Furry Christmas

by Sotia Lazu

  “Elaborate. And maybe ask me in and bring me my pussy? I’ve missed the furry critter.”

  Alice laughed. “You’re horrible.” She stepped aside to let Becca in, closed the door, and followed her to the living room.

  Becca looked around, and her gaze fell on the unopened boxes of ornaments stacked behind the couch. “Love what you haven’t done with the place. I see we’re still boycotting Christmas.”

  “Mom thought the mess might change my mind.”

  “She should know better by now.”

  Alice nodded. “She should. Not my home, not my problem. Anyway, I’ve got coffee ready. Do you have time? We can order in later if you’re staying.”

  Becca sat sideways in an armchair and draped her legs over the side. “Was gonna suggest the same thing. I’m man-less till eight, so I’m all yours.”

  “Promised Prince I’d take him to the park after lunch. Can you make it in those boots?” They were red patent leather, high-heeled, and totally envy-worthy.

  “Are you Prince? Yes, you are!” Becca cooed to the traitor dog, who’d sat on the floor by her side and was now licking her palm. “Tell the big meanie to put up the Christmas tree instead of running outside in the cold.”

  “I guess that’s a no, then,” Alice murmured. “And the stupid holidays are almost over anyway.”

  “Not until my big New Year’s Eve party, they’re not. Have you perhaps changed your mind about that? Colin and Brad will be supplying single guy-friends for your perusal.”

  “You should know better too. I’ll go get coffee.”

  She was back in no time, handed Becca her mug, and took a seat by the fireplace. Pity she’d never learned how to light it up and her dad refused to get one of those electrical ones. The day could do with the warmth of a fire and so could she.

  “My cat?” Becca asked.

  “Since Prince showed up out of the blue, she’s been spending most of her time following him around and disappearing when he looks her in the eye, but she’s currently doing her beauty regime on the kitchen counter—for the umpteenth time today.”

  “Ms. Thing?” Becca called out. “Come to momma!”

  A meow came from the kitchen, but the cat didn’t show.

  “She’s being an ass ’cause you abandoned her,” Alice said.

  “I only left her with auntie Alice, who’s apparently starting an animal shelter. Care to tell me how you ended up with this hunk? Showed up out of the blue, you said?”

  “Came to the door two nights ago, drenched and filthy. I’m only keeping him till I find his owners.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that. I’m only keeping Ms. Thing till my mother makes arrangements to take her…four years ago.” As if having realized she was the topic of their discussion, Ms. Thing finally made an appearance. Head tilted upward, she approached Becca and hopped onto her lap, managing to look completely disinterested in her surroundings. “Hi, girl. Miss me?” Becca stroked the white fur until the cat began to purr.

  Alice shook her head. “I don’t get attached easily.”

  “Sure you don’t.”

  “I don’t. He’s just a refreshing change from sleeping alone.” He and her beautiful stranger, who’d made enough of an impression that she’d dreamed of him twice in two nights—half a year after fucking him.

  “Are you blushing?” Becca leaned forward. “You’re blushing! What aren’t you telling me?”

  They’d been friends for years, even before Becca and Amanda had become best friends, and Alice knew better than to hope Becca wouldn’t see right through her. Especially about anything to do with sex.

  “I’ve been having vivid dreams.” Alice stared at the floor. “Sexual dreams.”

  “Not of the dog.” Becca scrunched up her face in exaggerated shock.

  “You’re an idiot! Of course not. I dream of that guy. From May?”

  Becca snorted. “The one you were screwing when Amanda walked in on you?”

  “Totally beside the point, but the same. The weird thing is, I don’t dream of what we actually did. We’re just in bed—this bed here, same sheets and all—touching. And it feels amazing. I hate waking up in the morning.”

  “Can’t blame you, especially if things never go beyond second base. We’re not in high school, people. Get your dream sex on.”

  Alice reached for a throw pillow and slung it to Becca’s head. “Sex is more than penis in vagina, you know.”

  “Thank God for that, or having a threesome would be très uncomfortable.”

  “And there we go again with the I’ve-got-two-boyfriends spiel.” Alice grinned.

  “I totally do!” Becca mirrored her expression, and they cracked up.

  * * * *

  Alice felt like a huge weirdo for putting on her lace teddy that evening. She’d packed it in case horniness overtook her and she gave an ex a booty call, but now she was wearing it to go to bed alone. And what? Give her dream lover something nice to behold? She was naked in her dreams, anyway.

  She kept telling herself she was being silly while she brushed her long tresses and put on perfume. She was just going to sleep. By herself.

  Oh. Right.

  “Prince, I think you’d better sleep on the floor tonight.” He gave her the puppy eyes, so she went all the way downstairs to get the thick plush rug her mom used as a seat cushion for the living room bay window.

  “Here. See? Comfy bed.”

  Prince circled it about half a million times before lying down with something resembling a huff.

  “Good doggie.” Now that he was comfy, maybe she could get comfy too and do what she’d had in mind the night he first showed up.

  The lace felt scratchy against the tender skin of her nipples, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. She could pretend it was her stranger’s hands grazing the tips of her breasts.

  She lay back and closed her eyes, trying to bring his face to mind—his light brown eyes crinkling at the corners with the hidden smile that didn’t quite reach his lips; his sensuous mouth teasing her, long white teeth nipping at her lips; his eyebrows raised in a question before he entered her.

  “Oh…” She smoothed her hands down the length of her body, not lingering in any one spot for more than a second. She ached for the heightened sensual state he’d brought her to with his fingers and lips and tongue, before he’d ever touched her where she wanted him the most.

  Only, it wasn’t working.

  Her delicate hands—an artist’s hands, Dorian used to call them—weren’t the same.

  She ghosted them over her breasts, caressed the sides, pinched the nipples, and when all else failed, got out of bed to get her vibrator.

  “This is stupid,” she told the room and the half-sleeping dog by the bed. “I’ve been masturbating since I was fourteen. And it’s not like I haven’t been taking things in my own hands since that night. Successfully!” Whatever holiday depression was getting a hold of her again had to be exorcised as soon as possible. “I’m the master of my own orgasms, damn it.”

  Prince cocked one eyebrow.

  “You, stop mocking me. I bet you’re the reason I can’t do it. It’s like I’m being watched.” Despite the fact that the dog had been facing the opposite side of the room until she’d gone on her mini-rant.

  “I should send you to the bathroom for the night.” But she wouldn’t. There was no reason to. The mood had been killed and buried. She’d try again the next night—send the year off with a bang of sorts. “Whatever. Get up here, and you better not be wagging your tail. There’s nothing to be gleeful about, bubba.”

  She’d lost her mojo and gained a hundred and forty pound dog. Yay—not!

  Chapter Six

  For a moment there, he’d been afraid she’d kick him out of the room. When she’d called him to bed, it had taken all of his willpower to climb up as stealthily as Ms. Thing might have. He wouldn’t make a big deal about it, because Alice might change her mind.

  And then he might not be able to visit
her dreams.

  That was an odd thought for him to have. Too structured. Before he’d found her, his thoughts had been nothing more than wants and needs. Food. Shelter. Now he had dreams and hopes, and those were more suited to a man.

  He’d been a man and, when Alice’s breathing evened out and became shallower, he was a man once more.

  Same room. Same bed. Same sheets.

  But Alice was naked now, her body bathed in the sweet glow of candlelight.

  He’d read somewhere that dreams didn’t have color.

  He’d read.

  It didn’t matter. The whys, hows, and once-upon-a-times had no significance. All he cared about lay next to him, one arm over her eyes, a corner of the sleek sheet barely covering the apex of her thighs.

  Gently so he wouldn’t wake her, he pulled the silk away and sat back on his haunches to take her all in.

  Long, smooth, tanned. A golden goddess with hair of pure silk and emerald eyes. He longed to see her eyes glaze over with pleasure, but deep inside he knew he’d lose her if she raised her dark eyelashes.

  He’d lose himself.

  He was already lost. For her.

  He painted a trail with his tongue around one of her nipples, then blew cold breath on it and watched it rise as though seeking his touch. He couldn’t resist such a request. He leaned over her, cupped both her breasts, and kneaded the full flesh, enjoying how well it filled his palms. He’d held her tits before, felt their weight.

  She looped one leg around his and pushed against the floor with the other, rolling them over so she straddled him.

  “Ride me,” he whispered.

  She ducked her head. Brow furrowed in concentration, she raised and lowered herself around him. Her measured movements drove him mad with lust.

  Her long hair cascaded down her breasts and tickled his chest. Lovely as it smelled, he wanted it out of the way. He brushed it back and half rose so he could suck one distended nipple between his lips. He worried the rosy bud with his teeth until she gasped.

  “I’m almost there.”

  He crawled between Alice’s legs and gently draped them over his shoulders. He’d wanted to do this the moment he’d seen her bare and glistening with evidence of her arousal.

  He shouldn’t have accepted her invitation for a thank-you drink. He was late—should leave right now, really—but he wanted to soak up every second he could with this gorgeous woman who had a contagious laughter and no sofa.

  He glanced at his watch. She would be mad. It would be the last time he’d need to see her that way.

  “I can come another time,” he called out. He didn’t know where she’d gone. The kitchen was across from him, but she’d disappeared somewhere behind him.

  “Don’t you want to come before you go?”

  He swiveled toward her voice as fast as his position on the floor allowed.

  She stood right behind him, pushing her shorts down with both hands. “I give great ‘thank-you’s.’”

  He remembered licking his fingers to find out how she tasted. He remembered more about her than he did about himself, and he knew all he needed to figure out was how—

  He closed his eyes, expecting pain, but instead got a void of memory. There was something important just beyond his reach…

  He wouldn’t focus on that. His full attention belonged to the divine woman spread out before his hungry eyes.

  He blew a raspberry on her lower belly and bit gently on her inner thigh. She’d liked it rough. Had asked him to bite her. That would have to wait. Right now, he wanted to take his time. He ran his tongue up her slit, separating her lower lips until he found the bud hiding between her folds. He closed his lips around it and sucked gently as he pushed two fingers inside her.

  Like the night before, she latched onto them, tilting her pelvis so he could go deeper. He began pumping his fingers inside her unhurriedly, flicking her clit with his tongue. Her body slowly began swaying to the rhythm of his thrusts.

  He withdrew his hand and slipped his tongue inside her core, craving her essence. He dug his fingers inside her buttocks and held her to him, sucking and biting. Her chest rose and fell erratically, her hips meeting his every thrust.

  When she clenched her thighs around his head, he drove a finger, slick with her juices, inside her asshole and pinched her clitoris with his free hand. He wasn’t ready for how hard she bucked against him, but he didn’t stop fingering and fucking her with his tongue while she rode out her orgasm.

  By the time she stopped trembling, he was hard as steel and twice as determined to remember how he’d come to be a shaggy mutt.

  And why he felt like he didn’t have much time before he stayed one forever.

  “I’m afraid to open my eyes,” she said.

  “Then don’t.” His voice reached his ears hoarse with disuse.

  “Can I touch you?”

  He might die, if she didn’t. “Yes,” he whispered. He climbed up beside her, and Alice rolled to the side and held out her hand.

  “Guide me?”

  He wanted to wrap her fingers around his cock and steer her movements to facilitate a quick climax. He wanted to straddle her head and have her full lips stretch around his girth. Instead, he placed her palm on his chest and let her decide the next move.

  “It’s you, isn’t it? My beautiful stranger?”

  He nodded before he remembered she couldn’t see him. “It’s me.”

  “Why am I dreaming of you now? It’s been so long.”

  “Almost six months.” He didn’t know how he knew that.

  Drawing circles down his stomach, she echoed his words, then said, “So why now?”

  Before he could answer, she dragged one fingernail down his length. Quinn sucked in a breath. “I think it was now or never,” he said. The answer made sense to him on a visceral level.

  “I’m glad it wasn’t never.” Using her hand as an anchor, she inched down his body until her warm breath caressed his shaft. “I hate unfinished business.”

  He briefly considered asking what she meant, or offering a witty comeback, but lost the ability to speak when she ran her tongue over his cockhead.

  “I like your taste,” she said and rubbed her cheek against his shaft. “Like your smell too.”

  He wanted to stay a man forever. Stay in this bed forever. Stay with her forever.

  Maybe he could?

  She touched her lips to the tip of his cock and began sliding them down slowly.

  “You know, I can do that using only my mouth.”

  She’d said that when he’d rolled the condom on. When he’d been ready to take her where she lay, on the cushions strewn around her coffee table.

  Cole Valley. Her neighborhood. His too, since she’d gotten him that contract. He’d never have afforded rent there, if she hadn’t convinced that producer to give his music a try. And how was he repaying her? By getting ready to fuck another woman in her building. In the apartment right beneath hers, if he was right. She had given him a chance when others only turned their back to him. He owed her everything, but he couldn’t love her.

  Alice was swallowing his cock one inch at a time, her hand taking over where her lips hadn’t yet reached. She kept her grip loose, teasing, and he bunched his hands in the silken sheets to keep from closing his fist around her palm and forcing her to bring him to completion.

  He wasn’t stopping. Even while thinking of how he was betraying the only person who’d had his back since he’d left the last foster home, he knelt between the leggy brunette’s spread thighs and positioned his cock at her entrance. He wanted to take things slow—eat her out and then watch her blow him while she played with her pussy—but he couldn’t hold back.

  Next time, he’d be a fucking gentleman.

  After he’d found the balls to go upstairs and tell Cassandra he wasn’t in love with her and couldn’t keep pretending.

  Cassandra.

  Her face struggled to form in his mind, but Alice cupped his balls and tugged
lightly. “Are you still with me?”

  “Always.” Corny answer, but it just spilled out. Like he would, soon, if she kept making that sound deep in her throat while she sucked. The vibrations intensified the feel of her scorching hot mouth around his cock.

  He raised his fist, lowered it, raised it again. There was no avoiding what needed to happen.

  It didn’t take more than that first timid knock for the door to be thrown open, and Cassandra to look up at him with that gaze he always dreaded.

  The one that saw right to his soul.

  Alice rolled her tongue over the head of his dick, grazed the underside with her teeth. He tightened his jaw. He wouldn’t come. Not yet. It was important to hold off.

  “You’ve been with her,” Cassandra said.

  Huh? Alice? Had Cassandra seen them? Guilt swelled up inside him. It tasted like bile. “It’s not what you think. This was the first time. I’ve never cheated on you before. Ever.” He wasn’t lying. “I tried so much to be who you needed me to be, Cassie. I changed for you. You know how I was when we met; I’d sleep with anything that moved. But I was faithful to you. Faithful to the end. Until today. I was coming over to break things off, when I met her, and—”

  “And you just had to have her.” Her eyes seemed lit with an eerie glow. It had to be the corridor lights, because he’d never seen their midnight blue look phosphorescent before. “My sisters warned me about you,” she said. “About her. But I thought we could overcome it all, if you met me first. If I loved you enough.”

  She sounded crazy. His lack of surprise at that was disconcerting. He’d always suspected there was something off about her. That sense of danger had reeled him in at first. Cassandra could do anyth—

  Alice would make him come. Now. He felt his cock throb in her mouth when she scratched lightly at his perineum. Panicking, he grabbed the base of his cock and squeezed hard. He couldn’t come yet.

  Alice pulled back, letting him slip out of her mouth with a wet plop. “What was that about? You almost dislocated my jaw.”

  “I’m sorry.” He panted the words. “I just want it to last. It’s been a while.” He was certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that when Alice was done with him, she’d wake up. And when she woke up…