Page 103 of Hot Chocolate & Hitmen

“You didn’t seriously-” Teddy voice alerts Key to his location and his head snaps across the room, locking onto him like a heat seeking missile. Dropping the food unceremoniously on the side, Teddy holds a hand out in front of him. “Don’t you dare!”

“Come here, Teddy boy,” Key grins. “Let me slap a fat one on you!”

“Fuck,” Teddy curses, legging it around the counter away from Key who’s in hot pursuit.

Full on belly laughter erupts from me as I try my hardest to concentrate on what I’m doing while watching them run circles around the island.

It’s times like these that trump even the largest of material surprises or gestures. Nothing can beat simply enjoying each other's company and watching the developing connections between your loved ones around you. Especially at this time of the year.

The chase goes on for a while and all over the house, before Key finally manages to catch up to Teddy and lay one on him.

I must admit, the sight of two buff men wrestling on the floor, before one of them manages to pin the other, is a sight to behold. It certainly wakes up one’s libido that’s for sure. A libido that quickly turns it into a raging inferno when one’s heavily tattooed hands grips ahold of the other’s face. The wet sloppy kiss Key lands on Teddy leaves a lot to be desired though.

Leaving as quickly as he left, Key disappears from view leaving a grumbling Teddy behind. Refusing to make eye contact with me, and with a fierce blush on his face, he gets back to helping with the prep work in silence. In an effort to help distract him, I start up some Christmas music and eventually, we’re dancing and singing around the island together, having a jolly good time.

Of course, Key only adds to that by doing his usual shout and racing to our location every time I open the oven. Yes, the oven is mistletoed as well. Go figure!

It even becomes a game between the two of them as to who can get to me first. I learn to run after the first few attempts in order to give Key a fair chance, otherwise we’d never get anything done because he’d pitch a fit.

Eventually though, all the food is prepped. We even manage to put a buffet out for us all to snack on as we work, and at some point, Atlas and Key also arrive to offer their assistance.

Just as the natural light starts to dwindle and the Christmas lights around the cabin take over, I place down my oven gloves and head off to the bathroom in the upstairs hallway. My bladder has been screaming at me for the past hour.

Just about to open the door, I catch the sight of something green on the frame, just as the dreaded shout and the sound of racing footsteps rents the air. And not just one set, oh no…

There’s three.

“Mistletoe!” Their voices shout in unison.

“No. No. No!” I fumble with the door knob, trying to get it open as fast as I can, but it won’t budge. “Come on, come on!”

“Grace?” The doorknob turns and suddenly I’m falling inside and straight into Jason.

Catching me, he must see the look of shock and desperation on my face, because his face screws up in worry. It’s very uncharacteristic of him. But then again, he’s shown more worryand empathy towards me in the last few days, than all the years we’ve been together.

“Are you okay?”

Glancing back over my shoulder, he clocks the three guys racing down the hallway towards us and goes stiff as a board. Making a split second decision, I push him forward and straight into the guys. They all give me a shocked and almost murderous look.

“Here’s your mistletoe kisser! He’s all yours!”

Darting into the bathroom, I lock the door behind me and waste no time doing my business. A sliver of guilt hits me as I sit there listening to the raised voices in the background.

It takes me a few moments after the thud and following silence to realize I told them he was the mistletoe kisser. I only mean that they could kiss him if they wanted to, but thinking about how it sounded to them, they likely thought he had attempted to get it on with me again.

Oops.

“Come on, Nutcracker. You’ve done enough. It’s Christmas Eve and it’s movie time.” Atlas intercepts me the moment I step out of the bathroom, not even letting me question what happened before he’s leading me through the cabin and into the theater room. Teddy and Key join us only a few moments later, and the scent of hot chocolate mingles with the buttery aroma of fresh popcorn as we all pile onto the oversized couch.

I hand out the coziest blankets from the stack nearby, and Key catches his with an exaggerated groan, draping it over himself as if it weighs a ton.

“Alright, what’s it going to be?” I ask, scrolling through the many options with the remote. “Classic Christmas comedies or sappy romances?”

“Or,” Teddy interjects with a mischievous glint in his eye, “we could watch Die Hard.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Die Hard? The one that’s just an action movie with a few Christmas lights in the background?”

“It’s more than that,” Atlas says, his voice low and earnest. “It’s tradition.”

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