life with your best friend that gave you awesome smooches?
“Falling in love takes time. Opening a hotel will take all of our time. And I’m not doing this alone.” Alex pointed his finger in a slow circle around the room. “We have to agree.”
Amelia bumped him with her shoulder. “We did already. When we bought the tix.”
“Yes, but that was a fantasy. Fueled by too much cocoa and perfect snowflakes and, I don’t know, the freaking magic of Christmas.”
“It is still the season of joy and love. Don’t be disrespectful of the holiday.” Everleigh grabbed a handful of tinsel from the tree and threw it at him. Being tinsel, it only sailed about a millimeter through the air before drifting to the ground, but she was sure he got the idea. “I can’t believe the best present ever is making you this cranky.”
Alex had the sense to realize he’d been spiraling. He sat down—gingerly—on the papasan. Gingerly, because his super-tall frame tipped it over nine times out of ten when he made the attempt. “Sorry I slipped into a rant zone. But the fact is that out of the blue, with zero warning or preparation, we suddenly own a huge historic inn. Do we really want it? The responsibility?”
“What the hell else would we do?” Teague pointed at each of them in turn. “Alex, you got fired—unjustly fired,” he quickly corrected, “and the Grand Orion kicked you out of your sweet pad in the hotel when you lost your job as manager. Amelia’s about to be laid off, and her apartment’s being repossessed.”
“It isn’t a car, Teague. And I sure as heck haven’t missed a single payment.” Amelia started another pot of coffee in the galley kitchen that was definitely too small for the four of them. “They’re turning it into condos and cranking the rates up sky high with an impossible-to-meet deposit requirement.”
“Whatever. My way’s less words. Everleigh got dumped, fired, and tossed out of her jerk boyfriend’s place. I’m already on your couch, and have no job, no idea of what I want to do, or what the hell I can do with my special skill sets around bombs and sniper rifles.”
If she wasn’t so annoyed, Everleigh would spend a moment being genuinely concerned for Teague. How on earth was he supposed to transition from government-ordered violence to a normal life behind a desk?
But she was annoyed. Nobody liked their problems aired, let alone trotted out like waving banners of awfulness pulled behind a prop plane. “Did you really need to drill down into our pathetic-ness?”
“Yeah. I did. Because this lottery win is the solution to all our problems. With the candy coating of all of us getting to work and live together.” Teague threw up his arms. “Why are we debating? Why is Alex pacing again with that line between his eyebrows? Why the hell aren’t there doughnuts?”
Oh, yay—Alex had made it out of the papasan without overturning it.
See? That was proof that luck was still on their side. Or that they were turning over a new leaf. Something good was in the air.
“You’re not in the Army anymore. There’s no mess cook here.” Amelia hooked a thumb at the front door. And simultaneously aimed a very pointed side-eye at Teague. “If you want doughnuts, go get ’em. I’ll take a chocolate glazed old-fashioned.”
Alex came to a stop in the middle of the living room. Commanded the space, was more like it. “Running a hotel is my dream job. Doesn’t mean it’s fair to inflict it on all of you.”
“Your hotel was about to hire me as a landscaper right before they so, so wrongly let you go. I was on board with doing the grounds there. I’m even more on board with doing all the landscaping at our very own inn. Heck, since it isn’t in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh, there’s probably lots more acreage for me to play with.” Amelia spread her arms wide.
Possibly to indicate the unknown vast gardens barely hinted at in the one picture they’d seen of the Three Oaks Inn. Or, possibly to show how much she was on board with the idea? Ever wasn’t sure. It was a hard room to read this morning.
Teague was right. They all needed doughnuts.
Alex held up his right hand. Ostentatiously flicked up his index finger. “So that’s one yes vote to keep the inn.”
“Two,” Teague corrected. “I already made my case.”
All three of them turned to her. She was trapped between the tree