“You wanted the traditional Wheatley family Christmas, and that begins with jolly jammies, so . . .”
I gestured toward the couch full of cats.
“That includes the whole family.”
As it turned out, picking out holiday outfits for cats was a lot more fun than shopping for myself. And since I didn’t believe in half-assing any task, I had gone a little overboard.
Buddy and Marley were decked out in matching red sweater vests, both of which came with remote powered lights. Technology had come a long way when it came to petwear. A small silver chain collar completed Marley’s look—a nod to her namesake—while Buddy sported a striped elf hat with bells on the ends.
I had even found something for Ralphie, Austin’s chonkasaurus of a feline, who had taken a special liking to me over the past few days. The green-and-red sweater with gold pom-poms was actually meant for small dogs, but neither Ralphie nor his daddy—my daddy, too—needed to know that.
Austin’s husky laugh lit up the room, making my heart grow three sizes bigger.Mission accomplished.Sometime in the past week, in between large quantities of both breakfast sandwiches and orgasms, it had occurred to me that my new mission in life was to make Austin laugh.
And so far, my brilliant plan had worked out swimmingly.
He laughed while we cuddled on the couch and watched sappy holiday movies together. He laughed while watching me try on my new onesie pajamas, an early Christmas present from Leighton. He even laughed during sex, when he wasn’t pounding the shit out of my pussy, that was.
That was another first for me—laughing during sex.
With Austin, sex was fun and messy, sometimes awkward. Not in a way that made me feel uncomfortable or self-conscious, except for maybe the one time my thigh cramped up while riding him reverse cowgirl. He could bend me in half and fuck my face for hours . . . so long as he did it with me on my back, preferably on a firm mattress.
#PillowPrincessForLife.
“I got you something, too.”
He looked down at the wrapped box in my hand like it was a bomb instead of a gift. “You already gave me the pajamas.”
Seeing as Austin and his family wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas until February, I had invited him to join my family’s festivities. Naturally, I had picked out a matching PJ set featuring holiday cats which showed off his belly and bulge beautifully. We would be lucky if we somehow made it through the day without me pulling him into one of the eight thousand closets at Killian and Leighton’s place to suck his dick.
“Those don’t count,” I told him. “Everybody is required to wear pajamas. This is something just for you.”
I waited eagerly as he unwrapped it, silently wishing that he loved it as much as I thought he would.
His eyes shot to mine when he rolled it over in his hand. “Nellie, I—” I waited patiently for him to find the words. “It’s beautiful.”
Relief flooded my body. I had spotted the vintage Santa toy in a secondhand store last week and known right away that Austin needed it in his collection. The toy’s once snow-white beard had faded to a rusty brown identical to Austin’s. Even more uncanny was the cat sleeping by his feet that looked just like Ralphie.
This was Santa, but it was also Austin.
Father Christmas, daddy dom, and the sweet, sensitive neighbor I had been falling for since day one, all wrapped into one.
“Get it? Because he looks like you.”
Strong arms swept me up, nearly knocking over his tacky purple tree in the process. I squealed and wrapped my legs around his waist.
“Thank you so much, baby.” He placed a soft, yearning kiss to my mouth. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
I couldn’t contain my very unladylike snort. “We’ve been over this. I amnotperfect.”
“You’re perfect for me.”
I blinked back the tears forming in my eyes.Damn this man and the power he has over me.He squeezed a handful of my ass when I didn’t respond right away.
“This is the part where you say, ‘You’re perfect for me, too, Austin.’”
“And miss out on an opportunity for you to punish me?”
The hardening cock against my center was all the answer I needed.
