Page 43 of Wedlocked

“Are you sure?” Lars asked.

I turned, hearing the slight apprehension in his tone and noting he was glued to Win’s side now instead of trying to haul him away.

“It’s all good, blondie.” I assured him.

“Blondie!” Win sputtered, eyes narrowing on my face.

I smirked, feeling the glare, but kept my attention on his other half. “Nothing to do with you or how well you shred the mountain. You can beat me later. I’m gonna grab some solo time with Wes,” I said, thumbing toward my other half.

Lars studied me a second longer, and I let him look. The list of people I would go out of my way to not hurt their feelings was insanely small.

Insanely small = two people. And hell, half the time, I just told Win how it was.

But there was a third name on that list now. Hadn’t planned on adding anyone else. Then Win brought home Lars, and well, he was my brother now. And even though he and I were completely different, we were kindred in being abuse survivors. And where my experiences made me an asshole, it made Lars less so. That made me feel protective of him.

And after seeing his face the other day when he admitted that bag of skin he called an ex had beat him for being better than him than skiing? Yeah, I’d take a minute to make sure he didn’t think I was about to repeat that cycle.

The crunch of snow and swish of Wes’s coat announced him right before his cheek hit the side of my shoulder. “Your coat is cold,” he complained.

“It’s snowing,” I deadpanned.

Pouting, he pulled his face back. Grunting, I ripped my glove off with my teeth and pushed his head back down, sliding my warm, bare hand between his skin and my jacket.

His cheek was icy against my heated palm, but I didn’t complain, just cupped more of it around his chilly face.

Sighing softly, he pushed a little farther against me but then stiffened and would have pulled away if not for my gloved hand anchoring him. “You’re going to get cold.”

“I’ll be fine, Nemo,” I said quietly, and he settled against me again.

“What the hell is with the nickname?” Win demanded. Guess he was still stuck on that.

“I’ve been calling him Nemo half his life,” I mused.

Wes made a strangled sound, and I had to bite back my smirk.

“You know damn well I’m not talking about Wes,” Win griped. “Since when do you think you can call my boyfriend blondie?”

“He’s my brother,” I said, matter of fact. Turning my attention to Lars, I said, “If anyone bothers you, let me know.”

Win sputtered, his face turning the same shade of red as the candy cane run. He was about to blast me, but Lars moved first, coming forward and plowing into me and Wes, hooking his arms around us. I froze with my arm pinned in the middle and my hand still beneath Wes’s face.

It was a group hug right there in the snow.

I hated group hugs.

“Thank you,” Lars said low. “Thank you for understanding.”

Fuck.

I looked over his shoulder to Win, expecting to see steam billowing out of his head. Instead, he was staring at us with a look that probably mirrored mine.

We are both fucking whipped.

“I’ll let it slide this one time,” Win said, jabbing a finger at me. “But no more.”

Lars went back to Win’s side, hooking his arm through his. “Come on,min hund, let’s go ski.”

The pair went off, and I glanced down at Wes whose face tilted up to meet my eyes. “He got to you.”