we go back?”
“Last one to the top is a frozen cod,” Noel shouted and set off before Angel had a chance to respond.
So maybe their in-jokes were odd, but that’s the way they rolled.
AS THEY approached the path to the chalet, Noel realized Angel wasn’t beside him. He turned to see where Angel had gotten to and received a snowball in the face.
“What the hell?”
The last word was smothered by another snowball, larger this time, and some of the snow managed to slide down his front.
Angel gave an outright giggle at Noel’s gasp. “Gotcha! Payback!”
“That’s cold!” Noel tried to scoop the snow out and only succeeded in pushing it down farther, making him shiver.
He saw Angel bend to take another handful of snow. “Oh no you don’t!” He grabbed a handful and flung it, but it wasn’t compacted together, and the wind blew it back in his face. Angel howled with laughter and threw another snowball his way. It caught Noel square in the chest. Even laughing, Angel was a good shot.
Noel glared at him. “That’s it. You wanna fight, mister?”
“Think you can beat me?” Angel taunted. “Bring it on!”
Noel took a barrage of hits while he created snowy missiles of his own. Then Angel discovered Noel was damn accurate as he took several in the face, one after the other. He gasped as the snowballs peppered him.
“You!”
“Me?” Noel snickered, turned, and ran.
“Come back, you coward!”
Hell no. In heavy boots and deep snow, Noel ran as fast as he could toward the chalet. He took some hits, but he managed to duck around the side, scoop up snow from the decking, and fashion them into snowballs as fast as he could. Then he waited… and waited, the snow deadening all sound. He clamped his jaw, not wanting to give away his position with the sound of his teeth chattering. It took so long he’d almost given up when Angel launched himself around the corner with an “Aha!” and a lot of snowballs in his arms.
It wasn’t so much a fight as a free-for-all. Snowballs went everywhere, and most hit their targets, but some, like the one that hit Don squarely in the face, went wild.
“What the hell?” Don’s voice echoed and bounced off the chalet.
Noel and Angel came to an abrupt halt as they stared at the huge man who slowly wiped the snow from his face.
“Oh fuck.” Angel clapped a snowy hand over his mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
Three things crossed Noel’s mind. First, Don’s and Angel’s faces were a picture. Second, thankfully it wasn’t his snowball that hit Don. And third, Angel didn’t expect Noel to protect him, did he? Because he’d told him not to and Don was really, really big. Noel bit down on his lip to stop the urge to laugh like a guilty child.
Don wiped away the snow, just leaving a few flakes in his beard. “I came out to see what the shouting was about.”
“We were having a snowball fight,” Angel said lamely.
“He started it.” Noel pointed at Angel.
Angel glowered at him. “You traitor.”
Noel shrugged. “It’s true.”
“I know it’s true, but you’re not supposed to tell him.”
Angel hurled another snowball at him, and Noel threw one straight back, hitting him in the face.
“You guys carry on. Maybe take it away from the chalet.” He vanished before they could respond or throw another snowball at him by mistake.
Noel caught Angel’s eyes, and they burst out laughing. “Did you see his face?”
“I thought I was a goner.”
“Me too,” Noel agreed.
Angel
walked up and nudged Noel on the arm. “Thanks.”
Noel looked at him curiously. “What for?”
“For not trying to save me or be my white knight.”
“You’re welcome, I guess. I did think about it for a second,” Noel admitted.
Angel smirked. “Don is bigger than you.”
“A lot bigger than me.”
“You’d have still done it, though, wouldn’t you?” Angel asked softly.
Noel took Angel’s hand. “Every time.” Then he shoved Angel and watched him fall backward into thick snow.
Angel gaped up at him and took a moment to find his voice. “What did you do that for?”
“Snow Angel,” Noel explained.
“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” Angel grumbled.
He held up his hand, and when Noel stuck his own out, dragged Noel down into the snow with him. Noel wasn’t surprised, but he could have done without the mouthful of snow.
FIFTEEN MINUTES later they piled into the chalet, wet, cold, and happy. Charlie popped out and pointed to the mudroom. “Coats and boots in here. You’re not wrecking my floors.”
Noel and Angel slunk into the mudroom. Taking off coats and boots was harder than anticipated with frozen fingers. They ended up helping each other strip off.
“I’m so cold.” Noel’s teeth chattered as Angel slid his coat off his shoulders.
“Me too. Do you think Charlie would give us hot chocolate?”
“After throwing a snowball in his boyfriend’s face?” Noel thought they’d be lucky to get dinner.
But Charlie must have been feeling magnanimous, because as they walked past the kitchen in search of a hot shower, he appeared with two mugs piled high with whipped cream and marshmallows.
Noel moaned in appreciation as he wrapped his hands around the mug. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Charlie smirked at them. “I haven’t seen Don so outraged in ages. Good shot.”
Angel groaned and hung his head. “He’s never going to forgive me, is he?”
“Probably not,” Charlie agreed and vanished back into the kitchen.
Noel slung an arm around Angel’s shoulders. “Never mind, Angel. You’re only here for another two days. I’m sure he’s going to forgive you in time.”
