Jason

“Well, that was intense,” I said as Chris and I walked along the sidewalks of the peaceful neighborhood. The snow was crunching under our feet and the air was crisp and light as small flakes floated through the air around us.

Chris didn’t say anything right away, and I hoped I hadn’t said the wrong thing. In our two-year relationship only one thing had ever been any kind of an issue, and I felt like I was treading a little too close to that subject. We never fought or were very irritable with each other, and we both always made an effort to talk things through and try to understand where the other was coming from.

But when it came to the subject of Chris not being an alpha and therefore not being able to get me pregnant, things could get tense between us real fast. And the man who’d walked into The Dozing Dragon and who had stared at us for an uncomfortably long time was definitely an alpha. The kind of alpha who made every cell in my body tingle and the part of me that wanted children ache.

The thing was, Chris and I were different in a lot of ways. He was business-minded and ultra-responsible while I liked to let things happen. He took care of the bills and rent and spent time online figuring out how to make our lives better, while I spent mine cooking and making our sad little apartment as comfortable as I could. I loved that about our relationship and hoped he found me as valuable as I did him.

But there was one area in particular where we were very similar. We were both really submissive in bed. I was an omega, and although not all omegas were submissive, it was fairly common. But Chris was a beta and, though he was mostly submissive, I think a part of him felt like he should be able to take care of me. Like he was supposed to dominate me even though it wasn’t really him.

We tried it a couple of times—Chris being firm with me and telling me what to do—but it didn’t really work. I could tell his heart wasn’t in it, and that sucked the fun out of it for me. Besides, I wanted him to have what he wanted to, and being the dom didn’t seem to be it. So, we stuck to pretty vanilla sex for the most part, which was fun and sexy and loving and wonderful. But I could see it in his eyes every once in a while. He wanted someone else to take control like I did.

“What's intense? The decorations?”

“No. Not the decorations,” I said impatiently. Chris knew what I was talking about. There was no way he hadn’t seen the way that man looked at us. Both of us.

“You mean that guy?” he asked, his voice changing a little. He did notice the man. But how could he not? He was insanely hot and staring right at us.

“Yeah,” I said, jumping off the curb into the street. “I mean, did you notice how he looked at both of us for a really long time.”

Chris was silent for a long moment, and I was afraid I had upset him. “Did you think he was hot?” he asked, finally.

“Did you?”

“I asked you first,” he said with a smile. A wave of relief rushed through me, and I grabbed his gloved hand in mine. The subject of finding someone to dominate both of us had come up one drunken night, but, when nothing happened I had a feeling Chris wasn’t into it, so I never brought it up again, and neither did he.

That was months ago, but now he was actually smiling and gripping my hand back, and suddenly I had tingles flitting through my body at the thought of this actually happening.

“Yeah, I thought he was hot. But that doesn’t mean I think you’re less hot,” I said quickly.

A cloud of Chris’s breath formed in front of his face as he laughed out loud, the small wrinkles around his eyes and mouth making him look a little older and a lot sexier. “I’m not jealous. I know it’s possible to be attracted to more than one person at the same time.”

“So, you think it’s possible?” I stopped walking and held onto Chris’s hand, which forced him to face me. “I mean, we haven’t talked about this in months. You didn’t seem to be into it so, I just …”

“Let it lie? Yeah, I guess I did too. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. About having someone else be a part of our sex life.”

“Well?” I asked, my own breath coming out of my mouth in small, swirling clouds.

“Well, what?” Chris asked with a low laugh as he glanced down at the sidewalk. “How do I feel about some guy dominating the two of us?” He paused for a long moment and I found myself holding my breath until he spoke again.. “To be honest, I think it’s really hot.”

“Really?” I said as a smile spread across my face. “It doesn’t scare you, though?”

“Well, yeah, a little. I guess that’s why I didn’t want to talk about it too much before. I had to think about how it might change things. What it might mean.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that a lot too.”

“Well, if we’re gonna talk about this, let’s do it over some food and hot cider,” Chris said. “I’m starving and I’m starting to get cold.” He broke into a run across the street and pulled me after him until I caught up, then we walked hand in hand along the tree-lined sidewalk. “When we get back home, we can talk about finding someone.”

I pulled Chris’s arm close to me and lowered my voice, like someone was listening. “How? You mean, like, online?”

“Yeah, I guess. I don’t know how else you find a dude who will dominate two subs.”

I hugged Chris’s arm tight and jumped up and down a couple times as we walked. “Oh my God! We’re actually going to look for someone to dominate both of us! I’m so excited!”

“Hey, keep your voice down. This is a small town. They might be really conservative here.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, lowering my voice again. “I’ll keep it under my hat.” I felt like a little bit of an idiot. I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. I didn’t know how I could be expected to contain my excitement, though. Suddenly, everything seemed so perfect. My amazing boyfriend and I were walking through the snow-covered streets in a quaint neighborhood in a really cool old town. I could see the lights and decorations a few blocks ahead of us at the Christmas fair where we were going to have Christmassy food and drinks while the snow came down around us. This was turning into the most amazing vacation ever, and it wasn’t anything like what we’d planned.

“I wish I had the money to buy you one of those,” Chris said. I smiled as I held an incredibly cute elf ornament in my hand. It reminded me so much of some of the old ornaments we'd had on our tree when I was growning up.

“It's okay. I don't need it.”

We hadn’t made it past the first booth when I stopped to look at the cute crafts for sale. The fair was set up in the center of town around a large gazebo where a string quartet was playing Bach and Chopin. We’d heard the music from blocks away, and it made everything around us feel even more magical.

Craft and food booths stretched out for a few blocks around the gazebo, and a skating rink was off to one side. There were people selling hand-knit sweaters and socks and gloves, and booths with homemade Christmas ornaments that sparkled and twinkled with miniature lights, and I was having a hard time deciding if I wanted to see what was for sale or watch the skaters or get something to eat.

“It’s okay,” I said, looking up into Chris’s eyes. “I’m just happy to be here with you. I don’t care if we can’t buy any of these things. We get to see them and experience this amazing place together, and that’s all I could ever ask for.”

Chris wrapped his hands around my waist and kissed my lips. “You’re so amazing. You don’t care that we’re not going to be gliding down the slopes tomorrow?”

“I’d completely forgotten about the skiing trip. It’s almost like that happened to someone else or something. I feel like this has always been our vacation.”

Chris laughed and kissed me one more time, then I hung the elf ornament back on the miniature display tree and we headed to the food booths. There were all kinds of different things available—booths with stir-fried noodles, fried chicken, hot sandwiches, and pizza. But the food that sounded best to me were the pies. There was a booth that sold all kinds. Fruit and cream pies, but also meat and vegetable ones.

Chris thought the pies sounded good too, so we each ended up getting one. They were called hand pies, and they were served in a small box that Chris grabbed after he put a good tip in the jar. “We have enough money now, and they were nice enough to give this food away. It smells amazing!”

We made our way through the crowds, and found a place to sit near the gazebo, then proceeded to stuff our faces full of warm meat, vegetables, and gravy while we listened to the string quartet and felt the soft flakes of snow land on our cheeks. It was one of the best meals I’d ever had in my life.

“That hot cider smells so good,” I said after we finished eating. “I have a couple bucks in my wallet. You want to split a cup?”

“Sure,” he said with a smile, then took my hand as we walked back to the pie booth.

As we approached, I noticed a small girl standing with a man at the counter. He was ordering and had his back to us, but the girl was facing us. She had the most adorable winter hat on, a pink-and-white cat face with pink ears that stuck straight up in the air, with matching gloves that had the same kitty face and ears.

“Oh, my God, your hat is so fabulous,” I said as I bent down to her level. “I’m so jealous. All I have is a plain old brown hat and these black gloves.”

“But they’re a very nice hat and gloves,” the little girl.

I smiled and started to straighten. “Not nearly as nice as yours, though. You're adorable.”

We smiled at each other for a moment, and as I stood the rest of the way up, my eyes locked with the man who was holding the girl’s hand. My heart stopped for a moment when I realized who stood in front of us. The man from the bed-and-breakfast. The one who’d given us that intense stare. And he was doing it again. Only, this time, a warm smile curled up on the side of his mouth, giving his eyes those same sexy creases I occasionally saw on Chris.

“Well, hello again,” he said, the words melting out of his mouth and instantly making my knees weak. “I am Rafe Montgomery,” he said, extending his hand. “And this is my daughter, Grace. “

The two of us shook Rafe’s hand then bent down to shake Grace’s as we introduced ourselves.

“You two must be visiting Vale Valley. I’m sure I would remember seeing you before if you lived here.”

“Yes, we’re just passing through,” Chris said. “Staying one night at The Dozing Dragon.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. It really is a lovely town. So much to see,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes that made me want to sit down with him and listen to him tell me all about the town.

“It really is such a wonderful little town. I’m not sure if I’m going to want to leave in the morning,” I said with a nervous laugh.

There was a long moment of silence with the three of us is looking at each other. I wanted to say something to try to keep the conversation going, but every time I looked into Rafe’s eyes, every thought in my head seemed to vanish. He had the darkest, most intensely sexy eyes I’d ever seen.

“Were you about to order something?” Rafe asked, breaking the silence between us and gesturing to the booth. “Their mince pies are incredible. I’ve already ordered two dozen for the holidays.”

“Oh, I love mince pies,” I said, gazing at the miniature pies on the counter. “But, no, we just had a couple of their meat pies, and I’m pretty full. We were going to grab a cup of cider.”

“Well, it’s on me.”

“Oh, no, we couldn’t,” Chris said. “That’s very generous of you, but—”

“But, nothing. You’re guests in this town, and I want you to feel welcome. I won’t take no for an answer.”

Those words hung in the air, along with the mist of Rafe’s breath, for what felt like five full minutes. I wasn’t sure if it was the tone of voice he’d used or the look in his eyes, but I could tell he was the kind of man who never took no for an answer … from anyone. And that thought made my head swim.

Chris and I each ordered a cup of hot cider and thanked Rafe for his kind hospitality then said goodbye to the two of them and watched them disappear into the crowd. But the last words Rafe said before the two of them walked off rang in my in my ears for a long time after they disappeared.

Rafe didn’t say goodbye. He didn’t say it was nice to meet you. He said, I’ll be seeing you.