Audrey couldn’t speak. Instead, she gasped and nodded and glued her eyes on Hallie’s. She was all that mattered in the world. And they moved together, Audrey tugging at her bindings as Hallie talked her to her orgasm.
“You’re getting close for me, aren’t you?” Hallie asked, her voice wavering beautifully with her own impending orgasm.
“Yes,” Audrey barely managed to splutter. “So… good…”
“Such a good girl. And you’re going to keep being a good girl and hold eye contact with me as I come while I fuck you. And you,” she said, tracing the fingers of one hand over Audrey’s exposed nipples, “are going to come for me when I do. Do you understand?”
“Completely.”
“Tell me. Prove that you know.”
Audrey gasped, trying to focus her brain on anything other than the floaty feeling permeating her body. “You’re going to… Ah. You’re going to… come while you fuck me. And… when you do… I’m going to… come.”
“With me inside you. Good girl.”
Every part of Audrey wanted to come immediately but she worked hard to hold it in. Her limbs tensed, her stomach strained, she yanked against the material restraining her hands, and she watched Hallie fucking her. She watched the blissful look in Hallie’s eyes growing, her pupils completely blown, and she watched the moment they slid shut as she moaned and came hard, pushing Audrey desperately over the edge and into complete and utter euphoria.
They kissed between gasping breaths as they came down and Hallie slipped the strap out of Audrey, leaving her hands tied for a moment.
She laughed when she looked at the clock, pausing only momentarily to suck Audrey’s nipple, before saying, “I probably should have been faster.”
“Hard disagree,” Audrey breathed.
“We’re meeting everyone in fifteen minutes and we still haven’t showered.”
“We can be a little late,” Audrey insisted, leaning in for another kiss.
“Well, I suppose this means we’ll just have to shower together…”
Audrey laughed as Hallie untied her hands and dragged her up off the bed and towards the bathroom. They both knew that could lead to trouble and they definitely didn’t have time to have more sex.
Maybe later, though. They were staying at Tracy’s place and she did have that incredible shower…
The two of them made it through getting ready and checking out of the hotel in a rush, piling into their rental car and heading over to Horrocks.
Audrey rested her hand on Hallie’s thigh as she drove, thinking about how excited she was to see everyone and how much she’d always loved Horrocks. It was a million times better when she went there with Hallie, though.
They weren’t even the last to arrive. Tracy, Isaac, and Luca were waiting for them by the door when they did, trudging through the wet snow that was already on the ground. They pulled the two of them into a giant hug, unconcerned about who saw, and Audrey felt that deep sense of belonging again, that one that always glowed, sure and steady, inside of her around Hallie and the Fullers.
River was only seconds behind them, squealing excitedly as she ran at the two of them before hugging the other assembled Fullers. She’d taken a taxi from campus—MSU, where she’d just enrolled and was loving life doing exactly what she wanted. She’d even learned to completely embrace the single life.
And, finally, Wes and Imani joined them. They were coming straight from Ann Arbor for the Horrocks trip and the journey back up north later. A full house for the week—and even more of them for Christmas.
Last year—and Audrey still wasn’t quite sure how it had happened—Tracy had invited Zora and her family over for Christmas. They’d readily accepted, piled onto the plane together, gotten a little shock at all the ice and snow, but had the best time in Michigan. This year, it hadn’t even been in question whether the entire family would gather together again. The whole thing had Audrey melting. She loved her life, she loved Hallie, and she loved their giant, chaotic family.
“Dirk sends his apologies,” Tracy said as they headed inside. “He couldn’t take a day off from the market, but he says he’ll be waiting for us all with hot chocolate and dinner tonight.”
“Tell me he’s not making tacos,” Isaac pleaded. “I love the man but he’s been doing some really weird things with them lately.”
Audrey laughed, pulling Hallie into her side as she did the same. They never made it to Horrocks without both feeling deeply sentimental. This was where they’d met. That balsamic vinegar was a huge part of their love story. And they both adored that.
They had both heard, at length, from Isaac and Luca about Dirk’s tacos. Audrey couldn’t say she wanted to try them.
“He’s making some kind of pasta bake,” Tracy assured them, rolling her eyes.
As far as Hallie and Audrey could tell, she was actually a fan of the tacos. Which was probably part of why she and Dirk worked so well. Also because, while they liked being in each other’s lives, they had no interest in living together or settling down. Tracy insisted it wasn’t the life for her, and Audrey loved that on her behalf. She loved being around someone who knew that lives and love could look a million different ways and that didn’t make them less significant. But, now that Audrey had found Hallie, she adored living together, loved doing holidays together, loved every second of a life she’d spent years running away from for fear her family would wreck it. Even they couldn’t hurt Hallie or what the two of them had.
“I’m getting taffy!” River called when they made it inside, gripping Luca’s hand.
