Page 39 of Breach of Honor

16 Will

ALONE IN MY bed Christmas morning sucked balls.

Last night after sharing a twelve pack of beer with Jason and shooting the shit until well after two in the morning, I had gone to bed with Miranda on my mind. No bloody Christmas miracle had occurred overnight. She wasn’t in my bed, and I had a morning erection with her name on it.

Fuck, I ached for her.

I pulled the covers back, swung my legs over the side of the bed, and sat there remembering her sweet kisses before I left her apartment.

“Just give me this one day tobreakthe news to Lily,” she’d asked in her honeyed voice.Break. Miranda had emphasized the word when we were on the flight home from Carmel. As if moving in together was a ludicrous idea. When I had said as much, getting hot under the collar, Miranda had kissed me until I relaxed. She knew how to possess me with her delicious mouth.

I shifted on the bed, adjusting myself, willing my dick to shrink the hell down. I wouldn’t jerk off on Christmas morning… I wanted Miranda.

She had continued to reassure me on the flight. “I’m yours, Will. Try to understand. It’s like I’m breaking up with Lily. It’s been just the two of us for years. I need to let her down easy.” Then she pushed out her pouty lips and hypnotized me with her eyes, and I was done for.

Admittedly, spending two nights away from her wasn’t the crux of my troubled spirit. Up until this point, it had been only Miranda and me. No family. No friends. Moving in together would expose us to each other’s worlds. And mine had a lot more drama in it than I preferred.

Had I been impetuous asking her to move in after a month? Maybe. But I was falling in love with her. How could that happen seemingly overnight? It was insanity.

I’d asked myselfhowdozens of times, and I didn’t have an answer. It had to be the universe’s fault, and I wasn’t about to argue with an entity that had made me the happiest I’d ever been.

I shuffled to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my teeth. I had two hours before I picked Miranda up, and I couldn’t wait to see her. Christmas with my family would be formal and elegant. My mother wouldn’t allow for less. As a kid, it had been rigid and boring: instrumental music, lavish desserts, minimal gifts. And to please my mother, I wore a suit.

Usually, I dreaded the holidays.

Not this time, though. Having Miranda with me would improve the experience tenfold.

“Shitty night’s sleep?” Jason snorted, putting his mug of coffee to his lips as I entered the kitchen.

I ignored him while I assembled my pod into the Keurig.

“We should’ve gone out last night. Could’ve had your pipes cleared.”

I shot him a pointed look. “Don’t be an ass.”

“I’m just saying. Since you returned from your little holiday, you’ve seemed, um, sexually frustrated. She suck in bed or something?”

I ground my teeth, controlling the frustration building inside me. “Why do you always have to be a slimy sleazeball?”

“Well, Mr. St. James, because I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth like you. Some of us went to the school of hard sleazy knocks.” Jason drank his coffee. “If you didn’t want me here, you should have said something.”

Did I have to be such a jerk? And on Christmas no less.

I took my mug and sat at the table with him. “I’m sorry. But honestly, you cross the line too damn much. Miranda is off-limits. Don’t talk about her or lust after her. If you do, we’re going to have problems.”

“Whatever you say,sir.”

“Don’t be like that. She’s a nice person and deserves to be treated with respect.”

“I got it.” He waved me off. “Your newfound love life is new to me, but I’ll get used to it. I’m just going to miss whoring around with you.”

“I never whored around.”

“I suppose you didn’t but at least you played my wingman well.”

“Hey, I’ll always be your friend,” I assured Jason. “Just because I have Miranda in my life doesn’t mean our friendship is over.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why didn’t she stay here last night?”

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