Mr. Hyde, err Lewis grabbed a saw from his sleigh and led the way further into the woods. Everyone began looking around for the tree. The snow was knee-deep and difficult to maneuver through, so I stayed close to Ben in case I needed an arm; at least, that’s the lie I told myself.
“Hey, I think I found the perfect tree!” squealed Audrey. We followed her voice to where she was doing a little dance beside a beautiful, and huge, tree.
“Ah, yes, darling, this tree will do perfectly,” Eleanor agreed, giving her approval.
Audrey walked over to Sam and held out her hand. “Pay up, bro! I knew it would be me to find the tree this year.”
A gleam crossed Sam’s eyes. “Oh yeah? Well, there is only one thing I think about that...” In the blink of an eye, he had grabbed a handful of snow and pitched it at Audrey, who squealed as she got hit. Ben took a quick look at me and grinned like a little boy, scooping up some snow and letting it fly. I retreated to what I hoped would be a safe zone behind a tree.
“Kate… where did you get to? You can’t hide forever!” Ben called out to me.
I grabbed some snow at my feet and formed two snowballs of my own. It sounded like I was in trouble, and I didn’t want to be empty-handed. Hearing more squeals and laughter, from what sounded like the whole family, I crept toward their sounds. I grabbed a couple more snowballs, and as I cleared one last tree, there was the family for the taking. Ben looked up at me from the snow-covered ground, having tackled his brother, looked at the weapons in my arms, and actually laughed, his eyes narrowing, watching me. Taking my chance, I pitched one at each of Ben’s family, each ball hitting its target in turn. I giggled at my success.
Ben, who I had hit first, was making his way to me very quickly as I pitched my last ball. I started to run, but the snow was so deep; I couldn’t get my legs to move fast enough, my efforts futile. I squealed as Ben reached his arms around my waist and tackled me to the ground. I was laughing so hard, it was difficult to breathe. He too was laughing as he practically crushed me underneath him, his face only inches from mine, making me forget about the snow surrounding us. That’s when the air began to charge, and it was as if no one else were anywhere near us. I couldn’t help but stare into Ben’s eyes, mesmerized by his intent gaze back at me. I heard a throat clear, breaking our fixation.
Sam walked up to us, and Ben released me so we could sit up. “Good throwing, Kate. That was the best snowball fight yet. Wouldn’t you agree, Ben?”
Ben nodded and grinned at me. “Yup, I’d say that was the best ending I’ve ever had.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the clear innuendo, shaking my head at Ben. We joined Ben’s parents at the tree and watched as Lewis cut it down. He then tied some rope around it, and we headed back to the sleighs, where he tied the tree behind theirs. Ben and I climbed back into the two-seater and bundled under the blanket once again for the journey back to the house.
Ben helped his dad get the tree into the living room, placing it in the large designated space in the far corner of the room.
Audrey approached, smiling. “Come on. Let’s go get changed into something dry. By the time we get back, the tree will be up and ready to decorate!” Her excitement, wild and carefree, was infectious.
True to Audrey’s prediction, the tree was indeed ready to decorate when I returned to the living room. Eleanor was in the kitchen, and I wanted to see if I could make myself useful so I joined her.
“May I help you in any way, Eleanor?”
She smiled at me. “Well, I’m making some hot chocolate. You can help put some cookies on that plate there if you like.”
She loaded up a tray of the goodies and brought it by the fire. Sam entered the room with his arms full of boxes, and Audrey immediately grabbed at them and began opening them up.
I sat back and just looked at the tree; it really was beautiful with its full, rich multicolored limbs. I guessed it was about seven feet tall, and it had a bluish tinge to its needles.
The Hydes pulled out multiple sets of lights from one of the boxes and began to unravel them. Ben came up to me with a tangled set and held it out. “Help me?” I sat down beside him and took one end. His attention faded from the task at hand, choosing instead to playfully pull the lights from my fingers as well as graze his fingers against my ribs.
“You aren’t helping much with the lights. Behave.”
He pouted a moment before refocusing on the lights. We were lucky; our set didn’t take as long to untangle as the others, so we got to hang ours up first. He plugged them in, and the tree came to life.
“Kate, would you like to help me with the garlands while the rest of the lights go up?” Eleanor called to me.
I joined her, and we wrapped and draped lush green garland on every surface we could find. I was beginning to see it all come together and understood why they waited until they were all together to do it. Smiling at Eleanor, I told her, “Thank you again for letting me be a part of your family’s festivities. This is such a wonderful tradition.”
She stopped and put her hands on my shoulders. “Kate, I don’t care that Ben is your boss, and no matter if you work for him forever or quit tomorrow, I want you to know that you are an honorary member of this family now. You always have a place here. Remember that. Okay?”
I felt my eyes get misty. As I nodded quietly back at her, she pulled me in to a wonderfully warm hug. Did people like this actually exist?
“Come on. I think we have done enough. The tree will be ready to put ornaments on, and the hot chocolate should be ready to drink by now.” She smiled warmly at me, her eyes crinkling around the edges.
We joined the rest of the family around the fire, Lewis raising his mug to toast, “Here is to the holidays and to having our family together.” We all clinked glasses, and after a moment, gathered around the tree to put up the mass of ornaments. Some were fancy glass, while others were hand-painted, probably by Ben and his siblings as they were growing up.
The tree was stunning. Audrey, because she found the tree, was given the task of placing the star at the top, which completed the tree beautifully. Ben pulled me to the couch to relax for a bit, but it was only a short time before Audrey was at my side.
“All right, time to get back in the kitchen, Kate. We’ve got pies to make!”
Ben began to protest, but I stopped him with a finger to his lips, his eyes widening slightly at my action. Why on earth had I done that anyway? “No, no, Ben. I want to help. I’ve never made pie before. You never know, maybe this will be my calling.”
“Your calling is working with me, so don’t go getting any ideas, but go ahead and have your fun.” Ben laughed and waved me off.
I spent the next hour baking and enjoying time with the girls. I almost wished that Jen could have been there, too.
When all the pies were done, Eleanor put together another platter of ingredients for sandwiches, and we all congregated around the fire once more. After filling ourselves with dinner, we lounged, and it wasn’t long before I felt myself starting to nod off. I sat up to try to shake off the sleepiness, and grabbed my phone to message Jen quickly to let her know all was well.
When I was done, I turned to Ben. “Hey, I think I am going to go to bed. I don’t know what I did today to make me so tired, but I’m ready to crash here.”
Ben smiled and stood, pulling me up after him. “I know what you mean. It was probably all that fresh air. It was great though, right?”
“Oh, absolutely, one of the best days ever. You were right about everything. Christmas is pretty magical with your family.” A huge yawn took over me right then, and Ben chuckled.
“Come on. Mom, we’re going to bed. We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, though.”
“All right, dear. Goodnight. Sweet dreams to you both.” Eleanor always seemed to have a twinkle in her eye when she looked at us. I smiled back at her, my heart beating a little quicker as I thought about ‘us’.
We said goodnight to the rest
of the family, and I followed Ben upstairs. He suddenly twirled me around, and while I was laughing, he pulled me into an enveloping hug. I couldn’t deny that it felt good to be in his arms.
I slipped away with a quiet, “Goodnight, Ben,” and closed the door behind me. Lines were blurring way too much. What was I doing? I had set up my rules for a reason, but Ben was proving to be quite an amazing man. We seemed to click so well, and what was best of all was that he seemed to really be into me. I mean, what boss insists on spending the holidays with their employee? Did it really matter that he was my boss? I growled at myself in frustration; I just needed some sleep. I shed my clothes and slipped into my comfy short-shorts and tank top, then snuggled down into bed, exhausted. I couldn’t wait until the morning.
With coffee in hand, I stood in front of Kate’s door and knocked lightly. Receiving no response, I decided to go through our adjoining bathroom. I knew the family enough to know that, as soon as everyone was up, which would be soon, all hell was going to break loose downstairs, and I wanted to make sure Kate was there to share in it all. I knocked again, on the bathroom door this time, but again I received no response. I entered into her room, and in a split second, I was in both heaven and hell. I quickly put the coffee on her nightstand to keep from dropping it.
She looked heavenly, her head resting on the pillow, her hair flowing all around her, but seeing her in what she was wearing was enough to put my immediately hard cock through hell. I clearly had not thought this through. Her tank top was deliciously tight, with no bra in sight; her nipples hardened, it seemed, with my gaze. My hands clamped into fists, I reminded myself I couldn’t touch her. I was already going through some serious withdrawal without seeing her like this.
Leading up to our holiday, I kept telling myself that it would benefit us both in the long run if I did not see her at the club. She would be left sexually frustrated. What I stupidly hadn’t counted on was that it would do the same thing to me.
As I watched her, she turned on her side away from me, the comforter moving to expose her tight ass in those shorts, if one could call them that. If I saw any more of her bare skin, I was going to self-combust. I leaned over and gently touched her shoulder, and then stepped back from temptation.
“Mmmmm,” Kate groaned.
If she opened her eyes now, she was going to get an eyeful of my very clear arousal. Ah, fuck it; what did I have to lose at this point? She knew I had been hard for her before. I reached over again and gently shook her. “Kate, you have to get up, baby.”
This time, Kate rolled onto her back and stretched. She opened her eyes and slowly focused them on me. “What are you doing in here?”
I cleared my throat. “I brought you coffee. I didn’t want you to miss our Christmas festivities. Everyone will be up shortly.” Her gaze lowered and stopped where I expected it probably would. “Sorry. It has a mind of its own.”
She looked back up at me and smiled. “I see. What is its mind on now?”
“You... that tank top, your hard nipples, and your ass in those shorts.”
Kate looked down at herself and grabbed for the comforter. “Wow. Okay, don’t hold back now, will you?”
“Why should I? You asked, and I figure you should know that you look fucking amazing, even first thing in the morning. Anyway, I will stop embarrassing you and let you get up. Knock on the bathroom door and we can go down together when you’re ready.” I made a hasty exit back through the bathroom and waited, calming my body down.
Kate knocked a short time later, and we headed to the living room, where everyone was just getting settled. I walked over to my parents, hugging them both. “Good morning. Merry Christmas.”
Mom hugged my back tightly, before moving on to Kate and hugging her just as tightly. We all sat on the floor, which of course was tradition, and I volunteered to hand out the presents. My parents were first, opening up a pair of airline tickets I had gotten them.
“Banff?” My mom’s eyes teared up, and I turned to Kate to explain.
“That’s where they went on their honeymoon.”
Kate smiled warmly back at me and nodded, approving of my gift. My parents, as usual, went overboard and got us all many practical gifts. Even Kate received a package of socks from Mom, but Mom wasn’t done. Kate was handed a bag, and inside was a puffy cream scarf that I knew my mom had made.
“I believe, Kate, that everyone should carry with them a little piece of home. I hope this represents that for you.” If I hadn’t been paying attention, I would have missed the tear that quickly fell down Kate’s cheek.
“Thank you so much, Eleanor. It’s beautiful.” Kate wrapped it around her neck, and there it stayed. Kate reached across me and grabbed the large bag she had brought with her. My parents opened it, revealing an impressive basket.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked,” Kate explained, “so I thought a little bit of everything should be included… well, everything except the kitchen sink.” Kate had chosen a fancy bottle of wine, variations of chocolates and cookies, a bottle of bubble bath, a tube of cigars, an ornate picture frame, and a CD in a jewel case. “I took the chance on some of these things. I hope I got some of them right. Eleanor, Lewis, the one thing that I got out of your son before we came up here was that Christmas and family were very important to you. He wasn’t exaggerating. I thought that maybe the best gift would be to make a CD of all of my own favorite Christmas music for you. I hope you like it.”
“Thank you so much, Kate. You did indeed get us right. As long as Lew smokes those cigars outside, we’ll be all right. I am going to put this music on right now.” A moment later, music filled the air.
I decided it was my turn to give my gift to Kate, and I found myself nervous about how she would take it.
She opened the box I offered her and gasped. Inside laid a delicate white gold twisted chain, holding a teardrop amethyst surrounded by small diamonds, and a set of matching earrings. She looked from me to the necklace and back again, before finally whispering after a time, “Ben, this is too much. It’s probably the most beautiful thing anyone has ever given to me, but it’s still too much.”
I leaned into her. “I disagree. Kate, you deserve to have beautiful things. When I saw it, I knew I wanted you to have it.” She stared at the necklace, rubbing her fingertips over her bottom lip. Gasps were heard around us as Mom and Audrey leaned over and saw the gift.
“OK,” she stated quietly to herself. Reaching behind her, she produced two packages, placing them in my lap. “These are for you. Open the small one first.”
I admit, I was a little stunned. I had no idea that she had gone to the trouble to think of me. The first box I opened contained a set of platinum cufflinks. These were stylish with a little something extra; Kate had gone and had them engraved with her tattoo design on them. I looked up at her in awe, and she blushed. “Wow, these are amazing. Thank you so much, Kate.”
“You’re welcome. Open the second one.” The second box contained a book, but upon further inspection, I determined it was a cookbook for Indian food. “You are such a great cook,” Kate explained, “and your favorite restaurant is Little India. I thought you might like to try your hand at Indian cuisine.”
“I think I would like that very much. This is incredibly thoughtful of you.” I paused a moment before continuing. “Maybe we can try this out together sometime soon.”
I saw everyone’s eyes all dart to us as Kate nodded her agreement. “I’m not much of a cook, but that could be fun.”
My mom beamed at me. My brother wiggled his eyebrows. God, I was surrounded by goofs; luckily, Kate was left blissfully unaware.
When the gifts were all opened, Mom laid out a light breakfast for us. We ate and laughed, and I sat back and took it all in. Kate fit perfectly. When my mom stood to get Christmas dinner started, Kate offered immediately to help her. I watched her as she helped wash and prep the side dishes while Mom put the turkey in the oven. When all that could be done was done, Kate retreated to
her room to freshen up.
Mom was sitting by the fireplace, and I joined her there. “How are you doing, darling?” she asked, resting her hand on top of mine.
“Today has been better than I ever could have expected. So nothing else is planned until dinner, right? I want to take Kate out in the sleigh for a little bit.”
Mom smiled at me. “I’m proud of you, Benjamin. I never thought I would see you fall for another woman, but I am so glad you have. I am most proud that you haven’t given up. She is a keeper. Go and have a good time.”
I hopped up and bounded up the stairs. She opened her door, still in her pajamas, when I knocked.
“Get dressed. We’re going to go out for a little bit. Don’t worry. We’ll be back in plenty of time to dress for dinner. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
I bounded back down the stairs, not waiting for her to answer, and ran through the snow to the barn, where I hitched up the horse to the sleigh. Kate met me in front of the house a few minutes later, with her camera bag over her shoulder. She stood on the front step, beautiful in her simplicity – jeans that fit, her fitted winter coat, and around her neck was the scarf Mom had given her. Once she had settled in the sleigh, we headed out to the very back of our property through the woods, stopping just at the edge of a snow-covered field before us, where there sat an old barn and a small pond.
“Wow, Ben, this place is amazing! Have you been here before?” Kate asked, her eyes wide as she pulled out her camera.
“Oh, yeah, I used to come here all the time when I was a kid.” I clicked the reins, and we moved closer to the worn old building. Helping her out of the sleigh, I led her toward the pond first, which was beautiful in its frozen state, partially covered in snow. Kate snapped a few photos of the beautiful landscape around us, and then surprisingly snapped a couple of me. “I love the quiet that blankets you when you are out here,” I told her. “No one around for miles… None of the insanity of my real life exists here. Come let me show you inside the barn.”
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