Hangovers and Holidays (Untouchable Book 5) Read online

  It took a moment for the dead silence to register, and I glanced over my shoulder to find four sets of eyes on my bare ass. Getting naked around them had obviously happened. They’d all seen me naked, either in bed or the car or the shower. But not at once with all four of them in the same room.

  And you know what? “You’ve seen my butt before, boys. Move on.” I flicked my fingers at them and reached for the panties. I was so not awake enough for this. Coop chuckled softly, but it was Jake who snagged the boxers and then my tank top as I tugged it up and over. Out of habit, I just fastened the bra and pulled it over my head rather than try to hook it in the back.

  “Damn,” Archie murmured before pressing a kiss to my shoulder. “I was going to offer to help.”

  Yep, too damn cheerful. At least they hadn’t been kidding about comfy clothes. The yoga pants and sweatshirt—Coop’s, I thought—went well with the tennis shoes and heavy socks. I carried my coffee with me to the bathroom and drained it before brushing my teeth and putting my hair up into a braid.

  Finally, I walked out to the living room where all four guys waited, their grins so wide, they looked almost painful.

  “You all look very pleased with yourselves.” I glanced from one to the other and then registered the suitcases.

  Suitcases.

  There were suitcases. They’d been plotting something for days, I focused on Archie. “What did you do?”

  He had the temerity to look surprised and maybe a bit offended, playing it off in mock innocence. “Why did you automatically leap to it being me who did something?”

  “Because you’re Archie,” I answered almost in perfect sync with Jake and Coop.

  Chuckling, Ian shook his head. “She has your number, Arch.”

  “She’s always had my number,” he agreed before closing the distance and sliding his arm around my shoulders. “Frankie, we’re about to jet off to adventure. Well, not so much adventure as a holiday retreat for five.”

  What?

  But he wasn’t done. “We’re taking you to Colorado, near Aspen, where Grandpa has a lodge available for us to use. There will be snow and fireplaces, Christmas trees and presents. Ski lessons and snowman building. And just the five of us—no parents, no school, no annoying bitches or assholes allowed.”

  “You think he realizes he might be cutting himself off there with that last one?” Jake asked in a not-so-quiet voice.

  Archie ignored the teasing as he studied me.

  “You’re serious, right now?”

  “Absolutely. Everything is planned. You’re packed. Our car will be here in…” He checked his watch. “Seven minutes. Jeremy will be by in a few hours to pick up the cats, and they will be pampered like royalty at my place. He will even take daily pictures and share their antics with you.”

  Shock held me mute for a second, but a glance at the guys told me not only was Archie serious about this, so were they. Then I looked at the tree and the presents.

  “All taken care of, Baby Girl,” Jake murmured.

  I chewed my lower lip, and my stomach bottomed out. We were going… “Jake, your birthday.”

  “Yep,” he said, still smiling. “Mom already signed off on it. Those three didn’t need permission, and neither do you.”

  Until he said it, I hadn’t even gone there. But he was right. I had the temporary emancipation order in place.

  Holy crap.

  “We’re going away for Christmas?”

  “We’re going away for Christmas, and we’re not back here until next year,” Archie promised me, and I stared into his brown eyes, even as I had to blink back tears in my own. “And you’re getting snow, babe.”

  Oh fuck.

  The shock twisted with this fresh ripple of surprise, and I whipped around and hugged him. He laughed, wrapping me up tight. “Okay,” he whispered, rubbing a circle between my shoulder blades. Oh hell, I was shaking. “It’s okay. Good surprise?”

  I sniffed once as I pulled back and then gave him a mock punch in the shoulder. “It’s an amazing surprise! I can’t believe you guys…”

  Realization hit.

  “You told Rachel! That’s why I had to try on all those snow clothes for her to get her ‘cousins.’“ I was torn between admiring the sneakiness and wanting to smack her for tricking me.

  “Pretty much,” Coop said. “Okay, let’s get the bags outside, boys. We can get this trip started.” He tugged me away from Archie long enough to cup my face and give me a kiss. “It’s going to be the perfect holiday.”

  He snagged three bags, including shouldering my backpack. Then Jake stole a kiss before he grabbed another three. Ian winked at me, and I rose up on my tiptoes to kiss him because he already had an armload of bags and his guitar case.

  There were two left, and when I went to pick one up, Archie clucked his tongue at me. At my raised brow, he caught my right hand in his and raised it to press a kiss to my palm and then to my wrist. It looked so much skinnier and paler than the other one. “We’re still treating this like spun glass. Besides, I have something else for you to carry.”

  Cool metal brushed my wrist, and I glanced down as Archie slid my charm bracelet on. There were new charms affixed to it, and he closed the catch gently.

  “You got it back.” It was a morning for surprises, and the sun wasn’t even up.

  He smiled. “Damn straight. I’ve been after them for weeks. Finally got them to release it, and I got the charms fixed on it.” Next he hung the necklace over my head with its own charms. “Now that’s better.”

  There were new letters on my wrist. One for each of them—including an I for Ian rather than a B for Bubba. Fuck, I really was going to cry. The brush of Archie’s fingers against my cheek pulled my head up. “Happy tears, right?”

  I blinked hurriedly and then nodded, before I sniffed again. “I just… This is a lot.”

  “But good?” The concern in his eyes was real.

  “Car’s here,” Coop called from the back door. “You guys good?”

  “Yeah,” Archie said. “Give us a minute, and we’ll be right down.”

  “Okay.” The door closed, leaving us alone.

  “It’s okay,” I promised him, even as he enfolded me into another hug and I burrowed in close. The weight of the charm bracelet on my wrist was like a whole second kind of gift in and of itself. I’d missed it. Missed the meaning behind it, even if I’d had Archie the whole time and zero doubt where he was concerned. “I love you,” I whispered. “I love this and the fact that you guys did all this.”

  I loved that he was sharing the credit, too. His arms tightened around me, and he pressed a kiss to my neck, half-lifting me, and I just leaned into the hug. Coop’s words about them being the right kind of people floated across my mind.

  He wasn’t wrong.

  Archie didn’t let me go until I wasn’t sniffling. Then, and only then, did he set me on my feet. With a wink, he gave my ass a squeeze, and I chuckled. “Let’s go, babe. We have a limo ride waiting for us and a plane to catch.”

  Holy shit.

  I was getting on a plane.

  “You know I’ve never been on a plane, right?” A thousand different thoughts collided as I grabbed my jacket, and Archie took it from my hands and held it up so I could slide one arm in and then the next.

  “Yep, and you haven’t had real snow before either,” he teased before giving me a little nudge. “Or a vacation with your boyfriends. Or a Christmas like we’re about to have.” The indulgence in his smile just made me laugh again. “Trust me, babe, we’re going for a lot of firsts and real experiences here.”

  The lick of dark promise in there sent a shiver up my spine, and from the look on his face, the sensuous place my brain went was exactly what he intended. I gave the apartment one last glance. The tree lights were off, and Tiddles sat on the sofa watching me, like he knew exactly what I was doing.

  Glad one of us did. I blew him a kiss, and then headed out and locked the door after Archie passed through wit
h the last two suitcases. As promised, there was a freaking limo waiting for us, and even with the butterflies and the nervousness, I was half-giggling as I skipped down the last two stone steps.

  Archie threw me a look over his shoulder, and his grin widened. Yeah, I wasn’t fooling anyone. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around this. My phone buzzed, and I dug it out of my jacket pocket. I had no idea which one of them made sure my phone was in there and my wallet in the inner pocket, but I would have to kiss them all later.

  Rachel: Have a fantastic holiday, you lucky bitch. I want to hear all about it.

  I laughed at the message.

  Me: IDK, you were in cahoots with them. Maybe you should get your deets from them.

  The driver had taken the bags from Archie, and Coop beckoned to me from the open door. I slid inside and let him and Jake sandwich me between them on the front-facing seats. That left the rear facing for Archie, where Ian was already leaning back, an amused smile on his face.

  “Having fun, Angel?”

  “Yes,” I said, wiggling back into the seat. The bracelet was hidden under the jacket sleeve, but I could feel it. That was enough.

  Rachel: Ha! Because I know you love me. Tell the boys they better enjoy the ski pants, I made sure they looked fantastic on your ass.

  I rolled my eyes, but Coop snagged my phone and typed out a quick message and hit send before I could get it back.

  Me: Her ass looks fantastic in everything. Talk to you next year, Rach. - Coop

  Then Archie slid inside, and the door closed. “Let’s get this holiday started!”

  Rachel’s only response was a heart emoji followed by a middle finger followed by another heart. Fuck off with love.

  I snort-laughed.

  Perfect.

  Airports kind of sucked. Airport TSA lines at six in the morning weren’t much better. At least we checked most of the luggage at the curb. Archie had a frequent flyer pass thing that would have gotten him right on through, but he waited with us. When it was my turn to go through the scanner, I got picked to get a pat down.

  That was fun, with the four of them giving hard stares at the male agent who pulled me aside. Only he didn’t do it, it was a chick. She was fine, she was even nice about it. When I asked, because well why wouldn’t I want to know why I’d been picked, she just said sometimes it was random.

  Once we were all clear, Archie took lead and I walked, hand in hand, with Ian to pick up coffee, and then we settled into the first class lounge—swanky. Not that we had long to wait. I still couldn’t get over the fact that they’d pulled this off.

  “How long have you been planning it?”

  Jake shrugged. “Thanksgiving-ish?”

  “Not long after,” Archie admitted. “Thought about it before. We’ve talked about trips.” We had.

  When it was time to board, I was a bundle of nerves and excitement. Or maybe my excitement was from my nerves. It was anyone’s guess. Of the five of us, only Coop and I hadn’t been on a plane or a trip like this. The pair of us had a lot of shared life experience on this particular aspect. Fortunately, it gave me a partner-in-crime to make faces with. Archie wasn’t alone in laughing at us either. Both Ian and Jake kept shaking their heads and chuckling, though they all wore indulgent smiles, so I wasn’t going to let it bother me.

  First class was kind of fancy with huge seats. I had a window seat—score! Coop had the seat next to me. Ian and Jake were behind us, and Archie in front. My only complaint was that would make it harder to talk to them, but really? We’d manage.

  I totally took a picture of myself and then a picture of me and Coop, and fired it off to Rachel. It took a beat to realize Ian and Jake photo bombed. Archie grumbled so we had him do a selfie with all of us in the background and then the flight attendant gave us a not so indulgent look, and we planted our asses in the seats.

  The butterflies in my stomach turned to hornets though, right about the time the plane hurtled down the runway as it prepared to take off. Coop held my hand, fingers threaded together as we both stared out the window. It was the craziest thing I’d ever done. I really didn’t want to see the landscape racing by, and then suddenly, the roaring noise of the wheels on the tarmac gave way to just the engines as we were airborne.

  I swore my eyes had to be saucers as I glanced at Coop and found him grinning like an idiot, too. He leaned into my shoulder as we stared out the window. The sun wasn’t up yet, so it was all lights in the darkness twinkling, and at the same time, it was absolutely gorgeous.

  This was even better than a roller coaster.

  After we achieved altitude, the flight attendants offered us coffee—which we declined because Archie just shook his head with wide eyes, good to know—and juice or soda. Caffeine was vital, so I went for the soda. We also had a warm breakfast. Nothing fancy, despite the swank of where we were sitting. But hot biscuits that actually tasted like biscuits, scrambled eggs, and bacon? Yes please and thank you.

  In no time, we were landing and it was still dark outside, but we’d been time traveling, so that was weird enough. The real difference hit me after we collected our bags and headed out to meet the car waiting for us.

  The air outside was cold. Holy. Shit. Cold.

  I clamped my teeth together as the wind cut right through me. Thankfully, it wasn’t far to the car and the driver had been right there at luggage claim to meet us. Jake nudged me into the—thankfully, heated—back before handing over the bags. One by one, the guys slid in, and I was sandwiched between Archie and Ian this time, while Coop hooked his foot around mine.

  Ten minutes later, we were pulling out of the airport. While it was getting lighter outside, it was definitely not getting sunnier. Maybe that 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.