by Nona Raines
“I can fix that,” Kyla said. She took Cassie’s nipple in her mouth and sucked, her hot tongue working the tender bit of flesh.
Cassie’s knees went weak. “Oh, Ky.”
Kyla pulled back, her eyes glinting. “Now try.”
Jordan’s face was flushed. He picked up the ornament and placed it over Cassie’s wet, rigid nipple. The little reindeer stayed perfectly.
Kyla’s face was a picture of triumph. “Told you.”
Jordan growled and kissed Kyla hungrily. Then he kissed Cassie, rubbing his hard cotton-covered cock against her belly. Heat streaked through her, making her pussy wet and needy.
Ky’s face was rosy, her eyes bright. “You need some decoration too, babe.”
She pulled down his briefs, and his cock bobbed free. He stepped out of the underpants and kicked them aside. Cassie took a handful of tinsel and draped it over his cock. Kyla selected a tiny sleigh ornament and tried hanging it from his cockhead.
“It won’t go,” she complained. “He’s too big around.”
His grin was smug. “Lucky for you ladies.”
“How about this?” Cassie held up a cardinal ornament with a pinchy thing on the end.
Jordan reflexively slapped his hands over his nipples. “Don’t even think about it.”
Kyla tossed the sleigh thing aside and grabbed his cock. “Enough games. Let’s get to the fun.”
Jordan looked at her with lust and love. “What’d you have in mind, baby?”
“I want you to fuck me. Fuck me while I eat Cassie’s pussy.”
Cassie’s mouth fell open. In the months the three of them had been together, they’d done a lot of experimenting, but Kyla had not yet gone down on her.
Ky turned to her. “Would you like that, honey?”
Cassie sighed. “Oh yeah. But…you’re sure?” She didn’t want Ky to feel pressured.
“I want to. Go sit on the sofa.”
She obeyed, wobbling on jelly legs, her engorged clit rubbing torturously against her thong. When she reached the sofa, she sank onto it, then lifted her ass to pull off her thong. She scooted to the edge of the cushion and let her thighs fall wide, showing them her “pretty pussy,” as Ky had called it.
Her two lovers stared at her. Kyla made a move but stopped when Jordan put a hand on her shoulder. “Hold on. I’ve got a better idea.” He whispered something to her, and Ky’s expression grew alert. She gave Cassie a wicked look.
What were they up to?
She soon found out. Kyla and Jordan both knelt between her legs, dotting her thighs with kisses and working their way up. Ky moved in first, stroking her tongue through Cassie’s folds. Cassie sucked in a breath and curled her fingers into the cushions.
When Kyla retreated, Jordan advanced and swirled his tongue around Cassie’s hard clit. She twisted and moaned as the two took turns licking, sucking, and tasting her with their wet tongues and hot mouths. Heat filled her, her swollen clit tingled, and Cassie knew she was only a stroke or two away from orgasm.
“Hold on,” Jordan whispered, seeming to know how close she was. He edged back as Kyla crawled forward. Jordan pulled Kyla’s thong down around her knees. Through hazy eyes, Cassie saw him palm the round globes of Ky’s ass.
Kyla jerked forward as he surged into her. “Ooh! Yeah, that’s so good, babe.” Cassie tangled her fingers in Kyla’s short hair as Jordan plunged in and out of Kyla. Cassie’s whole world narrowed to the space between her legs. All she wanted was to come.
Ky flicked her tongue once more over Cassie’s clit. Cassie went stiff as the waves of her climax pulsed through her again and again. When they subsided, she slumped against the cushions and caressed Ky’s hair. Kyla’s face contorted as Jordan pounded into her. “Oh. God. Yeah.” She dug her fingers into Cassie’s thighs and threw back her head, crying out as she came. Jordan worked her a bit longer, his expression intent as he sought his own orgasm. He followed Ky into climax.
* * * *
They finally got around to putting on a few clothes and decorating the Christmas tree. Then they sat together on the sofa sipping Christmas wine and exchanging gifts.
“This is from me, Cass.” Jordan handed her a rectangular box.
Ky squirmed with excitement. “Hurry up; open it.“
Cassie did, loosening the tape and taking care not to tear the wrapping paper, much to Kyla’s disgust. “A DVD player. Wow.”
“Okay, here’s mine.” Kyla gave her a larger box and did a lot of sighing and groaning as Cassie slowly unwrapped this next gift. Inside she found DVDs of her favorite musicals: The Sound of Music, Oliver!, and of course My Fair Lady, among others.
She lifted each DVD from the box, shaking her head in amazement. “Oh my God, you guys.”
“All the movies that you love. Well, not all,” Kyla said. “We’ve got to save something for your birthday.”
“This is so awesome. But it had to cost a fortune, all these movies and the DVD player.”
“Now you can get rid of that sucky VCR and all those tapes,” Kyla told her. “And the discs have a lot of extra features too.”
“Thank you so much.” They’d tried to give her something that would mean a lot to her. She hoped they’d feel that she’d done the same.
“Ky, for you.” She gave Kyla her gift and almost laughed at the greedy way Ky grabbed it and tore off the paper. She nervously tightened the belt of her robe as Kyla gazed at her gift, the newest Clive Barker book.
“Jordan said you haven’t read it yet.”
“No, I haven’t. Thank—”
“It’s signed by the author,” Jordan informed her.
Kyla’s mouth was a round O of surprise. She flipped to the book’s title page and read the signature. “Oh Cass, that’s so cool. But how’d you have this done?”
“He was at the Monster Mash down in Boston.”
“Boston? You went all the way to Boston to—” Kyla glanced at Jordan. “You knew about this?”
“Oh yeah.”
“But that’s gotta be like a five-hour drive,” Kyla said. “Each way.”
Cassie shrugged. That didn’t even include the time standing in line to get the book signed, but she didn’t care. The look on Kyla’s face was worth every minute she’d spent.
“I just wanted to give you something special.”
For once in her life, Kyla was speechless. She just shook her head in disbelief and hugged Cassie tight. Then she laughed. “I have a hard time picturing you at the Monster Mash.”
“It was…interesting, I’ll say that. The Candyman guy was there.”
Ky bounced in her seat. “Candyman was there? Tony Todd? Oh, I’m so jealous! Jordan! I want to go to the Monster Mash!”
Jordan pulled a slim envelope from behind a sofa pillow. “Your wish is my command.”
She took the envelope from him. “What?” Inside were airline e-tickets. “Round-trip tickets to Boston…“
“Yep. For the weekend of next year’s Monster Mash. We’re goin’, baby.”
Ky screamed and threw her arms around his neck.
It took a few minutes for her to recover. “Okay, babe. Are you ready for your gift now? It’s from me and Cassie.”
He ran his hand down his bare chest and waggled his eyebrows lasciviously. “Both of you. Is it what I think it is?”
“Oh, it’s no fun if we tell you,” Kyla answered, her voice low and breathy. “For this surprise, you have to close your eyes. Go ahead.”
Jordan obeyed. Kyla’s silky robe tightened against her breasts as she scooched closer to him. “Ooh, babe. Keep them closed, now. Come on over here, Cassie. To his other side. Let’s make our guy a nice little sandwich.”
Cassie choked back a laugh as she sat on Jordan’s other side, pressing close. The front of his sweat pants bulged noticeably. Kyla was pure evil.
“What do you say, Cass? Should we give it to him now?”
Jordan groaned, sinking back into the cushions. “Oh, yes, please.”
&nbs
p; “All right, then.” Kyla placed a small box on his lap, right over his growing cock.
His eyes popped open. “Huh?” He glanced down. “What’s this?”
“Your surprise.” Ky’s smirk made it clear she was quite pleased with herself.
Jordan’s disgruntlement was also plain. “It is, huh? I thought it was gonna be—”
“Yeah, we know,” Kyla said. “Well, hold that thought. This is a different surprise. Come on. Open it.”
He picked up the box and squinted at it. A different look came into his face, one of anticipation. “Hey, wait a minute. Is this—”
“Open and see.”
Jordan ripped off the gift wrap with one twist of the wrist. When he shook open the box, a toy fell onto his lap. He lifted it gently. “How’d you find this?”
“Is it the right one?” Cassie asked. Kyla had been sure, but…
“Robbie the Road Roller,” he said. “It’s the only Dinky missing from my collection. How’d you know?”
“Duh, Jordan. All the time you’ve been spending on eBay, hello? And checking the Dinky collectible sites. Didn’t I warn you they can become addictive? You haven’t exactly made it a secret.”
Cassie hadn’t known what Dinkys were until Kyla had informed her they were tiny toy trucks and cars modeled on the real things.
“Can I see your collection?” Cassie asked.
He jumped to his feet. “Sure!”
As he walked away, Cassie couldn’t help but admire his fine behind in the sweats. Kyla groaned. “Oh God. You don’t know what you’re in for, Cass.”
Jordan returned with a shoebox under his arm. He set it on the table and removed the lid. He lifted out a small red dump truck. “This was my first Dinky. Clumpy the Dump Truck.”
“Clumpy started it all,” Kyla said.
“That’s right. I’d always liked machines as a kid, big machines. Once I got Clumpy, it became an obsession. I had to get the whole construction set. And I realized what I wanted to do when I grew up.”
Cassie smiled. “Drive big machines.”
“That’s right.”
Ky snorted. “And his parents just loved the thought of that.”
His face flushed. “They just had different ideas. But it worked out.”
“You’re doing what you want,” Cassie said. She wished Kyla wouldn’t come down so hard on the subject of Jordan’s parents. “So you collected all the Dinkys except the road roller.”
“No, I had Robbie too, but my brother Jake played with them one day and lost him. He denies it, of course. But Robbie just disappeared, never turned up at all. Stupid Jake. And I couldn’t get another one. They’d stopped making him.” His mouth twisted in disgust. “They replaced him with Randy. Randy sucks. So I’ve been haunting eBay, even had a bid on Robbie. Then at the last minute some dipshit beat me out.“ His eyelids flickered. “Hey.” He eyed Cassie and Kyla with suspicion.
“That’s right.” Kyla’s smile was smug. “We’re the dipshits.”
“Oh, man, I don’t believe this. You bid against me!”
“So we could get you something you really wanted,” Cassie said.
“Yeah, so quit bitching and show a little gratitude,” Kyla added. “We saved you money.”
“I love him.” He rolled the toy across the table. “Thank you. Now my collection’s complete.”
He spent a few minutes taking the toys out of the box and showing each one to Cassie: Billy the Backhoe, Butch the Bulldozer, Eddie the Excavator, and more.
“Don’t any of them have girl names?” Cassie asked. “That’s sexist.”
Kyla sat and watched, showing remarkable patience. After all, it was Christmas Eve.
Once Jordan tired of showing off his trucks and the box of Dinkys was back in the bedroom closet, Cassie learned there was one gift remaining.
Jordan and Kyla exchanged a look. “Well, do you want to tell her, or should I?” Kyla asked.
“You go ahead, baby.” When he turned his soft green gaze to her, warmth flooded Cassie’s chest.
“Tell me what?” Cassie found it hard to speak through her tight throat. She was humbled to be in the presence of so much love, and to think that a little of it rubbed off on her.
Ky took Jordan’s hand and gave Cassie her other one. Her face shone with the eagerness of a child offering a loved one a handmade gift. “We want you to move in, Cass. We want you to come live with us.”
Cassie felt her face stiffen with shock. She saw Ky’s enthusiasm shrivel, saw Jordan’s warm expression turn to one of puzzlement. She knew they were waiting for an answer, but her tongue was frozen to the roof of her mouth.
Gently she freed her hand from Kyla’s and wiped her damp palm on her thigh. “Wow, you guys. Wow, that’s…I’m flattered.” Her mind a blank, she flailed helplessly for words. “I mean, that’s so nice of you…”
“Nice?” Kyla said. “We’re not doing it to be nice. We love you.”
“I—” Oh, God, why had it come to this? Cassie knew what they wanted to hear from her: I love you too. But the same old doubt enveloped her, the same fear. Did she love them? Could she love anyone? She was so out of practice.
She tried playing it off as a joke. “Guys, I think you’re just feeling too much Christmas spirit.”
“What’s that mean?” Kyla demanded. Jordan put a hand on her arm to calm her.
God, she was blowing this. She tried to sound cool and sensible to hide her panic. “I mean, it’s a lovely offer. But we shouldn’t rush things.”
Their skeptical expressions told her they weren’t impressed by her reasoning. “Everything’s going well, so why change? You two have been together a long time. You’ve got your routine down pat. You don’t need me around, messing with it.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what we want,” Kyla said, her tone serious.
“Yeah.” Jordan gave her one of his patented lopsided smiles, but it was tinged with disappointment. “Ky and I have turned into a couple of old fogies; we need someone to shake us up a little.”
Cassie tried to smile, but her facial muscles felt flaccid and weak. “Let’s just take some time and think about it.”
Kyla’s eyebrows lowered, and she opened her mouth as though to argue, but kept silent when Jordan gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “It’s Cassie’s decision, Ky. If she needs time, we have to give it to her.”
Kyla was not one to give in without a fight, and the struggle to keep silent showed in her face. “All right,” she said at last.
Cassie lifted her glass and swallowed her last mouthful of wine. She hated disappointing them, letting them down, but she didn’t have the courage to give them the answer they wanted.
Because the L-word was a jinx. Every person she’d ever loved, she’d lost.
Chapter Ten
The three of them spent Christmas Day at Jordan’s parents’ house. Though they tried to pretend all was well, a pall had been cast over the holiday, and Cassie knew she was to blame.
She’d avoided Thanksgiving with the Brougham clan, but there was no way she could avoid being there today. Jordan and Kyla refused to go without her, though she’d spent any number of holidays on her own in the past. In the end, it wasn’t worth making a fuss.
At Jordan’s parents’ house, all the siblings, spouses, and offspring were present. “Uncle Jordan” was a particular hit with the children, a dab hand at coaxing smiles from grumpy toddlers and cradling sleeping infants. Cassie loved seeing this side of him.
It was a happy, noisy, chaotic day filled with eating and drinking, opening gifts, and plenty of the teasing that goes on in a big family. Finally the party wound down, and parents of the littlest children headed home to put their sleepy ones to bed. Cassie helped Ms. Brougham clear the table.
In the kitchen, Jordan’s sister Jilly leaned against the counter. “Holidays suck.”
“Jillian!” Mrs. Brougham frowned at her from the sink. “What way is that to talk?”
“Big whoop, Christmas.
We women do all the cooking, serving, and cleaning up. How is that a holiday?”
“Oh, stop complaining. How taxing is it to load a dishwasher?”
Cassie couldn’t help but smile at the face Jilly pulled.
“Sure. Mommy’s little helper is hard at work while my lunkhead brothers sit on their asses all day expecting to be waited on.”
“Jillian.” Mrs. Brougham’s mouth pursed in disapproval. “Language.”
“Whatever, Mom.”
“Let me take care of the dishes,” Cassie said. “I don’t mind.” She was happy to help—and to be away from the curious looks of remaining family members. Though everyone was polite to her, it was hard not to feel out of place as the only one who didn’t belong.
“Thanks, Cass!” Jilly made her escape before her mother could stop her.
That left her alone with Mrs. Brougham. Kyla was playing pool with a couple of Jordan’s brothers, and Jordan was talking with his dad. Jordan’s mother rinsed the dishes while Cassie loaded the dishwasher.
They worked for a few moments in awkward silence before Mrs. Brougham cleared her throat. “So tell me, Cassie. Did you grow up in Rosemont?”
“Oh, no, I uh—” How to explain her past to this pleasant, well-meaning woman? “No, I grew up in western New York. Not far from Buffalo.”
“Ah. I was just curious. Generally people spend the holidays with their families. Are your parents still there?”
“Not as far as I know.” Cassie winced as she heard how abrupt she sounded.
“Oh.” Mrs. Brougham blinked at Cassie’s tone as well as her strange answer. Well, if she was surprised now, just imagine how shocked she’d be if she knew that Cassie had no idea of their whereabouts.
There was no more conversation. Mrs. Brougham wiped her hands on a dishcloth. “I think there are still a few more dishes out there. Excuse me while I just…” She trailed off as she left the kitchen.
Cassie made short work of loading the dishwasher and went to check for anything still left on the dining room table. She halted as she heard Jordan’s voice from the hall. “What are you talking about, Mom?”
“Well, I just don’t understand why she’s here. I realize she’s Kyla’s friend, but Christmas is a family occasion—”
