Nativity: Festive Novella (Heart of Stone #11) (4 page)

“Come on,” I said as I lifted her up.
“Back to bed.”

I carried her through the house and up
the stairs, smiling at her soft snores before I’d even reached the top step.

Katie’s door opened and she stepped into
the hallway, quietly closing the door behind her so not to wake her knobhead
boyfriend. “Dad?”

I gulped. She was so pretty, her long
red waves and sweet green eyes the epitome of her mother’s. “I just… I just
don’t want you to have to suffer like your Mother did, Katie. I don’t want you
to see some of the things she has, to witness so much… destruction and hatred.”

She nodded. “I know. But you also have
to see the good things she has too. You, me, George. Friend’s that would kill
for her. A life that has been anything but boring. And what did she have before
she met you, Dad?”

I blinked and stepped closer to her, sliding
my hand down the softness of her hair and sighing happily when she nuzzled into
my touch like she always had since she was a baby. “But your mother has so many
scars, both inside and outside that they have completely camouflaged who she
is. I would give anything to take those scars away.”

“But why?” She smiled at me. “They’re
not scars, Dad. They’re inscriptions of everything she has accomplished. Each
one another achievement that allowed her to keep breathing and keep loving.”

I stared at her, unable to love her more
than I did right then. “And her greatest inscription runs right across her
lower stomach.”

She grinned, nodding as she wiped away a
tear. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you more, baby.”

She squeezed my hand as I kissed her
forehead. “Goodnight.”

I nodded and watched her retreat back to
Fuckwad. Looking down, I stared at the small scar that ran across Ava’s
eyebrow.

And then I smiled.

If I had the courage to let go of his
hands and slap the bastard, I would have done. “Mason!”

He chuckled, his head shaking from side
to side as he whizzed off in front and left me stood alone and scared shitless
in the middle of the rink. Spinning in an elegant circle, he spun back to me
and started to sway his hips, taunting me with a ‘come hither’ motion of his
hand.

Every damn year he did this. Showed off
his skating skills while he abandoned me with my lack of talent in the center.

“Mason!” I squealed, making him laugh
harder when my feet started to slide outwards, my knees growing further and
further apart as my crotch sunk lower and lower to the ice. “MASON!”

I grinned, poking my tongue out at him
when he suddenly stopped laughing. His face dropped, a deep scowl forming and
his lip curling slightly when huge arms wrapped around my waist and someone
pulled me upwards. “You okay, Darling?”

I maneuvered round, inch by inch. My
eyes hit a solid wall of muscle behind a mass of cream wool. Slowly I dragged
them upwards into the face of an Angel. My mouth popped open. God had finally
granted me the gift I had asked for every Christmas since I was twelve. Huge
blue eyes, framed by long thick lashes stared down at me. Sculptured cheekbones
covered in a dusting of light brown stubble caused me to swallow heavily. Thick
lips, a tongue sliding across them generated a choked sound to escape from my
mouth.

“You should relax your body.”

I nodded stiffly and stared some more.

“It helps you balance.”

I nodded a bit more.

“Learn to walk in your skates first.”

He stared at me when I grunted something
but then laughed. “Are you always this talkative?”

I nodded. “Always.”

He grinned at me, his eyes twinkling. I
think I may have come right then. “Bend your knees slightly.” He moved behind
me. Fuck. I tried to suppress my whimper when he framed the entirety of my back
with the whole of his front and leaned his face over my shoulder. “You should
be able to see your toes.”

He pushed my frame gently with his until
my back was slightly arced, my eyes finding the toes of my skates. “Oh I can!” I
exclaimed excitedly.

I could feel his body shake behind me as
he chuckled. “Right now push off slightly.”

“Oooh nooo!”

He laughed loudly this time as he guided
us forward, his hands on my waist tightly. It was way too hot. Someone should
turn the temperature down in those places. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

I stuck my arms out by my side as he
glided us both a little further. “That’s it. Now push back with your foot
slightly angled.”

I furrowed my brow and concentrated,
determined to do this shit on my own and prove to Mason I could do it. So
taking a deep breath I moved with him, my arms out by my sides as we both skated
nearer the edge of the rink.

“You’re doing it,” my guide whispered in
my ear before I felt his hands leave me and my body sailed naturally forward.

“Oh my God!” I yelled, my fist pumping
the air as I flowed across the ice elegantly. “UP YOURS MR FOX!” I yelled
without looking behind me.

I grinned at Courtney as I drifted
towards her stood outside the edge of the rink, her heavily pregnant self
unable to actually join us on the rink. I frowned when I spotted the horror on
her face. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open as her gaze fixed on something
behind me.

Making it safely to the edge I grabbed
hold of the wall and turned to see what she was looking at. My expression
joined that of my best friend when I witnessed my guide laid out on the floor
on his back, blood trickling from his nose down the side of his face and
pooling on the ice by his head. Mason was stood beside him, glaring down towards
him before he turned to me. He tipped his head as though it was my fault and
quirked an eyebrow, his shoulders shrugging casually.

“What the hell, Mason?”

He skated across to me, a smug smile on
his face. “Oops, he slipped.”

I glared at him, “I don’t think so! What
the hell, he was only trying to help me when you abandoned me!”

He shrugged again, lifting me up and
throwing me over his shoulder. “No, he was feeling up my wife.”

“His hands were on my waist, Mason. He
was trying to help me stay upright. Which is more than can be said for you!”

He gripped my chin after he sat me on a
bench and squatted in front of me to change my shoes. “I saw the way you looked
at him.” He narrowed his eyes. “Like it was bloody Christmas.”

“It is Christmas!” I reminded him with
an arrogant smile.

His face scowled harder. “You want me to
invite him into our bed, Ava?”

“Oooh,” I inclined my head slightly,
debating his question. “Do you think he would?”

Mason stared at me but sighed and shook
his head slowly. “Home.”

“But…”

“Home!”

“Okayyy.”

***

I couldn’t hold my amusement back so I
lifted my champagne glass to my mouth, taking a huge swallow and lowered my
eyes from my husband’s horrified expression to watch the bubbles in the water
around us pop and fizz.

Liv nudged me with her knee under the
water, stifling a giggle when a growl echoed around us. “I’ll give it roughly
four minutes and twenty four seconds before Mason’s palm finds the top of
Danny’s head and he’s under the water.”

I coughed to camouflage my chuckle when
Mason snapped his heated eyes to me. “What the fuck does he think he’s doing?”

I shook my head, biting my bottom lip as
I struggled to hold on. “I… I’m sure he’s just scratching his balls, Mason,” I
whispered.

He was going to blow any second. He
turned back to watch Danny’s hand moving beneath the surface of the water as
Katie sat beside him with a huge smile on her face. “Get your hands up where I
can see them!”

Danny blinked, gawping at Mason like
he’d gone crazy. Greg and Sam snorted then held their hands up in surrender
when Mason rounded on them with a glare. Steam rose from the hot tub and out of
Mason’s ears. We were all only just holding on to the hilarity of the
situation.

Danny slowly raised his hands up in the
air. I’m sure he thought Mason had a gun pointed at him under the water, loaded
and aimed ready to blow his bollocks off.

Nate coughed and covered his mouth when
all the blood drained from Danny’s face. “By the way,” he said trying to
diffuse the situation. “I’ve decided to retire. I’m handing NSC over to Jay.
Liv and me are gonna buy a house in Cornwall.”

“Don’t fucking touch her!” Mason hissed,
completely ignoring Nate. Danny’s eyes widened further as he stared at Mason
then glanced to Katie. She rolled her eyes and sighed, pursing her lips at Mason.

“Dad, simmer down, I can take care of
myself.”

He gave her a stiff nod, refusing to
release Danny from his glower. “I know baby, but when I’m around it’s my job to
take care of you.”

She huffed out a long tired breath and
looked at me. Shaking my head I waved her off with my hand. “Not worth my life,
Katie.”

She grumbled something then took hold of
Danny’s hand and dragged him out of the water. “Come on, we’ll go upstairs
where you’re safe to breathe.”

Mason narrowed his eyes on her. “I’m
sorry that I care about you Katie.”

Oh – dear – God. They were as sulky as
each other.

“Care?” she huffed. “I bet you don’t
‘care’
like this with George. I bet whenever he gets laid you’re bloody cheering and
buying him a pint.”

She shot backwards when Mason launched
out of the water and made a dive for her. Danny gasped and tugged at her, both
of them running into the house to escape Mason’s wrath.

I rubbed at my face, my eyes heavy and
tired. Mason turned to me, regarding me and waiting for my argument but I sighed
heavily. “I have nothing!”

He peered at me, regarding me
suspiciously. “But?”

Shaking my head, I climbed out of the
water and wrapped a towel round me. “But nothing, you want to act all caveman,
then go ahead. But just so you know, your daughter will have sex whether you
like it or not.”

Wrong words apparently.

Courtney and Liv stared at me like I’d
gone mad, their eyes wide and full of shock. Nate tutted and shook his head
slowly. Greg sucked his lips behind his teeth and picked at some loose grout
along the tile work. Sam started whistling quietly and Marcy looked around the
patio, her eyes anywhere but on me or Mason. And me, I winked at my husband and
bombed it up the stairs.

Something tickled my nose and when I
tried to lift my hand to scratch it, I couldn’t. My eyes snapped open. The view
that greeted me on Christmas morning was pure fucking heaven.

Ava’s sweet, trimmed pussy danced in my
vision, her swollen clit flicking across the tip of my nose. She inclined and
smiled down at me. “Good morning, Mr Fox.”

“Good morning, baby. Merry Christmas.”

“Oh it is,” she grinned as she clamped
her fingers over my wrists that were tethered to the headboard and lowered her
wet flesh to my mouth. She ground on my face as I sank my tongue inside her and
lapped at her already gathering juices. A small hiss and a groan broadcast from
her when I took her hard little nub between my teeth and grazed over the
sensitive muscle.

“Oh God Mason, I’m so horny. Make me
come.”

I didn’t make her wait. It was Christmas
after all. Flicking her rapidly as I sucked on her she was soon jerking over
me, covering my face with her climax as she cried out, her hands gripping mine
firmly as she rode the pleasure.

She maneuvered round, kissing me and
tasting herself on my lips before her mouth moved down, making her way slowly
down my chest and across my stomach until she gently nibbled her way up my
erect cock, her tongue flicking the end when she reached it to collect the
spill of pre-cum.

She smiled up at me when I groaned and
lifted my hips towards her, encouraging her to take me all. But she scrunched
up her nose and twirled her tongue around the head of my cock. Then she took
the flat of her tongue and dragged it straight over, catching more cum for her
greedy little mouth and making me hiss with need.

“Don’t torment me, Ava.”

She quirked a brow at me, smirking as
she nibbled her way back down my shaft and started to suck on my balls, pulling
the mass into her mouth then releasing them with a pop after making them wet
with her spit so she could blow on them, which we both liked her to do.

“Ava!”

She drew her finger between my legs,
pressing hard into the skin as she made her way to my arse. But still she
played with me, tormenting me. “I wonder what you would do if I managed to get
out of these restraints?”

She laughed. “Afraid not, baby. You’re
my prisoner, my slave to do with as I please.”

I nodded then yanked my hands forcefully,
the spindles on the headboard splintering easily with my strength. She gawped
at me then gulped when a slow, sly smirk broke across my face.

“What were you saying, baby?”

“Fuck!” She giggled as she scrambled off
the bed. I followed her, grabbing her ankles and pulling her back onto the bed.
She squealed in delight when I flipped her onto her stomach easily and pinned
her beneath my body, my teeth tormenting her earlobe as she squirmed under me.

“You should know by now that where you
are concerned, nothing can hold me back.”

She cried out when I thrust inside her,
unable to stop myself. Her back arched, a fierce erotic growl making my dick
twitch. “Fuck, yes.”

She pushed against me when I slid out.
It was my turn to torment her. The further back she pushed, the further I
pulled my dick back, refusing her. “Ah, ah. A certain teasing minx needs to
learn what it’s like.”

Removing myself completely from her warm
pussy, my stomach clenched with the loss. I flipped her onto her back. She
stared up at me and the look of pure love in her eyes made my heart stutter.

“You’re so god damn perfect.”

Her eyes fluttered when I slid back in
and licked up the center of her breastbone then along her scars. “So
beautiful.” She groaned when I moved inside her, sliding all the way in and
tickling the tip of her. “So strong.” Her fingers found my hair, twisting
painfully in the thickness and making me hiss and push harder inside her. “So
selfless.”

“Mason…” she breathed, her breathing
erratic and heavy.

Shifting onto my knees, I lifted her
with me so she was straddled over my lap. She didn’t wait, she started to
bounce straightaway, taking what she needed from me. The slide off her slick
walls over my cock made my blood hum.

“God you always feel so fucking
amazing.”

She kissed me hungrily, her fucking
becoming harsh and greedy as her fingers dug into my shoulders.

“That’s it, baby. Fuck me hard. Milk my
cock.”

“Oh Christ!” she whimpered.

Her thighs started to tremble around me,
telling me she was close, her soft pink lips parting to accommodate her need
for oxygen. “Open your eyes and tell me, Ava.”

She raised both hands to frame my face,
bringing her own face close so the tip of her nose was touching mine. “I love
you.”

I quirked an eyebrow at her. She knew
what I had meant but suddenly, without my bite, she rocked against me firmly
and exploded over my cock, her whole body tensing as she cried out my name.
Catching me by surprise, I followed her, the swift release of my sperm making
me jerk hard inside her and prolonging her orgasm.

Her forehead fell to my shoulder as she
panted. “Merry fucking Christmas to me.”

Enclosing her in my arms I fell back
onto the bed, leaving her sweet little body under mine so I could nuzzle into
her neck. “I have something for you.”

She looked up at me and grinned. “My
gift?”

I nodded, my stomach clenching with
nerves all of a sudden. It had seemed like a good idea at the time but now,
looking at my little warrior and remembering all she had been through, I wasn’t
so sure. Maybe she just wanted to sit on the cottage porch and stare at the
beach all day. Maybe she wanted to lay in bed with her newspaper and coffee all
day. Maybe… Fuck it!

Climbing off her, I reached under the
bed and pulled out the large manilla envelope. She peered at me curiously when
I handed it to her then settled to a sitting position and opened it.

My heart was in my mouth. Her eyes
widened as she slid her fingers across the cover of the glossy brochure, her
eyes moving over every inch of it.

I was tempted to close my eyes when she
opened the cover and studied every page until she slowly closed the back cover
and looked up at me.

“Well?”

“KTD benevolence aid agency?” she
whispered. I nodded, unable to do much else.

I shifted nervously when she opened the
book again and prowled over every word for a second time. “It’s…”

She nodded, taking my fidgeting hand in
hers to stop my nervous action. “It’s a homeless charity.”

I nodded again. “Both Nate and I… well
we have contacts, why not use them. So we both thought that you could… you
know… set up homeless bases, houses, provide medical care and give them help to
get back into the community… something to do when you’re bored,” I added with a
nervous laugh.

She climbed slowly off the bed and
disappeared into the bathroom. I couldn’t move. I was glued to the mattress. My
heart tore in half when I heard a choked sob come from behind the close door. Oh
Christ. It was so the wrong thing to do.

The door reopened and she stood in the
doorway, sobbing. Her nose was bright red, her wide wet eyes fixed on mine as
she shook her head. Then she launched herself at me and clung to me, crying so
hard I struggled to hold back my own tears.

She looked up at me, hiccupping and her
chest heaving as she tried to control her breathing. “I don’t know what to
say.” Shaking my head, I shrugged, but she leaned up and kissed me hard. “Thank
you isn’t enough Mason, it will be never enough for what you have given me.
From the moment I walked into your house so long ago, someone, somewhere that
day finally gave me a chance at life. You gave my heart a reason to beat, my
lungs a reason to function and my soul a playmate. I can never repay…”

“You always repay me tenfold, baby.
Every time your heart beats, so does mine, every time you breathe air, I
breathe it with you. And my soul would wither and die without yours. Don’t you
see? You’re not just my warrior, you make me a warrior. You give me something
to fight for every second of every day, Ava.”

She nodded, sucking on her lips. “Oh, I
have your gift. It’s along the same lines,” she divulged as she pulled a gift
wrapped box out of the wardrobe.

I wasn’t sure I was a charity person but
I smiled and nodded as I tore off the paper. I pulled off the lid of the long
blue box and lifted out a… ten inch strap-on.

Okay.

I blinked at her. “Although this has
immediately got my dick hard, I’m not sure how it’s along the same lines as
what I gave you.”

She shrugged. “I’m feeling charitable.”

I stared at her, then smiled, then
grinned and then we were full on laughing, rolling around on the bed as I tried
to make sense of her reasoning.

“Jesus fucking Christ, I love you.”

“And me, you.”