Love? Did he say love?
A small voice in my head is telling me to run, but an even louder voice is screaming at me to climb into his arms and never leave.
I listen to that one instead.
It’s been two hours, and I finally have clothes on. My feet still hurt from the heels I wore last night, so I throw on some slippers to go with the rest of my comfy attire. All I plan on doing the rest of the day is eating and watching Christmas movies, if I can first survive the chaos that is coming when we leave our room.
No one’s come searching for us, so it’s safe to assume we’ve been found out. I think that’s why I was okay with staying in bed longer. That, and Baylor’s skilled fingers.
“Ready, beautiful?” Baylor asks, adjusting his collar.
“No.”
He tilts my chin up to kiss me, sending me a new wave of confidence.
“Yes.”
Whatever Marta’s cooking wafts up into the bedroom, making my stomach growl.
“Let’s go get something to eat. We’ve certainly worked up an appetite.”
I giggle and follow him downstairs. Marta’s in the kitchen. She gives us a big smile and a wave as we pass by, searching for the others. Before we even reach the bottom steps to the lower level, I hear whistling.
“Aye! Merry fucking Christmas to you two lovebirds!” Jesse stands up on a barstool, clapping.
“Finally come up for air, did you, B?” Luke claps a hand on Baylor’s shoulder.
“This really is a gift to us all. It’s about fucking time.” Jesse beams. He’s wearing a bedazzled red Santa hat I’m pretty sure belongs to Clara.
I laugh to hide the mortification bursting out of me.
Baylor does his best to ignore the attention and gets me a bottle of water from behind the bar, watching me to gauge how I’m handling this.
I offer him a smile before taking a long pull from my water. My hands are almost shaking as I twist the cap back on and steal a peek at Henry.
He’s chalking up a pool cue on the other side of the pool table. He gives me a soft smile before leaning over and taking a shot.
Jesse walks over to me, looking pained. “You know, you kind of broke my heart with this one, Aspen. I propose to you, and you take another man to bed? I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.”
“I’ll still have you, Aspen.” Luke winks. “You know I don’t mind sharing.”
Baylor swings a swift fist into Luke’s stomach, and he keels over.
“Ah, man. It was a joke!” Luke protests.
While Jesse laughs at his friend’s pain, I steal another glance at Henry. He’s focused on lining up his next shot for practice, but I know he hasn’t come over for a reason.
Nerves crawl up my spine, and my heart beats faster as I make my way over to him. “Merry Christmas, Henry.”
He taps the cue ball but misses. “Merry Christmas, Pen.”
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I gesture to the other room.
He lays the pool stick on the table and follows me away from everyone else.
“Is something the matter?” he asks when we reach a quieter spot.
My fingernails dig into my palms. “I don’t want you to be upset with me.”
