“I love caroling,” I said, half just to get a kick out of surprising Claire. I’d never caroled a day in my life, and if anyone in New York City saw me doing it, my reputation as a hard assed businessman would go right down the drain.
Claire stared at me. “You do?”
“Sure.” I winked at her, using the side of my face her mother couldn’t see.
Susan squealed again. “I knew it! Jason, you’re the perfect man.”
Harry unwound his scarf and headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get started on my cider.”
“Tracey just called,” Susan shouted after him. “We’re going to meet her at the McGee’s at six.” She looked at me. “It’s a group thing we do with the neighbors every year. I hope you don’t mind. You’ll love them, I promise.”
“It sounds great,” I assured her. “I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun.”
“Gwen’s coming too.”
“Gwen hates caroling,” Claire said, more like a grumble.
“Oh, Claire,” her mother answered, sounding exasperated. “She doesn’t hate it. Who could hate it?”
“Gwen,” she deadpanned. “Gwen could hate it. Loathe it.”
“Well, then she’s coming because she wants to spend time with her family. What’s so wrong with that?”
Claire looked at me, but her expression was unreadable. With the look, I got the sense she knew something I didn’t. Was it about her sister?
“I’m going to help Dad,” she announced.
“We need to start rehearsing soon,” the older woman said.
“I know.” She slipped into the kitchen, leaving just me and Susan in the hall.
Claire’s mom smiled at me. “Are you having a nice time here?”
“It’s wonderful,” I confirmed, meaning it. “Nothing like New York. It’s a great break from the crowds. Thank you again for having me.”
Her smile turned sympathetic. “Claire told me about your situation.”
Ah.
“Yes.” I wasn’t quite sure what she expected me to say. “I’m doing well though.”
She reached over and squeezed my arm. “We all go through tough times. I’m here to talk if you ever want to. I’m a good listener.”
My chest constricted. The woman barely knew me and yet she offered to be my therapist. In no crazy Utopian alternate reality could I ever be deserving of such sweetness.
“Thank you,” I rasped, then cleared my throat, swallowing the unexpected emotion.
“You know, Gwen is single.”
“Really?” I asked, sounding more excited than I meant to. I wasn’t about to ask Susan to formally court her daughter, but the news that no other man stood between me and Gwen was a good one.
Susan nodded and smiled wider. “Would you like to get started rehearsing? Oh Holy Night trips me up every year, and Jean McGee always finds some way to hold it against me.”
“Wow,” I chuckled. “Neighborhood caroling drama.”
She threw her hands heavenward. “You should see the way she is when it comes time to organize the Fourth of July parade. You would think the woman believes she founded this country.”
I followed Susan into the living room. A weathered looking upright piano pressed into the corner of the room, next to the Christmas tree. Susan set her sheet music down on the bench, shuffling through the papers till she found the song she was looking for.
“Here we go.” She settled down onto the seat and peered closely at the music. The familiar notes pinged through the room, clear and fluid. Although the piano was old, it was well tuned. Susan took the lead, and I picked up, doing my best to be as unobtrusive with my singing as possible.
What I’d said in the hallway about loving singing was a downright lie. I’d never opened my mouth in song except during the occasional shower. That’s what made the little lift in my spirit all the more surprising.
The second we finished, I heard a noise behind me, like a floorboard creaking. I spun around and Gwen was there, leaning against the doorway. She’d taken her ponytail down and loose waves of hair spilled over her shoulders and beneath her chin.
“Gwen, honey,” Susan said. “Come join us.”
“No, thanks.” She pushed herself off the doorjamb and walked down the hall.
Susan sighed. I thought she might have some kind of insight into Gwen’s behavior, but she only turned back to the piano.
“She seems in a bad mood,” I said.
Susan pursed her lips and shrugged. “She just… she has her own things to deal with. She really is a sweet girl.” She glanced up at me, an eyebrow raised. “What if you went and talked to her?”
“All right,” I immediately agreed, although what Susan thought I might possibly be able to say to melt Gwen’s attitude was beyond me.
I rushed into the hallway. Gwen was nearly at the top of the stairs. “Gwen!”
She froze and turned to take me in. Her chest heaved up as she inhaled deeply.
I walked up the staircase but stopped halfway to her. “How was your day?”
“Fine.”
Her hand remained on the banister and her eyes stayed locked on the wall behind my head.
Damn, what did it take to get this girl to talk? I’d almost drawn her into a full conversation that afternoon, and for some reason, she’d fled it practically mid-laugh.
“Don’t you like me?” I asked, thinking needling her might be a good tactic.
Her eyes went wide. “No. I… I mean, yes.” She finally looked at me. “I don’t really know you.”
“Right.” I grinned. “So you have no reason to dislike me.”
She scoffed. “I guess not.”
I took another step up. “I’m going to be here all week and I just thought it would be nice if we got to know each other better.”
Her eyes trailed across my face and she blinked fast, almost like she wished she could blow me away.
I could see it. The pulsating energy between us wasn’t something I alone felt.
When she spoke, her voice was breathy, almost in a whisper. “Know each other in what way?”
I took a few more steps towards her. We were less than a foot apart and I could see the fleck of gold in her right eye.
“Every way possible,” I replied, giving her my signature grin and reached out to cover her hand with mine.
Her face hardened and she jerked her hand away. “I knew it.”
I actually jerked back. “Knew what?”
“You’re trying to hit on me.”
“Wh-what?” I sputtered, the stumbling of my words due to the surprise that she found that thought so disturbing. “No, I…”
“That’s disgusting,” she snapped. “Claire brought you here because she’s a nicer person than she probably needs to be, and now you’re trying to hook up with her sister. Real nice. Classy.”
She turned on her heel and disappeared around the hallway’s corner. A door slammed. I leaned against the bannister, trying to process everything that just happened.
I’d gotten owned. That’s what was up. The woman had seen through me like I was nothing more than a flimsy piece of cellophane, and then she told me off before I could even catch my breath.
And, damn, it made me want her all the more.
Letting out a low whistle, I turned back downstairs to head to the guest room. Now that I was all worked up, I needed to find some way to blow off steam. Usually working out was the answer.
Had I remembered to pack my running shoes? I couldn’t remember exactly. At the very least, I could get down on the floor and do push-ups till I was bone tired…
But I’d still be hot as hell for the chocolate eyed girl upstairs.
“Damn,” I muttered, opening the guest room and throwing myself onto the bed. There was always porn…
I made a face at the ceiling. Porn was a tease, just something to remind you that you didn’t have the real thing there in front of you. Still, it would be better than nothing.
Rolling over, I noticed a
box of tissues and a bottle of lotion on the nightstand and smirked. Thank you, Mrs. Laurence, how thoughtful. I grabbed both and pushed my jeans down just enough to get to my raging hard on.
The lotion was cold, but it warmed soon enough as I closed my fist around my cock. I shut my eyes, imagining the hand belonged to Gwen. No. Not her hand. I imagined it was her mouth, then her pussy I was plunging in to.
I rotated my hand around the head, wishing it was her tongue swirling around, those full pink lips surrounding me. I pictured her on her knees, one hand gripping me, guiding me into her mouth, then further into her throat as she took every inch that she could. Her other hand was palming my balls, gently bouncing them in her palm, rolling them gently against each other.
Harder and faster she sucked and licked, her hand jacking the inches her mouth couldn’t reach. I thrust harder into my fist that had become her mouth in my mind. Over and over, picking up speed, feeling my balls tighten and lift. The head of my cock thickened, and I tighten my grip.
God, I wanted to come in her mouth. Then I’d pick her up and spread her across the bed and plunge my tongue inside her, giving as good as I got.
Imagining the taste of her, the sounds of her moans as my tongue speared her slit made me pump harder. I’d find her clit with my teeth and plunge my fingers inside, reaching and feeling for that rough little patch that would send her over the edge.
After she came, I’d crawl up her body and sink my cock into her before she could catch her breath. Her legs would wrap around me, her breasts arching up to tease my chest. I’d ride her, slamming into her over and over until…
My entire body tightened and the oh so familiar rush of semen raced for release. I stifled the curse that wanted to shoot from my mouth as cum shot onto my stomach, nearly to my chest.
Pulse after pulse of cum jerked out of me. It felt like gallons were released. God, it felt good, like the best sneeze in the world. But better.
I lay there, sticky and sweaty, remembering the sweet taste of Gwen in my mouth when, fuck, someone knocked on the door.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The door was opening, and I turned on my side, pulling up the blanket to cover me and all my evidence.
“Time to go,” Harry said, sticking his head in the door. “Oh, did you want to get a little more sleep?”
“No!” I practically shouted at the poor man. I toned it down. “Just a power nap. Much better now.”
Harry’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “All right then, we’ll be heading out in five.”
The click of the door was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. I pushed back the blanket and groaned at the mess all over me. Twenty tissues later and a trip to the bathroom cleaned up the evidence. But I had a hard time meeting Harry’s eyes when I met him by the front door.
Yes, I just masturbated to fantasies of your daughter. I knew that’s what my face had to be saying.
The whole family was there, Gwen included. Her lips were drawn into a tight line and when she saw me coming, she folded her arms and looked away.
I ambled up next to her, taking a place between the two sisters. Susan passed out the sheet music, giving instructions about the path we would follow, but I couldn’t listen. Although I was looking straight at the matriarch, nodding and acting like I heard what she was saying, my peripheral vision was trained on Gwen. Two or three times, her eyes flicked towards me. Once, when I turned my head to look straight at her, she bristled and dropped her face, no doubt embarrassed to have been caught looking back at me.
We filed down the front steps, all of us following Susan. Although it was fully dark outside, the street was lit up from the Christmas lights strung along the eaves of each house. Some of the neighbors had gone full out, choosing to put giant blow up animals in their yards. The house across the street even had a life size sleigh complete with miniature reindeer pulling it.
At the corner, we met two couples about Harry and Susan’s age. I shook hands all around, then waited politely while Susan explained that I was a ‘friend of Claire’s visiting for the holiday.
Thankfully, they didn’t seem particularly interested in me and didn’t ask any direct questions. After a few polite nods, they turned from me, making my presence forgotten for the time being.
Susan gave the newcomers their own sheet music, and then we tramped up to the first house. A small boy who looked about seven or eight answered the door, staring up at us with demanding eyes.
“Hello, Teddy,” Susan cooed at him. “Is your Mom home?”
He called for his mother and a minute later, the woman appeared in the doorway. Susan gave the signal and we went into Jingle Bells. I snuck a look at Gwen, who stood on the very edge of the small porch. Her lips were barely moving, and whether or not she was actually producing sound was questionable. Still singing, I edged my way behind the group and towards her. She bristled as I got closer, taking a step to the side. With the house against her left shoulder, there was nowhere left for her to go, so she stood there, trapped. I bumped my shoulder against hers and smiled wide, singing at the top of my voice.
Once the song was over, she leaped off the edge of the porch, scrambling towards the sidewalk like I had rabies. I watched her go, waiting for the rest of the group to file down the steps. Harry was at the end of the line, and when I got down into the grass, he ambled up next to me.
Oh shit.
“How’s it going, Jason?” he asked and I wondered if there was a hidden question inside.
“Great,” I said. “I feel like I’m getting the full Crystal Brook experience.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, you are.”
His steps slowed down and he glanced ahead to where the rest of the group was crossing the street. I got the sense that his separating me from the others was an intentional thing.
“What did you think of Freddy’s?” he asked.
“It was nice. Impressive, actually. Gwen seems so young to own a business.”
He murmured an agreement as we crossed the street. “She’s twenty-seven. Started the business a little over a year ago. It’s something she always wanted to do.” He paused. “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Not at all. Thirty-three.”
“And you’re quite the entrepreneur yourself.”
“I suppose so. Thank you for saying so, at any rate.”
He scratched his salt and pepper hair. “And what about your parents? What do they do?”
My throat suddenly felt incredibly dry. It had been a couple years since I’d spoken to my parents. As far as I knew, they didn’t know a thing about what had been going on in my life the last twenty-four months.
“My, uh, father was in real estate as well,” I said. “He’s retired now. So I guess you could say I got my start with him.”
“A good man, then?”
No. Not really.
I smiled as best I could. “He’s all right.”
“Can I ask why you decided not to spend Christmas with them?”
The group had rung a new doorbell, one belonging to a long, ranch style house. Harry and I stopped at the edge of the yard, neither one of us making a move to join the others.
Should I tell him the truth? Really, what did I have to lose?
Exposing myself wasn’t easy, but something about being in a strange town I would probably never visit again made the idea seem oddly doable.
I cleared my throat. “I, uh, haven’t seen them in quite a while.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you, but I’m sure there are no regrets for them.”
He studied my face, though I doubted he could really pick up much in the dim light. Still, his gaze made me slightly uneasy and I shifted, resisting the urge to walk away.
“Being a parent is hard,” he said, then guffawed. “Hell, just being a good person is trying enough. Being a good parent on top of that… now there’s the challenge of a lifetime.”
I thought about his words. I hadn’t expli
citly told Harry that I had a low opinion of my parents’ rearing methods, but not only had he picked up on that, he’d given me a perspective no one had ever offered before.
“I guess I wouldn’t know,” I admitted.
“You ever thought about having kids?”
I ran my tongue across my teeth. “Years ago. But now, no. It just doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me.”
“Hm.” He nodded. Behind him, the group of carolers moved on to the next house, Gwen’s pink ski cap bobbing at the back of the group.
“Life can be surprising,” Harry said. “One day you can want one thing and then wake up the next morning to find out you want the exact opposite.”
I smiled at his words. Was everything he said so retrospective, or was I just the lucky recipient of a random deep conversation? Either way, I found myself feeling immensely grateful.
“So how about this singing stuff?” he asked.
I looked at him, trying to gauge just how he felt about it before answering.
“It’s all right,” he said. “You can say it.”
I laughed. “Honestly? I think it may hold the possibility of growing on me.”
CHAPTER THREE
Gwen
I rummaged through the bottom of the fridge, one ear craned towards the living room. Mom and Dad’s voices remained at the same volume, suggesting they were still by the tree. Danny scrambled upstairs as soon as we got back from caroling, Claire was in the hall waiting for me, and Jason… well, I didn’t care where Jason was. After his attempt to flirt with me on the staircase, I was royally done with him.
Being more attracted to him than any other man in all of my memory was almost enough for me to hate his simple existence. Him actually trying to pursue me really was the cherry on top.
What a jerk! All the times I’d listened to Claire rant at him came tumbling back.
I growled. If only he could have just let things be, let me have the space I was working so hard to keep around myself, we might have been able to get through Christmas in a decent manner. I could have soldiered through, sat across the dinner table from him like it was no big deal, making small talk when I had to, opening presents on Saturday and smiling like I was pleased to have a guest. He would have left next week and I would have eventually forgotten about him; forgotten that there had almost been a man to pull me out into the world of the other sex.
Damaged (Crystal Brook Billionaires) Page 5
