Season of Gifts (Neighborly Affection #8)

1. Alice

Chapter one

Alice

A lice snuggled deeper into her pillow, squirming in her warm nest of covers. Sunday mornings were for sleeping in—particularly Sunday mornings after two full days of exploring the fun of their new dedicated play space. The thuddy massage of the buffalo flogger had left her boneless. Henry and Jay wouldn’t begrudge her a lazy start.

If they wanted her, they could wake her. Or not. Sometimes not was even better, a “yes, please, more of this” she’d added to her contract yesterday, along with permission to use more toys with Jay independently. Waking on a tide of arousal to discover Henry had started without her always carried her to the breaking crest of the wave without any effort on her part.

But this morning she lay wrapped in sheets, not naked husbands. Yawning, she curled her toes and kicked out her feet and stretched her arms and—

And touched bare skin.

Blinking her eyelids open, fighting the sandman’s pull, she patted the body beneath her fingers. Mmm, thickly muscled thigh and a solid kneecap.

Jay knelt naked in his waiting pose atop the covers, his knees spread, his hands resting lightly on his thighs. Stretching, she brushed her fingers against his.

His cock, relaxed and wrinkled and resting in its bed of neatly trimmed black hair, twitched.

She licked her lips. Had she slept through Henry’s commands? A quick glance over her shoulder revealed the empty expanse of the rest of the bed. Something else, then. As adorably vulnerable as Jay’s cock appeared, as sinfully seductive as his taut abs seemed, his face gleamed with pure excitement.

Big brown eyes gazed unwaveringly at her face. Delicious, full lips tucked themselves into the thin line of a man desperate not to spill a secret. The aura of anticipation around him throbbed through her. She could order her husband to stroke himself hard for her right now and watch him wrestle with whose commands to follow first—but that would hardly be a fair reward for his excellent service.

She traced the edges of his fingertips. “Sweetheart?”

Jay practically vibrated. “Are you awake?”

“Uhh…” What kind of question was that? “Yes?”

He whipped his head around, black hair flying, pivoting faster than a sprinkler. “Henry! She’s awake!” His shout could’ve covered a football field. Or a real field, probably; he’d grown up on a tree farm, after all. “I’m gonna bring her out, okay? Can we now, please?”

She winced at the noise, squinting as if her eyes could somehow lower the level of sound in her ears. Completely ineffective. “Can we what now?”

“I don’t know.” Jay rocked on his knees, periodically checking the open bedroom door. “Henry said it’s a surprise. I had to wait for you, he said.”

“A surprise?” She half sat, lifting herself to her elbows. The blankets drooped low, exposing her breasts, but Jay barely spared them a glance. She gave a mental whistle. The surprise had him fixated if even her nudity couldn’t lure him back. Although, to be fair, Henry’s last surprise had been the magically transforming coffee table flogging horse spanking bench whatchacallit, and they’d run that through its paces since Friday. “No clues at all?”

“No, just that it’s for—” Jay’s breath hitched as he finally noticed her state. “It’s for, uh—” He snagged the edge of the sheets and pulled them lower still, dragging his fingers down her stomach, his gaze flicking up to her face as he tested the limits of what she might allow. “For both of us, and I had to wait here.”

She arched her back, rolling her still-hidden hips. “Did he say what we should do while we wait?”

“He did.” The smooth baritone of the man himself came from the doorway, where Henry appeared in a bathrobe the same deep green shade as his eyes. “Did Alice wake on her own, Jay, or did you help her?”

“On her own. Promise.” Well, that explained why he’d been in his waiting pose instead of blanketing her with kisses. “I was very patient.”

Henry brought a hand to his chin and tapped his mouth. One eyebrow lifted. “Alice?”

“Confirmed.” She shoved herself upward, shaking off the last of sleep and pressing her back to the knobby spindles on the headboard. “I didn’t even know he was there until I opened my eyes.”

“Well done, my boy.” Henry crooked his finger and called Jay to his side.

Jay flew off the bed as if Henry had thrown a compressed-air valve wide open and cannoned him into Henry’s arms. Alice rolled her neck and pulled her knees up to rest her arms while Jay received his reward—a tight hug, some whispered words, and a hot-as-fuck push back against the doorframe. Henry ground his hips into Jay’s as he fused their mouths. Jay’s throaty whimper danced along her nerve endings.

Henry drew back with a lingering kiss, leaving Jay gazing with naked adoration. “Fetch robes for yourself and Alice, and then you’ll have your surprise.” As Jay ducked into the closet, Henry strode to the bed. “Good morning, my sweet girl.”

She crawled across the comforter to the edge of the bed and raised up on her knees, matching his height. A slight lean bought her a kiss of her own, along with a tight two-handed grip at the sides of her face as he held her at the angle he chose. She slipped a hand inside his robe and stroked his chest.

Laughing, he gently rattled her head between his hands. “Did you sleep well, Alice?”

“Perfectly.” She let him draw her forward and set her feet on the soft rug. “I would’ve tried to wake up sooner if I’d known there was a surprise waiting.”

Jay swept in behind her and expertly matched sleeves to arms. As he settled the snuggly fleece robe over her shoulders, Henry tugged the sash into place and tied a neat bow. He did the same for Jay, who’d draped his own robe over his shoulders without bothering to close it. Smoothing necklines, Henry held a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth while Jay fidgeted in place.

“All right, my dears.” Henry linked his arm with Alice’s; Jay moved in front of them, walking backward as Henry walked forward, his eyes shining and his feet practically prancing. “Down to the breakfast table—mind you don’t injure yourself getting there.”

With a whoop, Jay dashed out the door.

“You may look,” Henry called after him, “but don’t touch.”

The exaggerated aww that filtered back to them knocked Alice’s laugh loose. Her escort paused long enough for her to add slippers to her ensemble before they too headed downstairs. “How long was he waiting?”

“No more than twenty minutes.” Henry eyed her sideways, scanning head to toe and back again. “If you’d slept much longer, I would have authorized contingencies.”

Now that would have been a way to wake up. “I could pretend—”

He tapped her nose and chuckled. “Another day, dearest. We’ll have a lifetime of them.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Jay stood before the table, his hands flat on the surface, his body bent forward—a perfect pose for receiving a flogging. But no flogger lay in front of him; his look-but-don’t-touch gaze rested on a festive basket with a ribbon and garland adorning the top and Christmas plaid fabric spilling over the side. Maybe Henry had made pastries for breakfast. Delicious, flaky, buttery pastries. Alice’s stomach growled.

Something off-white protruded from the basket. No, a row of somethings. She shifted closer, and Jay made space, bouncing on his feet. Postcard-size envelopes filled the basket in a tidy row, slanting backward, with a flowing swirl forming the number 1 in black ink on the front of the first. Very Henry. The linen-white paper matched the notes he’d left on her apartment door all those months ago, inviting her into their circle.

Henry smoothed her hair, draping it across her shoulders. “Do you know what your surprise is, or shall I tell you?”

She studied the décor and the neatly scripted number, quickly estimated the number of envelopes—and today was December—

“It’s an Advent calendar!” Jay spun in place and teasingly walked his fingers toward the basket. “Do we get treats? Every day? All month?”

Henry wrapped his arms around Jay, locking him in a bear hug from behind. “You shall receive surprises, yes, for the both of you, and you’ll alternate days opening the envelopes to reveal them.”

The calendar was a brilliant distraction. He’d done it for Jay, no question, to spread out the fun of the holiday season and help ease the ache of not going “home” for Christmas for the first time in his life. They’d all but promised Henry’s mother at the wedding reception that the three of them would be with her for the holiday, and she’d radiated so much joy that it had been like staring at the sun.

Jay was saying something about how a surprise with twenty-four surprises in it might be even better than wishing for more wishes. “Because these ones come true.”

She’d had an Advent calendar before. It hung right beside her little sister’s, with Mom’s stitching and their names in quilt patches above pockets with felt numbers. She’d tried to lift Ollie to reach the pockets for them both once—had she been five then? Six at the most—and Daddy had laughed as he’d scooped them each under an arm and hoisted them skyward. Leaning into her husbands, she tried to keep the unexpected melancholy from choking her voice. “Thank you, Henry. It’s a beautiful gift.”

Henry slipped an arm free and curled her in tighter, stroking her back as he delivered a kiss to her temple. “Would you care to be odds or evens, Alice?”

As if she would ever choose to go first, given Jay’s barely contained enthusiasm. Besides which, she understood math. “It’s the same total either way. We’ll each get”—a giggle escaped as she recognized what she was about to say and the likely result—“twelve days of Christmas gifts from you.”

Jay hummed the tune.

“It’s only fitting,” Henry murmured. “You are my true loves.”

Her heart thumped in echoing agreement.

“However.” Henry’s teasing tone came with a raised finger and a delightfully stern stare. “The song can keep its over-fondness for avians. We’ll have no swans, no geese, no French hens and the like.”

Well that was a relief. Knowing Henry, the gifts would be unbearably romantic or achingly beautiful or sweetly sentimental.

Jay dropped his humming into an exaggerated sigh. “But I was sooo looking forward to learning French from the hens.”

“You want to learn French, do you?” Henry spread his hand against Jay’s cheek and turned him for a kiss. Lips surged; tongues rolled. Her husbands spoke exceptionally fluent French with no words at all.

Jay moaned his pleasure, and as they parted, with no more than an eye twitch from Henry, both men descended on her neck. Nipping and sucking, they soothed with their tongues. She might have matching bruises later. Her nipples tightened, brushing the inside of her robe. She opened her mouth for air and Henry claimed it, backing off only when she whimpered and tried to chase him.

He rubbed his thumb across her lips. “That will do for a first lesson. Alice? Your decision?”

Decision. Yes. She was deciding—the calendar. Right. “Jay can go first. I’ll be evens.”

At Henry’s nod, Jay snatched the first envelope from the basket. The back carried a wax seal with Henry’s initials, HBW, in—naturally—pine green. Overexcited, couldn’t-wait-to-get-downstairs Jay carefully worked his fingernail under the edge and lifted the flap without damaging the paper. Pulling out a card, he passed her the envelope. “We can add these to the collection.”

She nodded, her throat momentarily stuck, because how fucking sweet was her husband to set aside his eagerness and think of the mementos he was gathering in the new room-check bedroom. The notes Henry had left for her, the origami creations Jay had made for her—everything would be stored in their shared space on the third floor.

Jay held up the card so she could see. It folded down from the top, like a thank-you card, and the front contained a pencil sketch of a Christmas tree strapped to a car roof. Wide-eyed, with a smile dawning, Jay flipped it open.

My loves,

The season begins with bringing in the greens, a reminder that life thrives around us even as the world grows cold and dark. Let us spend the day together on a quest for the tree from which we shall hang our dreams.

Henry brushed back the lock of Jay’s hair that perpetually fell across his eyes. “I trust we have a knowledgeable guide to help us select an excellent specimen.”

Jay hugged him. “We will get the best tree. It’ll be a fir, because those last the longest, and we’ll need it to stay in good shape—”

“After breakfast.” Henry winked at her. “Alice’s stomach is rumbling.”

It did, as if he’d commanded her body to respond. Well, why not? All of her important parts responded to his voice, his touch, his unfailingly delicious experiments in the kitchen…

“I could eat.” She tugged Jay toward her. “Tell me about our perfect tree while Henry makes the magic happen.”

Without a doubt, this would be the best Christmas she’d had in years.