“You having a mushy moment?” Ace asked, kissing Colton’s cheek.
“We’re so fortunate.”
Ace turned Colton around, his smile soft as he wrapped his arms around Colton’s waist and held him close. “Yeah, we are. You know, I was thinking. Maybe we should go with the decor people.”
“I thought you wanted it to be more personal.”
“I want it to be perfect. For you. And if that means professional decorators, then we’ll do it.”
Colton shook his head. “We don’t need professional decorators. Or snow. Or sleigh rides.” He sighed. “This isn’t a Hallmark movie.”
Ace opened his mouth to reply, then closed it, an odd expression coming onto his face. “What if it could be?”
Colton was perplexed. “I’m sorry, I don’t follow.”
“When you were little, all you wanted was the kind of Christmas you saw in your favorite holiday movies. The perfect Christmas.”
“There’s no such thing as a perfect Christmas, love, but this is pretty close, don’t you think?” Colton kissed him, laughing against Ace’s lips when everyone cheered and catcalled. He shook his head at their ridiculousness.
Lucky called Ace over, and Colton walked to the kitchen to snag himself a Christmas cookie. Red and Laz sang along to “Last Christmas” by Wham! making Colton chuckle. He scanned the expertly iced cookies, his eyes landing on a deer cookie with a sleigh cookie behind it.
What if…?
Colton picked up the sleigh cookie, and before he could talk himself out of it, he sent a quick text to Joshua, his executive assistant. His phone rang a few minutes later.
“Joshua,” Colton replied. “One second.” He excused himself, hurried upstairs to his and Ace’s bedroom, and shut the door. “Sorry. I’m back. What do you think? Is it possible?”
“It is, but before I make any arrangements, I need to let you know that I spoke to Clara, the hospitality manager, and she informed me that due to the storm that blew through there a couple of weeks ago, their town hall is closed.”
“Oh, is that all? That’s fine. Go ahead and make all the arrangements.” They were good as long as the town’s Ice Castle was open. It was where all of the festivities took place anyway.
“You should have a confirmation email within the next few minutes.”
“Wonderful. Thank you, Joshua.” Colton hung up and made a few more calls. By the time everything was set up, he was excited and nervous. What if no one else was on board? Shaking his head, he headed back downstairs. He tugged on Ace’s sleeve, pulling him to one side.
“I have an announcement to make. Could you…?”
“Of course, baby.” Ace turned and called out across the room. “Everyone shut your pie holes!”
Everyone went silent.
Colton sighed. “Not what I had in mind, love, but thank you.” He cleared his throat. “I wanted to let you all know how thankful I am to have you all in my life. You’ve been more of a family to me than my own blood, but you already knew that. I love you all so much.”
“We love you too, Colt,” Fitz called out.
The room filled with awwws, and Colton held back a laugh.No need to be nervous. This is your family.
“Okay, so I’ve been thinking about having a white Christmas for the longest time. Years, actually. I vaguely recall staying at a ski lodge with my parents when I was younger. Of course, that was less about family and Christmas and more about who my parents could impress. But something Ace said gave me an idea. I thought having a special holiday season might be nice for our new family. With that in mind, I have a surprise for everyone.” Colton forwarded the email from Joshua to everyone. Eleven phones pinged. “Check your emails.”
“What’s Winterhaven?” Lucky asked.
Colton had been researching Winterhaven for years, hoping to one day get the white Christmas he’d dreamed of, but the time never seemed right. Now, it felt right. “I’ve rented a luxury family cabin for the holidays in the beautiful and picturesque small town of Winterhaven. We’re going to have a white Christmas!”
King frowned, but that was his default expression. “This schedule says from tomorrow until the end of December.” He lifted his blue gaze. “Colton, we can’t take that much time off.”
“We own the company,” Ace said with a shrug. “Of course we can.”
“Ace, it’s almost a month.”
