his fist over it, he carried to his heart. “See you in a minute, don’t forget the waterproof boots.”
“I won’t.”
The door closed, and I let out a little laugh and danced in a circle. Pressing a hand to my stomach, I took a deep breath, but the smile on my face wouldn’t go away. I had no idea how I got lucky with all of them. For that matter, I wasn’t sure how crazy we were to try and do this. “But so far, so good,” I whispered to myself, then crossed my fingers. Closing my eyes, I gave myself a moment to get it together.
Laughter and thumps echoed from beyond my closed door, and I swore my smile widened. My cheeks hurt from the force of it.
“Okay,” I told myself. “Let’s do this.”
It took me ten minutes to change, because I had to make sure I shimmied into the right pieces. I’d tried these on in the store, but it was still different to slide into the black ski pants with their suspenders and high waist that did great things for my ass and my boobs—thank you, Rachel. Next came the moisture wicking socks, then the heavy boots. I joked they felt like moon boots when I first put them on, but they added a scant inch to my height. I was in no way at risk of catching up to any of them.
Pausing, I checked myself in the mirror. The red top cut nicely with the black. It was a Henley, warm enough but also breathable. Layers, Rachel assured me, were the key. Also the best part of the ski pants, I decided, was how they hugged my ass but showed zero panty lines.
Score.
I put my hair up and pulled the earmuffs on. They looked adorable. The jacket was last, and it was red and black with gold piping. I paused long enough to take a picture of myself to send to Rachel, then I shoved my phone in the pocket and zipped it closed. The opportunity for pics was too great, I wasn’t going to miss them because I left the phone up here.
Gloves in hand, I opened my door to find Archie leaning against the wall, looking devastating in his own pair of ski pants, boots, and open jacket. Instead of earmuffs, he had a knit cap pulled over his head, and he looked both adorable and hot in equal measures.
“Wow,” he exhaled as he gave me a once over, and I did a little pirouette so he could get the full effect. His eyes were full of heat and approval. “I owe Rachel.”
“So do I,” I teased. “Your turn.”
He gave me a little spin after he pushed away from the wall. He stalked over to me, and I had to bite my lip again. “You think they’d notice if I decided to keep you inside? We could watch the snow fall, naked and in bed.”
“Tempting,” I admitted as he hooked the front of my jacket together and began to zip it up, despite his teasing invitation. “But I don’t think we’d see much snow if we were in bed naked.”
“No,” he agreed, laying one flap over the top of the zipper and tucking it in. “We definitely wouldn’t, but I’m throwing my hat in right now. You and me, my room tonight. Any night, really.”
Another shiver skated up my spine as I returned the favor and zipped him into his jacket. “You guys are going to make choosing hard,” I warned him.
“Maybe,” he murmured, then gave me another kiss before he tugged the top of the jacket up to shield my nose and mouth. “Gloves, babe.”
Bundled in, I pulled the gloves on, and he gave me an approving nod.
By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, it wasn’t hard to guess the guys had beaten us both out there. A flash of movement by one of the windows had me laughing. “You should let me go first, if you really want to be the last out.”
“And let them hit you with all those snowballs?” Archie eyed me like I was nuts. “Not happening, babe. Besides, the reward is infinitely worth the challenge.”
I snorted, then grabbed his arm when he would have kept going. “Is there a back door?”
His deep brown eyes gleamed as he gave me a slow smile. “Frankie, you’re a bad girl.”
“It’s your terrible influence,” I retorted, and his grin grew.
“This way.”
Two minutes later, we ducked out through the kitchen onto