Page 166 of Season of Gifts

“Clever boy.”Henry leaned into him, letting Jay take the weight from his shoulder.His perfect posture unbent just enough to almost be called a slouch.“I find I most hunger for time alone with my loves.”

Alice curved her hand over theirs, guarding Henry’s hand between them.“I’m feeling that too.Cozy homebodies.”

“Then if you both agree, those gifts will wait for tomorrow, when we are well-rested and have no other calls on our attention.”Henry dragged his free hand through Alice’s hair, pausing and gripping thick hanks of wheat-blond waves as he went.“Many months ago, I promised my pets a decadent night before a blazing hearth.”

At Master Will’s cabin.The fireplace sat dark and empty across from them, but the kindling cradle held plenty of pieces to fix that.

“Circumstances forced us to miss the opportunity on our anniversary.”Henry bowed his head, his eyes closing, his hand tightening on theirs.“I would greatly appreciate the chance to rectify that on New Year’s Eve, if you will grant me your service from sunrise until the clock chimes midnight.”

A full day of service.Collared and commanded.Henry’s demands and praise for hours and hours, his entire focus on their relationship without distractions.Jay shuddered in his seat, his cock eagerly casting its vote by thumping against his thigh.“I pick that one, please.This year has been ours, and I want to end it that way, too.I want to start the next year at home with you so the whole year ahead gets the message.”

Leaning forward, Alice tipped her head sideways.Her hair swayed as she darted in and kissed Henry’s chin.She nipped at his mouth, hunting for more.Her eyes gleamed.“Obey and enjoyhas become a favorite of mine.I pick that one, too.”

Henry devoured her, burying his hands in Alice’s hair and claiming her with a rumbling growl that surged through Jay’s cock.His turn came next, Henry clenching the back of Jay’s neck and driving him into the back of the couch with a twist of his hips.The room had two fireplaces and two trees by the time they came up for air.Jay blinked the world back into focus.

Raising a glass and pouring bubbly like he hadn’t just been domming his spouses into dizziness, Henry cleared his throat.“Tree trimming tonight, my dear ones.With perhaps a trial run for the fireplace, and dinner here in the living room.I should like to call Emma and Will to thank them for thinking of us and suggest we reciprocate next month.First, however, I will call and let Mother know we three are safely home.”

“And I’ll call Nat to let her know we love the banner.”And maybe ask about the mystery Devon.

The bubbles in Henry’s glass crested just shy of the rim—full and hearty but not too much to handle.They’d found that level too, the good balance for all the pieces of who they were.This normal would be even better than the one before it.Their marriage had been tested by fire, burnt down to the frame, and come out stronger than ever.

Chapter eighty-three

Alice

Thesunroselate—well,late-ish—at the end of the year.At quarter after seven, Henry roused Alice with hard kisses at her throat.His gravelly toned encouragement urged her to leave the heater she’d been curled around—the broad plane of Jay’s back and shoulder.

Henry rewarded her obedience with a glorious shower, billowing steam transforming their bathroom into a sauna as he sudsed her and Jay both.He dug his hands into her flesh; his heavy massage could’ve puddled her at his feet.Maybe she wasn’t awake, only dreaming the slow manipulation that left no inch of her unwashed.But the happy whines beside her suggested the low moans belonged to her.And the end of the pounding furor of water through her freshly washed hair brought a heated towel rather than a disappointing wakeup.

With a thick towel in both hands, Henry briskly patted her dry.Her pulse thrummed.Her flushed skin might’ve matched the painting he’d sold in the spring, the rose-tinted pinks and reds he so loved on her.Her mind fuzzily swam toward coherence as he dabbed the towel against her forehead and cheeks.

“Good morning, sweet girl.”His breath smelled of mint and their bodies of citrus, sharp and crisp and clean.He gave orders in his low baritone, guiding their morning routine with a voice fit to drown in.

Green eyes captured and catalogued every motion as she and Jay brushed their teeth side by side at the sinks.The fogged mirror cast their bodies as hazy shapes, more suggestions than reflections.Henry combed out their hair, his strokes tender but strong.In the thick air, her wheat-blond waves swirled high atop her shoulders.

Henry pressed a kiss against her spine between her shoulder blades, just below the edge of her hair.“Come with me.”

A charcoal gray suit hung from the valet stand in the bedroom, a deep green tie draped across a white shirt.Henry didn’t need a suit to be in control, but the man knew how to wear one.And how to unzip slowly, and leave his fly dangling open while he fucked her, rough fabric surging against her—

“Later, perhaps.”Eyes gleaming, Henry taunted her with anI know what indecent thoughts you chase, sweet girlsmile and steered them toward the hallway.“I would have nothing between us now.”

His ass flexed as he walked before them, past the gorgeous painting of Jay’s back, straight to the playroom.Alice shivered despite the toasty air.Henry must’ve upped the thermostat before he woke them.All of the house was theirs, but this room, more than any other, even the studio, washis.Stepping inside meant entering another world.

The wood-and-glass doors clicking softly shut behind them formed a sanctuary for three.

Jay’s gifts lay where he’d left them, the open box an offering at the edge of Henry’s dark leather chair, resting between the wide wood arms.

Henry led a naked, trembling Jay by the hand to the massive floor pillow in front of the seat.“Kneel for me, my brave boy.”

Jay sank into waiting pose with such smooth grace that his arrival on the cushion made no sound.Long sleeves and cloudy days had faded his summer tan, the lines nearly gone across his biceps and at his wrists where his biking gloves ended.Next summer he’d have new pale circles from Henry’s bracelets.He sat on his heels with his back sleek and straight, his head high, his sweet brown eyes fixed on the collar and cuffs waiting in the box.

She edged closer, standing behind Jay but not too near.This ceremony wasn’t for her; she already had cuffs of a sort, the bracers with the intricate scrollwork.And she was a switch, not a submissive.Henry’s co-pilot, his lieutenant.Whatever was in the box waiting for her, it would be great.Just not the clear markers of ownership that made Jay curl his toes as Henry lifted the collar in both hands.

“Some would say a collar is earned.”Henry rotated the collar slowly, rubbing his thumb along the edge.“Were that the measure, your steadfast devotion and endless capacity for love would have warranted this ceremony ages ago.”The tongue slipped from the buckle, Henry pushing the rich brown leather through with deft fingers.“Your service is impeccable.”

He pinned Jay with a hard gaze, the sort that couldn’t be argued with, his unreadable dom expression blasting full force.Jay squirmed, his ass tightening.Knees sliding outward, he dug his fingers into his thighs.

“My ownership cannot be earned.”

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