The Gift (10 page)

"You said..."

"You have three weeks to arrange this!" Charles held the ring box up.

Nicky tried to follow. "I ... You mean you want to ... You're asking me to..."

"No," Charles said. "I'm not asking you anything—I am telling you. In three weeks I expect you to have made all the arrangements."

"I don't understand," Nicky complained.

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Charles stroked his hair back so gently. "A whole year, pet.

How could you hide this for a whole year and not tell your master you were hurting?"

Nicky's eyes flashed back up to his master's for a moment, not understanding. He shuffled his bare feet on the carpet as he considered what to say. "I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. It's just—you said about the ceremony we went to and I got carried away. I didn't think about if it was appropriate for a submissive until afterwards, and then it was too late."

"When I told you this was all we needed to show what we have?" Charles said, stroking his fingers along Nicky's collar.

Nicky looked down. "I should have thought about it properly. I know masters do not marry their submissives. Men do not marry their pets. You let me belong to you and that's more than enough. I don't need anything else." He glanced at the ring.

"That's too bad, because you will be married to me, Nicky.

And we're going to have a formal collaring ceremony too."

"What?" Nicky blinked at his master, trying to follow.

"A formal collaring. What we should have had years ago."

"You said you didn't want one," Nicky reminded him, hopelessly trying to keep up with his changing master.

Charles smiled down at him. "Not while you came within an inch of hyperventilating at the thought of being the centre of attention and everyone staring at you. But if you can stand up and take your vows in a marriage ceremony, you can kneel and take them in a kink club as well."

"I..."

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"Just nod and say 'yes master'," Charles told him.

Nicky nodded, hopelessly grateful for a clear order to follow. "Yes, master."

"And then you will forget this foolishness about only being a pet. When have I ever said you were
only
anything?"

Charles pulled him close. "You are everything, Nicky," he whispered in his ear. "Do not ever doubt how much I want you in my life—just the way you are, with Christmas and everything else."

Nicky leaned into his master's shoulder, wrapping his arms around Charles's waist in turn. Past his master he saw the reflection of all the tiny lights. "We don't have to do all this.

It's not important." Only being here like this with his master was important.

"You wouldn't be you without Christmas," Charles corrected. "And while you are right that I feel no differently about you when you come with an extra dose of holly, it is only because I love you every day of the year. You do know I love you, pet?"

Nicky bit his lip. Charles wouldn't say those words if they weren't really true. "Would it be appropriate for a pet to say such a thing to his master?" he asked softly.

Charles nodded his permission.

"I do love you," Nicky whispered into his shoulder.

"I know you do, pet." Charles kissed his temple. "I know you do."

Nicky closed his eyes and rested against his master.

Charles's hand stroked his back, soothing him down from his panic.

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"Are you mad at me?" Nicky finally asked.

"Yes. Furious. I can't look after you properly if you hide things from me, pet. It's not to happen again."

Nicky nodded. He could stay. He snuggled closer into his master's hold and felt his master's smile against his hair.

"Good pet," Charles whispered.

That little bit of praise gave Nicky the courage to approach a rather delicate matter. "Master?"

"Yes?"

"Who is the man standing by the sofa?"

"You can see him?"

Nicky hesitated. Why wouldn't he be able to ... "Um ...

Yes?"

"He answers to the name of Spirit of Christmas Past,"

Charles said.

Nicky tried to pull away. Charles teased him about some of his Christmas traditions, but he was never cruel about it. He wouldn't pick this moment to make a joke out of him. Nicky met his master's eye. Charles looked serious.

"How else could I know about the ring? I saw you hide it.

Just like I saw you tell that appalling brat about cancelling your Christmas next year. And while we are on the subject—

how the hell did you think you would explain that to me?"

Nicky shrugged. "I thought you would be pleased I stopped making so much fuss."

"I'd have been terrified you were ill."

He held Nicky even closer.

Nicky smiled and sneaked a glimpse of the spirit over his shoulder. The spirit was looking distinctly uncomfortable, but 90

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it didn't change the fact he was quite pretty and exactly his master's type. "I thought he was your choice for the last voucher," he confessed to his master.

Charles showed him the ring box. "And the bit about forsaking all others doesn't appeal to you?"

Nicky bit his lip. It appealed a hell of a lot, but, "It's something you enjoy—three men all pleasing each other."

"If you say one word about my being your master giving me the right to force you to—"

Nicky shook his head. He knew Charles wouldn't force him into anything. That was why Charles hadn't introduced the idea before. Nicky worried his lip between his teeth. "Perhaps it is something it would be best to do now, so it is done?"

"It doesn't have to be done at all."

Nicky snuck another look at the man over Charles's shoulder. "I would like to know what my master enjoyed doing so much," he thought about the statement and added carefully, "when he was a bachelor."

Charles chuckled at the not so subtle hint he had the next three weeks to get threesomes out of his system. "Perhaps your master doesn't want to share someone he loves with a third man."

Nicky loved that Charles said it. He loved the idea that he meant more to his master than any of his previous lovers—

that he was special to Charles. At the same time, he knew he wouldn't rest easy until he at least tried it. And what made all the difference, to him at least ... "He is not a man, he is a spirit."

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He could almost read the thoughts rushing through his master's mind. The spirit was not a real man, he would not last, and he would never see either of them again. He was the perfect choice for a threesome.

"You want this? Don't lie to me, pet."

Nicky took a deep breath, making sure he was completely committed to the idea in his own mind before he gave Charles his answer. Nicky nodded. "I want this."

"For me or for you?"

"For both of us," Nicky said. "And for him. If he brought me back to my master, it is right I should thank him."

Charles stroked his hair back. "This one time and never again."

Nicky nodded.

Now it was decided, he had no idea what he was supposed to do first, no idea what would be expected of him. He realised that while it would be the obvious way to equal his master's pervious lovers, it was also a damn good way to make a fool of himself. Nicky started to doubt himself.

Charles made him look up. "You may offer him your mouth. You may not offer him more. You may not swallow.

Your safe word is 'sir'—if you say 'sir' I will see everything stops."

Nicky smiled up at his master, feeling so much safer now he knew what Charles expected of him.

"If you want this, you have to go to him," Charles said. "It has to be your choice."

Nicky took a deep breath. He turned to the Spirit of Christmas Past.

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The spirit caught his eye. He shifted nervously on the other side of the room. "He cut short the journey through Christmas Pasts. I won't be called back to the spirit world for another half an hour," the spirit explained, casting an accusing glare at Charles.

Nicky walked across the room until he stood directly stood in front of the spirit. Standing on tip toe, he pressed a kiss to the spirit's cheek. "Thank you for bringing us back together."

The spirit swallowed rapidly. "I ... you are welcome."

"I would like to thank you properly," Nicky said softly. "Will you let me do that, spirit?"

The spirit tried to take a step back. The sofa was behind him, he half turned, but the moment of surprise was enough to set him off balance. Nicky leaned up against him and very gently brushed his lips against the spirit's mouth.

It wasn't his master. The thought flashed across his mind in huge red letters. He was kissing someone who wasn't his master. That was wrong. He took half a step back. The spirit stayed very still, his eyes closed. Nicky watched him for a long time before his eyes blinked open.

"Has anyone ever kissed you before, spirit?" Nicky asked.

The spirit shook his head. He blushed. Clearing his throat he took another step back. "You are welcome."

Nicky smiled up at him. "That was barely the start of the thank you."

The spirit hesitated.

Moving slowly, giving the spirit plenty of time to back away, he trailed his hand along the spirit's side. He felt very 93

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solid, very human. "Are you like a man in all ways?" Nicky asked.

The spirit's blush deepened, but he didn't need to answer out loud.

The folds of his toga were already tenting over his erection. Nicky smiled. "Have you ever been kissed here?" he asked, trailing his fingers over the fabric covering the spirit's shaft.

The spirit made no objection to the action. Nicky carefully wrapped his hand around the length of this shaft, leaving the thin material still separating them.

He pushed forward into Nicky's hand. Nicky was about to kneel when he stalled. He couldn't kneel to a man who wasn't his master. He kissed the spirit again, bidding for time while he tried to work out what to do.

The spirit's eyes drifted closed, but Nicky kept his open. He saw Charles step close behind the spirit, into the small space between the spirit and the back of the sofa. The spirit jerked under Nicky's hands as Charles lined his body up behind his.

His eyes flashed open in sudden panic.

Charles kissed the spirit's neck. "Have you ever taken another man inside your body?" he asked softly.

The spirit rapidly shook his head.

"That's what will happen if you say 'yes'. I will lodge myself here." Charles stroked his hand up under the spirit's short toga. "Nicky will put his mouth here." His hand trailed around under the white fabric and wrapped his fist around the spirit's erection with none of the gentle approach Nicky adopted. "What is your answer, spirit, do you want this?"

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The spirit dropped his head back onto Charles's shoulder.

"I'm going to get into so much trouble over this."

Charles smiled at Nicky over the spirit's shoulder. "Sounds like a 'yes' to me."

Charles led the way to the guest room. He caught Nicky's hand on the way up the wide staircase and squeezed his fingers in silent reassurance as he pushed open the door into the guest room. Nicky forced himself not to hesitate on the threshold. He wanted this. Still, trying to make the mental leap from never even thinking about having sex with anyone but Charles to falling into bed with someone he wouldn't have believed existed a few hours ago, made him nervous.

Nicky glanced at the spirit. He looked even more nervous than him. Nicky offered the spirit a reassuring smile as they joined him to stand at the edge of the bed.

Charles wasted no time with preliminaries. The toga was barely held together by a few clips and pins. They were gone in moments. A gentle nudge backwards and the spirit lay sprawled naked on the bed.

Nicky crawled across the mattress to him. While his master hadn't shared him with another man before, Nicky was well aware Charles loved the sight of two men enjoying each other's bodies. He kissed the spirit, guiding him to lie back comfortably on the mattress.

If the spirit did not have the strength and muscular bulk of his master, then he was still well-built, with a fine torso of sculpted lines. It was strange to explore another man's body, but it got easier as Nicky got used to it. He ran his hands over 95

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the spirit's skin, enjoying the way his touch affected the spirit.

He was so innocent and untried, so responsive to every finger tip trailing over his body. Both Charles and the spirit followed his every movement over the spirit's skin. Nicky bit his lip, realising Charles took more pleasure in watching him with the spirit than he would probably gain from topping the spirit when the time came.

He looked to his master. Charles smiled at him. Leaning over, he brushed their lips together. It looked like a gentle touch, beneath the surface his tongue thrust hungrily into Nicky's mouth. The spirit could not see that, it was theirs, their private moment in a shared bed.

Nicky smiled when Charles broke the kiss. The spirit watched them, slack jawed. Nicky turned back to him and kissed him. Nicky had rarely taken the lead with any lover—

certainly not with his master. It felt awkward at first to feel in charge of everything, to be the man guiding the novice rather than the novice himself.

The spirit gradually relaxed and began to return Nicky's caresses with tentative touches of his own. He didn't have Charles's way about him. His hands felt pleasant on Nicky's skin, but there was nothing special about his touch.

A finger tip trailing along his spine sent a shockwave straight through him. Nicky looked over his shoulder at his master. Charles's touch always felt different. Nicky tried to hold back a shiver as he kissed his way down the spirit's body.