17. Worked For Her

17

WORKED FOR HER

“ I t didn’t seem as much until we just stuffed it under the tree,” Phoenix said quietly an hour later.

He’d gone in to check on Elsie and had come back to say she was out cold. Then the two of them loaded the gifts under the tree in the formal living room. They had to walk past the hallway toward Elsie’s room for it.

“How come you didn’t put the tree in the family room?” she asked. “You wouldn’t have had to carry everything as far.”

“Because Elsie mentioned that she liked seeing the lights when we pulled in front of the house. She always liked to see decorations. I forgot Maryn would drive around with her and wish we’d done that.”

“You still can,” she said. “Maybe do it next week. People leave their decorations up for a while.”

“We could,” he said.

“I’ve got some gifts upstairs if you don’t mind me going to get them and adding them now,” she said.

“Do you need help?” he asked.

They’d had more wine while they waited for Elsie to sleep. She had one glass with dinner, then another an hour ago. Phoenix had whiskey. There was still the glass left for Santa. That would all but kill the bottle. She wasn’t sure the last time she had a bottle herself.

“If you want,” she said.

They moved to the back of the house and up the stairs. “You put them under the tree?”

“I did yesterday,” she said. “Not sure why.”

She did but didn’t want to say why. She wanted to feel like this was her little home, but what good were gifts if no one opened them with you? Maybe it was even silly to put a tree up here too.

“There are a lot here,” he said.

“Some are from my family,” she said. “My parents sent some and so did Taylor. Everyone else sent me gift cards. It's sad to say I kind of did that too, or sent toys for my nieces and nephews and knew their parents would wrap them for me. I had them delivered right to the house. Some things I could pay for wrapping, but I know it’s not like it’s wrapped nicely either.”

It was a waste to her to do that when it only went in a cheap bag.

“My parents sent a few things. Most were for Elsie too. They came last week. The rest of what we get are gift cards too,” he said.

“It’s like it’s just exchanging cash at times,” she said. “But I get it. I get gift cards to places I wouldn’t normally buy something from so it is still a treat. And the thought.”

She pointed to the pile to bring downstairs. It was three gifts for Elsie and one for him. She had to get him something and it had been hard to think of what to do, but she finally settled on a nice set of whiskey glasses with his initials engraved in them.

There were just some cheap glasses she’d seen that he used and was surprised by that. Sometimes he drank the whiskey out of a glass from the kitchen.

For a guy that had money, he was pretty basic at times.

Not that there was anything wrong with that. It worked for her.

No one would say she was high maintenance even though her siblings had picked on her about those things in the past.

With his gift in her hand and the other three for Elsie, they walked downstairs and put them under the tree. Elsie had wanted a few things for her Uncle Nix and she’d purchased them for the little girl with her own money. She hoped he wasn’t upset over that, but she felt it was the least she could do.

It barely cost a hundred dollars for the three things and it’s not like he wasn’t giving her so much by living here free, covering the gas in her car, and even her eating most of the food bought for the family.

It was crazy in a way.

“That is a lot of gifts for Elsie,” he said when he saw the four in her hand.

“These are for you,” she said quietly.

“What?” he asked. “From who?”

“One from me and three from Elsie.”

He frowned. “I don’t remember seeing receipts for something for me,” he said.

Which told her he looked at everything she purchased. She wasn’t offended.

“Now that would defeat the purpose of a gift for you, wouldn’t it?” she said, grinning.

“I guess,” he said. “But you shouldn’t have paid for it either. I’ll reimburse you.”

“No,” she said firmly. “Don’t insult me. You give me so much. It’s not a big deal. She wanted to get you these things and I let her. She told me she always picked your gifts out and I think she needed that familiarity this year.”

“Yes, she did pick out my things,” he said softly. “Sometimes they were funny and other times thoughtful.”

“You might get a mixture this year,” she said. At least he’d be prepared. “Well, do you think Santa is ready for his snack and drink?”

“Definitely,” he said, reaching for a cookie and handing it over. “Do you want the rest of the wine?”

“If you want a whiskey with me,” she said. “I don’t want you to think I’m a lush. I pretty much put this bottle away.”

“No pretty much about it,” he said, laughing. “You did. But it was a small bottle.”

“Sure, make me feel better about it. And it was stretched out over five hours for the most part.”

She picked up the wine and took a sip, then a bite of the cookie. Her third one tonight. Elsie wanted them all to have two cookies and that was it so they didn’t exceed their calories.

It was comical, but they all did it. Each had one Elsie decorated and one she had.

“And now we are going to get fat,” he said. “Three cookies. I’m betting Maryn is laughing her ass off at me.”

Crystal turned after she was done chewing and saw the tears in his eyes. She went with her gut and put her arms around him and held him tight. “I’m so sorry, Phoenix. I know this is as hard on you as it is on her.”

“Yeah,” he said, clearing his throat. “It was a good thought and memory. I’m okay.”

She leaned back and noticed that his eyes were clear. Maybe she embarrassed him and didn’t want to do that either.

She ran her hand down the side of his face and he caught it with his fingers, held it and leaned in to kiss her.

“Do we want to try to freeze time?” she asked.

“What does that mean?”

“That the next few hours are for us. Don’t think. Nothing. We are two people alone that need each other. It can be about us and only us.”

Crystal hadn’t meant to say she was alone and she could see the sympathy in his eyes. It wasn’t the same as what he was going through, but in some ways it was.

“I’m not sure I’ve got much in me to fight this. If it’s a mistake I’m going to kick myself over it.”

“Not a mistake,” she said. “I won’t let it be for either of us. I promise.”

He took the glass out of her hand and walked to the kitchen and dumped it. She followed behind him, the crumbs of their cookies on the plate. “Crap, I need to put the glass back.”

“Just tell Elsie Santa was kind enough to leave it in the sink on his way out.”

He laughed. “You’re pretty fast on your feet.”

“I’ve had my moments,” she said.

He pulled her into his bedroom and shut the door, then locked it.

His hands framed her face, his mouth dropped to hers. “I’m going to be so pissed off if this is a dream and I wake up tomorrow and it didn’t happen.”

“It’s very much going to happen,” she said, lifting his shirt up and over his head. “And I finally get to touch you the way I want.”

Her hands spread across his chest, feeling the muscles jump under her palms, then she let them fall down to the waist of his jeans.

His mouth slanted across hers and there was a hunger there that hadn’t been before.

She was happy that she was able to pull it out of him.

“Don’t hold it against me if I don’t go as slowly as you might want.”

“No one said anything about slow,” she said. “But we’ve got hours if you want. If the first time is fast, we’ll catch up on another one.”

“We can do that,” he said, lifting her sweater over her head and dropping it to the floor, then reaching for the clasp of her bra and undoing that quickly, pushing it off her shoulders and letting it fall to the ground.

Her nipples hardened immediately when the cool air and his gaze hit them.

“Are you going to touch them or just look?”

He picked her up and laid her on his bed, his hands reaching for each nipple and running his fingertips over them. It was almost instantaneously that her hips lifted.

“You’re worked up,” he said. “I would have thought you took care of that need yesterday.”

“Not the same thing,” she said. “It’s been a long time since I got to feel this with another person.”

“The same,” he said.

“No more talking for now,” she said.

“Got it,” he said, his hands moving to the button of her jeans, undoing it and yanking them down. “Damn, I was hoping they were the rainbow bikinis from the other night, but these are just as nice.”

“Those are in the hamper,” she said. “These are part of the day’s theme.”

She had little Christmas trees on her underwear. She thought they were cute.

Maybe she could have done something sexier, but she wasn’t positive this was going to happen any time soon. Though she had been hoping.

Before she could comment on anything else, he was yanking her little Christmas trees off and she was naked on the bed.

He bent down and started to kiss under her breast, his tongue drawing the globe of her anatomy, then going to the center and putting her perky pink flesh in his mouth.

She’d never had someone do that before. Almost make her feel treasured while turning her on at the same time.

Her hips were lifting and trying to grind against him. She didn’t care that he was still in his jeans and they were rough against her skin. It was just another sensation to feed the fire in her.

He continued to kiss her breasts and ignored the fact she wanted more.

She was having none of that and pushed his head lower.

He laughed and moved down her body, got between her legs, his fingertips tracing the outline of her and teasing her like she’d never felt before.

“Phoenix. If you plan to torture me, you’re doing a good job.”

“Just want to get you worked up good.”

“I’m there. I’ve been there for most of the day just thinking about yesterday.”

“That makes two of us then,” he said.

He dropped his mouth down, took one long swipe of her with his tongue that sent a squeal out of her mouth, then did it again.

She slammed his head down between her legs, silently telling him to stay put.

He listened, found her bud, drew it between his lips and started to suck, then inserted one finger to pump in and out.

She was coming faster than her toy brought her to last night.

“Oh God,” she said, lifting and pressing against his face. She wouldn’t even be embarrassed over that move.

He kept it up until it felt as if every throb was pulled out of her body and then she collapsed on the mattress.

He moved back quickly, all but ripped the rest of his clothing off, and grabbed a condom from a drawer in the nightstand by his bed. Her eyes locked on him as he covered himself.

“Problem?” he asked.

“You’re a lot bigger than I thought.”

His face was pink again. She’d never seen a man blush like that before. “Not sure what I’m supposed to say to that without sounding cocky.”

“Say whatever you want or nothing at all. I only care about if you know how to use it.”

He laughed. “Trust me, that isn’t an issue.”

She never expected that side of him and had to admit she loved it.

He didn’t seem to lack confidence in the bedroom and she wasn’t sure why she thought he might just because he didn’t make the first move with her.

She didn’t have a chance to say anything else before he was on top of her on the bed, sinking into her fast and pinning her arms above her head.

He was jerking into her hard but in the best possible way.

She arched into him with each thrust and found the feeling of being helpless was all she needed to build right back up.

She wasn’t sure she’d ever built up that quickly before on a second time and wasn’t going to question it now.

“Keep doing that,” she said.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can,” he said. He sounded out of breath. “I want you there with me again.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m close.”

“Close isn’t good enough,” he said. This time his voice sounded tortured, but he was moving faster and she was matching him and grinding at the same time.

He was working hard to get her there but didn’t need to because she started to come again before she even knew she could.

She was moaning out louder than she should have been and he covered her mouth with his as he started to pound into her harder than she expected, but all it did was draw out her orgasm longer until he collapsed on her out of breath.

“You downplayed your ability,” she said, laughing. “That was a sweet surprise.”

“Thanks,” he said. “But it was close there for a second. Glad you caught up.”

“Me too,” she said. “I would have been bummed if I missed out on coming together.”

He leaned up on his elbows to take his weight off of her. “Thank you,” he said.

“No,” she said, laughing. “Thank you. Really, I mean it.”

He laughed with her and then walked into his bathroom and she stretched where she was, content to stay for a few more hours. Maybe they could work it up to another and make this night even more special.

Talk about the best holiday gift ever.