Page 25 of The Christmas Exchange

Miles stirred behind me. “Ignore it. Go back to sleep.”

“We can’t ignore it,” I reminded them, attempting to push them both away. “We have to check out this morning, remember?”

“Who cares," Miles grumbled.

Julian didn’t say anything, he just held me tighter. Miles finally let out an exasperated groan and released me as he rolled out of bed. The mattress shifted as his weight left and he walked over to whoever’s phone it was and silenced the alarm.

“Shit, guys, I take that back,” he said quickly. “We must have ignored the alarm the first few times it went off. We have to check out in, like, fifteen minutes.”

“Fuck,” Julian groaned as he stretched his body against mine. “I was hoping to have another taste of you this morning,” he said to me as he pulled away. “I guess that just means our time isn’t over after last night.”

My mouth went dry.

“What do you mean?” I said softly, my eyes trained on him as he climbed out of the bed. They both left me laying completely naked in the center of the bed. I sat up, taking the sheet with me in an effort to cover myself.

Julian watched me as he dressed, but he didn’t offer any words in response. Miles was already moving around the room, getting everyone’s stuff together. He was shoving things in our bags and grabbed a change of clothes with fresh underwear and tossed them to me.

“Get dressed, sweets. We have to check out and everyone is waiting for us at Julian’s parents’ house. There was a text from my mom saying we were supposed to be there by twelve.”

“Why so early?” Julian said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

I lowered the sheet after putting on my bra and quickly pulled my shirt over my head. Julian was still staring at me and Miles gave me an occasional glance, but he was too busy trying to get us all out the door.

I looked at Julian. “What did you mean… about our time not being over?”

This question caught Miles' attention and he paused where he was standing as his gaze traveled between the two of us. A smirk pulled on his lips. “You didn’t really expect this to be a one-night thing, did you?”

“I—I don’t know.” I half stumbled over my words. “I wasn’t really sure what would happen after last night.

Julian tilted his head to the side. “Surely, you didn't expect us to just go back to the way things were before?”

I stared back at him. “I—I wasn’t sure…”

“There’s no going back now, sweetheart. We’re only getting started with you.”

I headed into the bathroom to brush my teeth and when I stared at myself in the mirror, my breath left my lungs in a rush. My lips were still swollen and red from the night before. There were small marks on my neck, from both Miles and Julian. My hair was a tangled mess and I grabbed my brush to try to smooth it.

It was a half-hearted attempt. There was no way to tame any of it, so I settled on a messy bun on the top of my head instead. I didn’t have much time to apply any makeup so I just put on a layer of mascara and some foundation to cover the marks on my neck. It was a futile effort. It barely covered them, but it was enough to conceal it a bit.

I quickly brushed my teeth before they entered the bathroom. I caught both of their gazes and left without another word. I wasn’t quite sure what to say to them. There wasn’t a part of my brain that had expected we would be done after last night, but I also wasn’t sure. It wasn't something that had come up until this morning.

And my brain was still trying to process what the hell had happened last night.

They finished up in the bathroom and I was waiting for them as they came out and grabbed their bags. The three of us were silent as we headed to the elevator but as soon as the doors closed, they both turned to me.

“Do you regret what happened last night?” Julian questioned me.

I shook my head and responded without hesitation. “Absolutely not.”

“So, what’s the problem, sweets?” Miles asked.

My eyes bounced back and forth between them as his words penetrated my brain. There wasn’t a problem. I was overreacting because I had just woken up from the best night of my life with my two best friends. Even after everything that had happened between us, I was still hesitant because I was afraid.

“There is no problem. I just woke up a little disoriented. It’s still kind of hard for my mind to wrap around everything that has happened.” I paused for a moment as we reached the lobby and the elevator dinged. “I suppose I was just surprised things haven’t changed from last night.”

Julian let out a deep chuckle. “You’re ours, Raegan. There’s no changing that now.”

I was theirs…

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