Page 41 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends

Adrenaline crackles through me all the way to my slightly numb fingertips. All of our hard work is about to be seen by thousands of people! We just have to make sure there are no hiccups.

Or colossal failures.

As soon as the elevator door slides open, I step out and head to my desk, brushing stray snowflakes off my coat before pulling it off. The stress from launch day is already making me flushed, and I’ve only just got to the office.

The outcome of this update will not only affect their reputation, but it will also affect mine too.

“Happy launch day!” Josh quips as he stands from his desk, his face lighting up at the sight of me.

A laugh breaks from me as I drape my coat over the back of my chair. “Sounds like we’re a space company.”

Max steps up to my side and tilts his head, eyes roaming my face. Thoughts of last night flash through my mind, reminding me of all the times when I thought we were going to kiss. Reminding me of how natural and easy it felt being with him.

“Your face is red,” he says before gently pressing the back of his hand against my cheek.

My eyes flutter shut for a moment as the warmth of his skin eases away the chill. I lean into his touch before I rememberwhere we are—and who’s watching. I grab his hand and hold it there against my cheek, my eyes opening and lifting to his. “It’s cold outside.”

“I’ll make you a cup of coffee,” Josh offers.

I give him a grateful look as he passes by, a gentle flutter filling my heart as their affection surrounds me. They all show care in their own ways, and that makes me even more attached to each of them.

Three different men. Three different ways to uncontrollably fall in love.

And I think I’m already there.

“I should get set up,” I tell Max as I draw his hand away from my cheek and release him. “Let’s hope all hell doesn’t break loose.”

“Most issues will be on the technical side,” Max replies before motioning to Ryan, who pops a peppermint in his mouth as he gets ready at his desk. “And if it’s a huge fix that forces us to shut things down for a while, Ryan will have to update our users through email and social media.”

“What should Josh and I do?” I ask him, wanting to be helpful in some sort of capacity.

“Sit here and look pretty,” Josh replies as he comes back into the room with a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. WhenI purse my lips at him, he grins and hands me my cup. “I’ll be personally handling any issues or concerns that our VIP clients have.”

“I could probably use your help for some stuff,” Ryan speaks up as he rolls the peppermint to one side of his mouth. “Hell, maybe none of us will do much of anything.”

I almost smirk. I think we all know better than that. Things always go wrong.

“All right, everyone. The update is about to go live,” Josh says once we all get settled at our desks, nervous but eager energy filling the air as the snow comes down outside. We’re in our own little bubble in here, ready to finish this.

Well, part of me certainly isn’t ready for this chapter in our story to end. What if this is the finale, and I don’t even know it?

“It’s live!” Josh tells us.

Not even ten minutes later, his office phone rings.

~*~

“Max, I need an update on that profile picture bug!”

“It’s fixed! It’s done!”

I exhale in relief as I listen to Max and Josh shouting to each other across the office. I look back down at Ryan as I stand next to him at his desk, watching his fingers fly over his keyboard to type out update posts for the company’s social media platforms.

“All right, the update about the file sharing feature is out,” Ryan says as he slowly rolls his neck. “What now?”

For the past few hours, we’ve been troubleshooting issues, answering questions from users, and making sure all of SyncUp’s VIP customers are happy with the update. Aside from the little issues that we’ve been tackling, the update has already garnered us some good feedback.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think it’s a success.