AllFreeNovel
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When I step outside, I find Riven standing near the entrance to the restaurant, leaning against a streetlight. It’s gotten so much darker since we were inside; the sky is now a deep blue, quickly heading for black. He’s still on the phone, speaking harshly. I can tell by the set of his shoulders that he’s not happy.
“There’s no amount. I told you, no. It’s not happening,” he snaps, ending the call and dropping the phone into his pocket. I watch him take a deep breath, closing his eyes.
I come up behind him, crunching through the snow. “Riven?” His eyes flicker open again. “Hey. Are you okay?”
A muscle tics in his jaw. He nods, but I can tell he’s lying. Behind his usual calm mask, he looks really, really upset.
My heart hurts. Without even thinking, I step forward and pull him into a hug. The top of my head only reaches the middle of his chest. He’s still for a few seconds, frozen—then he wraps strong arms around me, pulling me even closer, locking his hands behind my back. For someone who seems so reserved, he’s an excellent hugger.
We stay like that for a while. Snow flutters down over us, and I hear laughter and chatter as people pass; but we just stand in the middle of the pavement, holding each other. I rub his back slowly through his coat, feeling the tension trembling in his body. His clean, warm-linen smell washes over me again, and I bury my face into him.
Eventually he pulls away, his chest expanding with a big breath. His usually calm eyes look unnaturally dark in the dying daylight. He licks his lips.
“You look like you needed that,” I smile. “I—”
I break off when he puts a gloved hand on my cheek. His thumb strokes over my cheekbone, wiping off snowflakes. He doesn’t say anything. He’s breathing harder than usual, every muscle in his body tense.
“Riven?” I whisper. “Are you o—”
He bends and presses his lips to mine.
The world goes mute. It sounds like an exaggeration, but I mean it; as soon as Riven kisses me, it’s like someone has shoved a pair of sound-cancelling headphones over my ears. All I can hear is my own shaky breath, and the soft bristle of Riven’s stubble stroking over my cheek. His kiss is soft at first, a warm, closed-mouth press that sends heat jolting through my veins. Without even thinking, I twist both hands in the lapels of his coat and surge up, kissing him back, hard. He groans, the sound rumbling through his chest, and tangles a hand in my hair to pull me even closer. His fingers massage the back of my neck as the kiss deepens, becoming long and sliding. It would be completely perfect, but soon my calves start to shake. At least when I kissed Eli for the first time, we were lying down. Riven is the tallest of all the men. Eventually, I can’t take it anymore and start to pull away, but he just wraps his arms and picks me up around the waist, easily lifting me up onto a step, not breaking contact with my mouth. We kiss harder, and harder, until I’m panting into his mouth, rubbing against his front, practically seeing stars. I’ve never had a kiss quite like this, before. It feels like the kind of kiss you see at the end of a movie, when the hero’s chased the heroine down to the airport and arrived in the departures lounge just before she gets on her flight. I wrap my hands around his neck, sucking on his bottom lip.
“Daisy,” he mutters, and I shudder, pushing up even closer. Closer. I want to be closer.
“There you two are!” A bright voice suddenly calls from across the square.
We pull apart, gasping for air. For a moment, I can’t look away from Riven’s dark eyes. He’s looking at me with an expression I can’t begin to understand on his face. A mixture of softness and confusion.
“Guys!” The voice comes again, and I snap out of it, my eyes flicking over his shoulder as Eli and Cole come crunching through the snow towards us.
Shit.Did they see us kissing? From the angle they’re coming from, it’s possible that all they saw was Riven’s back. Eli doesn’t look like he noticed anything, swaggering up with his usual dimpled smile. He’s carrying a cardboard box, looking very pleased with himself.
Guilt blooms in my stomach. I’m not guilty that I kissed both of them; I’m not in a relationship. I can kiss who I want. But it feels a bit unfair, since they’re so close. This could make living arrangements very awkward.
Especially since Riven doesn’t seem to want to let me go. His grip on my waist just gets tighter, as if he wants to pull me away from the other two.
“Riv,” I mutter. “Get off.”
Slowly, he straightens, reluctantly dropping his hands. “Did you get everything?” He asks. Cole nods.
Eli lifts his box. “I went toSystemet.”
“He bought enough booze to last us until next year,” Cole adds drily.
“Yep.” Eli shakes the box gently, and I hear the glass clink of bottles. “We’re partying tonight!”
Cole takes the box off him, presumably before he breaks something. “Let’s get going. I’m not driving on half-cleared roads in the dark.” Without waiting for us, he goes stamping off down the street.
Riven reaches over and adjusts my scarf, tucking it carefully back under my coat. I shiver as his leather gloves touch my throat. “Come on,” he says quietly, putting a hand on the small of my back. Eli joins us, flanking me on the other side.
“Have fun without me?” He asks brightly.
“I… um…” I flounder. I’m packed between two hot, muscled men, both of whom I’ve kissed today, and that fact is kind of melting my brain. “Yeah. Riven and I ate reindeer.”
“Really? Well, tonight, I am introducing you to another Swedish classic. I boughtsnaps.”
“Is that like schnapps?”
