Chapter Twenty
Fiona
It was near-morning when we stumbled back to the villa, feeling delightful. The party drugs and drinks were still in my system–which was also full of sugar, because we’d gotten snowflake waffles on the way back.
Tonight had been incredible. And the guys had gotten together. Amazing. I knew there were sparks.
As we entered, warm air greeted us, like a friendly hug, as did delicious smells and blinking lights.
Lights?
“Santa left us a tree? Did we get any presents?” Hale tossed his jacket on the floor, then did a jump-scare. “Fuck, the dolls scared me.”
I froze as I noticed them. We didn’t leave them by the tree.
“Oh, I asked the hotel to bring us a tree. It’s not Christmas without one,” Dusty replied, hanging up his coat and Hale’s. “They probably moved the dolls.”
Relief coated me. “Oh good. I’m glad they’re not moving around while we’re out.”
If the guys saw fae cats when high, the idea of toys moving when we weren’t around wasn’t that far-fetched.
Carlos helped me with my coat. “I have presents upstairs. I’ll put them under the tree. We’ll do Christmas after we sleep a little?”
“Sure. It’s so nice and warm in here.” Tossing his hat on the table and kicking off his boots, Hale fell onto the couch.
“Sounds good. Are we going to have Christmas food after we sleep or are you all hungry now?” Dusty went to the fridge and started throwing bottles of water at us.
Carlos caught one, opened it, and handed it to me. I downed most of it.
“I’m pretty full. It smells good. But my bed smells better. Um, I mean, feels better? I want my bed more?” Laughing, I took off my boots, trying not to fall over.
“I most definitely want to get back on the slopes after sleep and food.” Saoirse took my hand. “Bedtime.”
“Okay.” I kissed Carlos and let Saoirse lead me upstairs.
I showered, put on my jammies and crawled into bed, the room nice and dark. Housekeeping had changed the sheets. Mmmm, clean sheets.
“Fiona, are you asleep?” Carlos said softly through the cracked open door.
“Not yet. Oh, you and Hale were going to spend the night with me. I forgot.” I patted the mattress.
He crawled into bed and pulled me to him. “Hale’s passed out on the couch.”
“That’s okay. I think I just want cuddles. I’m so tired.” I rested my head on his chest. Carlos pillow. Very nice.
“That sounds perfect. We had a big day. I’ll hold you.” Carlos stroked my hair.
A needy little whine escaped from my chest. “We don’t do this enough. You do love me, right? I haven’t even met your family or friends?”
“I love you so much, Mi Reina. I’ve been a little afraid to say it, and introduce you to everyone, because you’re too good for me. I’m waiting for you to come to your senses and dump my ass,” he confessed.
“What? Never?” I looked up at him and scowled. “You are my Pumpkin. Not even my dads can say otherwise.”
How could he say such things about himself?
“That makes me feel so much better. I’m in love with you, Mi Reina, and while I will share you, I don’t want to lose you.” His voice broke.
“As long as you can share me with Saoirse, I’m yours.” My inner omega danced in happiness at his confession. “I haven’t even been to your place. You always come to mine.” My lower lip jutted out in a pout.
“I live in a one bedroom, in the same building as my family. But…” He tipped my head up so I met his eyes. “Secret?”
My heart thumped in my chest. “I love secrets.”
“When you come over and stay with me for New Years, it’ll be in my new place. Which will probably have no furniture. But I’m hoping you can offer suggestions?” He continued to stroke my hair.
I sucked in a breath. “You bought a place? And you want my help decorating, and I get to be the first to stay over?”
“You do. There’s even enough room for Saoirse. Everyone can be comfortable… and if you want to move in at some point, we can even turn the basement into assassin headquarters. It’s a townhouse.” His pleading look went straight to my heart.
“You want me to move in with you?” I kissed him, my omega going yes, yes, yes.
“At some point, if you’d like to, I’d love that. Having you there would let me see you more during the season. Though we should talk to Saoirse, too. I don’t know how a move would impact her,” he added.
“We can both work from everywhere. She likes New York, probably more than Boston.” While all his words were firmly in my heart, they were starting to make their way to my fuzzy brain. “Am I your forever omega?”
“I… I think you are. I don’t have my shit together, but the day I didn’t have you would be a sad one,” he confessed.
“You have me.” Contentment settled over me. He did love me!
“This new place would even have a nest for you, and we can do it up however you want.”
“Really?” I squealed. “I’m on heat suppressants right now, but at some point would you be part of it? You and Saoirse, of course. I’d need an alpha or two, but I want you two involved. Especially if I have to get a rent-an-alpha.”
“Rent-an-alpha?” Carlos blinked. “And of course I would be there. I’d be honored.”
“At the academy it’s what we called the alphas the Omega Center can provide you to get through a heat. You know, I love you, too,” I confessed. “I lust you, also.”
Carlos kissed me. “I lust you, too.”
The door opened and Saoirse came in. “Oh, sorry.”
“If you just want to sleep, we’ll make room for you,” Carlos said, trying to roll over, taking me with him. I giggled.
“Stay with us?” I pleaded to Saoirse. “Carlos loves me.”
She chuckled. “You’re both drunk.”
“Well, duh. We’re at a Christmas rave. Now, bed,” I demanded.
“I’m going to shower first.” She leaned in and kissed me, then went into the bathroom.
Getting cozy with Carlos, I heard the water turn on. Sleep between both of them? Yes, please.
Closing my eyes, the day finally caught up to me as I drifted off.
When they opened again, sunlight streamed in through the blackout curtains, which I hadn’t closed all the way.
Saoirse lay next to me. Putting down her phone, she stroked my hair. “Happy Christmas, Mo Stóirín.”
“It’s Christmas!” I rolled into her and groaned. “My head hurts. Merry Christmas, Love. Ugh. Did I drink a lot?” I felt shitty.
“You did.” Her lips pressed to my forehead. “Let me get you something.”
She got up and came back with some water and a couple of tablets. The sheets smelled like Carlos. But he wasn’t there.
I sat up. “Ow.” Taking the glass, I swallowed the pills with the water. “Did you, Carlos, and I have a threesome and I just don’t remember?”
Laughing, she sat down next to me. “No. But we all slept in the same bed. He’s downstairs starting the food.”
“Carlos cuddled you good?” I grinned, then drank the rest of the water. “He loves me.” I didn’t remember a whole lot from our conversation last night, but I remembered that.
“I know.” She stroked my hair.
“Feliz Navidad, Mi Reina.” Carlos looked delicious in a Christmas sweater, holding two cups. “I brought coffee. Food will be ready soon. We’ll do presents after.”
“Thank you.” Saoirse took a cup from him; he handed the other to me.
“Thanks.” I took a sip. He’d even put the right amount of cream and sugar in it.
Carlos kissed my forehead, then left. For a while I just leaned against Saoirse, drinking my coffee.
“We should go downstairs,” Saoirse said finally. She was already in jeans and a sweater, a really soft one.
Did I really need to wear clothes? I looked at my holiday jammies. No. I was fine. Grabbing the presents, I went downstairs.
Hale was still passed out on the couch, only his hat was over his face. I put my presents under the tree. The dolls were now among the branches?
“You’re really pensive, Mo Stóirín.” Saoirse’s arms wrapped around me.
“The dolls moved again.” Shit. We were in a villa at a ski resort. Had I seen this movie?
“Pretty sure it was one of the guys.” Her lips pressed to my temple.
I looked over and saw Carlos waking up Hale.
“Merry Christmas.” Dusty came over in jeans and a Christmas sweater. I realized that he and Carlos matched.
“Did someone make your sweaters?” I asked. So stinking cute.
He nodded. “One of my moms. Food’s ready.”
I sat down next to Saoirse at the table. Looking out the glass doors, I saw that snow was still coming down, the patio covered in white.
Hale followed my gaze. “Yes, let’s have a nice breakfast then hit the slopes.”
“You’re going to ski in the snow?” I shot him a look. No thank you.
“It’s pretty light, and supposed to stop soon.” Hale checked his phone. “Besides, we’re teaching you to snowboard today.”
“I suppose.” Given the time it was now, and when our reservations for dinner were, I could venture out for a little bit.
Dusty and Carlos busily put food on the table.
“Fucking shit, this is the breakfast I need. Are those tamales?” Hale asked as Carlos set a platter of something on the table.
“My mom made them,” Carlos stated. “We have chicken, pork, beef, and cheese with poblano peppers. Six of each.”
“I can’t believe your mom let you take two dozen tamales.” Dusty put a pan of enchiladas on the table. “One of my moms made these. They’re chicken.”
Carlos looked bashful. “Mamá told me to only take a dozen, but with five of us, is that really enough? I can eat six no problem, even with everything else.”
“Oooh, you’re gonna be in trouble,” Dusty sang, setting down beans, sprinkled with some sort of white cheese and green stuff.
“Am I?” Carlos’ look went worried.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’s your mom,” I assured. In front of me was rice that looked like it had tomatoes, onions, and green stuff in it.
“Everything looks beautiful,” Saoirse said as Carlos set a big bowl of soup on the table.
Dusty refilled everyone’s coffee. We also had water and juice. The table was set, and flowers were in the center.
“I can’t wait.” Pulling Carlos to me, I kissed him as he sat down next to me. He was at one end of the table.
“Go ahead and start eating.” Dusty sat at the other end of the table–next to Saoirse. Hale was across from me.
“Wait, we have to open our Christmas crackers first,” Saoirse said.
I realized she’d placed festive red and green paper poppers at each place setting.
“What?” Hale blinked.
Saoirse held up hers. “You pull the ends. They pop. There are treasures inside.” Demonstrating, hers made a little pop as it came apart. A colorful paper hat, a paper with a joke on it, confetti, and a snowman charm fell onto the table.
I popped mine and put the red paper crown on my head. “Beautiful, right?”
“Gorgeous.” Saoirse’s crown was blue.
“I like this so much. Thank you.” Dusty put on his yellow crown.
Crowns on, we passed around the food.
“Oh, I need some of this.” Hale immediately pulled the soup to him and started ladling it into his bowl.
There were all sorts of sauces and toppings on the table, too, including radishes, diced onion, sliced limes, chopped green stuff, and more of that white cheese.
“Which one do you want to try first?” Carlos put three tamales on his plate. “The cheese and poblano peppers, and the pork are my favorite.”
“I’ll try chicken.” I liked chicken enchiladas, so a chicken tamale would probably be a good place to start.
He put one on my plate. I watched him as he unwrapped them, setting the wrappings on the side of his plate.
“This is mild.” Carlos put some green sauce on my plate, then added red sauce to his plate.
I passed on the beans, but I took some rice, enchiladas, and some soup. Watching Carlos, I added some of the toppings to my soup.
Taking a bite of the tamale, I nodded. “I like them.”
“Carlos’ mamá makes the best tamales. Even my moms will admit that.” Dusty took another.
“And your mom makes the best enchiladas?” I asked, taking a bite of the chicken. It was a little spicy for me, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy it. I had a bite of rice.
Dusty grinned. “That is a loaded question. Carlos’ mom’s enchiladas are really good, too. They just make them differently.”
“Noted.” I nodded, finishing off my tamale.
“Fucking shit, this is just what I needed.” Hale stuffed half a tamale in his mouth as he filled his bowl with more soup.
“The soup is delicious, Carlos,” Saoirse said.
“Try an enchilada? Please?” Dusty coaxed. “You haven’t had them or tamales?”
“I will. I like enchiladas. I just wanted to start with soup,” she replied, putting an enchilada on her plate and reaching for the tamales.
Dusty’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve had enchiladas, but not tacos?”
I snorted. “You’ve never had a taco? What do you mean? I’m on your regular menu.”
Carlos laughed. “Good one.”
“I think he means the other food. Um, I haven’t tried tamales, either.” She finished putting one on her plate.
As we ate, we read off our jokes, then chatted about our plans for the day. There’d been a lot of food, and I was surprised at how little was left. But then Hale, Dusty, and Carlos ate a lot of tamales.
We cleaned up and sat by the tree, the fire crackling. I realized there were stockings with everyone’s names on it.
“Saoirse, did you bring them?” I asked.
“I did,” Dusty said. “They’re basic, but it’s Christmas, so we should have stockings. My sister put everyone’s names on them.”
“That was really sweet, Dusty.” Saoirse gave him a fond look.
They’d made up? Good.
We opened our stockings, which were mostly fruit, candy, and nuts. Then we exchanged gifts, which was a little awkward, because we hadn’t all known each other before this trip. But Carlos and Dusty kept everything going smoothly.
I’d gotten Carlos a couple of nice ties from my favorite store, because he wore them for games. Along with a tie tack that looked like a pumpkin.
“I can’t wait to wear them, thank you.” He gave me a kiss.
“What did you get me?” I opened the box from him. Inside was a small, round, pale pink purse with a crown on it. It was from a nice purse store, too.
“A crown for Mi Reina.” He leaned over and kissed me.
“I love it.” It was perfect for events where you could only take in a little bag.
By the time we finished and cleaned everything up, the snow had stopped falling.
I laid back into Carlos’ arms. “Thanks for the food and presents. This was fantastic.”
Dusty and Saoirse were cleaning up the kitchen, Hale laid on the couch.
“The perfect lazy Christmas morning,” Hale agreed, scrolling on his phone. “So… let’s hit the slopes?”
“Why not,” I replied. After all, it was Christmas.