Chapter 10
HARDY
I’ve got the tree all set up when Bella arrives on Saturday.
I’m glad I did a trial run because she never mentioned buying a tree stand, and I realized once I got the tree out of the box that I had no way to stand it up.
The whole ordeal made me feel like shit—if I’d been around more for Lydie and Avery, I would have known this.
It also makes me feel like I was a shitty husband, but I’m determined to be better, be more present. For Avery. And maybe also for Bella.
Everything is laid out and ready for Bella’s approval, but unease gnaws at my gut.
Something about this feels the tiniest bit wrong.
The ornaments in the boxes are full of memories of Lydie.
I can’t help feeling like I’m somehow betraying her, allowing another woman in on this experience, something she and Avery used to bond over.
What if it upsets Avery? What if Bella takes one look at the amount of Lydie in that box of ornaments and bolts?
Fuck. I really fucking like this woman.
The doorbell rings, and Avery bounds down the stairs to the door and throws it open without a glance.
“Avery Elizabeth Williams!” I bellow.
Her little blonde head pops out from behind the open door.
“You do not open the door without looking first.”
“Yes, Daddy!”
“It’s fine, it’s just me,” Bella pants. She’s juggling several boxes, and a large tote bag is hanging from her arm.
I rush over and grab the boxes from her as she follows me into the kitchen and drops her bag on the table. “Sorry, we’ve been working on stranger danger safety drills. Clearly, I need to go over the one on answering the door again.”
“What’s that?” Avery asks as she climbs onto the chair and starts going through the tote. Bella gives me a reassuring glance, and I take a calming breath. My nerves are already frayed, and the woman just got here.
“I have all sorts of arts and crafts so we can make our own ornaments. This is the kind of stuff I live for.”
“How much did you spend on all this?” I ask, looking over everything. For a woman who refers to herself as a hot mess, it sure seems like she has her shit together. I’ll be damned if I make her pay for all this on her own, though.
“Practically nothing. I’m like a squirrel gathering up nuts throughout the year to store for winter. Everything here came from my craft closet, but the glitter came from my classroom.”
Avery’s eyes light up, and she hops off the chair, jumping up and down. “Glitter!”
“Your dad and I need to make some ornaments for our school project, and I figured you could make some too.”
I give her a quizzical look, not remembering this being on our Santa’s Workshop checklist, when she winks at me, and I get this is the cover story so Avery doesn’t know about my Santa lessons.
Warmth spreads in my chest at the realization of the lengths this woman is willing to go through to help my little girl and keep my secret.
“What kind of ornaments are we gonna make?” Avery asks as the door swings open, and Isaac appears, holding a smaller box in his hands.
“Isaac!” Avery squeals as she runs up to greet him, attempting to hug him around the box. He lifts it up then sets his arms behind her head, still holding the box, as he gives her a quick hug.
“Hey, Butterfly,” Isaac says.
Avery laughs and crosses her arms. “I told you I’m not a butterfly.”
“I thought you liked butterflies?” he teases.
“No, I don’t.”
“But you have them all over your room,” I interject, confused. She insisted we get them when we were decorating.
“Because they’re pink and purple.”
“Well, I think they’re adorable just like you,” I say.
“Butterflies aren’t adorable. They’re just sticks with wings,” Avery says.
“Okay, Butterfly,” Isaac says as we all gather around the table, unpacking the supplies.
“Avery, have you made your Santa list yet?” Bella asks as Avery’s eyes flick to mine, and she shakes her head.
“I was thinking, we could turn our lists into ornaments and kill two birds with one stone. That way we can send the paper list to Santa and keep the ornament list on the tree, and when you’re an adult you can look at it and remember what you asked for all those years ago.”
Where does she come up with this stuff? I never would’ve thought of something so simple and creative, yet sentimental. Is this something all moms are good at or just her?
“Do I have to show you my list?” Avery asks nervously. “I don’t want Daddy to see it.”
If she’s already thinking that way, I’ve fucked this up more than I realized.
Bella’s eyes connect with mine briefly, and I can’t tell what she’s thinking.
“How about this? You and Isaac go upstairs and work on your lists, put one in a letter for Santa, and make a smaller one for the ornament. Isaac will make his own too. And he’ll help you write it in your best handwriting and then you can seal the envelope for Santa, and we can fold up your smaller version and glue it into this ornament,” she says, holding out a clear round ornament.
“Then you can fill this one up with as much glitter as you want.”
“Yeah!” she squeals. She grabs Isaac’s hand, pulling him upstairs.
As soon as they’re out of sight, Bella’s hands grab the collar of my shirt, and she tugs my lips to hers.
I’m overwhelmed by the taste of peppermint as she licks her way into my mouth.
Her lips are so soft and she tastes so sweet as she threads her hands into my hair, yanking at the strands. A needy moan involuntarily escapes me.
“He likes his hair pulled. Note to self,” she mumbles against my lips, and then she’s kissing along my jaw and my neck.
“How long do you think we have?” I growl as she focuses on a spot just below my ear that has my cock growing impossibly hard.
“Fifteen minutes tops,” she pants between kisses. I pick her up and set her on the table, then push her legs open with my hips, trailing kisses down her neck now that she’s at eye level. “Oh yes, that feels so good. Fuck, you have a wicked tongue.”
That’s not nearly enough time for all the things I want to do to this woman.
I slip a hand under the hem of her shirt as she writhes against me, grinding her jean-covered pussy against my cock.
She leans back onto her elbows as I slide the boxes of art supplies out of the way, leaning over her as I rub my hard length against her.
Propping up on my right arm, I glide my hand up her torso and use my thumb to pull down the cup of her bra until I can feel her hard nipple.
Her head falls back, and she bites her bottom lip to stifle a moan as I continue pinching her nipple and dry humping her like a teenager.
“O Holy Night, right there,” she whimpers as I keep my pace steady while increasing the pressure on her nipple.
That familiar tingle starts to build at the base of my spine when suddenly Bella throws her arms around my neck, pulling me flush with her as she arches against me. My release hits shortly after, and we pant heavy breaths against each other’s mouths as we come down from the high.
“Holy shit,” she whispers against my cheek. “I haven’t dry humped someone like that since high school.”
I restrain the growl I want to emit at her words. I don’t want to think about her doing that back then, and I don’t want her doing that with anyone but me now.
“I should probably go change before they come back down here.”
Her eyes roam down to my cock still half hard in my pants.
“Did I just make you come in your pants?” she asks incredulously.
I tug on my neck. “I can’t believe my answer to that is yes.”
“Why? That’s hot as fuck. Thinking about you all horned up for me, wanting me so bad, but all you can do is rub up on me till you paint the inside of your pants. Fuck, I like that more than I should.”
I bark out a laugh. The shit that comes out of this woman’s mouth is never what I expect, and yet it always excites me.
“Though it’s worth pointing out that you still haven’t done a proper comparison of the ladies yet,” she says with a cheeky grin.
“I figured I’d seen Lefty, so Righty needed a little love. But I’d love to give them both a proper greeting when there are no children in the house.” Did I just refer to her boobs with the ridiculous names she uses for them? I’m so fucked.
An hour later, I’m cleaned up, the ornaments are made, and we’re gathered around the tree hanging them with a bossy Avery guiding our every move.
“No, Daddy, that one doesn’t go there.” She puts her hands on her hips.
Isaac leans down. “Want a boost, Butterfly? Or are you gonna flutter up there and put it on yourself?”
She nods, and he picks her up, setting her on his shoulders as I hand her the ornament, and she places it on the tree.
“That’s perfect. But where’s the topper, Daddy?”
I look at Bella in a panic. “It’s probably still in the attic.”
“Not to worry, I brought options. Since it’s a new tree, you need a new topper. Are you an angel girly or a star girly?”
“Which one has more glitter?” Avery asks.
“Ooh, good call, let’s go with the star.” She returns a second later with a gold star covered in glitter and hands it to Avery.
Still on Isaac’s shoulders, she places the star on the tree. The four of us stand back to admire our handiwork, and I’ve gotta admit, it’s a fucking awesome tree.
Isaac sets Avery down as I start grabbing empty ornament boxes to shove back in the attic.
“Avery, Isaac, can you two go clean up the supplies on the kitchen table?” Bella asks.
They go easily to the kitchen, and we stare at each other dumbfounded.
“What just happened?” she asks.
“I have no idea. She always whines about cleaning up.”
“Isaac too.”
Our eyes meet, and a subtle pink blush creeps into her cheeks.
“Thank you for indulging me today,” she says, and I smile at the innuendo in her words.
“I know it sounds crazy to be putting a tree up before you’ve even had turkey, but we have a long list of tasks to accomplish and not enough time to do it in. ”
“I had fun,” I say, raising an eyebrow, wanting to make sure she knows I mean our time in the kitchen was fun too.
“We’ll get out of your hair,” she says, swinging her arms nervously. Does she regret what we did earlier?
“I thought we established that I really fucking like it when you have your hands in my hair.”
“That’s right. Hair pulling is your kink.” She takes a step closer to me, our bodies inches apart, yet she feels unreachable since a kid could walk back in at any moment.
“The next thing on our list better come with a babysitter.”
“Why’s that?” she says with a smirk.
“Because I intend to figure out your kink. You know, so we’re even.”