by Noah Harris
Even after all this time, with me on top of him, he’s still trying to figure out the trick.
“Dominic,” I say into his ear, warm and wet.
“Yeah?” he says, clenching teeth around his lust.
“I want you to fuck me. We don’t have to mate. I’m just…I need to have you inside me.”
Dominic sits up suddenly without moving me from his lap, arms supporting my back, and looks steadily into my eyes.
“I want to look at you, no matter what happens. I want to see it on your face, whatever I do to you.”
I laugh. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The adoration shining out of him, the absolute fulfillment in that gaze as he slowly rolls his hips up against me, has me halfway to crazy before we’re even touching skin to skin.
Ernest loved me, and I loved him. But it was never a turn-on like this. I feel like the sun, shining on him. I feel like the ocean when he looks at me like that. Like he’s in awe of me.
Dominic gasps when I roll my own hips, rocking against his rhythm, and his eyes get serious. A deep, slow kiss that lingers as he lays me back, and then he’s up, pushing to his knees, so he’s kneeling between my legs, hovering over me on one hand while the other tugs my boxers down. He considers my hard dick for a moment with a smile, tracing a line up the shaft, and then fast as anything my legs are draped over his shoulders, and he’s going to town.
“I’ve imagined this more than anything else I’m going to do to you,” he says from between my legs, and I can barely hear him over the rush of my ecstasy. Clutching at the sheets as he licks and sucks and bites me into madness. That most delicious, tender bud of me, twitching and sparking under his strong tongue and sweet lips. I find my hands on the back of his head, pulling him as close as I can. I want to fill myself up with his kiss.
Hips convulsing, knees rocking against his ears, I let out a shout and he laughs.
“Christian, do you really want us to get caught in this position?”
I sag back, bent nearly double, and wink. Half of me wants to lie around, joking like this, forever. But the half with my legs on his shoulders is insistent.
“Goodboy and Jonesy took the kids last night after bath time.”
“Ah! So this was the whole plan?”
I close my eyes, lit up by the breath of his laughter against my thighs.
“Now I think we really are at the mercy of your heat,” he murmurs, and looks up at me hungrily. When I push the tip of my penis toward his mouth with a single finger, he snaps at it, trying to capture it in his mouth. The sight of it so funny I burst into fresh laughter but that laugh is swallowed by what happens next.
Dominic drives down the length of me in one swift movement, sucking his way to the root of me in one breathless instant until I can feel him holding me there, pulsing and warm, at the back of his throat.
The fact that I don’t immediately come seems to strike Dominic as a challenge, and he redoubles his efforts. Cock, balls, the fluttering mad pleasure of my rear. Our laughter thins out and fades altogether as the animal rises in us both. That heavy breathing, heart pounding, beast that we become, in sync and devoured by our passion.
He looks in my eyes as he fucks me, just as he promised. I couldn’t look away if I tried. Every shiver of mine, every thrust of his, dances across both our faces and the deep heat and understanding in that look, connecting on a level that can’t speak, that sweeps us both up like a wave. The eternal thrust and release of us, breath catching and gasping.
“I can’t believe I get to have you,” he groans, breathless against my chest. I can feel him smile, eyelashes tickling my skin.
“You do, you have me. You have all of me.”
Just the words make him harder. Is there a way to make him feel the way his delight makes me feel? I could spend the rest of my life trying to figure that out.
We travel that balance between hard and soft, frantic and languid. I know he wants to devour me, to dive deeper than reason and that he doesn’t want this to end. Slow, slower, nodding, eyes locked. Tighter, throbbing, until every nerve lights up with sensation. It could be forever, this, right now. Timeless. He makes a sound like a sob, mouth hungry on mine, and then lifts me up with bare strength, putting distance between our skin.
“It’s too hot! Too good. I feel like I forgot everything I’ve ever learned. I’m so concentrated on not coming that I keep getting distracted.”
He really seems distraught.
“I want it to be perfect, too.”
He nods, grateful for the understanding but his eyes fall on my hand, where I’m stroking myself slowly, and he gasps with a sudden, deep intake of breath.
“Dominic…”
He shudders, eyelids fluttering, and smiles expectantly.
“It is perfect, and we have all day. We have forever. You don’t have to…save me up. I’m not going anywhere, okay? We’re here, and I’m good. I’m happy. You’re happy, right?”
His smile this time is with the tip of his tongue between his teeth, and when he lifts me back into his lap it’s the strength of his arms around me, holding me up, that gets me going again. My alpha, my man. Holding me in the center of his love, like a hurricane.
When I do finally come, it’s with him deep inside me, shooting his own thick load. Exquisite, drawn out, climaxing together from the feeling of his thick thrust and my tight warmth.
I barely blink, never wanting to look away from his eyes, his face, as hot white cum spills out across his chest. My delighted prostate is more than happy to do its thing, his cock jerking inside me as he cries out, wordless in his passion and devotion.
“My goodness,” I say, locking my legs to keep him inside me.
He can’t quite wipe the pride and thrill of his smile away, looking down at me like a prize. Like a priceless treasure.
“You got your man, Tarrant.”
He nods, delighted, squeezing me as tightly as those strong arms ever could.
“And I am never, ever letting go.”
There’s wrapping paper everywhere, a colossal mess, but Huck’s dutifully cruising around the living room, picking it all up as best he can. The tree’s lit with the children’s attention to detail. Ornaments densely clustered as close to the bottom as possible, then sparser as you rise, until it’s out of even Bodhi’s reach, and then bare. But that’s where we’ve put the lights, so it looks like a choice.
Rosemary has opened one of her books to a huge oil portrait of a tiger and can’t tear her eyes away. Leaning against her with a glassy desire for more sleep is Poppy, somehow stickier with sweets than she was even five seconds ago. Dominic and I are sitting, still as statues, watching them coo and jump and show off their gifts.
Ernest was raised holding a traditional shifter Midwinter celebration, and that’s how the kids are raised. But since Dom and I were reared as average Protestants we didn’t really think the kids would mind a more traditional Christmas. Not that there was a huge list of differences between them anyway.
And it turns out we were dramatically correct on that front. Spoiler alert, kids think Christmas is pretty cool.
“Oh, God. Bodhi turn it off. This is why we shouldn’t have a television. I told you…”
It’s true. Dominic was very much against my decision to bring screen time into the equation. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about those cubs out at the ranch, and how lost they’d be in the world, and it made me sad. I realized just a little bit, an inoculation, would do them no harm in the long run. Homeopathic remedy for the modern world.
Of course, it’s hard to make that argument when Bodhi excitedly turns it on and the first thing we see is the faces of Dominic’s entire board of trustees, presumably celebrating their utter freedom and profit at the expense of mere humans.
But just as Dominic’s phone is buzzing with a call from Felix, the report banner rolls across the screen. They’re not safe. They’re under indictment for their crimes, in an investigation going back more t
han five years. I recognize some of their names from Dominic’s stories, and it’s funny to put faces to those names. I could have described them pretty accurately just from their personalities.
“Felix, what did you do? What is this?”
He sounds terrified, but there’s an edge of excitement that sounds almost like hope. He nods, putting his phone down on speaker mode and mutes the TV.
“What did I do? Absolutely nothing! I just wanted to be sure you heard the bad news. It seems like somebody went onto an ex-employee’s computer without their knowledge and downloaded some very damning evidence. Right around the time I was visiting you in Texas, as a matter of fact.”
He shakes his head, eyes closed, silently laughing.
“That is wild, isn’t it? And this employee, what price will he pay?”
“That’s the best part, we have no idea who it is! Only that it’s blisteringly clear who the ringleaders were, and the company’s assets are…”
Dominic slaps a fist into the table beside the phone, half enraged, and half tickled.
“Your competitor, you mean? Highpoint, your biggest rival in finance?”
There’s a silence, but I swear I can hear him laughing on the other end.
“Well, their assets are in safe hands now. Anyway, you could get them for a song, if they were any good at this, they wouldn’t have gotten into dirty tricks, right? It’s more about bragging rights. For whoever set this up.”
Of course it is. Dominic shakes his head in amazement.
“I can’t even be mad. Whoever did this deserves a medal. Especially if they’re congenitally unable to keep a secret! This would have been a clear violation of the law, if the employee knew anything about it. And under an NDA…”
Felix bursts into another pure peal of laughter, like bells.
“They couldn’t know it was happening until it was done. I’m guessing whoever it was doesn’t change their passwords very often. Like, since college.”
Nicely played, I think, and Dominic just shakes his head.
“So, what happens now?”
“It seems that some brilliant analyst figured out it would cost more and take more time to do a class action, but since they didn’t do this for profit, because they are a hero, Tarrant, an absolute legend, they seem likely to liquidate it all and divide it among the victims.”
My jaw drops. How much money could that possibly be?
“How much were they holding back? The whole time they said they couldn’t pay off the investors, how much was hidden?”
Dominic’s seething, for a moment, I can see the man he was in L.A. I prefer mine, of course. But that version was a lot sexier than he seems to think.
Felix has gone silent. I imagine him counting on his figures.
“How many victims would you guess there were? Individual accounts. Families.”
Dominic nods.
“Four hundred and thirty-three, I think. Those were the ones I found, anyway. But that was before I left. That isn’t counting Texas. If they were scamming them on the same level, maybe a thousand? A little under a thousand affected or defaulted accounts. Around the same number of predatory loans, the ones we knew wouldn’t get paid back. So, call it two thousand.”
“That checks out. I’m not done running down every single private fund and account, the offshores are a mess still. But considering how little they were paying in taxes, it’s safe to say the bulk of their assets are still around, somewhere.”
Dominic clenches his fists. He’s complained about this many times, it’s the worst part.
“They couldn’t afford to pay those people back, but only after their cut off the top. How much were they sitting on? I’m asking as the guy who was being paid a third below market.”
“And got almost two years’ salary as severance, so let’s not play that game.”
“How much, Armistead? How much are these families going to get?”
“Two thousand claims let’s say evenly divided, on average that’s probably about twenty grand, from what I’m seeing now. But I would estimate that’s about a fourth of the total we’re going to uncover. So after taxes, the average take would be about sixty-thousand dollars. Which isn’t a lot, but…”
I have to sit down, suddenly, and the twins vault across the room immediately, so I know I must look pretty ill.
“Not a lot to you, Felix. It’s twice what most of these people make all year before taxes.”
He laughs, carelessly enough but certainly delighted.
“You’re right! Oh, that’s good. This is great news. I am taking point on this. I was thinking I could fly out and run it from there? The company doesn’t exist anymore, and besides my forensics guys, I’m basically a team of one and the only one who really has any control, since I bought it up on auction with my own cash.”
“You really did that?”
He laughs, and I know he’s blushing.
“Of course I did! I always hated those dicks for what they did to you. And that was before I met those kids, and Christian and Jonesy and…anyway, I’m asking if I can come stay with you for a few weeks while I work it all out. I want to deliver the checks personally, and I thought you might want to be with me for that. At least in Salt Flats.”
Dominic is weeping, just openly weeping now. Poppy stands near him, looking out the glass door with one hand casually on his knee.
“Goodboy’s crew will be upset if you’re not staying out there.”
“I’ll see them. A few of those guys lost money too, you know. The ranch is about to get a pretty huge makeover. Maybe I’ll come and live there, too. Is it true Jonesy’s a pack mate now?”
His pose of slight curiosity is so transparent even Bodhi rolls his eyes.
“Yes, Felix. That’s true. This is probably going to be the most fun I’ve ever had.”
Felix laughs again, delighted beyond words.
“Okay, I’ll get on a plane after the next full moon and see you soon. Don’t tell anybody about this until it’s a sure thing, it’s a federal case so the money could get frozen for their trials. But by that time I can just pay it out myself if I have to, or establish a trust, or…”
Dominic smiles indulgently, this is as dreamy as Felix gets. He’ll be coming up with schemes all night.
“Sounds good, buddy. I love you. Thanks for the news.”
“Love you too. Christian, love you. Kiss those babies.”
“Bye Felix,” Bodhi says, and the twins chorus right behind him.
“Bye, my loves. I will see you so soon!”
Once he’s hung up, there’s not a lot we can do or say. It feels like too much.
“He wants you to go door-to-door handing out money. In Salt Flats.”
Dominic nods, tears in his eyes.
“He…I told you. He’s a nightmare but he’s our nightmare. He probably would have done this out of his own pocket if it’d occurred to him. But this is better.”
“It’s a lot better,” I grin, pushing myself into his arms. “Can I give you your present now?”
He nods, but the sudden softness in his eyes tells me he’s already guessed.
“Oh, I was hoping. But after the trouble you had, I didn’t want to ask. I thought you’d tell me whenever you felt safe. Is it safe?”
I smile, calm, and lean into his strong arms.
“Healthy as a horse. But five? Are you ready for that?”
Dominic laughs, tears in his eyes, and there’s a heat there that says the idea is doing a lot for him.
“Mine, and yours. Mine, in you. I’m ready. I could go again right now, if…”
I laugh, pushing his face away, both of us tearing up, and there’s a knock at the door.
Before Bodhi can answer, Jonesy’s booming voice comes crashing through the door, and then echoing in the foyer, too excited to wait. He’s not due over for Christmas for another hour, so this must be about the…
“Hey! Hey! Dominic! Dominic, did you hear about the…”
He see
s us embracing, and grins hugely. Yes, we did.
“Isn’t it so great? This town’s going to change overnight. The ranch is going to be a global destination. I’ll have my life back.”
Dominic and I share a look.
“You’re not going to the ranch after all?” I ask, worried.
“You were a Highpoint victim?” Dominic almost shouts.
But Jonesy just grins at us both.
“Yes,” he says. “And yes,” bowing at the waist to a Dominic so shocked he’s almost angry. “Whatever I get’s going into a trust for the pack, I already figured that out on the way over here. I don’t need a lot. But I want the ranch to be a force in the shifter world. I want to be there for that.”
Dominic shakes his shaggy head, running hands through his morning-wild hair.
“You’re a Highpoint victim,” he repeats, bewildered.
“Yeah. I also knew we had werewolves. Or had an inkling. You really underestimate me.”
“But why didn’t you beat the crap out of me that first day? Why didn’t you help the Silly Man out?”
He seems utterly confused by that. “Why? You didn’t steal my money. Some old assholes did. You were just there. I already told you all this.”
“Yeah, but I thought you were just being nice to me. I didn’t think you were involved.”
Jonesy just shakes his head, a bit more subdued.
“I probably would have if you’d been a dick. But I mean, the first thing you did was have lunch with me. You bought me lunch, even though it was my treat. That’s the kind of dude you were. So I didn’t worry about it. Then it just went on from there. I thought if you found out, you’d act weird, like you’re doing right now, and we wouldn’t be friends.”
Now it’s Dominic’s turn to sit, stunned.
“I thought you were a bully. I thought you were my chance to be nice. But you were being nice to me.”
Jonesy laughs, throwing his arm across Dominic’s shoulder at the kitchen table.
“You’re my best friend. Obviously. Try and keep up.”
“Merry Christmas, Kirkendall. You’re mine too.”
