Jason

“What do you think about this guy?” I whispered to Chris after Rafe showed us to our room. He’d even been polite enough to offer us two rooms, though it was clear we were together. I wondered if he was trying to figure out exactly what our relationship was without coming right out and asking. Which would have been pretty rude.

“You don’t have to whisper,” Chris whispered. “He’s not standing outside the door.”

“Yeah, probably not. But why are you whispering, then?”

We both laughed at how ridiculous we were being. I was also laughing because I was relieved I wasn’t the only one almost starstruck by Rafe. As far as I was concerned, Rafe could ask me anything he wanted. I stood there for a moment and thought about how nice it would be if we could all be completely honest with each other.

Rafe told us we could get settled in, and he would have some tea set up for us in the dining room in a half hour. We unpacked, even though Chris kept insisting we should probably take a bus home. But I knew he didn’t really want to do that after he fell backward onto the bed in our room. “Oh, my God,” he said. “This bed is so soft. It feels amazing.”

“This whole house is amazing,” I said as I crawled on top of him. “This whole town is amazing!”

“I know. But don’t get too attached to it. We do have to go home eventually.”

“I can’t believe you call this a house,” I said after listening to Rafe talk about coming home after his parents were killed in an accident. We’d come downstairs to a huge table full of sandwiches and cookies and cakes and little pies, as well as the most amazing tea I’d ever had. I looked around at the walls and drape-covered windows of the dining room—which was just off the main living room, or parlor, and which apparently functioned as an antique store—and had a hard time containing my excitement. “This place is enormous.”

“The Montgomery estate has been in my family for generations, but the antique store is relatively new. It’s been in operation for the last eight years. My mate, Gregory, and I started it up, not long after we were married, with some of the heirlooms I’d found in the attic and basement.”

“Where’s Gregory?” I blurted out. I felt my face flush, but it was too late. I knew his mate had passed away, but I didn't want Rafe to know that I knew. I felt a little weird that we'd been eavesdropping earlier, especially since the information we'd gathered was all about the man who was now sitting in front of us. But I couldn’t help but be curious.

“He passed away a year after Grace was born.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I feel terrible for bringing your mate up now.”

“You didn’t bring him up, I did. And it’s perfectly natural to be curious. I appreciate open, honest communication. You’re more than welcome to ask me anything.”

“Aren’t you lonely living here in this huge house?” Again, I felt like I was being rude, but he’d said I could ask anything.

Rafe smiled. “I suppose I do get lonely sometimes. But the one I’m most worried about is Grace. She only has me, and her governess and the cook, but I’m afraid that’s not enough. So, I try to be available to her at all times. The antique store isn’t on a regular schedule. Most customers know they can come by during the day and I’ll be around here somewhere. Staying at home whenever Grace is here has been my priority for years now.”

“She seemed like a very sweet little girl,” I said, remembering the adorable kitty hat and gloves.

“She is. Grace is the light of my life.”

There was a long moment where no one said anything. I couldn’t help but feel that, even though Rafe was happy to be the best father he could be for his daughter, he needed something more.

“So that’s how you make a living? The antique store?” Chris asked.

“Well, no. I had accumulated a good-sized nest egg while I was out on my own, but after my parents passed away, I inherited the entire estate, which included more than enough to live on comfortably for the rest of my life. The antique store isn’t exactly a cash cow. It’s more a hobby, or a game really. I was a business major when I was at college, then wound up working for a number of the bigger investment firms in New York City after I graduated. My area of expertise is financing business through investments, so I took that experience and have been using it to fund businesses that help out those who are less fortunate.”

“You don’t happen to have a scholarship fund, do you?” I asked, then felt Chris kick me under the table. I gave him a slight scowl but didn't want to make it obvious to Rafe. If this guy had a business that helped people, what was the harm in asking about it?

“Scholarships are one of our areas of funding, yes. Do you go to college in New York?”

“Yes, we both do. And I think I can speak for both of us when I say we’d like to apply.”

“Jason,” Chris mumbled under his breath.

Rafe looked at Chris with a crooked, knowing smile. “Please, don’t be embarrassed to ask about the scholarship fund. It’s not my money, after all. It’s a pool that accumulates and goes to those who apply. And if you two were interested, I could pretty much guarantee you’d be the next recipients.”

“How come?” I asked.

“Because I’m the one who picks them,” Rafe said. “And by the looks of your car and the fact you barely have enough money to get home, I definitely think you both qualify.

We continued to drink tea and eat the cookies and sandwiches and mince pies, but we barely made a dent in all the food on the table. Rafe was right in the middle of telling us about some of the more scenic parts of town he wanted to show us later, when a bell sounded.

“Oh, that must be someone for the store.” Rafe excused himself. I was curious about the store and the customers, but mostly about Rafe, so I got up and followed him, with Chris following right behind me. I had noticed earlier how beautifully decorated the main room was, but as we walked through and waited as Rafe opened the front door I realized the house was already decorated for Christmas.

There were beautiful strings of foil and flower garlands over every doorway and ornaments and lights hung in every corner. It was breathtaking.

As Rafe stood in the entryway and talked to the customer, Chris and I stood near a large French window and gazed out at the snow-covered trees surrounding the property. “Do you really think he’s going to help us with money for college?” I asked, glancing up at Chris.

“I don’t know,” he said, watching Rafe intently for a moment. “There’s something about him. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I can trust him, even though we barely know a thing about him.”

“I know what you mean.” I hadn’t wanted to say anything to Chris earlier. I wasn’t really sure what was going on or how he’d react. But ever since we’d come into this house, I had been feeling a little odd, almost like I was going into heat. The reason I wasn’t positive was it had only happened a couple times in my life, neither time very earth shattering. Not like the super intense heats I’d heard stories about.

It always sounded so romantic. The idea of being so out of control with desire for someone—and them feeling the same about you—that you couldn’t keep your hands off each other. Chris and I had a lot of passion and the sex was incredible, but I couldn’t help but wonder what heat sex would be like. And that was something I knew upset Chris—that his presence as a beta was never enough to put me into heat. It broke my heart to think he saw that as a failing on his part.

So, as a result, I never had the heart to tell him I fantasized about heat sex. I’d always tried to reassure him the sex we had was amazing—it was more than enough for me—but he had the idea in his head that heat sex was the ultimate and that, as long as we were together, I would miss out on something that was incredibly monumental for an omega.

As I stared at Rafe from across the room, I started to get uncomfortably hot. I tried to loosen the neck on my T-shirt and push up my sleeves, but nothing helped. What was making things worse was the images flashing through my head of me on my knees in front of Rafe and Chris—the two of them shoving their cocks into my straining mouth.

I had to shake my head to snap myself out of my daydream. I’d gone from zero to one-hundred miles an hour with my thoughts about Rafe in the few minutes we’d been standing here. I needed to clear my head, so, as soon as Rafe showed the customer to a glass case on a table, I went through the front door and stepped out onto the porch. It was chilly outside, but the sun was shining and the sky was clear. I could see my breath in front of me as I looked at the snow-covered grass surrounding the house, and the carefully sculpted shrubs lining the long drive. This place was spectacular.

“What are you doing out here?” Chris poked his head outside then closed the door and joined me on the porch. “Man, you should see what’s going on in there. The customer keeps asking for different things—old statues and crystal figurines I’ve never even heard of—and that Rafe guy keeps going into a back room then comes out with the exact thing they asked for. It’s crazy. He must have rooms and rooms full of stuff.”

“Yeah, I bet this place has some awesome secrets.”

Just then another car came down the long driveway and pulled up in front of the house. The couple who got out of the car walked straight up the stairs and smiled at us before they rang the bell, then went through the front door. They clearly had been here before and knew where they were going. Chris and I followed behind them into the warmth of the main room. In the time I’d been outside, a fire had been lit in the huge fireplace that took up most of one wall, and an urn of spiced cider had been brought out. It seemed like at every turn there was something warm or cozy … or incredibly sexy … beckoning me to stay. Or maybe that was my own wishful thinking.

And there was that crazy feeling again. As soon as I stepped inside the house, my body was filled with a swirling wave of tingles crashing from my head all the way down to my toes. It was becoming so intense, it was getting hard to stand up straight. Partly because my head was swimming, but also because my cock was becoming uncontrollably hard. I curled up against Chris and buried my face in his neck while he watched Rafe interact with the new customers.

“Watch this,” Chris whispered into my ear. “They asked about some old cast-iron doorstop.”

“Really?” I murmured. He smelled so good, and all I wanted was to stay there in the crook of his neck forever. I listened to his sexy voice as he talked about what was going on.

“Yeah, Rafe just went into the back room a second ago, and now he’s walking out with a really old Santa Claus. Did you hear that? The people said it’s exactly what they were looking for,” Chris said, then turned his attention to me, laughing and lifting my chin. “Hey, what are you doing down there?” he said with the sexiest smile I’d ever seen in my life. “Are you okay?”

“I’m perfect,” I said, wrapping my hands around the back of Chris’s neck. Everything felt and looked and smelled so incredible I just wanted to hug the whole house and everything in it. I knew being so affectionate with Chris in front of all these people was really inappropriate, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t realized exactly how hard my cock was until I pressed my body into his, but when he brought his lips down to mine and moaned, I knew he could feel it. We both could.

I had completely forgotten there were things going on around us—people talking to each other and looking at antiques—until I heard a lock click on the front door. I was suddenly jolted out of that amazing kiss and back into reality where Rafe’s intense eyes were staring at me. He just stood there, leaning against the door with a smile slowly spreading across his face. “I guess what they say about mistletoe is true,” he said, his eyes growing darker and sexier as his gaze moved from mine to the space above my head.

“Mistletoe?” I asked then followed Rafe’s gaze until I was looking at a bundle of sticks and leaves hanging directly over me. “Oh yeah,” I said, laughing. “I’ve heard something about that. You’re supposed to kiss someone when they’re standing under the mistletoe. I guess we can use that as an excuse,” I said, feeling heat in my face as I glanced up at Chris, hoping he could say something to make this less awkward. But, to my surprise, Chris was blushing too.

“Sorry about that,” he said. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“I think I know,” Rafe said, the smile still on his face. “Mistletoe has quite a history in this town. Some say it’s a very powerful aphrodisiac that facilitates mating and is a symbol of true love. If you ask me, the two of you just fell under its spell. It could happen to anyone.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Chris said, sounding a little skeptical. “But either way, I should probably get Jason up to our room. He seems like he might need to rest a bit.”

“Yeah,” I said with a silly giggle while I tried to keep myself turned toward Chris to hide my boner. “I think I’ll take a nap.”

“Okay,” Rafe said. “Take all the time you need.”