Page 26 of Daddies’ Holiday Toy (Kissmass Daddies #1)

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’ then.”

That earns me a look—one of those unreadable stares that makes my pulse skip. He lifts himself just enough to really look at me, and when he speaks his voice is a little more firm than I’m expecting.

“Holly. I’ve never been jealous a day in my life. Until you came around, I thought people were simply insecure.” He pauses, letting that sink in. “And then you came around.”

Something sparks in my stomach. Warm in a twistedly dangerous way.

Despite not knowing him for long, I know this isn’t the kind of thing Jack just says .

It’s too raw, too revealing for a man like him to be this openly vulnerable.

It hits me somewhere deep in my chest.

I could push him for more answers.

I could try to make him admit exactly what he means by that, but I don’t want to press the bruise too hard and risk him shutting down.

Right now, I want to feel that vulnerability in another sort of way.

So I shift, sliding my leg higher over his hip until I can feel the thick press of him against me again.

The movement makes his breath catch, and I let my fingertips trace along his ribs just to feel the way they expand under my touch.

“Then show me,” I whisper.

His gaze holds mine for a beat longer, deciding whether to keep playing it safe or burn the bridge entirely.

He closes the distance between us again.

The kiss is different this time.

There’s no careful edge to it, no measured testing like before.

It’s deep and consuming, all heat and pressure, trying to leave a mark he knows I’ll still feel tomorrow.

His mouth drags down the line of my throat, slow enough to make me shiver, and he lingers there, inhaling me.

When his lips trace across my collarbone, I feel the deliberate pauses, committing each inch of me to memory.

My fingers find his hair, keeping him close and unwilling to let him pull away even an inch.

He catches one of my wrists, then the other, and pins them above my head with a single hand.

His grip isn’t cruel; it’s steady and grounding.

My breath stutters at the sudden shift in control.

His hips shift forward and he pushes into me again, filling me inch by inch until my eyes flutter closed.

The stretch is familiar now, but it’s no less overwhelming, drawing every nerve taut.

“You feel so damn good,” he murmurs.

He moves in a rhythm that’s maddening in its patience. Deep, steady strokes that keep me right on the edge but never quite push me over too soon.

This isn’t about proving something or staking a claim in front of anyone else like with Reece and Liam.

This is about keeping me right here , holding me in this moment where it’s only him, and there’s no room for anything else.

The heat builds slowly, deliciously, winding tighter with every movement until I can’t stop the soft, desperate sounds spilling from my lips.

My wrists flex in his hold, not to get free but because I’m unraveling.

His gaze is locked on mine when I finally come apart beneath him, his eyes dark and intent, watching every second, memorizing the exact way I fall apart for him.

He drives into me once, twice, and then he’s shuddering hard, coming in me for a second time.

His forehead drops to mine as his hips stutter, spilling the last of what’s left into me with a low, guttural sound.

We stay like that for a while, pressed together.

Eventually, he loosens his grip on my wrists, letting my hands fall to curl against his shoulders.

He doesn’t move away, though, he keeps me tucked against him, his fingers tracing lazy circles over the outside of my arm.

“You okay?” he asks finally, his voice low enough that it feels like it’s meant only for me.

I nod.

I’m okay, more than okay, actually.

My eyes drift over to his door, to where our other temporary housemates are probably still making a mess of the kitchen.

Jack must see something shift in my face, because his hand tightens just slightly on my waist, grounding me.

“Don’t think about them right now,” he murmurs.

Before I can even answer, he pulls me back into him.

My cheek rests against his shoulder, and for a while we just lay there in silence while his hand strokes over my side in slow, absent motions that make my eyelids heavy.

When he finally speaks again, his voice is so soft it almost blends with the sound of our breathing. “I’ll be part of your deal. Helping you save your bakery.”

It takes me a second to process it.

My brain has to rewind to make sure I heard him right. I push back just enough to see his face, searching for any sign that I imagined the words. “You will?”

“Yes,” he says simply.

Then his gaze holds mine, steady and unreadable. “Whatever this…arrangement you have with Reece and Liam. I want in, too.”

Relief slams into me so fast it’s dizzying.

My throat tightens, and I swear I could almost cry. I don’t think—I just surge forward, catching his mouth in a hard, grateful kiss.

“Thank you,” I breathe against his lips.

His thumb brushes along my cheekbone, his touch gentler than the kiss we just shared.

There’s a pause, just long enough to make me wonder if he’s thinking about taking it all back, before his voice cuts through the quiet again.

“On one condition,” he says.

I tilt my head slightly. “What condition?”

His eyes stay locked on mine, unwavering. “When you’re with me…you’re only with me.”

The words hang there between us, heavy, drawing the air taut.

It’s not a request.

It’s a boundary.

A claim .

And the way he says it makes something deep in me stir, a quiet surrender that I’m all for leaning into.