was why it took me a hot minute—or ten—to realize it was actually snowing.
A couple of snaps pulled me out of my stare to find Coop and Jake both pointing their phones at me, both wearing shit-eating grins. “You look adorable,” Jake told me, and Ian slid an arm around my shoulders and tugged me close to him.
“Be nice,” he chided, then added, “But totally send me a copy of those pics.”
“We need to set up a cloud account,” Archie murmured, rolling his thumb in circles against my thigh. “That way we can all get all the pics, all the time.”
“Well,” Jake said, a sly grin curling his lips. “Maybe not all of them.”
At that, I just snorted. “You first.”
“I have no problems if you want nudes of me, Baby Girl,” he said with a grin.
Ian raised his hand. “Not on the cloud account.”
“Agreed,” Archie added, but Coop just shrugged.
“What?” Coop said when Ian and Archie both stared at him. “Nothing I haven’t seen before. If it gets Frankie to volunteer some, I’m all in.”
There was a beat of silence.
“Count me in,” Archie volunteered, and I groaned.
“Sorry, Angel,” Ian told me. “I’m going to side with them. But we’ll save that for later.”
“A lot later,” I muttered. The last thing I planned on doing was posing for any nude photographs. I darted a look at the privacy panel, but it was closed so we didn’t have to worry about the driver. My face heated as Coop bumped my leg.
“Okay, we’ve all seen you naked, so why not naked pics?”
I stared at him. “Because.”
Jake chewed his lower lip, his facial contortions doing nothing to hide his laughter. “Thank you for clearing that up for us.”
“You’re welcome.” I groaned and tipped my head back. I had two weeks of this to look forward to, didn’t I?
Even as I made a face, anticipation coiled in my stomach. Two weeks with just us. Nobody else. No one to judge. No one to ask questions. No one to have to impress or answer to. Just…us.
“Heads up,” Archie nudged me, and I sat forward as the limo wound through the snowy landscape, and it really was just snowy with pine trees and mountains and white stuff everywhere. It was like a damn postcard.
It was close to perfect.
When I scooted closer to the window, Archie unlocked my seatbelt and hauled me right over into his lap.
“Hey,” came the complaint from the other three.
“Keep your panties on,” Archie told them, then rehooked his seatbelt over both of us, and I stared out the window as the lodge came into view.
It was a big wooden structure, like some massive, yet elegant log cabin. It looked like something right out of a book, right down to the smoke rising from the chimney, even as the snow continued to fall around it.
“What do you think, babe?” The hint of smug arrogance in Archie’s voice echoed cleanly, but so did the real curiosity. A glance at him, and I met his hopeful eyes and twisted to kiss him. Not just a peck, but a full, open-mouthed, tongue tangling, delving deep kiss that had my whole body humming and his fingers digging into me.
“I’m going to guess that’s girlfriend for she really likes it,” Jake mused, his tone dry.
“I’m thinking loves it,” Coop argued.
Ian snorted. “Looks more like she’s totally turned on by it.”
When I leaned back a little and broke the kiss, Archie’s grin looked every bit as crazy as mine had to be. “Yes?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, not even caring that we’d had an audience. Even better, when I scooted back around and just leaned into Archie, I reached back and Ian took my hand. A sigh escaped me as Jake winked and Coop just looked pleased.
It wasn’t almost perfect.
It was perfect.
This was the kind of day I already wanted to capture in time and keep forever.
Then we were there and the doors opened, and I let out a squeal.
Yep, still cold.
Only this time, I didn’t care. It was snowing, and the flakes were hitting my face.
Absolutely perfect.
Chapter Sixteen
Let It Snow
“Baby Girl, your lips are turning blue,” Jake scolded me.
“Five more minutes,” I called. Yes, my hands were stuffed into the pockets of my jacket and my sneakers were not at all waterproof. The wind sliced through my yoga pants like they weren’t even there. I couldn’t feel my nose. But there were snowflakes on my eyelashes and the whole world was covered in white.