“I’m going to kill him,” Kane groaned. His erection was thick and hard between us, and I knew my cheeks would be burned pink with lust and desire. But Kane still set me on my feet, pointing a finger at me. “As soon as we get rid of him, we’re redoing that moment.”

Alix stepped around the corner then, shoes already kicked off, a bottle of beer in one hand, the rest of a six-pack in the other.

“Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” Kane growled.

I slapped his chest and laughed.

Alix had quickly become the irritating, playful, European brother I never knew I wanted but somehow always needed in my life. He was a staple in our home, and since he and Kane had been friends for so much longer, he was always welcome.

“Good.” He nodded once and plopped his ass onto the couch. “I came to watch Kane work—” His eyes squinted. Head tilted to one side. The other. He glanced back at us with furrowed brows. “You two are already married, no?”

“What do you think? We were just getting ready to go celebrate.”

“Ah.” Alix sipped his beer and turned back to the tree. “Looks nice. Go ahead and celebrate. I will be here. Alone like always.”

“Give up your search for the blonde?”

I’d heard the story so many times now I could recite it in my sleep. The night Alix found a blonde girl at the bar, the same night I showed up at Kane’s. He had the night of his life with her, an incredible morning the next day. She kicked him out and disappeared, and Alix has not been able to stop thinking of her since.

“I need to give up. But no one compares. I have not been with a woman—”

“Okay, that’s enough of that.” There were lots of things I listened to Alix talk about. His sex life was absolutely off-limits.

I plopped back down on the couch next to him as Kane scowled at us both.

“It’s Christmas,” I reminded him. “Love? Joy? Family?”

“Yeah, well, I wanted to love joy and practice putting a family in you for the next twenty hours, but now I can’t, can I?”

It wasn’t the first time he’d mentioned kids. I wanted time together alone with him. There were some days it felt like we barely knew each other. Other days where it felt like we’d been together since our childhood. Either way, he made me feel like he’d always been destined to be mine.

I waved toward the tree and grinned at Alix. “Come on, honey. Finish decorating the tree. You’ll make Alix so happy. And then you can love joy and practice after all you want.”

He hmphed but complied.

Alix and I sat on the couch two days before Christmas, watching my man—my once temporary and now permanent husband—decorate the tree to Christmas carols and wine and beer and laughter. A lot of laughter.