Page 86 of Season of Gifts

“I’m here, stud.”A goddess with the tree lights glowing behind her in a fairy-tale halo, Alice stepped out of the living room and right into him, burying her face in his neck and wrapping her arms around him.

He swung the bags in his left hand clear and sank into her, fitting as close as he could, stumbling them a couple of steps forward.They didn’t usually do hugs right after work, not until he’d showered off the sweat and city grit.But she wasn’t letting go, and if she wasn’t complaining, he sure as fuck wasn’t.“I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.So much.”She patted the arm he wasn’t hugging with, her hand traveling down his bicep to his forearm, and tipped her head back.Those eyes, Jesus.Video from a thousand-something miles away couldn’t compare to her face inches from his.“What are you holding?”

“Oh!”He thrust his arm upward, spinning the bag to show the logo.An extra stop on the way home, but since he didn’t know when she’d be getting in and if she’d eaten— “I got us takeout.”

Her smile filled up her cheeks.She tilted her head toward the kitchen.“I got us takeout.”

He squinted past her.A bag with the same logo sat on the counter.Uncertainty teetered with a laugh in his gut.“I, uh, hope you’re hungry?”

“Oh, I am.”She drew him in, curling her hand around the back of his neck.Her tongue swipes teased his mouth, and when he whimpered for more, she powered past his lips and drove firm strokes along his tongue that had his dick bumping his shorts.“And two meals is perfect, because we’re about to work up an appetite.”

A tsunami of fire blazed through him.

Backing up, Alice hooked two fingers into his shirt collar.He slipped into an inspection posture on autopilot.The room faded into hazy unimportance.Only Alice mattered.Only what his mistress wanted of him.

She licked the center of her top lip, a tiny pink tongue tip at the point of the curve Henry called Cupid’s bow.“Don’t you have a post-work shower to take?”

“Yes, Mistress.”Sparks crackled in his head, flying up from the fiery wave.Alice had plans for him.

“Good man.”She tugged him forward, backing as he followed.“Put that food in the kitchen so you can come upstairs with me.”

She freed him, but he chased her hand, pressing it flat against his chest beneath his.He’d forgotten the feel of her fingers.If he could just make an imprint to stay on his skin, to mark him as hers.Every tight muscle in his body had loosened up except the one eager for her to need it.Alice was home, and he was hers.His throat closed up, choking on the relief.He shook his head, not trying to deny her, but struggling to push out the words.“Thank you, Alice.”

The bear hug reclaimed him.She rubbed his back, her hands magic knot-removers.“Hey, hey, you earned it, stud.This was an incredibly tough week.I see all the good work you’ve been doing.You are the heart of our home.I felt your love when I walked in the door.”

His heart had been missing for days, but now it beat like crazy.“I feel it too.Yours, I mean.”

“Good.”She whispered her approval right in his ear, alerting his whole body in the mix of relaxation and readiness where subby comfort lived.“Food down, stud.I want to show you more of my love before we eat, unless you’re too starving to enjoy it.”

Starving more for the love than the calories.He hustled to the kitchen and back, ditching his shoes by the bench.She’d started up the steps, her ass swaying in the hypnotic way of women.She didn’t need to entice him; his dick was ready to bust out of his shorts and serve her.But he couldn’t stop looking, and her soft laugh when she glanced over her shoulder at him said she didn’t mind.Maybe she wasn’t swaying for him.Maybe she just liked the feeling too.

She laid her arm full-length along the bedroom door and pushed it farther open, her fingers spread, her body long and lean and powerful.He kept clear of her feet, pacing his steps to hers, behind her right shoulder, trailing her the way he’d trailed Henry at the club in those first training weeks.Always nearby, never intrusive, ready and willing to serve.His dick throbbed, unhappy with the compression shorts, aching for the freedom to move.Preferably closer to Alice.

Duffel bags sat unzipped on the bed, piled high with clothes.They were going.Tonight.She’d made her promise come true, made his dreams come true.They would all spend the night together again, finally.Shivers rippled up and down his back.

She passed the bags and steered him into the bathroom, flicking the lights on.They’d had the best weekend here before the separation.The mirrors, fuck, Henry had made his dreams come true, too, taking Jay’s suggestion and turning it into an amazing play night together.Remembering the good was so much easier when he had his dominants with him.Left alone, his brain twisted the handlebars and sent him down darker paths.

Spinning around, Alice parked herself in front of him.He froze in place, his heart pumping so hard it kept going and rubberbanded back with athumpity-thumpin his chest.

She ticked the zipper down on his outer shell, the wind guard layer.“The tree is magnificent, Jay.You’ve been caring for it every day, I bet.”

That wasn’t a question, but hemm-hmmed agreement.Sweeping her hands back up his abs and chest, she worked her fingers under the jacket and pushed it off his shoulders, trapping his arms.A jolt of hunger jerked his dick.He had cuffs now, in the playroom.Henry must’ve known he was ready for them.Ready to be restrained, ready for his lovers to use him.The way Henry had leashed him to Alice and watched them fuck for his pleasure.Next time maybe Jay would be the one on the bottom.

“You did the laundry last night after our call, didn’t you?”Alice didn’t say that like a question, either, finally dragging the sleeves down his arms and letting the jacket hit the tile behind him.“Such a smart choice, getting the house ready for us to leave it neat and tidy.”

His chest got bigger.From her praise; every piece he swallowed and stored behind his ribs, plenty protected and spreading and growing through him.From her petting; she peeled off his second layer, the fleece-lined vest so his arms had room to move and his body stayed warm—but not as warm as her touch made him.

The base layer came off last, over his head.Alice lingered on him, her hands everywhere at once.Fingers scratching through what little chest hair he had.Palms circling across his nipples.Finger and thumb pinching gently down his sides, tugging his muscles, giving his breathing a rhythmic hitch like the tick of gears shifting.

“I saw your gifts.”Her voice dipped low and foggy as her fingers slid under his leggings.She cupped his hips, his ass.The fabric stretched and rolled down as she moved.It snugged just under his ass.“Henry must be aching to put them on you.And you deserve them, stud.”

She palmed his dick through the shorts.He strained toward her, hissing through his teeth.Fuck, what if he couldn’t—

“You can come now,” she whispered, squeezing her hand inside and gripping him.“We’ll get there again before we’re done.”

Three strokes set him off, left him blinking through spots in his vision, the overhead lights dazzling.Five days since he’d had any hand on his dick but his own.And she knew him, knew what he needed, knew the pressure and the speed and—

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