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“Wait, how did—” I turn to Zander, whose grin gives everything away. “I thought you guys didn’t do presents.”

“I did say that. But this year is different. How could we not? We already got the best gift of all.” He kisses my temple. “You.”

I kiss him back. Then we all sit on the floor in front of the hearth while Jarek passes out the stockings. We spend the next half hour pulling out little treasures, laughing and holding up the gifts each of them picked out for the others.

“Now I feel bad I didn’t do more Christmas shopping,” I say.

Pascal smiles. “No need. We already unwrapped you.”

My cheeks go as hot as the fire. I’m still thinking about that, and hoping for a repeat tonight, when my hand reaches the toe of my stocking and finds one last gift. When I open it, my eyes fill with tears.

I press a hand over my mouth.

It’s my perfume. The same one my father tucked into the toe of my stocking every Christmas when I was a little girl. I recognize the bottle. With shaking hands, I open it and lift it to my nose.

Jasmine, citrus, and that sweetness I never could name.

“I don’t understand,” I say through happy tears. “How could you possibly have found this?”

Zander reaches over and wipes a tear from my cheek.

“You told me about it when you were hanging the stockings,” he says softly. “You couldn’t remember the name, but I remembered how you described it.”

“You actually remembered that?”

“Of course I did. I had my team track down matching fragrances. It took some digging, but we found a little perfume shop in Denver that still had the original formula on file. The owner recognized your description. Once we had the name, finding a bottle was easy.”

I stare at him. He remembered something I mentioned once, weeks ago. Something I never imagined anyone would care about.

Jarek gently takes the bottle from my hand and gives my neck a little spritz. Then he leans in and breathes it in.

“Mmm. That’s nice.” He smiles. “Black currant.”

My eyes snap to him. He just named the scent I never could.

“Thank you,” I say, pulling all three of them into one big hug. “Thank you for everything.”

“You don’t need to thank us, Nina,” Pascal says, his lips against my hair. “You’ve given us everything we could ever ask for. Love, desire, and a family.”

Family. The word stays with me as I sink deeper into their arms. I don’t know exactly how this will all work, or what it will become. But I know I’m not letting any of them go. As unconventional as it might look to anyone else, Zander, Pascal, Jarek, and I are a family now, in every way that matters. And instead of dreading the end of the holidays, I can’t wait to see what the new year brings.

“Alright, presents under the tree!” Jarek laughs as we let go, then scoops me up and carries me over.

The pile is ridiculous. It nearly blocks the lower half of the tree.

“I think you guys went a little overboard,” I laugh as Jarek sets me down.

“Eh. What’s the point of having a shitload of money if you can’t spend it?” Jarek shrugs. “Besides, it’s not like we have any kids around to spoil at Christmas.”

Kids?

A new thought takes root as they settle in around me, ready to tear into the gifts.

“Maybe one day,” I say with a smile.

All three of them freeze. They look at me with so much love and hope in their eyes that it can only mean one thing.

They like the idea. It’s the one thing all their money can’t buy. But I can give it to them.