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That time Tatum twisted around to meet my gaze. I expected him to fight me, but he nodded, his gaze softening, his chocolate eyes seeming to look right through me.
“We’ll take you home first then.” He didn’t say anything further, but I already understood the words he refused to say. That I would join them on their Santa search afterward, except I had no intentions of leaving Britta to join three strange men on a wild adventure. As gorgeous as they were, this wasn’t debatable, and also not something I’d admit now. First, get home and not feel as if I were at their mercy.
A knock came at the door, and we all turned toward it at the same time.
I froze on the spot, my stomach climbing to the back of any throat.
Tatum and Leven darted to the newcomer, while Jax moved to my side, snatching my arm and dragging me toward the bathroom. “Let’s move.”
But I fought against his grip while watching Tatum opened the door.
An older man drowning in a thick, blue coat stood there. Jax dropped my hand, and I sighed, exhausted of getting caught in their paranoia. Every sound had them jumping.
The man spoke in German, nodded his head a lot, and then handed Tatum a bottle and something else before marching out of sight. With the door shut, Leven clapped loudly, smiling. “Yes! The night has finally begun.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, hugging myself. Were we making too much noise? Except then why had the man given Tatum a gift? Or was it something he’d ordered earlier?
Tatum set the bottle of what looked like whiskey on the table. “The motel owner just thanked us with booze for moving the huge branch off his property. He said it would keep us warm. And he gave us the keys to the sauna, which he said is ready to go.”
All three of them were up on their feet, pulling on their coats, chuckling about luck and good deeds. Tatum grabbed four small glasses from the cabinet and poured the honey-colored beverage into them, then handed them out.
He raised his glass. “To finding Santa and the team. To keeping Nickie alive. And to eliminating Krampus once and for all.”
They all hooted and drank the whiskey in one gulp. I stared at my half-full glass and remembered the warmth the drinks had brought me back in my distillery. So I placed the glass to my lips and tilted back my head, swallowing the contents. The whiskey ran down my throat, heating me at once, leaving in its wake a smoky taste.
I shook myself as the strength hit me. “Hell, that’s strong.” I coughed and the guys laughed at me.
Jax walked to my side and held out his palm. “Are you joining us, Nickie? A sauna is the best way to warm up on freezing nights.”
Honestly, I’d never been in a sauna but had read somewhere that Europeans loved them, and if I intended to get familiar with the local customs, this might be a good chance to understand the whole fascination with sitting in a steaming hot room. Besides, who could pass up the chance to try one with three hot guys?
“Sure.” I got to my feet and accepted his hand. In a swoosh, he dragged me across the room, helped me put my coat on as if I were a child, and then we were outside. The blistery chill froze me, but we kept moving. Jax remained at my back, the other two rushing ahead on the narrow sidewalk along the motel until they reached a locked door. In no time, we were inside a room resembling a locker room with multiple doors around us, but my sights landed on the huge signs nailed to the wall, and I scanned the English version.
