Page 98 of Snowbound with the Santas

“Well, I spoke to my lawyer,” I say. “And he’s letting me play this how I feel. It turns out that Amanda frequently leaves Freida alone. She might have full custody, but there’s a list of people who can care for Freida. I think it was to stop me from weaseling in or something. Anyway, she’s been breaching the agreement for years and Freida is willing to go on record to state that. But I don’t want that.”

I toss my shirt over into the corner and sigh.

“I don’t want her involved in any of the legal mess, so I confronted Amanda, and she seems to agree. Since my contact with Freida these past eighteen months also doesn’t look great, we’re going to settle this between us. She’s granting me some visitation, supervised by the court while they launch a full investigation into my life to see if I can be re-granted custody.”

“Holy shit!” Rayne flies forward into my arms and clasps my face. “That’s amazing!”

“Congratulations, brother,” Archer says. “You deserve it.”

“This means we’re going to have to kiddy-proof the cabin, right?” Frankie asks with a grin.

“She’s thirteen, not three.” I snort. “But yes, basically.” Excitement surges through me like a wave.

“Yay!!” Rayne leans up and presses several kisses to my lips while I laugh. “I’m so happy for you!”

“I get to see my daughter.” I beam. “Your shitty ex is locked up to be deported. Archer might finally be removing that stick from his ass?—”

“Hey!” Out of nowhere, Archer whips his towel off and snaps it at me, drawing a squeal of pain sharply from my gut. I dart away, narrowly dodging the next snap of the towel as it licks at my thigh. “All I’m saying is these past few days, you’ve rediscovered your humanity!”

Archer darts toward me, tackling me with no real force and winding his arm around my neck. “You take that back!” he snaps, ruffling my hair. “You take it back!”

“Never!” I laugh heartily. “You know I’m right!”

He releases me quickly, allowing me to straighten back up. His hands pat my shoulders and the warmest smile I’ve ever seen on his face greets me.

“I’m happy for you, Nick. Truly. You deserve it. You’ve worked so hard, and everything this past… however many months it’s been… well, y’know.”

He doesn’t need to say it all. I can see it in his face that he’s happy for me, and I fully intend to integrate Freida into the family. She’s important to me, and she’ll be important to everyone else.

Suddenly, a soft and sweet moan cuts through the air. Behind Archer, Frankie has Rayne on the bed and he’s lavishing gentleattention down her bruised throat while undoing her blouse with deft fingers.

That becomes infinitely more interesting. Archer and I abandon our hug and crawl onto the bed next to the two of them. Rayne’s gorgeous eyes flit between the both of us and then she laughs.

“Hi,” she says breathily.

“Celebrating without us?” I tease. “Part of the good news is mine.”

“Oh, I know.” She places her uninjured hand flat against my cheek. “You were just too slow.”

Frankie dips out of sight and joins Archer in lavishing attention all over Rayne’s abdomen and hips while pulling her jeans down. This leaves her upper torso just for me.

For now, at least.

I kiss her softly, and she moans gently against my lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Breaking the kiss, I nibble long her jaw to the soft lobe of her ear. She rolls her head to the side, exposing more of her throat to me, and just like Frankie, I’m exceptionally gentle as I kiss my way down around the bruises left by that fucker.

He’s lucky he’s in jail, or we’d take him up the mountain and deal with him.

Down to her collarbone, I kiss along to the hollow of her throat while she threads her fingers through my hair and arches into my hand as it travels up her midsection to her breasts. The lace fabric of her bra tickles against my fingertips. I slide two fingers under the strap and skim along to the swell of her breast while kissing down to the deep valley of her breasts.

Rayne moans softly, slightly croaky, and her whole body shifts as Archer and Frankie finally get her jeans clear and free from her hips. I push my hand further under her bra and gropea handful of her breast. Her stiff nipple slides between two of my fingers, so I close them together and squeeze firmly. Rayne gasps, and her fingers turn to claws against my scalp, sending a shiver spiraling down my spine and settling right in my core.

My tongue drags against the lace, licking around the swell of her breast until I reach the tips of my own fingers. With a deft flick of my wrist, I free her breast from the cup of her bra and then tease my tongue down my fingers until I locate the tip of her hard nipple. Rayne shudders, and I lap over the hard, pink flesh, teasing only the flat top.

“Nick,” Rayne gasps, and then she arches fully up from the bed with a gasp.

Over my shoulder, I glimpse Archer burying between her thighs while Frankie lavishes attention over her hip. No wonder she’s writhing so hard.

---