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“Nice to see where we rank,” Lucian muttered.

“You’ll survive.”

Nat and Jae were waiting near the massive windows overlooking Central Park, already bundled for the cold. I’d met them plenty of times through Nik and Lacey.

Lacey caught Isabella by the hand and pulled her over.

“Isabella, these are my best friends, Jae and Nat. They were my roommates when I first moved to New York and pretty much kept me alive when I was broke, exhausted, and making questionable decisions.”

“We prefer young and artistically underfunded,” Jae said.

Nat snorted. “Then you made the biggest questionable decision of your life.”

Lacey glanced toward Nik. “Which somehow turned into the best decision of my life.”

Jae followed her gaze. “Yeah, picking up Mr. Mafia King over there worked out surprisingly well for all of us.”

“I can hear you,” Nik said.

“You were supposed to,” Jae called back. “You know we keep you entertained.”

Lacey laughed and bumped her shoulder against Nat’s. “See what troublemakers I lived with?”

“And yet you love us,” Jae said, opening his arms.

Lacey stepped into them without hesitation, and he kissed the top of her head before turning his attention to Isabella.

Jae’s whole face lit up. “Okay, first of all, you are adorable.”

Nat gave the pink snowsuit an approving once-over. Tattoos showed above the collar of her black winter coat, and years behind a Manhattan bar had given her a presence that discouraged people from testing her.

“That is offensively cute.”

Isabella laughed. “Aria chose it.”

“Figures. Aria has a good eye for this stuff.”

Jae held out a hand to Isabella. “Welcome to the chaos. I promise we’re the mostly normal ones.”

“Speak for yourself,” Nat said.

The easy affection between the three of them made it obvious why Nik had made sure Lacey’s old roommates stayed close. They weren’t simply friends she saw occasionally. They were family.

Lacey turned toward the elevator, already impatient to get moving. “Now can we please go before a million people with sleds and boots destroy all the good snow?”

Nik placed his hand on her lower back and guided her forward. “My security detail is thrilled that my wife wants to spend the day running around Central Park in a snowstorm.”

“Your security detail needs more joy in their lives. Henri doesn’t mind,” she said, glancing over at her ever-present bodyguard. He just nodded and gave her a soft smile.

Lacey rolled her eyes. “See.”

Nik caught her around the waist and smacked her ass.

She yelped.

“Roll your eyes at me again, and I’ll put you over my knee.”

“Promises, promises.”