EPILOGUE
“It was the gingerbread men; I can’t explain it.”
LISA
“I ’m going to come!”
“That’s it. Give it up for me. Such a good wife.”
I stretch my arms above my head where I’m bent over the kitchen table and grip the edge on the other side. “Harry,” I moan his name as my pleasure peaks, my pussy clamping on his length as he pounds me hard and fast.
“Fuck, babe, I’m coming.”
“Fill me up,” I sigh, blissed out.
“Shit,” he curses through clenched teeth. “You know I love it when you talk like that.”
He stills and I feel him spill inside me, slumping over my back and kissing my neck. “I love you.”
“I love you, wife.” He straightens up, bringing me with him and slides out of me, pinning me to kiss my mouth with leisurely strokes of his tongue, like we have all the time in the world.
“Harry, we’re going to be late.”
“Then you shouldn’t have come downstairs to tempt me when we should’ve been leaving.”
“Tempt you?”
“It was the gingerbread men; I can’t explain it.”
We both look down at my dress where tumbling gingerbread men hold candy canes, gumdrop buttons and all stare back at us. I snort and slap his chest. “You’re a menace. ”
“I’m a delight. Now, go sort yourself out, we can’t greet our children with sex hair.”
I pat my head in concern. “Have you messed up my hair?”
I pad to the hall mirror to check myself. My hair is still gently curled and with just a couple comb throughs with my fingers, it’s exactly how it was when I first came downstairs. I swipe my fingers under my eyes to catch where my makeup may have smudged slightly and within thirty seconds, Harry joins me looking none the worse for wear.
I roll my eyes at him because, honestly, it’s unfair. “I need to clean up.”
“Best make it quick, Mrs Forest. I’d hate to have to explain to our friends we were late because you needed my cock.”
I glare at his smirking face and run up the stairs to clean myself up. Harry’s waiting for me with my coat when I come back down and we walk hand in hand up the drive and down the road.
“Okay, be honest,” Harry says, the cold night air making his breath visible. “How annoyed are you that Nel and Mandy are hosting this year?”
“I’m not annoyed,” I say, maybe a little too quickly and he purses his lips around a smirk. “Okay, maybe a little disappointed.” He chuckles. “I like being the hostess with the most-ess.”
“I know, babe,” he says, trying to sound sympathetic but still showing way too much amusement at my confession. “But Nel and Jake are having everyone tonight, Mandy insisted on hosting Christmas day tomorrow, your parents wanted to stay at the hotel this year to give us some space, and Rhi and Luke are with his parents. It’s a quiet Christmas where we don’t have to do everything.” He stops and we turn to face each other on the pavement. “And, we don’t have to share our room with any children.”
“Always a bonus.” I smile against his lips as he bends to kiss me.
“Don’t be too disappointed, yeah? ”
I pout childishly. “I just like it when everyone tells me how great I am.”
My husband laughs at me and taps the tip of his nose against mine. “I promise to tell you how great you are, over and over and over again.”
“You better.” I grab his coat and pull him to me for a firm kiss before we both turn into the small drive of Jake and Nel’s house. It’s a pretty standard two bed house but Jake and Harry have been working together in their spare time to knock down walls and fit a new kitchen to make it Nel’s dream home. Now, it looks stunning on the inside.
We don’t bother knocking, walking through the front door and calling out to signal our arrival. Oscar comes running to us first, a plate of some kind of savoury pastry in his hands. “Mum, Dad, look what I made with Auntie Nel.”
“They look good,” Harry says, taking a pinwheel from the plate and popping it in his mouth. “Mmm, delicious,” he mumbles around his mouthful.
“Did you guys have fun helping Auntie Nel today?” I ask, ruffling my boy’s hair.
“Yeah, we made so much food and Lucas helped Uncle Jake with the decorations. Mary didn’t do much.”
I look over the open-plan space and see the playpen is set up in the middle of the living room, but my daughter is nowhere to be seen, only my dad sat on the sofa talking to Jake’s dad. Pam is listening to Lucas talk about something I’m sure she has no interest in and doing a decent job at pretending she is. I’m about to ask where Mary is when my mum appears from the kitchen around the corner, with a toddling Mary holding her hand.
“Dada!” Mary lets go of Mum and runs like a drunkard to Harry, who sweeps her up and plants kisses all over her face, much to her delight.
“Darling,” Mum comes in and kisses my cheeks. “We were expecting you nearly an hour ago, everything okay?”
My face flushes. “Oh, I uh— ”
“My fault,” Harry says, dipping to kiss my mother’s cheeks in greeting. “Just couldn’t get my hair right.”
She gives him an amused smile, like she knows that isn’t the truth and takes Mary again, leading her to the small stack of toys Nel and Jake keep here. We head straight into the kitchen to find Nel looking flustered, pulling a tray of some delicious smelling tarts out the oven.
“Hey, need any help?” I ask.
She looks up, cheeks red from the heat of the oven and looks relieved. “Oh, thank god you’re here.”
“Everything okay?” Harry asks.
“How do you do this every year. This is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done.” She brushes her long brown hair out of her eyes and fans her face with the oven gloves.
I chuckle. “I’m sure you’re doing great, everything smells divine. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing. I want you to relax.” I’m about to argue when her eyes turn excited. “But have you heard from Mandy?”
I frown. “No, why?”
Mandy has become one of my best friends this year. She decided to leave Australia and move back home to be closer to her family and she also happened to find a place on Pear Street. We’re slowly taking over the neighbourhood. She wants to host Christmas day tomorrow as a thank you for everything we’ve done for her, but honestly, we haven’t done that much. It turns out we get along like a house on fire, so do her and Nel so the three of us are practically joined at the hip now.
Nel sucks on her cheeks and leans in to whisper, Harry and I mirror her. “Well, she called this afternoon to ask if she could invite some guests tonight.”
“What guests?” Harry asks, some other item of food now in his mouth.
“Three guests.” Nel smirks. “Three male guests.”
I raise a brow. “Really? ”
“Mhmm, met them today apparently and they’re stuck here somehow, I didn’t really understand but she invited them to spend Christmas with us. Her three French men.”
“Oooh, scandalous,” I gasp.
“What are you talking about?” Jake asks, coming into the kitchen with a bottle of wine in hand.
“Nothing,” Nel singsongs.
“Nel was telling us your sister has some new friends,” Harry says, and I smack the back of my hand against his pec.
Jake gives a withering look to his fiancée. “She’s just being nice.”
“Uh huh,” Nel agrees but sounds as convinced as Oscar and Lucas when Jake tries to convince them he didn’t play Santa two years in a row.
“They had nowhere to go, she didn’t want them to miss out on Christmas.” Jake tries valiantly to make his point.
“Sure, babe.” Nel’s patronising tone has me giggling.
“What, you think she suddenly has three men in her life?” Jake asks like it’s the most ridiculous thing in the world.
“Lisa and I read a book like that,” Harry muses. “It was pretty good.”
Jake glares. “Yeah, I know what books you two read, and I’d very much appreciate it if you don’t bring them up in the context of my sister.”
Harry just smiles at his friend. “Hmm, Karma’s a bitch, huh?”
Nel snorts. “Okay, that’s enough you two. Go make yourselves busy and offer drinks out.”
“Three French men, huh?” I say to Nel once the boys are out of earshot.
“I’m telling you, she sounded…weird on the phone. Buckle up, it’s going to be a fun Christmas.” Nel takes a platter of food and heads to the lounge, where I follow to find my husband. Everyone is chatting and laughing, in good spirits for the holiday and I melt into Harry’s side.
“You good, baby? ”
“Yeah,” I say with a contented sigh before straightening up to whisper in his ear. “How ungracious would it be for us to disappear for an hour?”
He raises a brow at me, a sexy smile tugging at his lips. “Very ungracious.”
“How opposed are you to being ungracious?”
“I love you, Angel.” He dips to kiss my neck.
“I love you too, Frosty.”