Page 47 of Home For Christmas

Harrison chuckled. “You don’t have to explain it to me. I’ve seen it.”

Colt looked a bit uncertain, but I could tell he was trying hard to keep his worry to himself. “I know I don’t have to explain it to you, but I also know that Greg and Jas haven’t really seen Derek sink this little before.”

Oh, that made sense.

Harrison looked between Greg and me, then narrowed his eyes. “They don’t care, and they aren’t going to say anything to Derek about it.” We both nodded in response and Colt went back to the living room to check on him.

Harrison leveled both of us with a stern glare. “I love you two, you’ve both seen him little, but if you’re going to have an issue with it, Marla has a problem at the house and needs someone to go help her.”

It took me a few seconds to understand that Harrison was giving us an out, but I also knew he’d be incredibly disappointed in us if either of us chose to use it. Truthfully, I’d have been disappointed in myself. Over the years, I’d seen Derek go from my outgoing younger brother to a nervous new musician to a confident—albeit overworked and stressed—superstar and father. Now I was seeing just how important Derek’s little side was to keeping in balance all the parts that made Derek who he was. “Last I heard, Dad was able to fix that problem on his own.”

Harrison threw his arms around me and kissed my cheek. “I love you.”

Beside us, Greg was still watching Derek, but he had a soft smile playing on his lips. “You know, I think I could have seen Andrew like that. Maybe not exactly like that, but possibly liking age play in some way or another.” He shook his head at his own comment. “That isn’t making sense, sorry. I don’t think I’d have been as good of a Daddy as Colt is, but I think I get why it’s so important to them to have it in their lives. Andrew used to sit at the table and color for hours at a time when he got stressed out. This was back before the world of adult coloring books, so he’d color in G.I. Joe coloring books or color bright jungle pictures. I’d give him a drink and he’d lose hours, but when he put the stuff away, he’d always seemed… I guess lighter is the right word. Definitely less stressed, and he had a level head again.”

He looked back toward the living room. “It was that thing that made all the stress just go away for a bit. While I logically know that age play doesn’t make the stress magically disappear, I know enough to know it helps make it easier to manage the stress when he comes out of that headspace.” Greg stopped and blushed. “I’m rambling, but what I’m trying to say is that I know Brice can fix whatever is wrong at the house.”

I loved that Greg could talk to us about Andrew. I knew how much he’d loved his first husband, and part of him always would, but he had plenty of room in his heart to still hold love for Andrew and love us as well. My thoughts were cut short by Harrison’s dreamy sigh.

“You two are seriously the best ever.” He nearly climbed Greg to pepper kisses on his face. “Now, I have to get Dare a bottle before we open presents. Where’d you put the cookies?”

Greg headed over toward the door and picked up two large containers. “Marla told me something about Derek not liking the snowballs as much as Jasper.”

I happened to look out the back window. The light on the back deck lit up enough that I could see the fine dusting of snow the earlier snowfall had left, but thankfully it seemed to have stopped. I sighed. There was still a chance everyone would make it, as long as the snow held off in Colorado. I’d never hated snow more.

I couldn’t imagine celebrating our commitment to one another without Greg’s family there. They were the only ones who’d quite literally been through everything with him.

Greg kissed my temple. “Come on, sexy. There’s a bunch of people in the living room who want to open gifts.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I’ve asked this twice already without a response. Why are we opening presents tonight?”

Ty giggled from his spot at the counter where he was opening a bottle of white wine. “Um, because some things you just don’t want Mom and Dad, or the kids, to see on Christmas morning.”

Shit, what had Ty done? I took the bottle of red wine from the counter as well as two of the wine glasses. He looked totally at ease standing in the kitchen wearing his Christmas nightshirt and the reindeer slippers my mom had bought us all. I chuckled to myself. Ty wearing a nightshirt hadn’t registered as strange to me—it had actually seemed totally normal. Honestly, he was more covered than I’d seen him a number of times that week, so even if I’d wanted to, I really had no room to complain.

“I should be scared, shouldn’t I?” I asked Greg as we settled onto the couch. A glance over showed his dick pressing against the thin fabric of his pants. He wasn’t even hard, but I’d have to tell that to my own dick, which was taking an interest at an alarming rate. Damn the snug pajama pants that really didn’t leave anything to the imagination.

“Would anyone notice me wearing a cup under these?”

Thankfully, it was white wine that Greg shot straight out of his nose right before he began to choke. He held his hand up, telling me to give him a minute to compose himself. “What are you talking about?” he asked when he finally started to breathe right again.

I shrugged. “Well, if I have to look at both of your packages in those snug pajama pants all morning with the rest of the family around, I’m going to need something more than just snug briefs to keep the family from knowing I want to jump you two.”

Ty tripped over nothing and landed on top of Declan. At least he’d only been carrying wine glasses and not the bottle of wine, though I did get way more of a view of his ass and balls than I’d ever needed to see. “Ty, seriously dude, put on a pair of panties!”

Harrison walked in carrying Derek’s bottle of milk and the bottle of wine Ty had been opening in the kitchen a few minutes earlier. He took one look at my brother, then turned his head to the side to shield his eyes. “Dude! Too much!”

Derek was nearly oblivious to what was going on around him, and Colt was trying so hard not to laugh that his face had turned beet red. Taking the bottle of milk from Harrison, he swallowed a few times. “Thank you for getting that,” he managed to choke out after a few false starts.

“No problem,” Harrison replied, completely avoiding where Ty was sprawled out.

“Doc, get up.” Declan chuckled as he helped Ty to his feet. “I told you to put panties on before we left the room.”

Ty righted himself and made a show of pulling his nightshirt down. “But this is long, and you can’t even see through it!”

“You can see up it, though,” I said dryly.

Ty stuck his tongue out at me. “Only if I fall flat on my face.”

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