Chapter 14

(River)

Tangle me in tinsel

I woke to silence, stretched and instantly found my hand pinned to the headboard as something crinkly and soft was wrapped around my wrists. Blinking, I struggled to focus, my mind still foggy with sleep, though rapidly coming alive when I spotted Lux kneeling beside me, a lust filled gleam in his eyes and Christmas garland in his hands.

“I thought we put all the garland on the tree?” I murmured, grinning up at him.

“We did.” He replied. “I bought more.”

“I see,” I said, giving an experimental tug and getting tickled for my troubles.

When he stopped, I lay there gasping, giving him ample time to finish wrapping my wrists so securely that I wasn’t going anywhere unless he wanted me to. Judging from the wolfish grin on his face, I didn’t expect that to be anytime soon, not when he started sliding down my body, peppering my skin with kisses. He nipped me and I moaned, loud, expecting him to slap a hand over my mouth or gag me with a piece of garland to keep me from waking the others, only he just did it again, harder. Whining I tried to keep it down, but when he pinched my inner thigh I yelped, squirming as I jerked my leg away from him, spreading them in the process. Pretty sure that was why he’d done it too.

“We’re gonna wake everyone!” I hissed, squirming more as he continued to torment me.

“No one left to wake, they all went home.”

“Even Loki-Bear?”

“In the cutest little boots and coat I’ve ever seen.”

“Early Christmas present,” I replied, recalling how adorable the outfit had looked when Haven had pulled it out of the box. “They even got overnight shipping to make sure he’d be as warm as they were if bad weather hit.”

“I see you had the same idea.” Lux said as he traced his fingertips along the tattoo on my side. “That pink and silver snowsuit of yours is adorable. I love the sparkly snowflakes.”

“Haven ordered it for me.” I said, looking forward to playing outside if we really did get as much snow as the weatherman had promised, or more like threatened every time he appeared on the tv screen.

“Awe, that was nice of him.”

Nodding, I wiggled, snuggling into the pillow. “Yeah. I love that he still looks out for me.”

“That’s what big brothers do.”

“I thought you didn’t have any siblings.”

“I don’t, which sucks, but Frida has a big brother and I’ve seen him in action, especially when she got sick. He’d come over to cook for her when I had classes, and bring her chocolates from her favorite candy shop along with so many books I’m shocked he didn’t throw his back out carrying them up the stairs.”

“Yeah, Meadow always cooks up a storm when one of us gets sick,” I replied, giggling a little as an image of her popped into my head. “Fusses too. It’s awful but it’s also the best feeling in the world.”

“I bet. So did River get the snowsuits for practical reasons, or does he have plans for some fun in the snow activities?”

“We’re gonna build a snowman,” I said, squirming as he kissed from my hip to my belly where…

Laughing I bucked and flopped, trying to get away from the raspberries he started blowing on my belly. Sunspots danced in front of my eyes when I opened them again, ribs sore from how hard I’d been laughing.

“Build a snowman, huh?” Lux said, continuing the conversation like he hadn’t just tickled the daylights out of me. “I can just picture that disintegrating into a snowball fight and who knows what else.”

“Probably, especially since Jeremy is comin’ too.”

“I guess we’d better enjoy it while it lasts, huh? They’re already talking about a rise in temperature ushering in flood and mud conditions come late next week.”

I sighed, because that was never fun to get around in. it also meant that Meadow and the kids would be stuck at the house until things dried up again, but at least everything there was well stocked. She had an ATV for emergencies too, one Haven had already gone over and done maintenance on when we’d first started getting reports of the impending whether.

“At least there will still be snow for Christmas,” I said.

“Yup and sledding too.”

“You saw!” I squealed, getting louder when he skimmed his fingertips along the bottom of my foot.

“Maddox showed me a picture,” Lux admitted. “I’m looking forward to testing a few of those out.”

“Wait,” I said, needing a moment without him tormenting me to fully process what he’d just said. “You’re gonna sled with me?”

“Sure am.”

“Yey!” I’d have hugged him if I wasn’t all trussed up.

He crawled between my legs, pausing to kiss and lick and tickle behind my knee. The moment I jerked it free he folded me in half, my knees on his shoulders, his mouth inches from my cock when he smiled up at me.

“Looks like someone fell right into my trap,” he murmured as he nuzzled my inner thigh, still teasing, and in this position, there was nothing I could do to urge him on.

Grumbling, I squirmed as much as I could, wishing I could smack the mattress, or at least kick my heels against it in protest, even if I would be faking my complaints. “No fair, you trapped me while I was sleeping.”

“Nope,” he said before licking over the head of my cock. “I waited for you to wake up first.”

“Barely,” I hissed, pouting because that was the only option he’d left me with.

I couldn’t even squirm anymore, so I just moaned and forgot what the hell I’d been debating with him about when he licked me again.

“Know what the best part about trapping you this way is?” he said as he blew a warm breath over my cock, before turning away from it to kiss my other thigh.

“W-what?”

“That we have all the time in the world.”

And once again he proved how easily he could turn me to goo with words as easily as he could with his kisses and caresses. He swirled his tongue around the head of my cock like he was licking a lollypop, kissed my inner thighs and rubbed the scruff of his beard against my inner thighs until they were tender and a little chaffed before he blew raspberries against them.

“No fair!” I cried, giggling as he dipped his head to suck me again.

He treated me to the longest, slowest, most drawn out blow job of my life, and ignoring all my begging, refused to let me cum. He just kept me on edge as he added prep to the blow job, his fingertips circling my entrance, slick with lube before he breached me. My fingers clawed at the garland around my wrists, but they were tried just tight enough that I couldn’t work a fingertip beneath them.

“Define fair,” he asked, a little breathless when he finally let my cock pop from between his lips.

“The exact opposite of what you’re doing right now,” I hissed, panting as I stared at him through heavy eyelids.

“You mean kissing you?” he asked before he peppered my tummy with a trio of them as he slid a second finger in alongside the first. “Or were you referring to the way I’ve been touching you, because I can always stop if you’d really like.”

“Don’t you dare!” I yelped.

“Why not?” He asked, peering up at me with a barely contained smile. “If it’s not fair then I really shouldn’t do it, should I?”

“Now you are really not being fair.”

“I don’t think we share the same definition of fair,” he explained as he pressed his fingers deeper even as he leaned up to nip my neck.

His breath was warm against my throat as he kissed his way across it.

“The way I see it, the concept of fairness is all about perspective,” he teased, scruff scraping my collarbone and making me giggle.

“Okay, fine,” I yelped as he lightly nipped my skin.

Between the combination of sensations, inside and out, I was rapidly turning into a puddle of need, my control shot, but his seemed iron clad as he finished prepping me before sliding inside, turning the streams of sunlight pouring through my window into molten sparkles swimming in front of my eyes.

“Gods you feel good wrapped around me,” he moaned in my ear, my skin so sensitive now that his breath sent prickles of goosebumps down my arms.

“Please,” I whimpered, wanting him to move, to fuck me until the headboard smacked against the wall and reminded me, again, that I kept forgetting to pad it before I needed some touchup paint.

“Please, what?” he asked, grinning down on me with such mock innocence that I stuck my tongue out at him in response and refused to say anything.

“Okay, have it your way,” he muttered, shrugging as he started to withdraw.

I shifted my hips as much as I could, chasing his cock, wanting it pressed deep again, filling and stretching me, joining us. Instead, he kept withdrawing it until just the tip tugged at my rim.

“You suck!”

“Was that a request or a declaration?”

“Fuck me, please, you evil, evil man!” I snapped his grin growing wider at my words.

“If I’m so evil, why do you want me to fuck you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he stared down at me.

Huffing, I rolled my eyes and started to pout, only he chose that moment to snap his hips, and my eyes rolled for a different reason. He finally stopped toying with me and gave me what I’d been begging him for, him fucking me hard and deep, my body folded in half as he rocked into me. I got lost in the pleasure of having our bodies joined and the low growls that spilled from him when his thrusts grew faster. I lost track of everything when I came, body super sensitive, every nerve ending heightened by all the teasing he’d done. His pants only grew louder and his thrusts harder until he filled the condom, weight collapsing on me, our sweaty, overheated bodies trembling as we struggled to catch our breath.

It was impossible to open my eyes even as his weight lifted off me and his softened cock slipped from my body. I think I slept. At the very least, my mind drifted and time lost all meaning for a little while. Gradually, thought and a rumbly tummy drew me out of my fluffy cloud, and I blinked, struggling to work out what I wanted more, to go back to sleep, or get up and find something to eat first.

“Wish I could install a vending machine outside of my place like the one in front of the meat locker,” I murmured, still half dozing, but the thought had popped into my head and now that I’d imagined it, I just had to share it out loud.

He sighed and let out a little huff, his head pillowed against my shoulder as his fingers traced a light path over my skin. “Would make things a little easier, especially when you wanted to take a day off.”

“Exactly,” I grumbled, hating the thought of having to get out of the bed. “See, you get it.”

“The same way I really wish that there were times when I could just upload my lesson plan to a projector in the classroom and let the kids sort it out themselves.”

I tried to picture it, and me at that age, turned loose in an art room with no supervision. Oh, the things I would have created, and the messes I’d have made along the way.

“I doubt the students would have an issue,” I said as I nuzzled the hand he pressed to my cheek. “But the custodial staff would hate you.”

“Oh, holy shit, you’re right. They’d probably put a hit out on me,” Lux declared. “Or superglue the doors of my car shut.”

“Now that would make one hell of a prank but wouldn’t welding work better?”

“Only if you never wanted them to open the doors again.”

“In that case, it would be the best prank ever,” I said, thinking of Haven and Jeremy for a moment and making a mental note to ask my brother if they’d ever considered doing that to one of the many people who’d pissed them off.

“Remind me to never get on your bad side.”

“Awe, no, it’s not my bad side you’ll need to worry about,” I reminded him.

“No shit. I’d be like a rabbit with a pack of hounds on my heels,” Lux said. “Never knowing when the next one was going to jump out from behind a bush and bite my tail off.”

“Or a foot,” I pointed out, giggling when he started laughing, his breath tickling my side. “And knowing them the way I do, one of them would wind up wearing it for luck.”

“Or they’d all claim one and leave me shopping for a couple pairs of wooden boots.”

I could feel the garland growing loose around my wrists and pulled one hand free so I could touch his face. “Why is it that every conversation with you leaves me wanting to pull out my sketchpad and start drawing things?”

“Because we inspire each other,” Lux said. “That’s something rare and precious, at least to me.”

“Same.” I murmured, finally getting to hug him and be cuddled against his chest.

The glid of his fingers through my hair made me sigh and settle in for a nice, long snuggle. A sudden thought hit, but I couldn’t untangle the days in my head to be sure.

“Wait…today is Christmas Eve Day, right?”

“Ummmm….”

I was glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who’d lost track of time. What with the storm and the rare days off, I’d begun to wonder if this was what being on vacation felt like. I heard the drawer open and knew he had to be looking for his phone, so I waited in the warm spot left behind by his body, his laugh sending a shiver down my spine.

“Yup. It is.” He declared after several seconds “Know what that means, right?”

“Tomorrow is Christmas!”

“And we still have gingerbread houses to make,” Lux reminded me. “The shapes should be hard enough by now.”

“If not, we’ll have to call them post tornado gingerbread houses after the roofs cave in and the sides fall off under the weight of all those gumdrops.”

“Not just gumdrops. We got peppermints and butterscotch too,” I reminded him.

“We had butterscotch, but you lost them playing blackjack with your brother.”

Shit.

I’d forgotten about that.

Now I felt like pouting, ‘cause I’d planned to pluck them off the houses one by one and drop them in my cocoa anytime I made a cup, which is exactly what Haven would do with them.

“I may have overestimated my Blackjack abilities,” I admitted.

“So I noticed,” he replied as he snuggled back beside me. “I promise I’ll grab you some more the first chance I get.”

Now that made me happy. “Yey.”

“Want me to make omelets?”

“With lots and lots of cheese?” I asked because some people could be extremely skimpy when it came to the cheese to egg radio. I believed in a two slice per egg minimum and always insisted upon melting a slice on top after I’d folded the omelet closed.

“With all the cheese.”

“Then yes, please, I’d love an omelet,” I said as my stomach let out another little rumble. “I can get out the icing and candy for the gingerbread houses and have everything set up for us to start decorating after we eat.”

“Perfect.”

“Guess that means we have to move, huh?” I asked, knowing the answer, but hedging because the bed was warm, especially with him in it, cuddling me.

“Unfortunately.”

Huffing, I snuggled tighter and clung. “I don’t wanna.”

“Me either.”

I stuck one hand out from beneath the blankets, felt the cool air in the room and immediately retracted it back into the warmth. “Out there is too cool,” I complained, “and the shower is too far away.”

Chuckling, he held me tighter and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “We could always lay here a little while longer,” he offered. “The gingerbread isn’t going anywhere.”

“I hope not,” I said, giggling at the image that popped into my head. “Or we’ll wind up chasing it through the town and into the woods where it will try to cross a river only to be eaten by a fox.”

We laughed together, clinging and rocking until you couldn’t fit a sliver of paper between us. The scent of sweat and sex clung to his skin, warm and keeping me from feeling the chill in the room. Closing my eyes, I drifted off with images of a fox sitting on top of a floating gingerbread house, nibbling on the roof as they floated down the river. I was so gonna draw that, I thought as the pull of sleep tugged at me again and I gave in and allowed it to pull me under.