by L Chapman
“Twenty-twelve stars, twenty-fifteen stars, twenty-one stars.” I smile sweetly. One of her gifts will help her with numbers. I walk into the front room to inform everyone that she’s still awake.
“Well, you can watch that, but there’s no way in hell that I am watching it,” Jenny says as she lies down on the sofa, placing her head on Warren’s knee.
“That’s fine then,” Mark replies, sticking his tongue out at her.
“Megan, whose side are you on?” Jenny says as she grabs the blanket from the back of the sofa.
“Over what?” I question.
“The Queeen’s speech. Mark wants to watch it.”
“He can, and we’ll just eat all the chocolate. No way am I watching that; I’ll fall asleep,” I state.
“That’s my girl,” Jenny says, giving me a high five as I walk past.
“Sorry, Mark, it’s repeated so much that I will find out what was said.” I sit next to Mark.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s been forced on me all my life. Then, having to sit and talk about it.” Placing my head onto his shoulder, I lift my feet onto the sofa beside me. Now, I’m comfortable.
“Poor you.” I reach my hand up to him, giggling. Mark shakes his head and kisses the palm of my hand.
“Just like me, mate. We always watched it too, but we used to go and sit in the doorway and play with our toys and just listen for the silly questions like ‘what do you think of the colour she is wearing?’ It’s not my cup of tea.”
“Let’s do something fun,” Jenny says.
“Like what?” Connor questions.
“Truth or Dare,” Jenny suggests.
“Count me in,” Warren says, and we all concur.
Oh, why did I just agree to this? Suddenly, I have reservations about this idea. No way am I doing a dare; I’m not that silly.
“Truth or Dare, Connor?” Jenny asks.
“Truth.”
“When was the last time you had sex with another person?” As she asks, I can’t help but cover my face.
“Nearly five years.” He pauses. “Truth or Dare, Warren?”
“Dare,” Warren answers confidently.
“I dare you to go outside and draw a cock on someone’s car.” Warren smiles mischievously, gets up once Jenny sits up and runs outside with Connor. I just sit there, thinking why it doesn’t surprise me. Not even a minute later, Warren comes back in through the door, showing us the picture on his phone as proof. Yes, he drew it, including all the little details.
“Truth or Dare, Megan?” Warren asks.
“Truth.” I’m not sure I want to play anymore.
“Is Mark the best lover you’ve ever had?” I laugh and cover my face.
“Yes.” I pause. “Jenny, Truth or Dare?”
“Truth.” Jenny winks at me. “Ohhh, now this needs to be hard.” I sit there, pretending to be thinking. I know the question has to play with our long- standing joke.
“Have you ever had a crush on a woman?” I ask, knowing the answer, but it’s the only thing that comes to my mind.
“Oh hell, yes! You know what my answer is. Oh, babe, you know I have always wanted to nibble on rugs.” Jenny bursts out laughing, then gets serious. “HELL NO. EWWW. It’s just so not my thing.”
I sit there, laughing at Warren’s face. I think he thought his luck had finally changed. Aw, bless him.
“Mark, Truth or Dare?” Jenny asks as she tries to stop laughing.
“Dare. It might be safer.” He smiles at me while sounding very unsure.
“Take Megan out of the room and do a strip tease for her. You only have five minutes.”
“Easy,” Mark says.
“WHAT? No!” I protest.
Mark stands up, lifts me from the sofa and places me over his shoulder. “NO! Don’t do that, please!” I scream. He repeatedly taps my bum and carries me out of the room.
“I like this dare.”
“I don’t,” I say, covering my face as he carries me up the stairs. Oh my, I feel sick. This is not a good look.
“I’m timing you!” Jenny yells up the stairs. Mark lays me down on the side of the bed, and I cover my face with my hands again in embarrassment.
“Please, baby, don’t do this.”
“A dare is a dare,” he says. "Relax, baby. No one will see."
Mark stands there undoing a few buttons before pulling his T-shirt fully over his head from the back in one swift move.
"That's not the point.” I really don’t want him to go through with this, and if he does, I definitely don’t want to upset him if I laugh. I know I will probably just want to throw him down onto the bed and have my way with him. I sit there with my eyes glued to his chest. I love his torso; he does not have an overworked six pack, just a shapely, grooved V down to his cock. He stands there thrusting back and forth trying to be sexy, and all I can do is laugh. He kicks off his shoes, and they hit the bottom of the metal bed frame as they fly. He bends down, rubbing his legs as he does and grabs the tip of his sock, pulling it off and dropping it onto the ground. He takes off his other sock the same way. Turning around, he places his hands flat onto the wardrobe and shakes his bum slowly from side to side. I can’t stop watching him because he looks so sexy.
"You can leave them on," I say, pointing towards his trousers.
"Never, baby," he replies as he slides down his trousers and boxers at the same time. I can’t help but cover my face with my hand, only to sneak a little peek through my fingers.
"See. I did the dare." He pauses. "Come on. Let’s go back down, or you never know what will happen." He slides his clothes back on. I stand up and rub my hand across his abs as I walk past him. He grabs my wrist and pulls me back, tipping me backwards, and placing one hand on my back and the other on my bum. As he slides his tongue into my mouth, my arms wrap around him, making the space between us almost invisible.
Mark slowly lets me stand up straight. "I'm sure our five minutes are over," I whisper.
"I know. I have something to finish before bed," he says, opening the door and letting me go out first. I walk over the landing towards Lucy’s room. Opening the door, I see her snug and asleep in her cot. Mark stands behind me with his arms firmly wrapped around me, pulling me back, and my head leaning on his shoulder. I feel so safe.
"We should check on Kate, and then we can finish getting everything ready," I say. Mark takes hold of my hand, turns me around, and pulls me into his grasp.
"I'm so happy to be with you for Christmas. This will be the best Christmas ever." He places a kiss on my forehead. I lift my head and look into his sparkling eyes; I love how his eyes talk. I grab his hand and walk over to the room where Kate is sleeping. I slowly push open the door and hear her snoring soundly. Smiling, I close the door and turn around.
"Shall we get the bags down?" I suggest.
"Yes, come on." He walks ahead of me, up the stairs and into the loft. "Stay there, baby. They are heavy, so I’ll bring them down."
I stand there beaming. I love that man, and I especially love the view of his tight ass walking up the stairs. I can’t believe how lucky I am. I can’t wait for tomorrow. Mark starts walking down the stairs, holding several bags in both arms and smiling at me. I didn’t realize how many bags were up there. We didn’t place anything under the tree, because we thought it might be safer with Lucy around and we didn’t want her pulling presents from under the tree and opening them.
“Are you going to give me some to carry?” I ask. He shakes his head and continues down the stairs. I follow behind him and walk into the front room.
“Finally, I thought you must have been shagging him,” Jenny blurts out.
“NO! We checked on the kids and got the presents. Kate’s asleep now,” I state, winking at her.
Mark places the bags down onto the floor near the tree. “I will let you empty them. I need to pop out. I’ll be back in about thirty minutes. Quicker if I can,” he says.
“Okay.” Both Warren and Connor stand up and wal
k out with him. I hear the car doors close and the engine rev as they disappear down the street.
“That’s weird. Where are they going?” Jenny asks.
“No idea.”
Chapter Fourteen
I sit in front of the tree, opening each bag and placing the presents underneath in no particular order at all. I don’t want an organised Christmas tree. Some people do that, but I want it to be all fun, all higgledy-piggley. I love the array of the different sizes, shapes and colors of the gifts. Jenny is sitting on the sofa, passing me bits from the other bags. I don’t want her sitting on the floor, because I imagine her getting stuck down there. She turned off the film a while ago. “Why is every music channel playing Christmas songs?” she asks.
“I don’t know, but it’s really annoying. I wish they wouldn’t. Mark did say that 77 isn’t playing Christmas ones.”
Jenny quickly reaches for the silver remote and changes the channel to 77. “Yeah,” she says. “Normal music.” We sit there laughing as she begins singing along, doing a silly little chair dance. Oh, I love our crazy time. I jump up from the floor and move the empty bags into a pile on the sofa. Then, I push the small, glass coffee table out of the way for a makeshift dance floor.
“Come on, girl. Here is the dance floor,” I say, pointing to the floor.
Jenny jumps up off the sofa, placing the music on a little louder before grabbing my hands and starting to dance. Thankfully, no one can see us. We must look like right idiots. I suddenly stop. “Jenny, do you hear that?” I ask.
“What?”
“Bells,” I say, walking over to the window and opening the burgundy-lined curtains. I lift the blind to see outside.
“Oh my! Jenny, come here now.”
Jenny rushes over and looks through the blind with me. “I bet this has something to do with the boys.”
There in front of the house is a sleigh with reindeer and everything, just like you see in the books. I can’t believe my eyes. Snow begins to fall from the sky as we stand there looking at it in amazement.
“I’ll go get Kate,” I say.
Running up the stairs, I head straight into Kate’s room, bend down at the side of the bed and shake her. “Kate.”
She groggily opens her eyes. “Come with me. I have something to show you.” I pick her up and place her on my hip. I dash over the landing and pick up Lucy who has just started to stir. I place her on my other hip and wander down the stairs.
“Shall we open the door?” Jenny asks.
“Yes,” I say, setting Kate on the floor and slowly opening the door. “Stay there, Kate.”
“ARGH!” Kate screams as she jumps up and down. “It’s him. He’s really here.”
Jenny takes Lucy from me and wraps the blanket around her tighter. I reach over, picking up Kate’s red cardigan. “Place this on,” I state, helping her before lifting her and taking a step out of the house. I can’t help but smile. I walk along the freshly fallen snow towards the sleigh. I’m glad it’s not slippery, because I’m wearing my pink fluffy slippers.
“Hi,” I say. What do you say to him?
“Hello, Kate, Lucy, Jenny and Megan,” he responds in a big animated voice. It’s a voice I don’t recognize. Who is it?
“Come here,” he says to Kate. I pass Kate over to him as he sits in his sleigh.
“What would you like for Christmas, little one?” he asks pleasantly.
“A teddy,” she says as she looks at him with pure astonishment. “Is this real?” she asks as her eyes shift to his beard, and she begins rubbing her hand along the bottom of it.
“Yes, it’s real, my child.” He pauses. “Turn around.” He points to his side.
“A teddy!” she shouts, picking it up and enfolding it into a close hug.
“Merry Christmas, Kate,” he says as he gives her back to me.
“This is for little Lucy.” He hands me a smaller teddy, identical to the brown one that Kate received with the exception of a different coloured bow. It has one pink and one purple bow. Kate’s teddy has only a purple bow. She has told me that purple is her favorite colour since the first time I met her.
“For you, Jenny.” He grins, passing her two little bags. She thanks him before opening them. One has a pearl necklace inside, and the other contains a blue bib that reads “Created in 2013- Born in 2014.”
“Now for you, Megan, the special lady,” he says as I walk over to him, but he never looks up at me. He just passes a bag to me. I open it to find a bracelet with a little pink diamond in the middle encased in two interlocked hearts. It looks so pretty.
“Thank you,” I say.
“You best get in and go to sleep, so I can drop off the rest of your presents. Goodnight, girls,” he says matter-of-factly.
We walk back into the house and close the door behind us. We quickly run up the stairs into Kate’s room. I tuck her into bed with her teddy in her arms.
“Read to me, Megan,” she says sleepily.
I sit on the edge of the bed near Kate, and Jenny sits on the other side with Lucy in the crook of her arm. I pass the book to Kate because I remember it from my childhood and know all the words by heart. It’s such a fascinating, memorable story. I sit there reciting it as they follow along with the book and look at the pictures.
“The end,” I say. Jenny creeps out of the room, taking Lucy to her cot. I place a little kiss on Kate’s head and turn on the little nightlight and leave her sleeping. I knew she would fall asleep before the end of the story.
Chapter Fifteen
I stand in my bedroom, looking out the window as the snow falls heavily to the ground. There are no tracks from the sleigh. Nothing. I do wonder which of the boys it was. But, whoever it was, it was a special moment that no one will ever forget. Jenny got lots of photos on her phone to commemorate the event.
It’s been over an hour since the boys left. I suddenly see car headlights pulling into the driveway. It’s Mark’s car. Hurriedly, I close my purple curtains, slip off my jumper, and put on my black lacy nightwear. It’s not an extremely revealing one, as I can guarantee that we will be awakened early. I wonder who will be up first. I always had to be gotten out of bed because I never woke up early on my own. Before they boys come inside, I reach down and pull out a long, black box and place it on Mark’s side of the bed.
“Hey, baby. Sorry we were so long,” he says, kissing my cheek.
“Oh, I saw you were busy. We enjoyed the visitor.”
“What visitor?” he questions. I sit on the end of the bed and tell him everything. He doesn’t give away any signs with his facial expressions, so I don’t know if he knew about it or not.
“Right, I need to go and lock up,” I say, walking around him and heading down the stairs. I go into the front room to turn off the Christmas tree lights and notice even more presents cascading the floor. The food and drink are gone. Shaking my head, I turn off everything and lock up before walking back upstairs. I check on Lucy and then head into my room.
“Hey,” Mark says as he sits up in the bed with his bare chest on display.
“Where did you guys go?” I question as I close the door.
“To see Joshua.”
“WHAT?” I yell in disbelief.
“We needed to talk to him. Find out everything. He asked us to meet him. He showed us the pictures and all the evidence he had on them. There is no doubt, baby.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing, baby. We will help Jenny through it all. She’ll be fine. I have everything in my car. We will get Jenny’s mum free, and the divorce will go through without a problem. She will get everything she wants.”
“She will not want anything. I know her.”
“I know.”
“Thank you,” I say.
“Is this for me?” he asks, pointing towards the black box.
“Yes,” I say as I walk around the bed and climb in next to him.
He opens it to see black tissue paper. Pulling it back, he
reveals a red lacy baby doll with a matching thong. “Baby, you’re going to kill me,” he says as he kisses me excitedly.
“For you. For a different day.” I smile.
I don’t remember the last time Mark and I spent so much time being physical together. I can’t keep my hands off him. We go to bed as normal. I lay on my side as he wraps his arms around me, pulling me as close as we can be. Pushing my hair out of the way, he kisses me along the back of my neck.
“I love you,” he whispers.
His thumb rubs over my lips, and I can’t help but kiss it. He has the gentlest touch. I roll over slightly onto my back and turn to face him. He smiles, placing his hand at the bottom of my black, silk lacy nightdress. His smooth fingers outline my skin. I lift my arms, craving more of his touch that sends piercing shivers down my spine. He drops the nightdress onto the floor. As he places his lips on mine and lets his fingers trace around my nipples, our eyes lock. Without a word being said, I move to slide off his boxers. He rolls on top of me, and I wrap my legs around him, letting him slowly slide into me and taking my breath. I just lie there, feeling him thrust sharply in and out with his bare body rubbing against me, intensifying the heat between us.
I don’t know where the time goes. Our heat builds up, and it’s not long before we are both panting after the most intense orgasm either of us has ever had.
“I love you, too,” I whisper.
Chapter Sixteen
“It’s Christmas, baby.” Mark whispers into my ear. I slowly open my eyes and turn my face to him. His warm breath blows on my neck as he kisses my bare shoulder. I feel so safe.
“Baby, we should maybe put something on before the kids or Jenny wakes up. I don’t think we want to be found with so little clothing on, even though I just want to keep my hands on your body and let my lips follow them.”
There’s a knock on the door. I close my eyes, pretending I’m asleep.
“Hey, Connor,” Mark says.
“Hi, can I have a quick word?” he asks, walking towards the bed and sitting on the edge of Mark’s side.