Page 52 of Filthy Rich Santas

But only one bedroom.

And only one bed.

13

LANA

My heart thudsat the sight of the king-sized bed. It’s large enough for all of us to fit on, and after the way Ryder was teasing me earlier, my heart races at the thought that it’s no longer just teasing.

We’ll have to.

Something coils inside me at the thought, but I force my shoulders to relax. There was too much tension between all four of us this morning, the much-less-fun kind of tension, and the truth is, we don’thaveto.

“I, um, I can sleep on the couch,” I stutter, nervously running my hand over the back of it.

All three men turn to face me.

“No way.” Tristan shakes his head. “We’ll figure something out.”

“What’s to figure out,” I say, shrugging. “I’m the smallest.”

“And that thing is tiny.” He gives the couch an assessing look. “We’re not letting you sleep there.” Then he smirks slightly, adding, “Especially since I know you didn’t sleep very well last night.”

Warmth floods my chest. He hasn’t explicitly said what my other options are, but just the fact that he’s looking out for me heals some of the cracks inside me from the way we left things this morning.

He holds eye contact, and I finally smile.

“Okay,” I say softly, getting a smile in return. “We’ll just figure it out?”

He nods when my voice lilts up at the end, making it into a question that I’m not sure how to ask, and something settles between us.

“Shit, it really is bad out there,” Ryder declares from over by the window, breaking the moment between me and Tristan.

I hurry over to join him, pushing the curtain open to see a solid wall of white. I have a fleeting thought of how my mother will react if the storm delays us past tonight, but I shake it off, a grin spreading over my face before I can stop it.

Next to me, Ryder snorts. “What?”

“It’s snowing!”

He raises his eyebrows. “Yes? And?”

“Oh, come on.” I beam, lifting my eyebrows. “It’s almost Christmas! It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Now that we’re not driving in it,” Beckett mutters, wandering closer.

“Exactly! And just look at this suite. It’s really nice, isn’t it? And what’s better than being all warm and cozy inside in winter?” I pull the curtains open wider. “It’s like we’re inside our own personal snow globe!”

All three of them shoot me extremely unimpressed looks, their expressions so similar that I burst out laughing.

“Really, guys? Where’s your holiday spirit?” I turn back to look at the falling snow. A subtle rainbow of blurry lights is visible through the tumbling flakes from the nearby buildings that are decorated for Christmas. I sigh happily. “This reminds me of winters back home, you know? Whenever it would get really bad outside like this, I’d curl up on that padded window seat we had. You guys know the one, remember?”

“Down the hall from Caleb’s room,” Tristan murmurs.

“Yup. I’d curl up there with a cup of peppermint hot chocolate and a plate of frosted gingerbread cookies, watch the snow fall outside, just like this, and dream of…”

I shrug, smiling as bits and pieces of memories flit through my mind.

“Dream of what, love?” Ryder asks, putting his arm around my shoulders as he looks out the window with me.

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