I began to move my finger in leisurely circles, her arousal coating my fingers and turning the friction into something less harsh. When she started to make desperate noises, I latched onto the skin at the point where her shoulder met her neck, sucking and worrying at the skin until I left a mark.
“Close.” Keli gasped. “Fuck…yes…so close…fuck fuck fuucckkkk…”
The last word came out in a cry, and her body shook as she came. I used the time wisely, rolling on a condom while she came down from her high. When I moved back to my place behind her, I lifted her leg and pulled it back to rest on my thigh. My cock slipped between her legs, coating it with her natural lubrication.
“Yes.”
She answered the question I hadn’t asked. I shifted us until I was able to slide into her, burying myself with one smooth motion. I closed my eyes, allowing myself a couple seconds to enjoy the sensations of being inside her before I started moving. Short, slow strokes that built the heat between us from low embers to a full roaring flame in seconds. Her nails dug into my hand, leaving half-moon imprints. I slammed into her, and she begged me to take her harder.
We chased the high together, as if it had been years since we’d last felt it. Desperate. Eager. A single-minded focus that brought us to climax only moments apart. We clung to each other while our minds went blissfully blank, our bodies shaking with the force of our orgasms. In that moment, the world was clear and simple in a way that it never was at any other time and place.
Then it was over.
As I took care of the condom, I shifted to sit up, looking at the clock on the dresser for the first time in hours. I would need to leave shortly to prepare for work tomorrow. I hadn’t taken this much time off all at once since…I honestly couldn’t remember when. I’d had fun, but I had my family business to manage, and that didn’t allow for much free time.
“Let me guess. You have to go.” Keli was smiling as she rolled over to face me. She propped herself up on her elbow, the sheet draping across her body in a way that made the sight of her a sensual delight.
Unfortunately, I had run out of time to enjoy it. “I do at that, but I have enjoyed myself this weekend.”
“Me too.” She leaned forward and kissed my arm. “Maybe we can do it again. Is your company closed on Christmas Eve or just Christmas Day?”
The hopeful expression on her face sparked some guilt as I realized that she would be alone during the holiday as well.
With my massive family spread out across the country – and even outside the country in some cases – it wasn’t usually feasible for all of us to come together all at once, even on major holidays. When my older stepbrother, Austin Carideo, turned eighteen, our parents decided that with Austin, then myself, and our cousin slash brother, Blaze Gracen, preparing for life after graduation, we needed to find a way to be together for at least one day a year, even if it wasn’t actually on a holiday or even if we couldn’t be physically present.
In the seven years since, we hadn’t missed a year. With Eoin overseas, we had wondered if it would still be possible, but he’d managed a video call last year and had arranged for another one this upcoming Saturday.
It was almost a full week before Christmas, but it was the only day Eoin knew for certain he could call. I didn’t mind the change, even if it meant I’d lose another weekend at MIRI. Family trumped work.
“We’re closed both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” I confirmed. “Both paid.”
“Does that mean you’ll be spending those days with your family?”
I studied her face, wondering if she was hinting at an invitation, but her expression was only open and curious. I gave her the truth. “My family is having a party this Saturday, as it’s the only time we can all be together.”
“Are there a lot of you?”
The idea that popped into my head was as impulsive as anything I’d done over the last three days, and perhaps that was why I did it, but a more likely reason was that I had yet to work through all the family issues in my own past. Either way, I still said it.
“If you don’t have plans, would you like to come to the party with me?”
Four
I had always believedmyself to be a man who made logical and wise decisions with confidence. I didn’t second guess the choices I made because doing so could be disastrous for business. I came to meetings prepared. Went into conference calls with facts memorized.
All of this should have meant that taking Keli to my parents’ house in San Ramon was something I shouldn’t have regretted, yet as I handed her a glass of eggnog – non-alcoholic so my underage siblings wouldn’t be tempted – I found myself wishing that I hadn’t extended the invitation. Not because of anything Keli had done, but rather because I hadn’t accurately predicted how my family would react to me bringing someone to this particular gathering.
“You look well, lad.” Da came up beside me and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Not burnin’ the candle at both ends, are ya? Balance, aye?”
I raised my eyebrow at my sire. “As if I hadna inherited my workaholic tendencies from the master himself.”
I’d also inherited Da’s blue eyes, though his were lighter. Now, those eyes sparkled with good humor. Our personalities were also similar. He often came across as stern and forbidding, but we family members knew better. Patrick McCrae loved as hard as he fought and worked, and it didn’t matter if we were his through biology or through marriage or however else we came to be family. I liked to think I was equally loyal to those I loved. I might not have been the sort of person who said the words often, but I tried to show them every day by how hard I worked.
“Your accent gets thicker when you’re talking to your dad,” Keli said, leaning against my arm.
“Aye, it does,” I agreed, smiling at her. “Brody’s as well. The twins have to be good and riled to fall back into it. The younger two lost theirs years ago.”
“There are so many of you.” Keli’s whisper was louder than she realized, and her cheeks turned pink when my fifteen-year-old half-brothers, Sean and Xander, grinned at her.
