I chuckled. “Second hand, Mar. I’m not that famous. They wouldn’t give a shit. Then I had it framed with our picture.”
“Daddy, don’t say ‘shit,’” Harper said.
“It’s Christmas. It’s a holiday. I can say whatever I want. And burp and fart and stuff and not say excuse me,” I argued. The kids all giggled at that.
“Can I fart?” Aspen asked.
“I don’t know, Jack. Do the rules apply to everyone?” Mara asked.
“I say yes.”
As the kids celebrated and went back to their playing, Mara and I wandered into the kitchen to get breakfast started. When we were finally alone, I pulled Mara close, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Thanks for the gift. I can’t wait to attract some yard pets.”
“You ever go birdwatching?” she asked.
“Sometimes. In the summers, I like to go to Catalina Island. They’ve got a lot of uninterrupted habitat.”
Mara raised on her toes to kiss me. “Take me sometime?”
“Of course.” I rubbed my nose with hers. “Merry Christmas, Mara.”
“Merry Christmas, baby. Ooh, hey I’ve got something else for you, but I couldn’t have you open it in front of the kids.”
“Naughty girl,” I said, rubbing her ass before she stepped to the hall closet, pulling a wrapped gift off a higher shelf.
“Here you go,” she said, dropping it in my hands and peeking around the corner to make sure the kids were occupied. She shot me a thumbs up.
I ripped the paper and lifted the lid of the box to find a black leather collar with a gold plate on it. It was engraved with “GOOD BOY.”
“Mar,” I whispered.
“Open the next layer. We don’t have much time.”
I lifted the piece separating the bottom part of the box and found a set of anal plugs. “Jesus Christ, Mara. Those are huge!”
“We don’t have to. Just an option if you’re curious. If you don’t want them, I’ll try them. But there’s something else in the very bottom.”
I pulled out the final layer to find a strap and a terrifyingly sized dildo. “Fuck.”
“Too much?” she asked with a devilish gleam in her eyes.
“It’s—I—wow. I guess I never thought about it.” That was a lie. I’d absolutely thought about Mara fucking my ass, and thinking of it then made blood rush to my groin. It was just scary, both asking for it and the possibility of how I’d feel about it. I wasn’t afraid of a little pain; I was more afraid I’d like it too much. What if that was the only way I could get off from then on? I was afraid I’d be opening a box I couldn’t close.
Mara stood in front of me, grazing her hand over my hardening cock. “You don’t have to decide right now. Just leaving that door open for you if you want to try it.”
I nodded, my throat too dry to say anything. I was overwhelmed. The collar was so fucking hot, belonging to her, being good for her after being bad, but the plugs and strap-on were a new level of intimacy I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
I trusted Mara. Every day that she spent caring for our kids, every time I got a picture of our kids when I was on the road, every time she sent me a sexy picture of herself, every night that we spent huddled together in bed, and yeah, every time we had sex, I had more and more faith that maybe this wasn’t just a matter of convenience and us making the best of it. It might be something real.
“Merry Christmas, Jackie.”
“Thank you,” I whispered before another kiss. We were interrupted by Mara’s phone buzzing. She groaned, lifting the screen.
“Shit, it’s Bryce. Aspen! Hazel!” Mara called, heading back into the living room. “Your dad’s on the phone.”
My ooey gooey moment was ruined. I’d tried to shove thoughts of how to manage the Bryce situation to the back of my mind. Mara couldn’t know, not until I knew more.
I needed to confirm where he was before I made a plan.
