Page 79 of A Very Addicted Christmas

Lo glances between our kids like he’s watching a car crash. “All right,” he says quickly. “How about you two get ready for bed and let me and your mom talk?”

“You mean kiss?” Kinney corrects, already headed for the door.

“That too,” I say into a nod.

Xander tosses his empty can of Sprite in the trash, and I watch them both leave the kitchen. Lo runs a couple hands through his hair when he turns back to me. I’ve been waiting for an update on The Royal Leaks, but tonight has been so long and nuts that I just really want the Cliff Notes.

“Just give me the basics,” I tell him.

“We know who’s behind the Royal Leaks.”

I thought I’d feel relieved by this news, but I sense more dread than relief.

PART SIX

DECEMBER 2040

SIXTEEN

HAY FEVER FROM THE ATTIC

DECEMBER 2040

DURING CHAPTER 20 IN NOBODY LIKE US

We listened to "Weight in Gold" by Gallantwhile writing this scene.

Character List:

Maximoff Hale - 25

Bodyguards:

Farrow Hale - 30 Omega(Current Client: Maximoff Hale)

MAXIMOFF HALE

DEAR WORLD, don’t let dust mites take me out. Sincerely, a humbled human.

Shirtless, everyone has vacated the attic like my husband yelled “fire” in a crowded room. All he really did was sayeveryone out. And maybe it’s the intensity in his brown eyes or the way he’s wiping down my arms with a wet wipe that cleared this disaster zone.

“I’m okay. I’m fine,” I tell Farrow for literally the hundredth time. Okay, notliterally. But in the sixty seconds he’s been up here, it’s felt like a hundred times.

By the way, he’s looking at me like I’m anythingbutfine.

I cough into my fist, an itch in my throat.

His eyes narrow.

I rasp out, “I’m fi?—”

“I heard you,” he says, sweeping me head to toe again. “You need a shower and Benadryl.”

I force myself not to scratch my arms. “I need to tell you something first. What happened, what this was about.” I gesture to the attic.

“Okay, but not here.” He’s pushing me around to face the attic stairs. “I’ll even let you lead the way.”

He’ll let me.His firm hands on my biceps are sending signals straight to my cock. “First you want my shirt off, now you want to stare at my ass,” I say while clearing my throat. “It’s almost like youlikeme.”

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