Page 32 of Home For Christmas

I took one of the beers Harrison offered and settled in for the evening. I wouldn’t be long for the world, but I could enjoy a beer or two with those of us still awake.

I didn’t remember falling asleep the night before. I remembered snuggling into Declan’s side after having a few few beers, but now there was clattering in the kitchen and I was curled into a soft bed. The smells from the kitchen—coffee, bacon, and some form of pastry goodness—guaranteed I would not be going back to sleep. I slid out of bed, double-checking I still had underwear on, and headed toward the kitchen to figure out what smelled amazing.

The kitchen was manned by Greg and Harrison, both wearing sleep pants and nothing else. The bready smell turned out to be pancakes, and I let out a moan that had nothing to do with the searing hot kiss the two had been sharing. They jumped apart at the noise, then laughed when they realized who was standing there.

Harrison found his voice first. “Jesus, I thought you were Lydia. She showed up here in the middle of the afternoon yesterday and came very near to finding something she shouldn’t have.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “Nope, just me, and by all means, don’t stop on account of me… Please, don’t stop.” They were hot together, and I had no problem admitting that. Then I realized my brother was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Jasper?”

“He’ll be back before long. He forgot his laptop at the office and payroll is due, like now,” Harrison informed me.

Greg nodded. “We’re getting breakfast ready.”

I blinked at the clock on the stove. “Is it really only seven?” What the hell was I doing awake? “You two are sadists, you know that? Dragging me out of bed just after five a.m. California time.”

Harrison slid a coffee across the island to me. They easily had the fanciest coffee maker I’d ever seen and it made the most amazing, perfect cups of coffee. “I take that back. You two are awesome, wonderful men.”

Greg shook his head at me, then glanced down at what I was wearing. “You know, those don’t cover very much.”

I looked down at the panties. The sheer material covered the important bits, even if just, though the outline of my dick was more noticeable than I’d realized while in the bedroom. In some way or another, we were all members of the Scott family, and I knew it would take a lot more than the outline of my dick to shock them.

I wasn’t going to worry about it. Instead, I slid onto the barstool and hugged my coffee mug as I sipped. “Why are there still almost no decorations here?”

Harrison grumbled and muttered something I couldn’t understand, but thankfully Greg elaborated for me. “Your brother didn’t even own a string of lights. Harrison and I went to a tree farm when we got back from Tennessee. We just haven’t had time to go looking for more decorations.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder to point to the tree in the living room. “Cody’s bringing some of the decorations from my place in San Diego, but they won’t get here until Christmas Eve. We were going to run over to Harrison’s old place this weekend to get his.”

“Why doesn’t he have decorations here?” My parents, Derek, and I all went crazy with decorations. I couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t have any.

A light crinkle from behind me alerted me to Derek’s arrival into the kitchen. When I turned around, he was still in his pajamas, meaning Colt must have still been asleep. “He always went to the big house. Also, I don’t think he ever had a desire to celebrate much of anything before Greg and Harrison.”

Those words hit me hard. I hated that Derek and I had likely played a part in that. “Don’t,” was all Harrison said, and I blinked up at him in confusion.

“What?”

“I see what you’re doing. You’re blaming yourself. You two had no idea what was going on in his head. That’s more on your dad than you guys. But since you found out, you’ve been here for him without question and you all are closer than you’ve ever been. So stop.”

I flushed and suspected Derek had done the same.

Greg nodded at Harrison’s words. “We didn’t get decorations the last couple years because we spent the first year away. And last year Hometown did that mini-tour thing through December, so we didn’t spend a lot of time at the house and spent Christmas in Tennessee. This year we’ve just been crazy busy and haven’t decorated, but it’s driving Harrison insane at this point.”

Derek took a seat beside me and draped his blanket over his lap. “Shopping today?” For all I liked to shop for lingerie, Derek could spend days on end shopping for housewares. Even longer if it was Christmas decorations.

“I’m going to need a lot more coffee if I’m expected to go Christmas shopping not even a week before Christmas,” Colt said from behind us, his sleep-filled voice still rough and gravelly.

Derek’s head bobbed up and down in agreement, wild curls flopping everywhere. “Christmas shopping! Wait, you actually want to go with us?” Derek’s confusion was written all over his face. “I figured you’d want to stay here.”

Colt kissed Derek on the head. “I can’t say my motives are completely altruistic. The bakery downtown has the best scones I’ve ever had. It will be my reward for following you all around all day.”

By the time Greg and Harrison were slipping plates of waffles across the island to us, Declan was sitting beside me, his hand playing idly at the back of my panties as we talked about who was coming shopping with us. We’d completely missed Jasper walking in from the office until we heard him yelp. “Jesus Ty, I can see your entire ass through those.” Turning around, we saw him covering his eyes as he walked toward Greg and Harrison.

I wiggled my butt on the barstool, pulling another groan from Jasper and laughs all around. “The front is more covered,” I assured him.

Greg snorted. “They certainly don’t leave much to the imagination, but yes, the important bits are covered.”

I moved closer to Declan. “Will you come Christmas shopping with us?”

Chapter 6

Declan

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