Christmas on Main Collection

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

AURORA

You can do this. Just walk in and tell her the truth. Well, tell her most of the truth. Allegra doesn’t need to know how the Christmas village got broken, just that it was.

I can see my sister smiling in the shop, and even from here, she looks like she's glowing. It's been so long since I've seen her so relaxed, and now, I have to go in there and ruin her good mood.

Here we are once again. I screw up, and Allegra must deal with the fallout. I don't want to be the one disappointing her. She already has so much on her plate, and here I am, messing things up again. Only this time, I've messed up a family heirloom that she loves.

“Are you going in, sweetheart?” Mrs. Hader asks, walking out of the shop and holding the door open for me.

“Yes,” I say while I fight the urge to make a run for it. "It's time to face the music."

“Okay, dear," she says, clearly confused by my comment, but she moves on without another word.

Rip it off like a bandage. It's still going to hurt, but it won't be so bad in the long run. That is if she doesn't lunge over this desk and strangle me with the very cord that was the cause of all this mess. The same cord Paz warned me to tape down but had the kindness last night, not to say I told you so.

“I didn’t think you were working until this afternoon?” Allegra says when I walk in.

“I’m not.” I shake my head, gathering the courage to say what I need to say. “But I have to tell you something.”

Allegra examines my face, and the glow in her expression from earlier dims slightly. "What is it? Are you okay?"

“No.” I shake my head and draw in a ragged breath. “It’s about the Christmas village.”

Allegra’s gaze flits from me to the table where the village sat yesterday.

“What about it?” she asks. “It looks fine.”

What?

I turn, expecting to find the table empty from when Paz and I moved it yesterday to the backroom, but instead, I find it sitting on the table once again, looking as good as new.

“What the—“ I start to say but walk over to it and lean down to examine the damage.

Without knowing what happened, you wouldn’t know that this thing was broken last night.

“What about the village?” Allegra asks behind me. “It looks perfect.”

“It does look perfect,” I echo after her, still confused.

It’s only when I see the snowflake painted on one of the doors that I realize what happened. It’s in the same shape as the snowflake I gave Paz all those years ago. And I know that it wasn’t painted on her before.

“What’s going on?”

I straighten and turn back to my sister. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

“Forget what? You didn’t say anything.”

“Exactly,” I race past her towards the door. “I’ve got to go.”

Her response is drowned out by the Santa ringing a bell on the corner, looking for donations.

I head right for Paz’s shop and run in. He isn’t behind the counter. Instead, it’s the kid who caught us together before. My cheeks flush, but there's no time for embarrassment. I need to see Paz.

“Where is he?” I ask.

The kid points up to the apartment above the hardware store where Paz lives. "But he said not to be disturbed. He was up all night working on something."

“I don’t think he’ll mind.”

I’m through the door and up the steps to the apartment in a flash. I thump my fist against the door and wait.

“What is it, Caleb?” Paz yells.

I don’t want to give away the surprise, so I don’t tell him it’s me. I thump my fist against the door again.

"What did I say about disturbing me, Caleb?" Paz asks as he swings open the door. His eyes widened in surprise. "You aren't Caleb."

“Nope.” I shake my head and look him up and down.

Paz rubs the heels of his hands against his eyes to wipe the sleep away. It's almost as if he can't believe I'm standing here right now. He’s dressed in gray sweatpants that hang low on his toned hips and no shirt. My lower belly flips with excitement. I've imagined this moment so many times, and it's finally here.

"This is definitely how the fantasy begins, but in my dreams, you are wearing less clothes.” His voice is still gruff from sleep.

“You were up all night fixing the Christmas village for Allegra.”

He shakes his head. “I did that for you.”

I step close and run my fingertips slowly down his washboard abs. “So, in this dream, how little am I actually wearing?”

Paz rakes his finger into my hair and tilts my head up to meet his lips. It’s tender but full of anticipation for so much more to come.

“Nothing,” he whispers against my lips.

“That sounds good to me.”

PAZ

Aurora pushes me back from the doorway and kicks the door shut behind her.

Moments ago, I was so tired I was going to rip Caleb a new ass hole for waking me up, but with Aurora standing in front of me, tempting me with the very fantasy that’s been playing on a loop in my mind, I’m wide awake.

“I like your place.” She glances around. “It’s cozy.”

That's a generous way to describe the makeshift apartment. I converted it from an office to a studio back when I bought the place. It was my way of saving on my expenses and putting everything into the shop. It’s only really been me since then, so the tight living space that consisted of a living room, kitchen, and bedroom all in one was all I needed.

The idea of buying a house wasn't at the forefront of my mind until recently. Very recently.

Aurora takes off her jacket, letting it drop to the ground. I watch in stunned silence as she peels one piece of clothing off at a time until she’s standing in front of me in only her bra and panties. My pulse quickens and I’m almost sure she can hear my heart thumping in my chest. There’s no sight more beautiful than Aurora standing in front of me.

“Close,” I smirk at her. “But you aren’t quite there yet.”

She smiles back at me, amused. "I can't give you all of the goods at once."

I look down at the tent, my raging cock as made in my sweatpants. “I’m not sure I can wait any longer.”

“That’s the idea.” Aurora takes my hand and leads me over to the bed.

I sit down at the foot of the bed and spread my knees to make room for her to stand right in front of me. My hands move slowly up either side of her thick thighs to her ample waist. I can’t wait until I’m balls deep in this beautiful woman. There is a small damp spot on her silk panties from her arousal.

Aurora leans over and whispers into my ear, “Lay back on the bed.”

My heart is thumping so hard in my chest you’d think I was running a marathon. Well, this is going to be a different kind of marathon. I've waited what feels like forever for this woman. I'd wait forever for her, but thankfully, she's not making me wait that long.

I scoot backward on the bed and lay down. Aurora climbs up onto the bed, moving like a cat up my body. She reaches out and runs her hand up my cock, squeezing it gently. My eyes flutter closed as the pleasure and relief flood through every cell in my body.

I'm so lost in her one touch that I don’t realize she’s tugged down my sweatpants and freed me from the cotton confines. Her warm tongue licks up and down my shaft, before she takes me in her mouth.

The breath in my lungs isn’t the only thing sustaining me. Her tongue moves in rhythm with her hands, and I'm very nearly ready to come.

“Aurora,” I breathe out. “I’m so close.”

She doesn't pull off me, as I expect. Instead, she takes me deeper, to the point that her chin bumps my sensitive balls. A vibration, deep in the back of her throat, begins, and I can't hold back the release of my seed into her mouth.

“Was that as good as the fantasy?” she asks, looking up and wiping the corner of her mouth.

“No.” I shake my head. “It was fucking better.”

I pull her up my body and flip her over on the bed, so I'm above her. She squeals at the quick movement and giggles up at me. There’s no way I should already be getting hard again. But there is something about this woman that makes me insatiable for her. I will never have enough of her.

“I can’t believe you stayed up all night working for me.” She cups my face in her soft hands.

“When are you going to get it?” I shake my head in her hands. “I’d do anything for you.”

“Anything?” she asks, pushing her legs apart and allowing me to position myself between her thighs.

“Anything.” I reach between us and pull her panties to the side before pushing deep inside the woman of my dreams.