Yule Tied Up (Verona Falls University: Christmas Story)

1. Mackenzie

CHAPTER 1

Mackenzie

“Oh, my God, look! We’re nearly there.”

Beyond the winding road and the thick expanse of trees, strings of bright lights twinkle against the night sky.

We’re heading to an annual three-day Christmas market in one of the small towns in the Adirondack mountains. Excitement bubbles up inside me. I absolutely love this time of year. All the twinkling lights and the excuse to eat sugar cookies and drink mulled cider at any time of the day. I love gift buying too, though purchasing gifts for my three men isn’t always the easiest of things. They’re all wealthy in their own right, and if they want something, they can buy it themselves. I might just wrap myself up in a Christmas bow and call it a day. I’m pretty certain they’d be more than happy with that.

I reach across the central console to squeeze Kirill’s hand. He’s driving, focused on the road, but he glances over at me with a grin.

My heart gives a kick. I still can’t believe he’s mine. With his messy, bleached blond hair and nose ring, he’s the sort of man who turns heads when he walks into a room. He’s Russian born but has lived in the States for years now. He still has an accent and occasionally slips back into his mother tongue. Not that I mind. When he calls me his kukla —his doll—it still sends pleasurable shivers through me.

“I love how excited you are about this, Mackenzie,” he says.

I grin. “I really am.”

He throws me a sexy wink, and I can’t help but lean across to plant a kiss on his square jaw, the graze of his stubble against my lips.

In the back seat, his two best friends, Domenic and Valentino, are sharing snacks and playfully fighting over which playlist to listen to next. They banned my Christmas music from the list over an hour ago. Said it was too sickly sweet, spoilsports.

Tino leans forward, between the seats. “Hey, how come Kirill gets all the action?”

He grabs me around the throat and pulls me in for a kiss. I happily kiss him back, our tongues tangling. Kirill continues to drive, completely comfortable with me making out with his best friend.

“Well, this is fucking bullshit,” Dom grumbles.

I break off the kiss with Tino to sneak out a hand and grip his thigh. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn.”

The three of them make up a gang known as The Devils at Verona Falls University—a college for the sons and daughters of international crime families. You’d think I’d have avoided them like the plague with a name like that, but since Dom was supposed to have been my stepbrother, I never had the chance. They made my life hell when we first met, but that’s all changed now.

I’m sure all of them will get their turn with me over the next three days. As much as I want to make the most of visiting the market stalls, and going on horse and wagon rides, and drinking hot chocolate, I know we’ll make the most of having the cabin to ourselves.

The thought has me tingling all over. Things have calmed down since the arrival of our baby. We all love her to pieces, but it puts a damper on your love life. I’ve also been conscious of my health, as I suffer from epilepsy, and growing a whole other human being puts a lot of strain on the body. We’ve been through a lot over this past year, and the stress didn’t make things better either.

This trip is a gift from Domenic’s father, as is the offer to babysit our daughter while we’re away. I’m anxious about being this far from Lucy, especially as I haven’t left her this long before, but we all need this time. It’s important to remember how we were together, before we became parents. While we’re visiting the Christmas market, our actual accommodation is somewhere a little more discreet. We didn’t want to have to explain our situation to the owner of an Airbnb or try to find a hotel room that would accommodate all four of us, so we’ve got a remote cabin about thirty minutes’ drive from the town.

The cabin looked perfect in the pictures. It has an open fire with fur rugs on the floor, and the owners have decorated for Christmas, so it has a real tree. There’s a huge bed as well, big enough for all of us, which was our main concern.

Kirill frowns and stares ahead. The road takes a fork, and, for a beat, his eyes narrow as if he’s unsure which one to take. Then I see it, the small, almost hidden sign to the Hideaway Cabin.

“It’s north,” I prompt him.

Kirill takes the turn, away from the town, and we head up an ever-narrowing track. There are no lights out here, and only the bright beam from our headlights shows the way. Trees and inky blackness stretch out on either side. We’ve left the twinkling lights of the town behind us. I shiver a little. If I wasn’t with three big, scary-ass men, I’d be too nervous to stay somewhere so remote.

The cabin has Wi-Fi, we checked, so we won’t be completely cut off. We need to be contactable in case there’s an emergency with our daughter.

“Rumors are that a witch lives in these woods,” Dom announces out of nowhere.

I swivel in my seat and give him the side-eye. “Dom, don’t. Not unless you want me to run back to Verona Falls.”

Tino laughs. “As if that place is any less scary. You must have heard the stories about how four different ghosts haunt the halls.”

This is news to me. “They do?”

“Yeah,” he replies. “Three of them are old, like from distant times.”

I laugh softly at the way he puts it. Distant times. He’s not wrong in that vernacular.

“But there’s the girl.” He gives a small shudder as if shaking the idea off.

I raise my eyebrows and twist in my seat to face him. “Girl?”

He holds my gaze. “Yeah, you know, the one who fell from the tower.”

“Shut the fuck up about dead girls and ghosts.” Kirill peers out into the darkness. “This is supposed to be a romantic getaway.”

He hates the dark.

I twist back around and put my hand on his thigh. “There are lights all around the cabin,” I say. “Beautiful fairy lights. It’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah, unless there’s a power outage,” a voice says from the back seat.

I swivel my head and throw daggers at Dom with my eyes. He makes a face as he realizes what he’s said. Kirill’s knuckles tighten on the wheel.

“Yeah, that won’t happen,” Dom adds quickly.

Tino sits back, slinging his arm over the back of the seat. “There’s a back-up generator, so even if it did, we’re fine.”

Kirill’s knuckles relax a bit. I let out a breath. Sometimes Kirill scares me. Out of the three of them, he’s the one with the potential to go most off the rails. I love him, but the guy comes with more baggage than Louis Vuitton.

Finally, we reach the cabin, and, as the online brochure promised, the Hideaway is twinkling with gorgeous lights, all around, casting a glow on the entire clearing.

I get out of the car first and look around. While the clearing is pretty, and the cabin utterly charming, pressing in on us on all four sides is nothing but pitch-black woods. I suppress a shiver and spin to grin at Kirill when he joins me, not wanting him to notice it the way I did.

Something wet tickles my nose, and I look up.

“It's snowing!” I cry, putting out my gloved hands to catch the delicate flakes and then poking out my tongue. I think of something else. “Shit, are we going to make it to the market tomorrow if it sticks?”

“We’ve got snow chains for the tires,” Kirill reassures me. “We’ll be fine.”

I hope he’s right. While I don’t mind getting snowed in with these three, it’s our daughter’s first Christmas, and I’d be heartbroken not to make it back in time. I’m already feeling guilty for not bringing her with us, but her grandfather reassured us that he’ll make sure she has a lovely time, just the two of them. I know it’s important that they spend quality time together, too. Even though there’s no biological proof of her parentage, Nataniele has taken to grandfather-hood like a champ.

It had taken a little time, but now he’s fully accepted that Domenic is one of her dads, biology be damned.

Dom checks his watch as he joins us, along with Tino. “It’s nearly five,” he says. “The markets go on until eight p.m. Shall we put the bags in and head down now? Take a look?”

“I’d like that.” I could murder a hot drink, and, while we packed food, I’d like to grab some snacks for the evening.

I head inside the cabin, eager to explore. The nostalgic scent of pine hits my nose the moment I walk in. It’s a log cabin and looks exactly like the photographs on the website. A real, giant tree is positioned in one corner of the living area, fully decorated with baubles and ribbons and candy canes, and stockings hang from an open fireplace. A thick, white fur rug covers the wooden floor, and the cast iron chandelier is strewn with garlands. Everywhere I look are more twinkling lights. It’s absolutely perfect, and my heart lifts with happiness.

The guys carry the bags in, not letting me help, even though I’m perfectly capable.

I hear them arguing, voices raised, and I focus on what they are saying.

“You were supposed to pack them,” Dom says to Tino.

“No, you were.”

Kirill sighs. “Well, this isn’t helping, I think we ought to drive somewhere and buy a gun tomorrow.”

“What’s wrong?” I ask, getting in their space to focus their attention on me, and diffuse the building anger.

“Tino forgot to pack the fucking weapons,” Dom snarls.

“No, Dom did,” Tino grumbles.

I laugh. “Guys, we’re at a cabin in the woods. There’s no one for miles. And there’s three of you and you’re all big and strong. Don’t worry, I feel quite safe.”

Kirill is still frowning and I pat his arm gently. “We can go get guns tomorrow, okay?”

He smiles at that, the divot between his brows relaxing. “Okay.”

They troop back out to the car and continue to unload.

I watch them as they come and go, enjoying the way their muscles flex beneath their clothes as they haul the bags. Dom, classically handsome, with his tousled light-brown hair and his beautiful green eyes, and dimples. Tino, darker, bigger, inked, and intimidating to look at, but deep down, the softest one of the three.

Then there’s Kirill. Blond, pierced, fucking crazy, but beautiful with it.

They’re so different, and that’s why this works as well as it does. Then there’s me—a little softer and rounder these days. On the inside, I’m different too. Reshaped by loss and abundance.

I lost a loved one but gained my men. I lost my freedom but found a family.

I almost lost my life but gained a new one with our precious little girl.

It’s been one hell of a year, and a few days of peace and quiet will do us all good.