Page 19 of Maldives & Mistletoe

“I am not.”

“You will.”

Yeah, probably.

He wasn’t going to admit it out loud, though.

Finally, Damian let Theo go, and he took two wide steps sideways to get out of the fucker’s reach. Pointing a finger between his eyes and then at his brother-in-law, Theo said, “I’m watching you.”

“Good luck with that.”

“Just admit you enjoyed the Maldives, Damian,” Theo said, folding his arms over his chest. “Just say it—it’s not hard. Yes, Theo, I enjoyed the Maldives. We’re coming back here.”

Damian pressed his lips into a thin line like he was trying to keep the words in, but eventually, he replied, “I never said I didn’t like the place—”

“See!”

“And yes, once the kids are a little older, we will come back,” his friend finished, cocking a brow. “But if you think I am flying with toddlers again on a regular flight like that first bright idea you and Eve had, you are fucking insane.”

He didn’t care about that.

He only cared about the other bit he heard.

Theo smirked. “A little older, huh? Like what, next year?”

“No, not next year. Maybe in a—”

Tommas cleared his throat, taking Theo and Damian’s attention away from their argument for a moment. The two of them shot Tommas a look, but he only nodded in their direction. Or rather, past them, back toward their huts. Turning, Theo found exactly what the boss had been looking at.

Theo blinked.

And again.

Twinkle lights and tinsel lined the entire docks leading to their huts. Garland had been roped around the railings. Instead of just white sand, now it was a mixture of Christmas colors. Reds and greens. If Theo wasn’t mistaken, that was mistletoe hanging over the front door to the first hut, too.

There wasn’t a hell of a lot of Christmas decorations, sure, but it was just enough to make him chuckle.

Well done, Eve.

That was her only worry about this vacation. That somehow, Christmas would pass them by and no one would really celebrate it. Her favorite part of the holiday was decorating and making everything look like a fucking Christmas wonderland.

He supposed she’d done that again.

Just this time, in the Maldives.

That was his wife—always finding a way to get it done.

The four of them followed the twinkle lights and tinsel to the hut at the far end where the front door was wide open, and their wives moved between the hut, and the sitting area outside. Christmas music filtered out of Damian and Lily’s place while the kids made sandcastles.

And where was Eve?

Down in the sand with the kids. Her bare legs were covered in sand, and she only laughed when Cory brought over a handful, and dumped it over her head.

Theo didn’t want to interrupt his wife because clearly she was having the time of her life, so he hung back just far enough to watch her and hopefully stay out of her view. It only lasted as long as it took Joe to notice Theo was standing just around the corner of the hut watching them. The kid shouted his name, and Eve looked up with one of her blinding, sweet smiles.

“Hey,” she said. “Wanna help me build a sandcastle?”

Theo laughed. “You look like you’re doing great right there by yourself.”