They said their goodbyes and headed out. The guys discussed the magnitude of the project ahead, but Leo didn’t doubt his family could do it. He would do his part as well, and at the same time, find Santa and the perfect gift for his amazing fiancé.
Time to activate stealth mode. Operation King’s Christmas was back on!
CHAPTERTWO
After almost five years together, Leo still managed to surprise and amaze him. Sometimes, King marveled at the turn his life had taken. To think, if he’d remained firm in refusing General de Loughrey, he never would have ended up in that bunker falling for an adorable genius with a penchant for fish-shaped snacks.
The thought alone made King smile. How had he gone from believing he’d never find love to being engaged to a man he cherished and wanted to spend the rest of his life with?
King dropped the debris he’d picked up into the large trash bin. This morning, waking up with Leo snuggled up to him and a snowy mountain landscape outside their window confirmed he’d made the right decision.
Maybe he needed to rethink how much time he spent at the office. Seeing Leo’s excitement had warmed King all over. It also made him realize that maybe they needed to take more vacations together. Maybe once he finished here, he’d call Leo and?—
“King!”
Uh oh. That couldn’t be good. King poked his head out of the room. “Yeah? Everything okay?” Judging by Colton’s expression, everything was definitelynotokay.
“My husband is in the woods halfway up a twenty-foot tree he intends to chop downwith an ax,and Laz is the only one there to keep an eye on himandLeo.”
King’s eyes went wide. “Son of a nutcracker.” He pulled off the work gloves, chucked them on the table, and took off. Outside, he pulled his winter gloves on as he ran for the tree farm. Ace and the Boyfriends had started there, which meant if they’d gone into the woods, they wouldn’t be far. Not even Ace was that reckless.
What the hell was Ace thinking? An even better question would be, why was he surprised? Ace never could do anything the way everyone else did. He had to go bigger and better.
In the distance, he spotted Laz looking up at a huge tree, which meant Ace was up there. Fucking hell. Wait. Where was Leo? By the time he got to the base of the tree, Laz had run off. Wonderful. King looked up, and yep, there was his ridiculous brother.
“Ace, get your ass down here,” King growled. “Where’s Leo?”
“Here’s the thing,” Ace said as he missed a tree branch. He cursed loudly before he caught himself.
“Damn it, Ace, get out of there.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. And your fiancé ran off to see Santa. What is up with that?”
Of course, he did. Leo woke up determined to find Santa, only he wouldn’t say why, and when King offered to go with him, Leo politely turned him down. “I have no idea. He’s being very secretive. It’s not like him.”
“Where’s Laz?” Ace asked.
King squinted and pointed off in the distance. “Almost to town.”
“How are they so fast?” Ace stepped down onto another branch. “Shit.”
“What?” Did everyone else have that one friend who got stuck up trees, or was he just lucky?
“I think I’m stuck.”
Sweet merciful— “On what?”
“I don’t know. I think my coat is stuck on something. Um…King.”
“What is it?”Patience. Christmas was a time for comfort and joy.
“There’s a squirrel. It’s one of those red pointy-eared ones. He looks like he’s on steroids. There’s intent in his eyes, King. I think he’s about to body-slam me.”
Comfort and joy, my ass.“Ace,” King growled. “Get out of the damn tree.” He was very tempted to go up there and get him, but unlike Ace, he had more sense.
“I can’t! I’m stuck. What do I do? He’s staring into my soul. I think he might be their leader. He’s plotting how to end me.”
Funny, King’s thoughts were running along similar lines. “It’s a squirrel.”
