Page 36 of Wrapped Up with the Three Scrooges

“There’s glitter?” The horror in his voice made me laugh.

“Everything festive has at least a little glitter. It’s basically Christmas dandruff.” I started laying out the fake tree pieces,trying to match the letters on each section. “Now come help me with this tree before I accidentally build it upside down.”

“I’m pretty sure trees only go one way.” He was already reaching for the base piece.

“You’d be surprised. I once managed to make it look like it was doing yoga.”

His laugh was unexpected and rich, sending warmth spreading through my chest. We worked together, arms and hands occasionally brushing as we assembled the tree. Each accidental touch sent little sparks of awareness through me, and I created excuses to reach past him to adjust branches.

“Holly Jolly Christmas” started playing as we were finishing up, and I couldn’t help singing along, using a tree branch as a microphone. Max shook his head, but I caught him mouthing the words when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“What the hell happened in here?”

I spun around to find Ronan standing in the doorway, staring at the explosion of Christmas decorations with an expression that suggested he’d walked into an alternate dimension.

“Christmas!” I answered cheerfully, refusing to be intimidated by his scowl. “We’re decorating. Want to help?”

“Absolutely not.” But instead of storming off like I expected, he disappeared to his house, or whatever it was, returning a few minutes later in jeans and a fitted gray t-shirt that did dangerous things to his shoulders.

Holy candy canes.

I’d only ever seen Ronan in business attire, all sharp suits and perfectly pressed shirts. This version of him, with slightly messy hair and socked feet, was doing serious damage to my ability to think straight. The casual clothes somehow made him look both more approachable and more devastating.

“If you’re going to invade our house, at least let me make sure you don’t make it look like an elf threw up in here.” He reached for a box of ornaments.

“I’ll have you know these are very tasteful decorations.” I tried not to stare at how his biceps flexed as he lifted the box off the floor. Why did these men insist on being so unfairly attractive? It was really very inconsiderate of them.

“The light-up reindeer I just saw suggests otherwise.” He set the box on the coffee table and lifted off the lid.

“Rudolph is a classic!” I turned to Max for support. “Back me up here.”

But Max was watching us with an odd expression, something almost soft in his eyes before he quickly masked it. “I’m staying out of this one. But if that reindeer starts singing, I’m leaving. The singing Santa in the break room is where I draw the line with singing animatronics.”

“You’re both impossible.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. Having them both here, helping despite their protests, made something warm settle in my chest that had nothing to do with holiday spirit.

Though, watching Ronan bend down to pick up an ornament hook he’d dropped definitely sparked something festive in me. I just wished Levi was here too.

I bit my lip, trying to focus on untangling lights rather than how distracting both men were. “So, um, is Levi on a date or something?” I aimed for casual, probably missing by a mile.

Ronan’s laugh was unexpected. “Levi? On a date?”

“He’s at his bowling league.” Max reached over my head to hang a sparkly snowflake. His chest brushed against my back, and I nearly dropped the lights. “Every Friday night.”

“Bowling?” I pictured Levi in those special shoes and couldn’t help giggling. “Like, with the funny shirts and everything?”

“Everything that you can imagine.” Ronan smirked, passing me another strand of lights. “He takes it very seriously. Has his own custom ball and everything.”

“That’s actually kind of adorable.” I smiled, imagining him getting competitive over bowling pins.

“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Max warned, but his eyes were twinkling. “He thinks he’s very intimidating with his bowling stance.”

We fell into an easy rhythm decorating, the three of us moving around each other like some kind of festive dance. Every now and then, one of them would make a sarcastic comment about the amount of glitter or question the necessity of another Santa figurine, but I caught them both admiring the way the tree and the decorations were coming together.

“Wait until we add the pinecones.” I reached for the box where I usually kept them. “They add this perfect rustic touch that-” I stopped, frowning as I dug through the container. “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Max paused with an ornament halfway to the tree.

“My pinecones are missing. I always put them on the tree and make this gorgeous display for the mantle.” I rifled through another box desperately. “They must still be at Josh’s... or I guess now they’d be at Goodwill or in the trash. I can’t believe I forgot them.”

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