Page 9 of The Christmas Exchange

Miles rolled his eyes at the back of Julian’s head as he held his arm out for me. I linked mine through his and we followed the moody, broody friend of ours, back into the building. “Hopefully it isn’t much snow. I did promise your mother that I would have you back by dinner tomorrow.”

There was nothing strange about the way we were walking together. If anything, it felt right, like my arm was exactly where it was supposed to be. Miles smelled like snow and cedarwood and I reveled in his warmth with how close he was to me. Damn them both for having such an effect on me. I had no choice but to shove it away.

“I think we should be okay. You know how unpredictable the weather is here.”

“True,” Miles agreed as we made our way back up to the room to change. “And it’s not like we didn’t grow up driving in snow.”

“Exactly.” I smiled at him as he stepped away. “We’ll be fine.”

Miles winked at me and the butterflies fluttered. “We’ll be more than fine.”

We all quickly changed out of the clothes we wore to ski all day, each taking turns in the bathroom. I freshened up the light makeup I had on my eyes and slipped into an oversized sage green sweater, a pair of black leggings, and boots. Both of the guys were waiting by the door for me and I stopped and smiled at the sight of them.

They were both relatively even in height, standing about a foot above me. Julian watched me with his dark eyes while Miles watched me with his light ones. My yin and yang. A few strands of Julian’s inky hair hung across his forehead and Miles' was a mess of curls on top of his head. I swallowed roughly, telling my heart to stop hammering away in my chest as I walked up to them.

“Shall we?”

Miles stepped to the side and waved me through them. “After you, my lady.”

As I walked between them, my shoulders brushed theirs. I couldn’t help myself from inhaling deeply as both of their scents penetrated my senses. Miles like cedarwood and moss, and Julian like sandalwood. I couldn’t let myself go there. I quickly recovered and moved out into the hall with them trailing behind me.

The three of us headed down to the bar and found a booth to sit in. Miles ordered a pitcher of beer and got three mugs that he filled to the brim for each of us. We all slowly sipped as we waited for the server to order some food. I needed to eat something, but I was ready to swallow enough alcohol to make me fall into a dead sleep.

Tonight was going to be a long-ass night and the last thing I wanted to do was make a mistake with either one of them I might regret in the morning. I already knew that I was in fucking trouble with the three of us sharing a room with one damn bed.

I knew both of them well enough to know they would both offer to sleep on the floor and leave the bed for me.

And they knew I wouldn’t let them sleep on the ground when there was room for all of us in the bed.

Fuck me.

CHAPTERSIX

Ihad lost count of how many beers I had to drink. The dinner I ate was definitely helping because I wasn’t as drunk as I could have been. But I was well on my way to getting there, which was the plan when we walked into the bar. Miles had gotten up a few minutes ago to go to the bathroom, leaving Julian and I alone while he was taking his sweet time.

Julian’s dark eyes were on me and I had my beer muscles on. His eyes were always on me and I did my best to ignore it, but that self-control had since flown out the window. My filter was officially gone and I wasn’t holding back any longer.

“Why are you staring at me?” I paused for a beat. “As a matter of fact, why are you always staring at me like that?”

Julian casually sipped his beer and tilted his head to the side. “In what way are you referring to?”

Him and his fucking responses. I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know how to even explain it. You just have this look, and you’re doing it right now.”

He chuckled softly. “Perhaps I enjoy looking at beautiful things, Raegan.”

My breath caught in my throat and my eyes widened as I stared back at him. He did not just say that. That had to have been a figment of my imagination. Or perhaps he was feeling the alcohol settling into his veins like I was.

“You don’t mean that.”

Julian’s face remained expressionless but I didn’t miss the wave of confusion that passed through his eyes. “Why would you say that?”

Closing my eyes, I ran my hand down my face in a dramatic fashion. “Do I really need to bring this up right now?”

If I knew what was good for me, I would have shut my damn mouth right then and there. When I said I wanted to get drunk, I simply just wanted to be able to sleep in peace tonight. I didn’t mean I wanted to do it to spill my hidden feelings onto the table.

“I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about. Of course I meant what I said, Raegan.” He folded his arms on the table and leaned on them as his gaze penetrated mine. “I won’t apologize for staring at you when I simply can’t help myself. You’re beautiful. Always have been.”

I stared at him, half in disbelief, half just because I was progressively feeling more drunk as time passed. “You let me kiss you. You kissed me back. And then you pushed me away because you had a girlfriend.”

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