Page 27 of Secret Santa

On my way into the bathroom, I’d noticed the “present” from Fitzy had been haphazardly tossed onto the shelf above her toilet. For once, her meddling was actually helpful. While I helped Priscilla regain her balance, I snaked my hand out of the shower to grab her gift.

“Where’d you find that?” Priscilla’s question slurred on a lazy tongue. Seeing her so totally gone from a single orgasm made me feel a million feet tall.

“A little miracle from our meddlesome elf.”

I rolled the condom on, drinking the heady elixir of her fascinated perusal. I held my cock out, running my hand over the tip, checking the fit probably more times that truly necessary. Every time I touched myself and gave in to the delicious feel of it, Priscilla sighed in tandem.

“Hands on the wall,” I directed, caressing her shoulder while she turned and regained her balance. “Mmm, princess this view. I don’t know how I’m supposed tonotspend hours appreciating it.”

I took hold of her hips, angling her in the position I needed, and pressed into mind numbing pleasure so intense I felt as if I separated from my body and observed from above.

“Oh, yes.”

She hissed out in response, grinding her hips against my groin, pressing me deeper into her heat. Where I’d internally laughed at how quickly she shot off, I now cursed the same response in my body. It was too much. The sensations were overwhelming. The light tinkle of her voice every time she sighed and moaned. The seductive wiggle of her hips as her body responded in kind to each thrust of mine. The seductive slap of our skin reverberating off the tiles of the shower. The warmth of the shower tickling down my back mimicked the warmth that surrounded my cock, and the seductive kiss of Priscilla’s most intimate muscles tested my concentration and steely resolve.

“Priscilla I’m not going to last much longer.” I tried to warn her.

“I’m nearly there.” She panted, “You’ll have no complaints from me.”

At least that’s what I think she said. It was hard to truly discern words when my body flooded my brain with pure sensation. I felt Priscilla’s fingers tickle at my cock. The realization she’d taken her pleasure into her own hand was the match needed to set me ablaze. Her orgasm grabbed hold of me like a vise, and the combination of both launched me so far out of my own body I worried I’d never find my way back to earth.

ChapterSixteen

Somehow we made it out of my shower. Presley took care to dry me off, wrap me in my robe, and run a comb through my hair. It was too much for my stupid heart to take. The sex? That had been otherworldly. But then to go and be all hyper-attentive? I’d never had a man do even one of the things Presley did. Combing my hair though had unlocked some hidden antechamber that turned the Presley Murray dial from smitten to free-fall.

We lay in my bed, my head against his naked chest while his fingers played in my hair. If I were a cat I’d be purring in his lap. It felt nice. Feeling him. Being pressed skin to skin. Even if it was my cheek to his chest.

“Can I ask you a question?” Presley’s fingers left my hair to run a soothing pattern down my back.

“That you’re asking permission makes me think it’s going to be a question I won’t like.”

“You said something earlier that I can’t stop thinking about. Something about not wanting to hitch to your wagon because you aren’t the type of woman this town expects me to be with. It’s been needling at me all night.” He continued after a long sigh. “I can’t imagine anyone not thinking as highly of you as I do.”

It wasn’t a piece of my life I enjoyed sharing. Though, he’d probably hear about me from some gossip in town. At least me telling him assured he received both sides of the story.

“My dad is in jail.” I blurted it out with no preamble. It was always best to just rip the band aid right off rather than try to ease someone into a fact like that. “He robbed a bunch of banks when we were really young. The diner was new and struggling to get off its feet. Jesse and I were both still in diapers, my mom was trying to balance working the diner and taking care of the two of us. Not that I’m making any excuses—but I understand where his desperation came from.”

Presley kept up the soothing pattern he drew on my back. Feeling that repetitive motion soothed me enough that I could expose to him our family’s greatest shame. He wasn’t acting any different. He continued to hold me against his chest, existing in the quiet space while waiting for me to finish my story.

“My dad had a friend named Roy. He worked for some security installation company. Bank of Texas was one of his companies. They think that is how they were able to break in undetected.

“I think if it had just been normal cash robberies, maybe people would have forgotten about it. But because they stole heirlooms…it felt like we were pariahs for most of my growing years. The more they judged my mom, the harder she worked to prove to the town that she wasn’t like my dad. That she just wanted a nice place to raise her kids and operate a successful business. She worked hard. Killed herself really, trying to get out from underneath the boulder of judgement for being married to a thief.”

It was hard to talk about. Especially around the holidays. I missed so many things about her. Having her diner helped. Sometimes I imagined her there with me, humming to the jukebox, or wiping down the counter tops, or dancing with me behind the counter, spinning me this way and that.

“Priscilla, the time that I’ve been here—not a single person has ever said a single unkind thing about you. Not one. Everyone I’ve ever interacted with sings your praises.”

“My mom was beautiful. Like bombshell level gorgeous. Even with two kids and a diner that ran her ragged, she still managed to don her red lipstick every morning and walk into that diner looking like Maureen O’Hara. It might be a little catty, but I think maybe the women of the town were a little jealous of how gorgeous she was. White trash women with a deadbeat husband serving twenty didn’t deserve to be beautiful. I honestly think that’s how they felt. I think for me, it helps that I’m not like her. People forget who I am because I’m not threatening. I’m like the town duff.”

I was a realist. I knew that regardless of how I saw myself, people judged me for taking up too much space. But, in terms of the town, being heavy probably did work to my advantage.

“Do I even want to know what a duff is?” Presley pulled me tight against his chest, like he could hug all the places in my heart that had splintered over the years.

“It doesn’t matter. The point I was trying to prove was that the five years away from here, coupled with not looking like a super model have definitely helped me stay under the radar in this town. Which was beneficial. The diner I built does well for itself. I honed my baking skills. Presley, I rose from the ashes. And I did it with no one’s handouts or charity. My blood, sweat, and tears turned a sad, small-town diner, into a pretty little gem.”

That diner made me proud as hell. After years of existing in a state of transience, being forced to buckle down and really work at something paid off in spades. It reminded me of all I was capable of and challenged me in all the best ways. It was mine.

“Your diner might be a gem, Priscilla, but I hope you know you are a diamond.”

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