Page 138 of Tangled Hearts

Nic? What the hell?

“Why not? It’s Christmas morning,” Eli whispers back to him, and my lips curve into a grin.

“Let the baby wake them up. I want Christmas morning hot chocolate,” Lexi says in what I’m sure she thinks is a whisper.

“No, Lex,” Eli chides softly. “It’s not time to wake them up yet.”

I can practicallyfeelLexi’s eye roll. “Then why did you come wake me up before the sun to tell me it was time to go to The Dads’ room if you didn’t want us to wake them up?”

There’s a pause while Eli figures out the right way to answer that.

“She has a point, you know?” Nic says.

Beck’s fingers tighten on my arm, letting me know he’s awake, and when I open my eyes, I’m greeted by his stunning blue ones. He’s grinning, and I can’t help but grin back. It seems we have a bed full of our kiddos this morning.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” I mouth.

Tears well up in his eyes. My sweet, sentimental man.

“I say we wake them up,” Lexi chimes in. “It’sChristmas,you guys. Don’t be boring.” She drags out the “o” in boring, which almost has me laughing.

Eli scoffs. He lets her get him riled up way too easily. “Who made you the boss, huh?I’mthe grown-up here.”

“Are you, though?” Lexi asks, sounding bored.

“Why are you arguing with a preteen, Eli?” Nic asks. Always the voice of reason.

“Good question,” Lexi pipes up.

I shake my head, trying hard not to laugh, while Beck does the same.

If I had to guess, Lexi is sprawled across the end of the bed, Eli is lying directly behind me, and Nic’s on the outer edge. I’d also venture to guess that our brand-new baby grandson, Asher, is tucked between them. He’s not crying now, but that probably won’t last long. At only six weeks old, his entire life revolves around eating, crying, sleeping, and needing a diaper change.

Eli sighs. “I don’t evenhaveto argue with you. I’m clearly right.”

I worried the two of them wouldn’t be close because of their age difference. I should have known better. Eli turns into a bratty teenager the second he’s around Lexi. On one hand, they argue like cats and dogs, but on the other, Eli would actually cause bodily harm to anyonewho tried to hurt her. I never had siblings, obviously, but I’d imagine that’s par for the course.

Beck brushes his thumb over my arm, shifting a bit to press his leg against mine.

Lexi gasps. “They’refaking it!They’ve been awake this whole time!”

Beck chuckles. “Busted. Did you really think you could just sneak four people into our bed and we wouldn’t know?”

I sit up, rubbing at my face and glancing around. I was dead on with my positioning. “Well, I didn’t actually wake up until the baby started crying.”

Eli grins up at me. “Morning. We came bearing gifts.”

“Gifts?” Beck asks, sitting up too.

Nic nuzzles Asher’s face. “Yep. Figured there’s no way you could have a bad morning waking up like this.” He glances up at me, then waves his hand around. “Gifts. Us. It wasmyidea, by the way, so I want all the props and the favorite son title for the day.”

Eli whips his head around to glare at Nic, and Beck and I burst into laughter. “Suck up,” Eli grouses.

Beck stretches, then stands. “Alright. Everybody out. There’s not enough room in here for all of us. I was barely even on the bed.”

“You did this to yourself, you know?” Nic says through his laughter. “You said we werealwayswelcome in your bed.”

“Yeah, well…” Beck chuckles. “I didn’t realize there’d be so many of you when I said that.”