He squeezed my thigh and shook his head. “Nope.”
“What’s a better way to spend Christmas than with a group of terribly judgmental people?” Ian sent a pointed look at Jayden. “I’m already doing it here. Demon never had a chance.”
“Did everyone see the Christmas lights I hung?” Adam winked at me and then smiled smugly at Ian and Jayden. “I was thinking of doing some other decorating, too. You know, real Christmas boyfriend material.”
“I haven’t been able to decorate for Christmas in so long! I might get a tree and everything!” I hopped up from Jayden’s lap and shifted Demon in my arms so I wouldn’t squish him while I kissed Adam. After realizing how it might sound like I was expecting too much from them, I stopped. “I mean, whenever I get around to it. You don’t have to decorate. That’s crazy.”
Adam wrapped his arms around my waist and groaned when Demon tried to bite him. Glaring at Ian, who immediately chuckled, he shifted away from the little dog. “I have the day off. There’s only one thing I need to do today.”
I wagged my brows at him. “Me?”
In perfect unison, they all answered. “The game.”
I scoffed. “I think I may need to go back to my dating apps.”
22.
***Violet***
Thatnight,mythreepotential wedding dates insisted we leave my house because I didn’t have the correct channel to watch their football game. I’d pouted at first, because we’d been in the middle of transforming my house into a winter wonderland, but then I’d realized we were going to Adam’s house and temporarily forgot all the Christmas décor. I hadn’t been to Adam’s house in half a decade, but it was one of the only places I’d ever thought of as home. Even more than the house I’d grown up in.
Holiday Village existed at the base of Christmas Mountain, renamed after the town decided it would bring in revenue and citizens by becoming an odd tourist attraction. Every holiday was celebrated to death in Holiday Village. Christmas was the biggest attraction, of course. When the snow came and the downtown area was bright with Christmas lights, it was such a stunning place to live.
Some of the other celebrations were weird to have to drive through during other parts of the year, especially President’s Day. Christmas made it worth it, though. No matter what direction you looked, it was like peering into a Hallmark movie. There wasn’t a place in town that couldn’t have been a photo opportunity. It was a work of art, and the years I’d spent Christmas away had been dark times, partly because nowhere felt as lively as Holiday Village.
The town had grown over the years, nearly doubling in population from when my parents first moved in. Men like Jayden, who owned and operated construction businesses, never found themselves without work. Neighborhoods had spread out around the original, smaller town, and an unofficial second downtown had popped up. No one ever misunderstood someone saying downtown Holiday Village, though. Unless specified, that meant the original Main Street, the street with the antique lights and shops with front porches.
Ian still owned and operated a PI firm on Main Street. His building had an apartment upstairs where he lived. That apartment had beautiful views of downtown, with fifteen-f00t-tall ceilings and a fire escape that I’d spent many nights sitting on.
Adam had grown up with his dad in the woods, basically. A big hunter and fisher, his dad had liked to keep to himself in the tiny cabin he’d owned in the mountains. Adam hadn’t strayed far from his father’s social desires. When we’d first started, he’d rented a cabin just up Christmas Mountain a ways. While we were together, he’d bought it and started remodeling it. By the time I left, he’d turned a once drafty cabin into a warm, inviting space that I’d never wanted to leave for an afternoon, much less forever.
The road up to the cabin was in much better shape than it was when I’d driven it in my small car five years earlier. There were still a few ruts that bounced me around in Adam’s truck, but nothing too horrible. It would’ve been worth a thousand ruts to pull up outside his cabin again and take in everything that had changed—and everything that hadn’t.
I jumped out of his truck before he even managed to put it in park and hurried to the deck that jutted out over a drop-off on the side of the house. The view was even more amazing than I remembered. From where I stood, I could see all of Holiday Village, ablaze with Christmas lights, and nothing else for miles. During the daytime, it would be just as amazing.
I hurried back towards the front of the cabin and saw the guys looking exasperated while talking to each other. I walked towards them, but my attention was on everything else. Adam’s vehicle was parked off to the side of the driveway, his front porch had one single rocking chair on it, and his mailbox was still slightly crooked from when I’d backed into it. My car still had the matching dent.
Turning to face the guys, I ran right into Ian’s chest and grunted. Looking up at him while rubbing my nose, I frowned. “What the heck?”
“That is a prime example of why you can’t just run towards cliffs. You just about gave us heart attacks.” He cupped my chin and tilted my head to the side so he could look at my nose. “You okay?”
“I don’t remember you three being such worriers.”
Adam crossed his arms and gave me a look that said he thought I was full of it. “I made that railing six inches higher when we dated.”
“I don’t want to get into all the ways I tried to keep you safe. Some of them sat in a gray area legally.” Ian shrugged like it was no big deal.
“Yeah, you’re not winning this one, Angel. You scared the shit out of me all the time. You broke the same toe twice while we were together.” Jayden opened the back door of his truck and let John out. “My sister, Julie, once saw you fall down an entire set of stairs, get up, and then tripupthe same stairs. She called me and asked if you had an inner ear problem.”
I narrowed my eyes at each of them and took Demon from Ian. “Maybe I did. Demon and I don’t need this. We’d like to go inside and get warm now, thank you.”
Demon shivered in my arms, as if to illustrate my words. I shot a look at Ian and marched towards the front door, stopping halfway there and looking back at the three of them, just to find them grinning and elbowing each other like they’d been best friends for decades.
“You need to get this baby some sweaters, too. He’s naked, and it’s cold. Maybe even some of those cute little booties.” I held Demon closer and when he still shook, I put him under my shirt, with just his little head sticking out He sat on top of my boobs and let out a content sound before either giving me a kiss on the neck or just brushing his tongue, which was already sticking out, against me.
“He’s not wearing clothes, baby. I’m not that kind of dog dad.” Ian petted Demon through my shirt and then cupped my breast. “Iamthis kind of dog dad, though.”
I bit my lip and tried to keep the frown on my face, but it was useless. Especially when Adam opened the cabin door. Feeling lighter with each step, I hurried inside and looked around. A soft gasp slipped past my lips as I took everything in.