Cliff stood up, grabbed Reggie’s hand and led her out into the hall to the closet under the stairs. He opened the door, reached in, and flicked on a switch. “Behold the Christmas hoard.”
Reggie moved forward and peeked in. “Oh my god. It’s like Santa threw up in here and he is really, really tacky.” She reached out and traced the edge of a Rudolph cut out with a red light bulb for a nose. “Does this actually work?” She glanced back at Cliff.
He nodded. “All of them light up or make noise. He wanted to pay someone to set up a train set that would run around the property. It had lights, bells, whistles, tinsel, all of it. I am thankful that I distracted him long enough so he lost interest or couldn’t find someone to do it all in time.”
A mischievous spark lit her eyes. “Oh, distraction, huh? I need dirty, dirty details.”
Before Cliff could reply, Bax called out from the foyer. “Reggie? Cliff? We have company!”
“Later.” Cliff turned off the light and pulled Reggie away from the hoard of decorations. He shut the door and led her back to the kitchen.
Reggie leaned toward him. “I noticed some New Year’s stuff, Valentine’s day, St. Patrick’s, and a whole hell of a lot of Halloween things under there.”
“Yeah and we have to stick together and work our magic to keep him from decorating for every single holiday. Wait until you see what he has planned for Thanksgiving at our home in Charlotte. Two words: actual turkeys.”
She gasped. “No!”
“Yes.” Cliff and Reggie stepped into the kitchen only to be greeted by Reggie’s sisters and brother and Antonio with his kids. “Oh, hi everyone!”
Reggie let out a small whimper. “Oh my god!”
Antonio grinned at her. “Despite what Betti may think or want, I still wanted to go ahead with the birthday celebration, even if it’s here. She’s sulking at home. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her.” He put a large gift on the kitchen island.
Cliff’s heart stuttered. This was the kind of gesture he hadn’t dared hoped to see. He glanced over at Reggie.
Emotion darted across her face. “You guys!” She stepped forward and hugged Antonio. Something she wouldn’t have done a year ago.
Antonio wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. “I know I took too long in doing this. I tried year after year to get Betti to allow me to do this, but this year I’d had enough of all of this distance and ignoring your birthday and all the petty silliness. Happy birthday, Regina. I hope this is the start of a new tradition.”
She sniffled. “We can talk it over later. For now, let’s party!”
Her siblings and step-siblings moved forward and hugged her and gave her presents. Bax turned on the stereo. Christmas music blasted from the speakers.
“Christmas freak,” Cliff called over the noise.
“You’re damn right!” Bax responded. He slipped over to Cliff and wrapped an arm around his waist. He leaned in and kissed Cliff’s cheek. They both watched Reggie engage with her family.
“Shit, the cake!” Bax left Cliff’s side and started cutting up pieces of the desert and serving them out to their guests.
Cliff laughed. What had him feeling the best was seeing the joy in Reggie’s eyes. Nothing could be better.
Antonio moved next to him. “You look happy.”
“We are.” Cliff watched Bax hand a plate to Dana.
“Then do me a favor. I’m not blind. Keep Regina happy, you hear me? She may not think of me as a father, but I think of her as a daughter, despite all the tension over the years.” Antonio patted Cliff on the back and walked away to join Reggie at the island where she opened her gifts in-between forkfuls of cake.
Something inside of Cliff settled. He moved around the crowd to join Bax and repeated the request Antonio had made.
Bax’s eyes widened. “Wow, pretty opened-minded of him. He is not what I thought he was.”
“Yup, how wrong we all were. I feel bad that we wasted all those years because of Bettina.”
They were quiet for a moment, watching as Reggie opened presents and chatted happily with her siblings.
Cliff glanced at Bax and put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, we have a new start, and we don’t have to waste it. This holiday is not how I thought it would go. It’s even better. Maybe next year we can bring our families together rather than individual meetings?” Cliff suggested. “Maybe at some luxury resort in the mountains? We can hope Antonio just leaves Bettina behind.” Cliff chuckled at the thought.
“That sounds good. One big party for everyone and then the rest of the week just relaxing with Reggie, maybe dressing you up like an elf, hmm?” Bax ran a finger down Cliff’s arm.
Cliff groaned. “I swear both of you are insane. But I love you, so sure, why the hell not? Does this mean I get to dress you up like Rudolph?”
Bax tilted his head. “Well, if that means I get a light-up nose, sure.”
Cliff stared at Bax. “I can’t tell if you’re kidding or trying to figure out the logistics. No light-up nose, you freak. And no decorating our home to high heaven either. Nice, tasteful decorations, nothing more.”
Bax gave him an impish grin. “You won’t be able to watch me every second of every day, the both of you, so maybe you’ll get a surprise.” Bax laughed. “Enough, we’ll negotiate about it later. Let’s celebrate our girlfriend’s birthday.”
Cliff and Bax joined the group. They mingled, laughed, talked, and ate. Bax ended up ordering some pizza, and they all piled into the theater room to watch a few holiday movies while they bonded or caught up on all the family gossip.
Reggie sat in the middle, getting all sorts of attention. Cliff and Antonio debated the merits of renting or buying a smoker, while Bax got into a cake recipe debate with Clara. At one point, Cliff got the family to help Bax choose which decorations they would use next year.
“You all have horrible taste. Horrible!” Cliff called out when the group agreed that the light-up Rudolph needed to be set up on the roof.
“It’s Rudolph!” Antonio argued. “You have to include him. Plus he lights up. How can you lure carolers to your home if they can’t find you?”
Cliff groaned. “No. No. No. Don’t encourage Bax on that point. He might as well hire a bunch of carolers or something.”
Bax threw a pillow at him. “You just don’t want us to have fun.”
The party devolved into a pillow fight. Spirits were high by the time Antonio dragged everyone out of the house to head back to his and Bettina’s place or, in Dana’s case, back to her friend Iris’s home.
Bax, Cliff, and Reggie stood on the porch and waved them off. Cliff’s hopes for the future of bridging the divide between Reggie and at least part of her family had soared. Still, a bit of sadness brought down his joy. He just wished they could reach her mother, maybe get Reggie and Bettina to sit down and air out their grievances, and maybe, just maybe, come to some common ground. Or at least a truce around Christmas. To him the holidays were about being with the ones he loved.
“Come on, let’s clean up and we’ll get some sleep.” Cliff led Bax and Reggie back into the house. They picked up the pillows and placed them back where they belonged and put away the leftovers.
While Reggie was in the bathroom showering, Cliff took Bax aside.
“We need to talk about the rules with her. We haven’t done that yet,” he whispered.
Bax nodded. “But do we do it now or when we leave or tomorrow?”
Cliff thought it over. “Well—” He let out a long yawn.
Bax grinned. “Tomorrow it is.” He let out his own yawn.
* * *
Reggie sat down at the dining room table the next morning. “OK, spill it. What’s wrong? You guys were really quiet when we were getting ready for bed. What’s up?”
A flutter started in Cliff’s stomach. He licked his lips. “We have to go over the rules of the relationship. There’s a lot to cover.”
Reggie nodded and cut into her sunny-side-up egg. “Go
on.”
“We’ve had threesomes before, but this is our first, real, permanent ménage,” Cliff started, watching Reggie’s reaction. “We are serious about being with you in a committed relationship. I feel the need to reiterate that.”
She nodded. “OK. I hear you. Go on.”
“We want you to understand what you’ll be in for,” Bax interjected. “This is like any other situation, any other relationship, but this time you have to navigate two other people’s emotions, states of mind, schedules, all of that.”
She nodded. “And I’m totally ready for it.” She grinned. “I’ve thought about what it would be like to be the cream in your ice cream sandwich for quite some time.” She stuck her tongue out at them.
“Ice cream sandwich. What?” Bax let out a laugh. “Maybe we shouldn’t get involved with her or keep her as a friend. She uses weird phrases. I mean, I don’t think we’re an ice cream sandwich couple, maybe we’re more of a cake or a rocky road brownie?”
“What? What are you talking about? I think we’re more of a candy bar with caramel and nougat as the fillings.” Cliff winked at Bax.
Reggie let out a laugh. “You both are such dorks. Anything else I should consider or you want to tell me? We know everything about each other, with a few exceptions. There’s nothing bad I can say about either of you.”
“But you’ve never seen us in a romantic relationship before,” Bax said. “So we’ll take it slow until you get used to being with us as a couple.”
Reggie nodded. “I understand. So we have the rest week before I go back to Charlotte and you start filming again. What do you want to do? Check out our old haunts or binge on shows and movies and have a bunch of filthy, filthy sex?”
Bax laughed. “A combination of all of that. It’s been so long since I’ve had a proper vacation.”
Cliff groaned. “Well, I’m sorry you two, but I have to send in my column for the Web site. Sports drama doesn’t stop just because it’s the holidays. And then I have to call my hockey source to talk about the Winter Classic and the All Star game at the end of January. So, I’ll leave you to binge watching and hometown tours. Save the dirty, dirty sex for when I have time.”
Bax frowned. “Fine, party pooper.”
Cliff chuckled and they all dug into their breakfasts. They discussed the latest news and talked over all the places they wanted to check out during their stay.
“If I don’t bring back the praline crunch for my co-workers there will be a revolt,” Reggie said. “And I need something for one of the doctor’s birthdays. He’s pretty decent to the nurses, so it needs to be something nice and fishing oriented. Thoughts?”
“I’d suggest some lures or maybe a new hat or a jacket,” Cliff offered. “Something simple.”
She nodded. “Maybe some new lures. How much do they go for?”
“It varies, depending on quality. So you know he’s a nice person, you can get him something in the fifty to seventy range. That’s not cheap, but it also doesn’t blow the budget,” Cliff said.
“Sounds good. Bax, you’ll go with me to help pick a few out?” she asked.
“Maybe he would prefer live worms?” Bax threw out.
Reggie’s eyes widened. She held up her hands. “No. Hell no. I may deal with bodily fluids on a daily basis. I may have to insert things in places people don’t want, and I have been peed on, puked on, and had shit and food and other things thrown at me, but I will not buy him live bugs of any kind.”
Cliff chuckled. “OK, OK, I get it. Should’ve remembered how much you hate the creepy crawlies. Maybe you should just get a gift card for him from a local sporting goods store or maybe get together with your co-workers and pool some money for a trip somewhere? Enough people join in you can send him for some fishing in the Highlands of Scotland.”
“I’ll think about it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Bax and I are going to have some fun. Without you.” Reggie grinned. “See you later, lover.”
“Yeah, bye lover. We’ll make sure to play Die Hard extra loud.” Bax winked and they walked out of the room.
Cliff chuckled again. Despite the short time of entertaining the idea of being a couple, she seemed to be just fine with everything. He couldn’t wait to see what the future held for them as a permanent threesome.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Guess what I found!” Bax pushed open the door and strode into the room carrying a large box.
Reggie sat up and scrambled off the bed. “Whoa, let me help you with that.”
She took the box and carried it over to the bed and put it down.
Cliff sat up on the floor and hit the pause button. “What is that?” Wary curiosity filled his voice.
Bax grinned and kicked the door shut. “I put the Do Not Disturb sign out on the front door. Now what is this, you ask?” He fished a box cutter out of his jeans pocket and pushed the button up to slide out the blade. “I went shopping while you two were binge watching TV shows, catching up on movies, and doing nothing sexy what so ever. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to run to the door to get your food deliveries. I mean you guys know I can cook. I love to cook—”
“Here we go.” Cliff got up off the floor and settled on the bed. “Yes, yes, you have a fully stocked chef’s kitchen and the best equipment money can buy. Blah, blah, blah. Everywhere we go, he always complains about how little they stock the kitchenettes in our suites. Maybe it’s because they want you to order room service?” He winked at Reggie.
Reggie giggled and stepped back to allow Bax to open up his purchase.
“As I was saying, I hit the after-Christmas sales and pre-New Year’s sales, paid extra, thank you membership perks, and voila, your costumes for the evening.” He slit the tape and lifted up the flaps.
Reggie peeked inside and stared at the striped, bright green socks and cherry red dress, lined with what she hoped was faux white fur. “Um, what is this? It’s no longer Christmas.”
“What did he do? Wait, please don’t say what I think you’re going to say. Oh, shit, no.” Cliff shot to his feet and shook his head. “No. No. No. It’s not fucking Christmas anymore.” He looked into the box. “Aw, fuck.”
Reggie pulled out a tiny, this-can’t-possibly-fit-me red dress with a bust line that couldn’t in theory cover one of her boobs. “Seriously, how the hell can I fit into this?” She checked the tag. “OK, it’s stretchy, but is it stretchy enough? I have curves or did you forget?” she teased.
Bax grinned. “I didn’t forget, and I know this will fit you like a glove. Trust me.”
Her nipples tightened and her stomach clenched as her pussy contracted. She sucked in a deep breath. She reached over and batted at his arm. “Stop that! Anyway, is this fake fur or real?”
Bax rolled his eyes. “Fake. Did you really think I’d get you real? We might be using this in private, but still I have my standards. Try it on, go on. Strip!” He turned on his heel and settled into a chair, his gaze resting on her.
“You want me to strip for you?” She glanced from Cliff to Bax. Never in her life had a lover asked her strip.
Cliff sat back down. “Strip!” He grabbed the hem of his shirt and yanked it off and dropped it to the floor. Cliff pushed down his sweat pants and put them next to his shirt. “Come on. I took off my clothing. Your turn.” He gestured to her.
“Ahem.”
Reggie turned her attention to Bax and found that he had undressed as well.
“You both are horrible. So I have to undress and then get dressed again…only to have you end up undressing me? It sounds so inefficient, but OK.” She took off her shirt.
“Whoa, whoa, let us enjoy the show.” Bax got up and hurried over to Cliff, climbed up onto the bed, and joined him. He reached over and opened a drawer, extracting a bottle of lube. Bax poured some into Cliff’s hand and then his own and replaced the container in the drawer and shut it. “Proceed.”
She laughed. “OK.” She let the top drop to the ground and hooked her thumbs into the wai
stband and pushed them to the floor. In her head she could hear “Silver Bells” playing and had to laugh. “Oh god, I have “Silver Bells” playing in my head. Not a good stripping song.”
“No, but if it helps you, go for it. Need us to hum it?” Bax offered.
She grinned and shook her head. “No, I’m good.”
Cliff picked it the remote control and pressed a few buttons until “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt started to croon out of the speakers of the TV. “Perfect timing.” Cliff grinned. “Now go on, baby.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to taking off her clothing, slowly. Once naked, she turned around. “Are you sure you want me to get dressed?”
Bax laughed. “You look delicious, honey, but yes. I want to see it on you.”
Reggie glanced back at the men over her shoulder and noted that Bax had his hand wrapped around Cliff’s cock and Cliff had his hand wrapped around Bax’s dick. They were stroking each other and with their free hands they were tugging and rolling their nipples.
A zip of desire raced down her spine. An ache pulsed in her core. She licked her lips and paused. With one hand, she held her left breast and gave it a squeeze. A shock of heat shot straight to her womb. She swallowed. Moisture dampened the inside of her thighs.
Reggie felt the weight and heat of Bax and Cliff’s gaze on her. Empowered by their desire, she bent over, giving them a good look at her rounded ass and her sex.
Bax let out a long groan.
She peeked around her legs and paused to watch Cliff reposition himself on his hands and knees and take Bax’s cock into his mouth. Her legs shook as she took in the sight of Cliff’s head bobbing up and down on Bax’s dick.
Bax reached under cliff to work his cock and balls with one hand while running his hand over Cliff’s head. “Go on, baby, keep going. Pull on the dress,” Bax rasped out. “Fuck, Cliff, so damn good.”
Reggie stepped into the dress one leg at a time and pulled up the outfit. The material glided over her skin and stretched to fit her curves. She pushed her hands through the sleeves and pulled it in place. Surprisingly, it fit her perfectly and pushed up her breasts until just the tops of her nipples peeked out from the neckline. The skirt didn’t quite cover her ample ass, and the hem came to a stop just where the plump lips of her sex could be seen. A thrill burst in the pit of her stomach. Something about being so exposed and yet dressed increased her libido.
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