This was how I liked to be, with my head on Michael’s shoulder and my hand in Adam’s lap, and Rob’s arm reached over to my thigh.

The snow that winter was so fluffy. It just begged for us to play in it, which of course, we did.

“Ouch!” Adam said as a snowball hit him smack in the jaw.

I squealed with laughter. “That was not me! I swear, that was Rob!”

“Lies!” Rob called over his shoulder as he ran away from the incoming onslaught of snowballs being launched from Adam’s packed hands.

We ran around on the snow-covered ground like kids, hurling snowballs at each other until Michael caught me by the waist and the two of us fell down onto the pile of cold, wet snow and waved our arms and legs against the ground to make snow angels. Michael was pretty much fully recovered now. He could train with the other guys and pick me up and spin me around again. He seemed like he was right back to himself aside from a few scars on his torso that I just told him made him look like a badass. We laid in the snow and when he saw me start to shiver, he crawled up over on top of me and covered me with the heavy blanket of his body heat.

“I want to make love on the mountaintop again,” I whispered to him as the other two guys were still occupied running around and hurling icy snowballs at each other.

Their faces were starting to turn red from all of the smacking impacts that they were turning into a snowy death-match.

“Well I’m not sure that winter is the best time to do that,” he grinned at me. “We would probably freeze most of our tender body parts off if we tried. Unless we had a LOT of blankets, like the actual Viking-style fur blankets. Then it might work.” He laughed and his body jostled against mine and made me tremble with excitement even through the big, bulky winter clothes. “Otherwise,” he said. “We’re going to have to wait until the spring arrives.”

“But what if I can’t wait until the springtime?” I asked.

Michael laughed. “Well if you really can’t wait then I can take you inside right this very minute and make love to you.”

“I’m serious,” I said, and as much as I tried to keep a lightness on my face, I felt it starting to fade. “What if I can’t wait until the spring to make love to you again on the mountain beneath the stars?”

He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Well then, I guess we would just have to get some of those big, warm furs and make love on top of the snow beneath the winter moon. We would let our body heat warm us, and the furs keep us covered, and whatever passion burned within us would keep us fiery on the inside against the cold air.”

I smiled at the thought of that, but the smile hurt my heart.

“Lisette,” Michael asked me as he looked in my eyes. “Is everything okay?”

And even though I wanted to muster the strength to tell him the truth, I continued to lie like the weak little woman I felt like I was turning into.

“Yeah,” I said as I cupped his cheek, “everything is wonderful.”

25

“Adam?” I asked over coffee. We were the only two people in the kitchen just then. Michael was taking a hot shower and Rob had gone out to grab some more wood for the fire. “Can I ask you to do me a favor please?”

He smiled. “Sure, shoot!”

“I need you to get me some big, heavy fur blankets.”

“That’s a rather odd request,” he chuckled “What are they for?”

I giggled. “I can’t tell you. And I also need you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone else that you’re getting them for me.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Is this little favor going to come back to bite me in the ass somehow?”

“No,” I laughed. “Not at all, I promise.”

“I don’t even know where to get giant fur blankets,” he said.

“I do.” I pulled out my phone and gave him the address to a shop in downtown Asheville that I had already called. “They’re kind of a Nordic boutique and they have exactly what I want. Genuine giant furs, like the kind Vikings used to use. I’ve already called them, and they have four on hold for me. Can you go pick them up?”

He shrugged. “Sure, I guess so. Like today?”

“Yes please,” I smiled. “But remember you can’t tell the others. Promise.”

He chuckled. “Uh, yeah sure. Okay. I promise. Just tell them I went into town to get more whiskey, which I will. That ought to do the trick.”

I wrapped my arms around him in a huge hug. “Thank you, you’re the greatest.”

“I know,” Adam smirked.

He got straight in the car and left before the other two guys came back.

“Hey where’d Adam go?” Rob said when he came back in with more firewood. “I saw that he took the car.”

“He went to the store to get more whiskey,” I lied.

Michael came out of the bathroom just as I was saying that.

“One of the best things about living in the mountains during the wintertime has got to be the continual pouring of whiskey,” he laughed.

“Agreed,” Rob said as he stoked the fire.

Michael came over to me with a towel wrapped around his waist. He leaned against me and kissed the top of my nose, which I quickly changed to be my lips as I tilted my head up. I ran my fingers along his chest, over his scars, and into the top of his towel.

“Tease,” he said as the corners of his lips curled up and I tugged at his towel a bit too hard which made it come undone and fall to the ground.

“Ugh guys,” Rob said as he pretended to cover his eyes with his hand. “Get a room.”

“We have a room,” Michael said as he bent down to pick up his towel, looking aroused enough to make me want to jump on him right here in the living room. “The only problem is that you all are in it with us.” He turned around and used his towel to whip Rob across the chest, not caring in the least that his half-aroused cock was hanging wide out in the open for everyone to see.

Rob leapt over the couch to smack him back, but Michael darted to hide behind me which we had already established previously in our snowball fight, meant that he was safe.

It was nice to have had this time to all hang out and just have fun together. After all of the horrid events that had happened, we needed this time just to enjoy together.

The sleeping arrangement didn’t seem to bother anyone even though they teased about it. Every night I slept with my three guys curled around me. And when there was intimacy between us, the others would seem to respectfully vanish for a while.

When Adam got back with the car, he brought the whiskey in and left the furs in the trunk of the car. He winked at me when he walked back inside, and Michael saw it.

“What was that about?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, you know, secrets and stuff,” Adam taunted.

“So, what do you guys think we should do when winter is over?” Rob asked as we all laid around in front of the fire. “I don’t really want to ever go back to Charlotte.”