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Leon stopped in his tracks when the snowball hit the back of his neck. He reached up and tried to paw the snow off his skin but it had already started to melt and slide down his collar. How he hated this time of year!
As he spun around to glare at the offender, he was faced with a bloke that seemed to consist of nothing but bouncy energy and big ears and dark hair and the nicest smile he’d ever seen.
“Sorry, man, that wasn’t meant for you! I obviously suck at aiming! It was meant for him!” The man pointed to a tall short-haired guy, who – despite the snow on the ground – wore nothing more than a fleece vest over a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans.
“For sucking at aiming, you hit the target dead-on!” Leon huffed. He knew he should stay angry. You couldn’t just attack strangers with snowballs like that! But he found that the combined smiles of the two men were contagious.
“Come on,” the tall bloke went on, “get your revenge on him.” He offered Leon a snowball.
Actually, Leon had been on his way home and was looking forward to an evening of reading and tea, but the giddiness of those two just took over his senses. So he grabbed the snowball and flung it at the dark-haired one, who squealed and ran off.
And hour later they all were soaked and cold but Leon hadn’t laughed so hard in forever.
“Need to warm up.” The bloke with the huge ears, who’d yelled his name ‘Merlin’ at Leon over two well-placed snowballs some time ago, shivered.
The tall one, who was Percy, wrapped an arm around Merlin right away. “Yeah, time to go home.”
Leon brushed snow off his coat. So he guessed it was time to say good-bye, but for some reason, he was reluctant to leave. And by the way the other two stood close to him, it seemed as if they didn’t want to part either.
“Listen, we live just around the corner. How about you come with us?” Merlin asked with a disarming smile. “I’ll make some apple cider and I think there’s still some of that stollen left that you made last weekend, right Perce?”
Percy nodded.
Looking from one to the other, Leon wasn’t sure what exactly he’d just been invited to, but he found himself nodding.
Hours later, they all lay cuddling on the huge bed; Leon felt Merlin’s hand on his hip and Percy’s fingers playing with his hair.
Merlin grinned at Leon and pecked a smooch on the tip of his nose. “Was that one well-aimed snowball so bad now?”