Page 177 of Season of Gifts

Faint ridges rose against his fingertips, her tightening nipples creating soft peaks.He splayed one hand across her chest, above her breasts, and hooked his finger in the D-ring at the front of her collar.She lifted her chin.He tugged lightly, swaying her forward, and pushed her back.Again.

Barely twelve hours since he’d collared them both.His possessive hunger had yet to settle; it thrummed through him with unexpected energy.He’d idly thought he might sketch his spouses after dinner, but his greedy eyes wished to drink them in without distraction.This day would live in memory regardless.The specifics might fade, but Alice and Jay’s emotional outpourings had burned deep in his heart, as permanent as his initials seared into their collars.

He pressed two fingers against the monogram, holding the claim against Alice’s neck, against the heartbeat below.Her shoulders settled; she blinked slowly, a soft smile crossing her lips.His cock stirred, yet bound by the dress clothes he’d chosen for the day.He’d been exceedingly careful not to come since the morning.He no longer had—truthfully, had never had—Jay’s capacity for seemingly endless recharging.And he’d promised his dear ones a loving night before the hearth months ago.

“Has this day been all you hoped it would be?”Asking for their play requests after the hanging of the painting had given him the measure of their desires.More overt dominance from him for Alice; more opportunities to serve for Jay.Ideally, those needs had been met for now.

Alice lifted her hand to her throat and traced the edge of the collar.Dipping her head, she swallowed as she covered his hand with hers, her fingers small but strong.“All that and more.”

He drew her into his lap and offered his hunger a taste, a sensual kiss, sliding his lips across hers and wedding their tongues.Encouraging her to straddle him, he cupped her ass in both hands to bring her closer.Her bare thighs rubbed over the tweed of his trousers.A shudder coursed through her.

“You cannot possibly be cold,” he teased, peering ostentatiously around her.Jay’s fire blazed in the hearth, casting a ruddy glow.He pitched his voice louder.“Not with such a magnificent fire to warm you.”

Jay, his hands encased in fire-retardant gloves, wriggled his ass while balancing larger logs across the base he’d built in the fireplace.

“Not cold—” Alice ended on a squeak, the natural consequence of his decision to fuss with the handle of her plug.Her thighs gripped him, the firing of her muscles rippling alongside his, her every subconscious tell exposed to him.“But aren’t you—” Her delightful gasps gave away the distraction he caused her.“Aren’t you too warm?”

He’d selected a breathable lightweight tweed, but soon, yes, the heat in the room would become uncomfortable.The discomfort would assist in slowing his arousal.He guided her hands to the open collar of his dress shirt, massaging her fingers as he laid them against the first button.“Perhaps you would care to help me with that?I might do without the shirt.”

The midnight blue tie that matched her dress had been abandoned in the playroom, put to work as an impromptu blindfold as she writhed under his clamps and Jay’s worship.She fingered the open vee at his throat, nimbly freeing the button.Parting the shirt, she uncovered a deeper swath of skin and spread her hands inside, her touch firm against his chest.

“Just like I thought.”She rested her cheek beside his.Her breath whispered across his ear.She stroked his chest, straining the fabric at the next buttonhole before retreating and releasing the button.“You’re plenty warm.”She rolled her hips and thrust against him, sly minx.“Getting warmer.”

“I cannot fathom how you would notice.”He spoke in the intimate bass that she confessed enhanced her arousal in a multitude of systems.Her methodical, mechanical understanding of her physical responses made mapping them a delight.He might pluck the strings he wished to vibrate and create a symphony whenever he chose, unleashing beautiful new music for all the senses.“You appear a bit flushed yourself, dearest.One might even say hot.”

A third button fell prey to her fingers.His shirt gaped to the waist.Alice lightly scraped her nails over him—up and brushing the shirt off his shoulders; down and gripping his flanks as though poised for a ride.Holding his gaze, she tucked her fingertips into his pants and eased his shirt up and out.She followed the line of his waistband around to the sofa cushion, and he obligingly leaned forward.His bare chest brushed her breasts; her exhale stuttered.“Do I?”

“Most certainly.”He tipped her sideways in an embrace, as though he meant to bear her down and lie atop her.But in the final movements, as her legs straightened, he rolled her hips and shoulders.Facedown across his lap, she lay with her ass enticingly positioned for a fresh round of impact play.“Let’s have a look, shall we?”

Her catlike stretch extended nearly the length of the couch.Sighing hungrily, she pressed her feet into the cushion and dug her fingers into the armrest beyond her head.“More than a look?”

Her voice changed for him—sweet, hopeful, a touch of pleading embedded within.Not the authoritative voice she used on Jay.Once he would have concealed his laugh.Not today.The energy flowed through him.How much his dear ones had grown.How much they all had.If she hadn’t yet noted the difference, perhaps she felt it.The new year would be an excellent time to begin mentoring her more closely, helping her recognize moods as well as physical responses, to build her confidence in her range.She too would create symphonies.

“I may indeed have more than a look on my mind, clever girl.”He traced a sinuous curve down her back, a blank canvas, pale and waiting.The flogging had brought blood briefly to the surface, but the color had faded.She and Jay would sweat before the hearth; the heat and firelight would cast a rosy glow over them both.Though he might help it along.He swatted her ass lightly, lifting from the bottom, a steady rhythm in the crease of her thighs.Her plug swayed and bobbed, bright as any bauble on their Christmas tree.“Not all attire is ornamental.”

A pleasant sigh cascaded through her.She lay pliant, agreeable, her body at rest under his attention.

Jay rose to his feet and shifted the screen across the fireplace.Flames filled the space behind the patterned grid, throwing fleur-de-lis shadows out into the room.Stepping back, Jay thrust his fingers through his hair and captured the dark strands behind his ears, his elbows spread wide.The apron ties dangling from his waist rested temptingly against his ass.The thick weight of the leather, intended for blacksmithing, concealed his cock as he turned.

“Think this is done for now.”Jay tossed the gloves onto the wood rack, his aim unerring though his gaze strayed toward the sofa.

Alice rocked into each crisp smack of Henry’s hand, stronger and spaced at greater intervals.Anticipation made the bed for arousal to lie in.

“Anything else I can handle for you, Master Henry?”Jay’s sweet smirk suggested numerous possibilities.His tenor carried richness and depth, more love than awe—not a submissive seeking reassurance but a spouse comfortably following his lead.

Jay’s confidence and Alice’s undulations tested Henry’s intention to keep their pace more adagio than allegro.His cock had certainly taken notice.Inhaling a slow breath, he poured smooth calm into his voice.“The fire won’t need tending for a good long while?”

“This flame isn’t going out.”Glancing down, Jay rocked his hips, his smirk firmly in place.“It’ll burn past midnight.”

“I have no doubt.”Henry beckoned him closer, gesturing for him to swivel as he approached.Alice mewled at the pause.He delivered a stinging slap, and her hips jerked.She moaned and wriggled back for more.Reaching across her, he tugged at Jay’s apron strings.“Then as you’ve finished that task, you won’t have need of this”—the knot came undone, and the apron gaped at the sides, strings dangling—“and our wife and I won’t be denied the beauty of your form any longer.”

Alice rolled up on an elbow and grasped for Jay with her other hand.He knelt smoothly, bowing his head toward her.She plucked the neck strap over his head and cast the apron aside, immediately stroking the expanse of chest revealed.“Mm-hmm, that’s so much better.Good thinking.”Casting a look back over her shoulder, she raised an eyebrow at Henry and rolled her hips dangerously thoroughly against his lap.“Although some people are still overdressed.”

“And some people”—stilling her hips, he pressed his thumbs on either side of her plug—“have been known to find a half-dressed frenzy exceedingly stimulating.”

Alice’s moan folded a laugh within.“It’s me.I’m some people.”

He squeezed her ass in agreement; her soft, ample flesh filled his palms.His cock pulsed.But he wouldn’t be rushed, neither by his spouses nor by the tyranny of physiology.For six months he’d framed and reframed the images in his mind’s eye, a hundred permutations of their evening before the hearth.In time, they would embody them all.But tonight, a single choice would do—a place to begin, as the new year began with them.

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