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“Cream, no sugar.” I watched him prepare my coffee, unnerved by everything that had happened over the last day, his silence freaking me out. He handed me the steaming drink and wrapped a comforting arm around my waist. He took a breath as if he were about to say something and then stopped. Then he did it again.
“Spit it out, Benedict,” I said, my voice harsh. I steeled myself for bad news, reminding myself that I’d already enjoyed the best sex I’d ever had with this man, no matter what he said.
Careful not to disturb me while I drank the steaming coffee, he nuzzled the top of my head. “I am not an emotional man, and you elicit a lot of feelings, princess.”
My gaze snapped up to his, but he didn’t say anything else. He just pulled me closer into his side and gripped my hip with his hand. I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one having a tough time wrapping my head, and my heart, around this odd arrangement we’d come to yesterday in the airport.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d want for breakfast, so I got some of everything,” he finally continued.
I pushed up on my toes so I could kiss his jawline. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
He tightened his grip on me for a moment, as if hugging me from the side, then steered me toward a chair as the hotel staff silently filed out of the suite. “What do you want to eat?”
I grinned. “One of each.”
“Is that a promise?” James asked, kissing the top of my head as he joined us at the table.
I met his bright blue eyes, laughing at his double entendre. “Yeah, it’s a promise.”
Christmas Eve, and all flights were still canceled. I watched snow flurry through the air from the window of the men’s suite, snug and warm in Benedict’s clothes and my fluffy hotel robe. I thumbed my phone open.
Piper: Looks like no flights today.
Mom: Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry.
Piper: I’m gonna miss Christmas.
My phone rang. I chose the voice call instead of video. She didn’t need to see me in my robe as the men I was spending the day with wandered half-dressed through their suite.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hey, Piper.
“I’m sorry,” I said, sighing. James wrapped his arms around me. I watched his reflection in the glass doors as he kissed my shoulder.
“No, I’m sorry, sweetheart. You shouldn’t have to spend Christmas alone, after what happened with Peter.”
James kissed his way across the back of my neck, then wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me in a warm hug. Our bodies pressed together from the back of my head to my calves. It was sweet and sexy.
“It’s okay, Mom. There are some other folks here at the hotel. And honestly, a few days to get my head screwed on straight before I see you all isn’t the end of the world.”
She passed the phone around to my siblings and my dad. Exhausted by their platitudes and their unending repetition that things would look better in the morning, I tried to reassure them that I was okay spending Christmas alone. I spent most of the call trying not to let on that I wasn’t actually alone and that James’ hands wandered all over my body as I was speaking to them.
“James, enough,” I giggled, as I hung up the phone.
“I want to go out, enjoy the Christmas spirit. Are you game?”
I turned around in his arms. “I don’t have anything to wear out in the snow.”
He wiggled his eyebrows lasciviously. “Perfect. Wear whatever costume you were going to wear for that asshole ex. I promise to appreciate it more than he ever would.”
The laugh that he startled out of me was genuine. “Ridiculous man.”
“We’ll figure it out. Go get dressed, and bring that suitcase full of sex toys up with you when you come back.”
“Bring everything,” Ibrahim interjected, sliding between my back and the glass doors to the balcony. “Keep the room if you’d like, but please, stay with us.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. Ibrahim ran his fingers over my shoulders, across my ribs, until they settled on my stomach. Both men held me in their arms, a tangle of limbs and growing need as they pressed in against me.
