On her other side, Liams's fingers found her wrist, settling against her pulse point.
Jiro had positioned himself behind her, and when he shifted forward she found herself leaning back into the solid warmth of his chest. His hand came up to her hair—fingertips against her scalp, dragging slowly through the strands in a way that made her want to close her eyes.
Liam had stretched out nearby, propped on one elbow, close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from him. When she glanced over, he was watching her face.
"Is that your serious face or your 'I'm about to deliver bad news to the town council' face?" Jax called at the screen, where Caleb's character was indeed looking very seriously at something off-camera.
"That's his 'the snowplow broke' face," Caleb corrected from beside April. His hand had found her knee under the blanket that had appeared from somewhere. Arthur, she thought, who'd draped it across her lap with quiet efficiency before settling at the far edge to monitor the situation.
"Riveting," Dante murmured from his position near the back, but his eyes weren't on the screen either.
On screen, Caleb was rallying the townspeople with an inspiring speech about community.
"You really believe in Christmas spirit, don't you?" Mateo said, grinning at actual-Caleb.
"I get paid to believe in Christmas spirit," Caleb replied. His thumb traced a pattern on April's knee that made her very aware of the thin fabric between his hand and her skin.
April tried to focus on the movie. On Caleb's character organizing some kind of emergency sleigh situation.
But Jax had moved closer, his shoulder pressing against Killian's, which meant April was now surrounded on three sides. His hand brushed her arm—casual, testing. When she didn't pull away, his fingers lingered, drawing small circles on her wrist.
"This is the scene where you save the horse," Jiro said.
"The horse was never in danger," Caleb protested.
"The script said it was in danger."
"The horse knew it was acting."
April felt laughter bubble up, but it came out thinner than she intended as Killian's hand to her shoulder, and Mateo's grip on her calf had shifted higher. She memorized the angle of the light on the screen. The weight of Jiro’s hand in her hair.
"Are you even watching?" Liam asked, and it took April a moment to realize he was talking to her.
"Yes," she lied.
His mouth curved. "What just happened on screen?"
"Christmas was... being saved?"
"Very thorough analysis."
Caleb leaned in and kissed her temple, soft and unhurried, like he had all the time in the world. "She's got the spirit of it."
Mateo’s thumb tightened briefly at her ankle, as if staking quiet claim.
Then Liam, his lips brushing her knuckles with that same precise care he brought to everything.
Mateo's kiss landed on her shoulder, and she felt the warmth of it through her shirt, followed by the soft press of his lips against the curve of her neck
Jax stole a kiss next, quick and amused, testing boundaries. She laughed against his mouth and he grinned.
Caleb's kiss was slower. His hand cupped her face and she felt the calluses on his palm, the careful way he tilted her chin up to get the angle right.
She let herself lean into it, tilting her head, her fingers curling into Killian's shirt. The blanket slipped halfway to the floor and someone’s knee knocked the remote when someone’s mouth, Mateo’s she thought, found the spot below her ear that made her breath stutter.
Arthur hadn’t moved, but his attention was a physical weight.
Dante’s gaze had gone darker. More intent. He took a deliberate sip of his coffee.
