20. The Business Trip

The "Business Trip"

Nova

21 Days Until New Year’s Eve

1 Week Later

I stepped back and looked at my work. I had given myself most of the day off to work on my design for the gingerbread house competition. I was sure we would win this year with my design. It was a little ambitious, but nobody ever won by playing it safe. After today, all of my attention will be on next weekend’s festival. Everything was lining up, and I was confident it would go off without a hitch. So many people in town have volunteered their time to ensure it did. My most pressing task next week will be baking the hundreds of sugar cookies we need for the decorating competition.

A throat cleared behind me, making me jump as I whirled around. All three men were standing in the dining room doorway, watching me. “You left your door unlocked,” Ben explained. “We knocked, but you must not have heard us.”

“Sorry. I guess I was a little in the zone,” I laughed. I looked at the three men that I had grown to consider mine over the past week. I knew that I shouldn’t. While I knew they cared for me, that didn’t mean they wanted a future with me past New Year’s Eve. They had been super busy all week preparing for the new product launch in January, so this was the first time since Christmas tree shopping that I had been with all of them at the same time. Even with their busy schedules, they ensured one of them was with me every night. It gave me hope that we could find a way to make this work. I ignored the voice that told me to cut my losses now because I couldn’t stand the idea of never seeing them again.

“What are you working on?” Linc asked as he approached. He bent to kiss me hello, followed by his brothers while he looked over my sketches.

“My plans for the gingerbread house competition.”

He looked at the papers spread across my dining room table and then at me. “Sugar, this isn’t a house. This is Main Street.”

“Too much?” I asked, nervously biting my bottom lip.

“It’s perfect,” Ben assured me as he wrapped his arms around me. “If that’s what you want to do, then we will do it. I’m sure between the four of us, we can get it done.”

“Thank you,” I replied, twisting to kiss his cheek. “So what brings you guys by? I thought you were busy with work.”

“We are,” Grant replied, “but we missed you and needed a break. So do you. You up for an adventure?” His eyes twinkled as he waited for my reply, and I knew there wasn’t any way I would ever say no to him. I was so screwed.

“Always.”

“Good. Dress warmly. We’ll be playing in the snow.” Grant pulled me from Ben’s arms and turned me toward the bedroom, swatting my ass to get me moving.

Excitement spurred me to move quickly as I pulled on a pair of fleece-lined jeggings, a long-sleeved shirt, fuzzy socks, and snow boots. I knew it was pointless, but I pulled my hair into a high ponytail, securing it with two separate hair ties and wrapping a pink scrunchy around them. That gave me three layers of protection from Linc. Just in case, I grabbed a handful of hair ties and ran to the front door. I shoved them into my coat pocket hanging by the door before he could see them.

When I looked up, Grant was watching me. Busted. Instead of ratting me out, he grinned and winked. It would be our secret. We left the house, and it didn’t take long to figure out where they were taking me. The ski lodge was a popular hangout spot for locals during winter. It also used to be a popular tourist spot, but as the owners got older, it became more challenging for them to keep up with the times and continue attracting the newer generations to our slopes. There was a rumor, though, that their only daughter was considering taking over. Hopefully, with the proper marketing and reigniting of the festival, we will be able to attract tourists to our winter wonderland again.

Linc grabbed my hand when we were out of the car and dragged me toward the sledding hill. “I haven’t been sledding since I was a kid,” he said excitedly. When we stopped, he swiped the scrunchy from my hair, and I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing at the disgruntled scowl he had looking at my intact ponytail.

“It’s been a few years for me. I used to love coming out here,” I replied wistfully once I had myself under control.

“Do you ski?” Ben asked when they joined us in line.

“Of course! You can’t grow up here without learning how to ski and snowboard. I can ice skate, too. Though honestly, I haven’t done any of them in some time, so I’m out of practice,” I admitted as I accepted a metal disc from the lodge employee.

“No more than two at a time,” the employee informed us. “Space yourself out, be safe, and have fun. Someone will collect your sleds at the bottom.”

Linc and I went first, taking our positions at the top of the hill. I felt too big for the sled, but I kept my feelings to myself. In the last week, they’ve become rather strict about self-deprecating talk from me. If one of them spanked my ass in public, I would have to move.

“On three,” Linc said. “One, two, three!”

On three, we both pushed off, and a scream ripped from me as we hurdled to the bottom of the hill. Linc’s laughter reached me across the breeze, and my own joined his. I had forgotten how exciting sledding was. When we reached the bottom of the hill, I lost my balance and went tumbling into the soft snow at the bottom. I was still laughing, and a worried Lincoln appeared above me. As soon as he saw I was fine, he laughed with me. He pulled me to my feet so we could get out of the way so Grant and Ben could join us.

Lincoln brushed the snow from my clothes as we stood to the side and watched them mount their sleds. I didn’t miss it when his fingers slid to my hair and silently removed the hair tie.

“What the fuck?” he asked when he discovered there was another. “Did you booby trap your hair?” he accused.

“I Linc proofed it,” I laughed. “Oh, here they come!” As Ben and Grant rocketed toward us, I took advantage of Linc’s distraction to replace the extra hair tie he had removed. They wiped out like we did and joined us, laughing and enjoying themselves. I was getting a rare glimpse into the men behind the business owners and how they must have been as boys together. We walked back up the hill to get in line again. I went down the slope several more times, taking turns with each of them. At every chance, Lincoln stole a hair tie. When he finally caught on to what I was doing, he pinned me down in the snow and swiped my stash with a triumphant cheer.

I shook my head at him.

“You realize you have a fucking problem, right?” Grant asked him as he helped me off the ground.

I brushed myself off and then looked at the hill with a sigh. The path was well-worn and easily trekked, but it was uphill, and I wasn’t looking forward to another trip up. I was out of shape and feeling the burn in my legs.

“Hop on,” Ben said, bending down before me.

“Are you crazy?” I asked incredulously. “There is no way in hell you can--”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you,” Grant growled in my ear.

I sighed in defeat as I climbed on Ben’s back. This was ridiculous. He looped his arms under my knees and stood. I clung to him tightly. “I don’t want to hear it if you can’t walk tomorrow,” I mumbled.

Crack.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelped.

“We warned you,” Grant replied as Lincoln snickered.

Ben bounced me on his back. “This is nothing. Stop worrying,” he instructed as he climbed the hill with Grant and Lincoln trailing behind us.

“I gotta say, I’m loving this view,” Lincoln commented.

When we reached the top, Ben set me down. He was barely winded. “See,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah. I need hot chocolate.” We started walking toward the lodge, and I slowed my pace enough to let them get ahead. Stooping down, I grabbed a handful of snow and formed a ball. Considering my options, I decided to throw it at Grant for slapping my ass earlier.

The snowball landed in the center of his back with a wet plop. He froze and turned toward me slowly, eyes narrowed. When Ben and Linc saw the snow on his back, they laughed.

“You’re dead,” he stated. I scrambled behind a safety guidelines sign as a snowball just missed me and slammed into it.

I scooped snow into balls as Lincoln landed beside me, making me scream. I went to mash snow in his face, but he caught my hand.

“I come in peace!” he yelled. “I’m on your side!”

I accepted his answer and peeked around the sign to see that Grant, and Ben had worked quickly to pile snow to hide behind. Once we had some snowballs built up, I launched one toward them and laughed in glee as it landed where they were crouched.

“Nice shot!” Lincoln commended.

Because of where we were hidden, Linc and I had the advantage. They managed to get some over the top of the sign, but most didn’t make it. After trading several volleys, things went quiet. I peeked around the sign and screeched when I saw they were almost on us, opting for hand-to-hand combat. I scurried from behind the sign but didn’t make it far before I was tackled into the snow.

I laughed as the three men tickled me relentlessly as we rolled around in the snow. “Traitor!” I sputtered at Lincoln through a face full of snow as I crawled away from them on all fours.

“Sorry, Sugar. When it comes to rolling around with you, I can’t resist,” Linc replied as he tackled me again, grinding his hardening cock against my ass. If we didn’t take this somewhere private, we would put on a show none of us planned.

“Truce!” I yelled when I escaped his clutches again. I was out of breath as I rolled to my back and stared at the blue sky. The others collapsed around me, breathing heavily as well.

“Can we do that again, but in the privacy of your backyard?” Lincoln asked.

“Ours would be more private,” Grant replied.

“You want to have a snowball fight in your backyard?” I asked.

“Not exactly, Sugar,” Linc laughed.

“But there will be balls,” Ben commented. There was a beat of silence before we all started laughing.

“I’m picking up what you’re throwing down now,” I replied. They wanted to have snow sex. It sounded cold, but it might be fun if we ensure nobody gets frostbite.

“Nova?”

I groaned at the sound of Paul’s voice. Of course, he was here. Two sets of feet appeared next to my head as he blocked my view of the sky. One set was female. The guys jumped to their feet, immediately helping me up and brushing me off.

“Hello, Paul,” I said politely. He looked surprised and slightly annoyed to see me here with his bosses. I held his gaze, refusing to be the first to speak. I didn’t owe him an explanation. My eyes shifted to the woman by his side, who looked confused as her eyes bounced between us. The awkward silence stretched, so I broke it by introducing myself.

“Hi. You must be Paul’s ‘business trip,’” I said, making air quotes before holding my hand to shake hers.

“What?” she asked.

“How did you...” Paul trailed off from his questions but continued to sputter nonsense. He didn’t expect me to know the truth and didn’t want to say too much to risk his relationship or employment.

“I’m Nova.”

“Brandy. Nice to meet you,” the thin, perky blonde replied.

“How long have you love birds been together?” I asked. I felt my men crowd around me in silent support.

“Six months. It started as a long-distance relationship, but I recently moved to town.”

I looked at Paul; he had the good sense of looking slightly ashamed. “You’re pathetic,” I told him.

“Wait!” Brandy exclaimed. “Did you say that your name was Nova? As in, the owner of Icing on Top and coordinator of the Christmas festival?”

“That’s me,” I replied, slightly taken aback by her excitement at meeting me, considering she was sleeping with my boyfriend.

“If you need help or more volunteers, please let me know! I would love to help out!” she gushed.

“Umm, Bunny,” Paul interjected. “We should probably get going. I’m sure Nova and her friends have important plans to get to.”

He ushered her away before any more words could be exchanged. When he was a short distance away, he looked back at us with an unreadable expression.

“Just look at how jealous he is,” Grant whispered as he hugged me from behind.

“She had no idea who you were to him,” Lincoln commented. “He never told her about you.”

“I should probably warn her, but it’s not my business,” I replied as I watched them walk away.

“You did good,” Ben praised. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” I shivered from the cold. “Let’s go get that hot chocolate.” That chapter of my life was over.