Page 6 of Season of Gifts

“Mm-mmm.Not cold at all.”Alice tucked the end of a garland into the branches and clasped Jay’s hands against her, stroking his forearms.“Not when I have this helper keeping me warm.”

Henry could have blamed the lack of a fire on the absence of a sufficient woodpile as yet, but truthfully, he intended to hold back the first use for a night with a different focus.Tonight a cold hearth would be safer.Jay on his knees, Alice’s skirt flipped up, himself stepping into place—his cock thumped approval.His costume, unlike theirs, covered all of him.They did seem especially enamored of him in formal dress—and Alice, in particular, burned hotter the more disheveled his formalwear grew.

“Pretty sure I have a fever.”Jay rubbed his face against Alice’s bare back above the corset, his chest expanding as he inhaled.“Never decorated a tree like this before.”

“No, I should hope not,” Henry rumbled, deepening his voice into the lower register.“This sight is mine alone.”

The tree engulfed the space before the front window, its conical symmetry nine feet high and perhaps five feet across.Thermal blackout curtains ensured no shadows danced for any passersby.They’d yet to formally meet any of the neighbors, but perhaps he might extend a dinner invitation after the holidays.These first few weeks in their new home would be far too meaningful to clutter with outside obligations.

The bright forest fragrance consumed the entire house, helped along by the bow-bedecked boughs affixed to the stair rails from the main floor to the attic studio.Those they’d placed yesterday after their successful tree farm excursion.The tree itself, at Jay’s insistence, had stood for twenty-four hours in its well-watered stand before being allowed to bear the weight of its Christmas finery.Just as well; their calendar surprise this morning had been the promise of costumes and the Christmas spirit this eve.

Alice swayed on the step; now as she stretched around the tree, its soft needles teased her breasts.Soon she would be descending once more.Jay followed her with his hands.His steadying grip could easily, with a single command, become a bold exploration beneath her skirt.Henry held his tongue.Startle his girl and she might slip.A twisted ankle would be a poor outcome for their evening.However.

“When you’ve finished that section, Alice, come here, please.”He gave no hint of his intention, and their current musical selection concealed his hum of pleasure at the shiver that rippled through her.With crisp staccato notes, a lively instrumental version of “The Holly and the Ivy” accompanied their endeavor.As the musical director, he had crafted a playlist both religious and secular, all traditional choral or instrumental pieces—the evening would present no jarring pop or swing numbers to pull Alice and Jay’s attention from the cocoon of cozy holiday play he meant to wrap around them.

Alice presented herself before him with coy modesty, her hands crossed at the front of her skirt.“You wanted to see me?”

Taking one hand, he tugged her forward.“Not that much of you just yet, my sweet.”

Her knees hit the front of the sofa and still he urged her on, guiding her hands to his shoulders.She straddled him, hovering, licking her lips—her head tilt and intense gaze evidence of her ongoing attempt to discern his game.Gripping her thighs, he pressed her down into his lap.She squirmed; her eyelids flickered, and her breath caught as she found the hardness his slacks concealed.He thrust slightly, resettling himself, appreciating the contact and denying himself the completion.

She wrapped her hands around the back of his neck and played with his hair, just barely rocking against him.“I take it you’re still enjoying the show.”

Fingering the ties on her corset, he unsnapped the lid on his box of toys with his other hand.“You ought to hope so, as you’ll have a starring role this evening.”

Her movement stopped, the pause that preceded the vibration of her entire body.She shuddered like a tuning fork, from her fluttering shoulders to her toes curling against his legs.She reacted to verbal sparring with such enthusiasm.Neither she nor Jay hid their responses from him, an intoxicating lure of openness and honesty.

Glancing at the box, she furrowed her brow adorably.“Jewelry?”

“Of a sort.”The corset displayed her breasts beautifully, the low demi-cups revealing the flushed sunrise of her areolae.Lifting her slightly, he brushed his thumbs across her nipples, regaining her focus.He pinched, gently, and rolled them between thumb and forefinger.The soft bristles of the tree against her breasts had been the beginning, an unspoken warmup for their play.“Jay, I’ve a task for you.”

Jay, apprised of his role in their shower hours before, required no coaxing to join him in teasing Alice until the tips of her breasts darkened and swelled.She shifted restlessly in Henry’s lap, an excruciatingly pleasurable distraction.

He took his time pretending to make his selection.Though the box held a half-dozen styles, he would begin with simple clamps whose tension he could easily adjust.Pressure, not pain, was the objective.He placed the first just behind her nipple and slowly dialed the screw until the soft red pads over the teeth held her securely.

Her hair slid forward in a curtain as she gazed down at her chest.An eye flick and a tip of his head to Jay solved that problem; his husband swept her hair back in both hands and corralled it at the base of her neck.Henry fastened the second clamp and tightened the screw.

Alice studied the mechanism.“Are you sure they’re working?I don’t feel any different.”

“You will.”He kissed the frown from her, silencing his amusement with her lush mouth.Experience was a good teacher; they would know soon if Alice enjoyed clamps or only the idea of them.“Back to decorating.The tree is practically naked.”

His teasing, scandalized tone prompted hearty laughter from Jay—he in his elf-green short shorts with matching suspenders and nothing else.The festive stocking cap had fallen off somewhere.

Alice raised a skeptical brow.“The tree.Uh-huh.”

She did look darling in the skirt and corset, with the silver clamps on her breasts and candy cane stripes hugging her legs to mid-thigh.He projected the blandest of expressions as the music shifted to the luscious minor key of a familiar pas de deux.The ballet might be on their agenda later in the season.“Indeed, the tree.”

A handful of minutes passed.The garland neared the bottom; he called Alice back to his side.Not terribly long for her first time out.Better to begin slowly than to miscalculate and risk her interest becoming rejection.“How are you feeling, my dear?”

“I still don’t—”

He ran his thumbs across her nipples, and she hissed as she sucked in air.

“I feel…” She trembled.

“Sensitive?”He kept his voice soft, coaxing, as he assessed the depth of her reaction.Her intense enjoyment of flogging suggested clamps might similarly sharpen her focus and desire, if introduced gradually.“Overwhelmed?”

“The first.”Eyes hooded, she bit her lip.“Is there…” She met his gaze, a hunger in her hazel depths.“More?”

---