A Very Daddy Christmas (Lucky Lady Reverse Harems)

Chapter 15

15

Cora

I t gets even more difficult when I arrive at the house. The atmosphere feels different. Or maybe I’m the one who’s different because of the secret I’m now carrying. Either way, it’s odd and pressing as I walk into the living room to find Dario playing with Sherry.

“Welcome back,” Sherry greets me with a soft smile. “How was your day?”

“Weird. Let’s go with weird,” I chuckle softly.

“Cora!” Dario exclaims and rushes into my arms.

I laugh and scoop him up, welcoming his warmth and affection like some sort of cure-all. “And how’s my little guy? All good?”

“Yeah, school was fun today!”

“Oh, really? What did you do?” I ask.

“Finger painting!” he wiggles his cute little fingers at me. I spot traces of color here and there and make a mental note to give him a good scrub and some hand cream later tonight before bed. “Teacher said I’m a great artist!”

I nod in agreement. “I’m sure she did because you are. Did you bring any of your paintings home?”

“Yeah.”

Sherry holds one up for me to see, smiling broadly. I look at the smudges of green and yellow spread across the paper, recognizing the shades still imprinted on his fingers. “Oh, wow, that’s really cool!” I say, then give Dario a kiss on the forehead. “Do you mind hanging out with Sherry for a little while longer so I can grab something quick to eat?”

“You didn’t get a chance to eat at the bakery?” Sherry raises a wondering brow.

“You’d be amazed by how much food comes out of my hands that I don’t get to actually eat on a daily basis,” I shoot back, half-joking.

“Don’t worry about it,” she says. “I’ll stick around while you eat.”

“Thanks.”

I leave Dario in Sherry’s company and head into the kitchen. To my surprise, the guys are there, gathered around the dinner table. Their eyes light up at the sight of me. Slowly but surely, smiles bloom on their handsome faces, making my skin tingle. A familiar and much-needed feeling, it seems.

“Hey,” I mumble. “What’s up?”

“Can we talk?” Sebastian asks as the three of them get up.

I nod slowly and take my seat at the table. My growling stomach will have to wait for a few more minutes. “Sure,” I say, my voice low.

“I know it’s been a tough month,” Sebastian says, reclaiming his seat along with Waylan and Riggs. “For everyone here.”

“It has been tough, yes,” I reply.

“And I know we ended our personal relationship on a rather unpleasant note,” he adds.

“I thought it was amicable,” I say.

Waylan scoffs lightly. “Polite, maybe. Not amicable.”

“Point is, we miss you,” Riggs cuts in, drawing heavy scowls from his best friends and business partners. “What? We’re all thinking it.”

“I was getting there,” Sebastian gently berates him.

“I’ve missed you too,” I blurt out.

“Good to know.” Sebastian lets a heavy sigh leave his chest.

Waylan leans forward, giving me a curious look. “We’re hoping we might have another conversation on the matter.”

“We should,” I reply. Where is this coming from? I thought I’d made up my mind. “Look, it felt like the right choice at the time.”

“And now?” Riggs asks.

All eyes are on me. There is longing in them. Heat. The sweet kind of heat I’ve missed the most. There’s curiosity and wonder. Fear. Doubt. Everything I see in their gazes I’ve felt from the moment I left them. It’s all there, mirroring me in exceptional detail. It makes me feel less alone in my turmoil.

“Not so much,” I manage. “I’ve been giving it some thought. I mean, I’m not saying let’s get back together, per se…”

Sebastian reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. “Cora, as soon as you walked into our lives, nothing has been the same. We didn’t agree with your decision to end our intimate relationship, and it hurt us deeply, but we decided to respect your decision and to give you all the space you need. I swear, we were going to stick to that, we really were.”

“Just as I was going to stick to mine. I really was.”

“I know,” he says. “But it’s been a week, and nothing feels right anymore. We’re acting like strangers around one another.”

“More like coworkers,” Waylan scoffs.

“It’s weird,” Sebastian continues. “You’re a warm, kind woman. You know what we have for one another is real and genuine. It’s a nasty world out there, I agree. But we were safe with each other. We were careful. We can still be careful. For what it’s worth, we could try going public.”

“What?” I gasp.

“Just you and me. Let the public think you and I are in a relationship. That way, we’ll be able to deflect any rumors of anything else they may think is going on in this house, with the four of us under the same roof.”

I give him a confused look. “You want to be my pretend boyfriend?”

“Not pretend,” Sebastian replies.

“Oh.”

He inches closer and plants a soft kiss on my lips. To my shame, it’s enough to break my resolve altogether. I melt into his kiss, cursing the day I gave into him in the first place. Cursing it and thanking the universe for it at the same time.

Waylan sits up and comes around, cupping my face in his hands before he pulls me into a kiss of his own. My defenses are permanently destroyed. Hell, I didn’t stand a chance. I came home thinking I’d spend the rest of my evening missing them and once again regretting my decision. I didn’t imagine we’d be here.

“I’m done pretending I’m okay with this,” Waylan says.

Riggs grabs me by the back of the neck, drawing me close. His lips crash into mine, and I breathe him in—his musky cologne, the scent of coffee lingering between us. “Come back to us, Cora,” he says. “It isn’t the same without you.”

“Let’s try it. Let’s play a part in public. We’ll control the narrative that way. We’ll have less to hide, in a sense. We belong together, that much is obvious,” Sebastian adds.

“Obvious,” I manage, trying to get my brain cells back together.

They really ganged up on me here, and I gladly surrendered. I didn’t even consider an objection or any sort of opposition. My body craves intimacy. My heart craves emotional safety. My mind desires peace. And through everything that has happened since that day at the fair, I must give my men credit where its due. They’ve given me all of that in every moment we’ve spent together.

“I’m so afraid it’s going to come back to bite us in the ass,” I say, resting my head on Sebastian’s shoulder, while Waylan sits back in his chair, a soft smile lingering on his lips.

Riggs gives my shoulder a soft squeeze, his hand slipping shyly down my back. “If it does, we’ll handle it. Together.”

“We’ve made it this far,” Sebastian says. “We’re clearly stronger when we’re together.”

“And miserable when we’re apart,” Riggs adds.

All I can do is nod in agreement because they’re right. This past week has been something out of a slow-burn horror movie. Monsters are everywhere around us, in different shapes and sizes, yet all wearing the masks of seemingly good people. We’re still confronting danger and risks, and plenty of unknowns left to untangle.

But the one thing that presents itself with crystal clarity is that we are, in fact, stronger and happier together.

“Let’s get away somewhere,” Sebastian says after the sweetest moment of silence.

“Huh?”

“Just the four of us,” he replies, giving me a warm, loving smile. “Just for a weekend. We’ll rent a chalet somewhere in the mountains. Or maybe a nice ski resort. It’s early in the season, so there won’t be too many eyes on us.”

I frown slightly. “Are you sure about this?”

“Sherry can stay with Dario. We already talked to her,” Waylan chimes in.

“You already talked to her,” I echo, my tone a little flat as I briefly wonder why she didn’t mention it when I first came in. “That was fast.”

The guys exchange amused glances before they set their sights on me again. “We were hoping to cover as much ground as possible before presenting this,” Sebastian says.

“Wait, which weekend?”

“This weekend.”

I blink a few times, trying to wrap my head around how quickly things are shifting. My heart is doing somersaults in my chest, heat spreading through my veins as I realize I am genuinely happy with these men.

“I guess it’s useless to keep fighting this,” I groan slightly, feigning utter frustration.

It prompts laughter out of the guys, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I can almost see the storm clouds lifting from our shoulders.

Despite the risks we’re taking, being together just feels right.