Page 16 of Theirs for Christmas

TWELVE

The next twodays were a plethora of sweet, and sinful moments which left me conflicted. Being wrapped up in Sebastian and Damien left me feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. It was easy to forget the reason we’d met and the fact it was an unconventional situation at best, a morally repulsive one at worst.

Adam had messaged and tried to call me a number of times once we regained the cell phone signal, but I’d avoided him entirely. Bar a brief explanation of the power cut to my parents. I’d kept both them, and Jamie, in the dark about what had gone down in Scotland.

As my flight home drew closer, every moment seemed more intense. Did I want to go home, never to see them again? I’d have to face Adam when we got back to university in Canada, and the fallout was going to be nuclear.

All I wanted was to cosy up in our three-way makeshift bed and stay there for good.

But you can’t always get what you want.

‘Bath’s ready, Princess,’ Sebastian said, towelling off those muscular arms as he walked into the sitting room.

‘Will you join me?’ I asked.

He hesitated a moment before breaking into a smile. ‘Of course.’

The water was hot and bubbly, coming up to my chest in the deep clawed tub. Shimmying forward, I made room for him behind me, leaning back against his thick chest as he slipped his arms about me.

‘Can’t believe I’m going home tomorrow,’ I said, running my fingers up his forearms.

‘Me either. We’ll miss you.’

‘Miss having sex on tap?’ I laughed, only half joking. The two of them knew exactly what I needed in and out of the bedroom. I’d come more in the past few days than I had in the previous year.

‘The house is so much more complete with you in it.’

I knew what he meant. We’d fallen into such an easy pattern with one another. Cooking, cleaning, laughing, fucking. It all just worked.

‘You could come back,’ he said as he slid his hands into my hair, running the tips of his fingers over my scalp.

‘I was supposed to go to university in Edinburgh in the fall. I have a space for my master’s degree course and everything. A—I mean, we were supposed to be getting an apartment in the city together.’

I cut myself off from saying Adam’s name. Neither of us were under any illusion as to who I was talking about, but mentioning his son’s name while I was in the bath with Sebastian seemed a little uncouth.

‘You could still go. Is it what you wanted?’

‘I don’t know. Was I going for me? Or for him? I thought we had this whole life together, but it was all a lie. The course here is excellent, and the opportunities in the field are unmatched. But I don’t know anyone else here. I’d be leaving everything behind.’

‘You know us,’ Sebastian said, tipping my head for access to my neck, so he could graze his teeth along it and make me moan. ‘And even if you go home and never want to see us again, you can do it without him. Don’t let his idiocy and selfishness rob you of your opportunities.’

‘Will you tell him?’ I asked, angling myself so I could see his handsome face.

‘Would you like me to?’

‘It might make things more difficult back at university. I’m not sure I’d come out of the situation any better than he would.’

‘I can be your dirty secret if you like.’ He leaned down and kissed me, his lips firm and demanding. ‘On one condition.’

‘What?’

‘You promise to visit when you come back.’

THIRTEEN

We spentour last evening together cuddled in a pile on our floor-bed, watching comedians argue on the TV and luxuriating in each other.

‘Fuck, poppet, I don’t think I can let you go. I’m going to tie you to the chair and keep you,’ Damien said, placing kisses along my jaw.

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