Carnal Christmas-epub (8 page)

They hadn’t even gotten to the kissing before Mandy fell asleep. AJ felt terrible for letting her do all that work in the kitchen when she’d had so much stress today—she might not have actually had a baby, but she remembered how taxing pregnancy could be. Even when she was past the morning sickness and into the radiant, energetic phase, she’d needed a nap nearly every day.

The distant thud of the outside garage door let her know at least one of the men had returned from the shop, where she assumed they’d all been for the last couple of hours. She heard the inside door open and close quietly, and then the telltale squeak of vinyl flooring under bootless feet, before three shadowed figures appeared just outside the open French doors. Somebody whispered and then two of the figures continued on toward the bedrooms.

Hake was smiling when he came in and hunkered down by the couch. “Now this is a pretty sight to come home to,” he whispered. “Everything all right?”

AJ nodded. “She was worn out, I think.”

His eyes softened when he looked at Mandy. “It was quite a day. She probably should have had a nap.”

“What do you think I just did?” Mandy whispered.

Hake chuckled quietly. “Funny girl. I’m gonna go shower, and if you’re up to it, maybe we’ll all talk for a while.”

Mandy craned her head to look at AJ and then nodded. “We’re up for it.”

He put a hand on the cushion to push himself up and then grimaced. “Maybe I’ll use that whirlpool tub instead.”

“Hip?”

“Yeah. I think I overdid it.”

“
It?
” Mandy drawled.

Hake narrowed his eyes at her. “Walking in the snow, brat.”

“Oh. My mistake,” Mandy said, her ribs shaking with silent laughter under AJ’s arm.

Heaving a long-suffering sigh, Hake laid a hand on the back of the couch and leaned down to give them both a smacking kiss, then walked out a little stiffly.

“God, I love him,” Mandy sighed.

AJ didn’t even bother to hold back. “Me too.”

Wiggling over onto her back, Mandy peered up at her. “There’s just something about farmers, isn’t there?”

“No,” AJ said flatly. “Trust me, I’ve worked with farmers all my life so I can speak to this with some authority. There’s just something about these three farmers.”

“Four, Ariel. There’s something about these
four
farmers.”

The way Mandy was looking at her made AJ’s heart thump irregularly and then start to race. “I love you, Mandy.”

“I love you too, Ariel.”

Hesitating only a second, AJ leaned down and pressed her lips to Mandy’s in a light kiss, and then another. When Mandy’s hand cupped her head and pulled her down for more, she nibbled her way across the edge of Mandy’s top lip and then back across the bottom before sliding the tip of her tongue along the seam between them. Mandy opened with a sigh, and their tongues reunited with tender curiosity, curling around each other and withdrawing until AJ thought she’d go up in flames right there on the couch.

Suddenly they couldn’t get each other’s shirts—or their own bras—off fast enough. The fullness of Mandy’s breasts was riveting, and AJ stared at them for a long moment, wondering how she could have lived so many years without realizing how mouthwatering women’s breasts were. Then she ran her palm over them, and the hardening nipples were more than she could resist. She licked at them delicately until Mandy begged and then sucked one into her mouth.

Mandy cried out as her hips came up off the couch. “Ariel please,
please,
go down on me! Oh God, I get so horny when I’m pregnant!”

“You’re always horny,” AJ said breathlessly as she moved to the other nipple, sliding her hand down Mandy’s belly at the same time.

“I know!” Mandy shoved her leggings and panties down to her thighs and thrust up again in search of relief. “But it’s even worse when I’m pregnant. I can’t get through the day without getting myself off four or five times, in addition to attacking Hake whenever he—oh God, yes!”

Still sucking at her nipple, AJ delved into her slick heat and rubbed two fingers around her clit with a firm, rhythmic touch, knowing it wouldn’t take long for the first one. Less than a minute later, Mandy arched off the couch with a shout, jerking with the spasms of her release.

AJ backed off her clit and ran her fingers over Mandy’s soft, smoothly waxed outer lips in a gentle caress, waiting for her to come down.

“Oh my God, that was fabulous,” she finally gasped.

“Still want me to go down on you?”

Mandy choked out a laugh. “Oh, I don’t know, let me think….
Yes
, I want you to go down on me! All night. And possibly all day tomorrow.”

Grinning, AJ climbed over her and stood up to pull Mandy’s leggings off. Mandy promptly spread her legs wide, exposing every inch of her glistening pussy.

“Wow, I guess I’d better clear my schedule,” AJ said as she stripped out of her jeans and underwear. Kicking them aside, she knelt on the couch between Mandy’s legs and braced her hands on Mandy’s thighs. “But you’re going to owe me big-time.”

“I’ll repay you with interest,” Mandy swore.

Five minutes later, AJ was so lost in the flavors and textures of Mandy, and so freaking turned on, she didn’t even notice anyone else was in the room until hard hands grabbed her hips and a hot mouth opened on her pussy.

She pulled away with a gasp and looked behind her. “Joe!”

He was kneeling on the floor at the end of the couch, as naked as she was, but he wasn’t letting go long enough to return her greeting. She groaned brokenly at the feel of his moustache and beard stubble rubbing her outer lips as he lapped at her clit with his tongue.

“Your oral sex backup team is here, Ariel,” Brent informed her with a grin as he and Hake pulled Mandy off the couch and laid her on the nest of blankets in front of the fireplace.

“I didn’t realize I needed backup, but okay.”

Joe turned AJ and laid her back on the couch.

“I missed you,” she said as he lowered his big, hard body over hers, tugging his head down for a kiss.

He resisted long enough to stroke her cheek, his face too shadowed to see in the firelight. “I’m here now, Ariel.”

She accepted it with a sigh. There’d be time enough to worry about the rest of their lives tomorrow.

Christmas Eve

Brent woke up before sunrise with a backache and grimaced as he rolled over carefully between Mandy and Ariel, trying to find a more comfortable position without waking either of them. Damn, but he was too old to sleep on the floor anymore. They all were, except maybe Ariel. What he wouldn’t give to be thirty-five again—looking back, he realized that was probably his physical prime. Too bad he hadn’t properly appreciated it at the time.

Still exhausted from all the activity yesterday, he dozed off again, but eventually the insistent rumble of heavy machinery penetrated his consciousness. He frowned. The sun wasn’t even up yet—surely the maintainer wasn’t out here already…

“Shit.” He sat up and winced when his back gave another twinge. There were only four of them sleeping in the living room, but that was no surprise—Joe often slunk off to his own room after they made love so that he didn’t keep anyone awake with his snoring. But Brent would bet the farm that the stubborn fool was outside right this minute, clearing his getaway route.

Hake lifted his arm and looked at his watch in the light from the Christmas tree. “Does your maintainer always go to work this early or is that Joe?”

Brent sighed. “It’s got to be Joe. What are we gonna do with him?”

“We’re gonna keep chiseling away at that hard head of his until we reach the soft brainy center.”

“That could take years,” AJ mumbled as she rolled over and curled up against his thigh.

Rubbing her bare shoulder, he said, “Then we’ll keep at it for years. He’ll catch on sooner or later.”

She sighed. “But I don’t have years.”

“Ariel, you can’t base your decision about the baby on what Joe might or might not do.”

“Brent’s right,” Hake said, sitting up stiffly and rubbing his hip under his fleece blanket. “If you give up what you want out of fear, you’ll be doing exactly what Joe’s doing. That’s not living—it’s just giving up.”

Ariel pushed up on one elbow and looked over at Mandy, who hadn’t stirred yet. “How can she give up her own child for me?” And how could she think about giving up Joe for any reason?

“It’s not just for you, sweetheart. We both feel the baby would have a better life with you. You’re only thirty-five, you’re a natural caretaker, and you’ve got the time, the inclination and the good health it takes to be a fun mother to an energetic little kid. We’re in our mid-forties, I’ve got this bum hip, and Mandy’s writing career is a full-time commitment, so life with us won’t be as fun and easy as it was for Ryan. And for us? Those first few months with him were flat-out exhausting when we were barely twenty—I can’t imagine how we’ll handle it at this age.”

“We’ll be zombies, just like this,” Mandy said without opening her eyes. Then she yawned, showing Brent all her molars. “Why are we having this conversation before coffee, again?”

He snorted. “Because the bonehead’s out there scraping the obstacles off his escape route and we’re trying to convince Ariel to factor him out of her thinking. He’s gonna run no matter what she decides because he’s not scared of the baby—he’s scared of being happy.”

Hake nodded. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

Opening her eyes, Mandy sat up and focused a warning look on him. “Ariel’s got to make her own decision. She doesn’t need manipulation from our end, too.”

“I wasn’t trying to—”

“Why does everyone keep acting like this is
my
decision?” Ariel demanded, keeping the blanket tucked against her breasts as she sat up too. “Brent and Joe and I are a family, and in case anyone has forgotten, one of them is also the natural father of Mandy’s baby. We built this house together. We built this relationship together. We have to decide
together
what’s best for all of us.”

“I’m sorry, Ariel.” Mandy looked distressed. “You’re absolutely right. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t feel pressured to take the baby because we’re not as young as we used to be. One of the great things about being a writer is, I can make my own schedule. I don’t have to write full-time. I don’t have to write at all, if it means being the kind of mother I want to be. I
love
this child, and Hake and I will happily raise it if you and Joe and Brent decide it’s not the right thing for you.”

“Aw!” Ariel leaned over Brent’s legs to pull Mandy into a hug, dropping her blanket in the process. “I’m sorry too, Mandy. I didn’t mean to imply that you were pressuring me.”

Distracted by all the beautiful breasts suspended right there within his reach, Brent sighed. “I want to wake up like this every morning.”

“I’d rather not wake up on the floor if it’s all the same to you,” Hake said dryly. “Especially after I wrestle with Joe. One takedown last night was enough to aggravate the hell out of my hip.”

Mandy broke away from Ariel with a gasp. “Oh honey, you shouldn’t have slept on the floor all night.”

“Well I wasn’t going to sleep by myself, and this is where you were.”

She kissed him. “Let me go get your pain meds.”

“I need to take a leak anyway, so I’ll go with you.” He threw off the blanket and rose onto one knee. “Hell, maybe I’ll get back in that Jacuzzi tub.”

Mandy stood up and put out a hand to help pull him up, then batted her lashes at him. “Maybe I’ll get in with you.”

“Now there’s an offer I can’t refuse.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth before looking down at Ariel. “Mandy makes a very good point, Ariel. None of you can make your decision based on us. You do what’s best for you all. We’ll be happy either way.”

She gave a short nod. “Understood.”

He leaned down and planted a kiss on her short blonde hair. “Good girl.”

Ariel watched Hake and Mandy walk out, blushing as she bit her lower lip on a smile, and Brent grinned. “I never realized you were such a subbie girl, sweetheart.”

She gave him an appalled look. “Do you even know me at all?”

That time he laughed out loud and wrapped a hand around her neck to pull her in for a sound kiss. “I guess I just assumed you were as switchy as the rest of us, though Hake’s definitely shifted to the toppy end of the spectrum.”

“That’s what you get for assuming,” she said in a disgruntled tone.

With her hair flat on one side and sticking out wildly on the other, she was so fucking lovable that Brent’s heart suddenly felt sluggish and rabbity at the same time. “Ariel…”

She pulled back and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

Swallowing hard, he said, “I really wish you’d marry me.”

* * * * *

“Brent…” AJ couldn’t catch her breath for a second. A proposal was the last thing she’d expected. They’d all had the marriage discussion last year, when they first got together, and decided it was an outdated and basically useless institution that wouldn’t work for a polyamorous relationship.

But she
had
agreed that if she decided she wanted children, she’d marry him, hadn’t she?

She sighed. “Brent, sweetheart, let’s not put the cart in front of the horse. I haven’t—I mean,
we
haven’t even decided anything about the baby yet.”

“I’m not talking about the baby. I’m talking about you and me. I fucking adore you and I’d love nothing more than to put my ring on your finger and my last name after yours.”

“But what about Joe?”

“I’d marry him too, if he’d let me and it wasn’t against the law.”

AJ tried again. “Didn’t we talk about this, Brent, and agree that a business partnership wasn’t any less stable or permanent a commitment than marriage these days? And now we’ve signed a mortgage together. How much more committed could we be?”

He slumped back onto the pallet with a sigh. “I know. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so set on this. I know better than most that a marriage license is no guarantee of forever. I just…I love you. I love Joe. And the idea of losing either of you just isn’t…” He sighed heavily again. “Aw, hell, never mind. But I reserve the right to reopen negotiations if we decide to have the baby.”