Page 34 of Daddies’ Holiday Toy (Kissmass Daddies #1)

HOLLY

I swear I’m going to do it tonight.

I’d told myself that three times tonight after finally leaving Mallory’s place and coming back to mine.

Hell, I even practiced in the mirror earlier after I’d sent the text, watching my reflection try on different versions of a calm even voice. Plastering on a steady smile.

Practicing the way I’d sit with my hands folded in my lap so they wouldn’t see them shake.

But now that they’re all here, I’m clamming up.

Three pairs of eyes on me after Jack asks what’s going on and all I can do is stare down at the table, willing myself to finally open my mouth and speak .

Every carefully rehearsed sentence I’ve built crumbles to dust.

My pulse is climbing, crowding in my throat until there’s barely room to breathe around the lump that’s settled there, much less speak.

The words on my tongue dissolve like sugar in hot coffee, leaving nothing but the bitter dregs of fear.

So, I try for a back up. I smile instead.

Coward.

“Maybe I just wanted an excuse to spoil you all,” I say, forcing myself to laugh a little.

Jack’s brow furrows. “Your text sounded serious.”

I can feel him wanting to push the subject but before he can, I’m already moving, scraping my chair back, and pretending I don’t notice the tension in the room.

I grab the dessert cooling on the counter, little ramekins of chocolate mousse topped with shavings of dark chocolate, and bring them back to the table.

My hands are steady only because I’m forcing them to be when I pass them out, setting them down one by one.

“I’ve been working on some new holiday desserts for the bakery. You’re my test subjects for tonight.”

Reece shakes his head but picks up a spoon anyway. “You know how to derail a conversation, don’t you?”

“Guilty.” When I hand one to Liam, he gives me a small smile.

It doesn’t quite erase or hide the flicker of curiosity in his eyes, but I’m happy when he doesn’t decide to push it either.

If I can just make it through tonight without telling them… if I can keep the bomb from going off for one more day…

Coward, coward, coward.

“Go on,” I say, gesturing to the ramekins. “Taste and tell me which one’s your favorite.”

Dessert buys me time.

It buys me their laughter, too, surprisingly.

Reece accuses Liam of being a “mousse hog” after he tries to swipe another spoonful out of Reece’s ramekin after finishing his own, while Jack pretends to be some impossibly strict judge who quickly caves as soon as the sweet texture hits his tongue.

The sound of them teasing each other softens the knot in my stomach, just enough that I can breathe again for the moment.

But the weight is still there.

Pressing at the back of my mind. Heavy and certain and impossible to ignore.

Maybe that’s why, instead of calling it a night after dessert, I stand and hold out my hand.

“Come on,” I say to them.

There’s no hesitation in following me.

No questions asked.

I lead them down the short hallway to my room, the playful ease from earlier fading with every step until the air between us feels different, charged in a way I can feel practically crawling over my skin with eclectic pulses.

My bedroom is dim, lit only by the soft amber glow of the fairy lights strung along my headboard.

The air smells faintly of vanilla from the candle I lit earlier, its flame flickering low on the dresser from where I forgot to blow it out before they arrived.

We leave the door open, but the entire room seems to shift.

The space between us shrinks without any of us moving much at all, like the magnetic pull is entirely mutual and completely inevitable.

Jack’s the first to close the gap.

His palm comes up to my jaw, tilting my face so I’m looking right at him.

There’s nothing playful in his expression now, no more of the teasing he’d shown at the dinner table.

Now it’s just that unwavering focus that pins me in place.

His gaze drags over my features, a slow curve to his lip.

Liam is close behind him, the edge of his shoulder brushing mine as he comes to stand at my side.

I catch the scent of his cologne just before his fingers find the hem of my sweater.

Not tugging it off me just yet, only curling his fingers there like he’s staking his claim.

Reece stays a half step back, watching me the way he always does in the beginning, taking a mental snapshot of exactly how I look right now from the way my hair falls over my shoulder, down to where my toes are curling against the carpet under them.

I should say it.

Right now before any of this escalates.

They deserve to know.

They should be aware of the secret I’m trying desperately to hold onto.

But, the second I open my mouth, nothing comes out.

I tip my chin into Jack’s palm, deciding it’s so much easier to surrender to this, instead.

The corner of his mouth lifts again before he leans in and presses his lips to mine.

Liam’s touch at my waist slides higher, fingers splaying over my ribs underneath my sweater.

His body is solid against my side, heat radiating through the thin fabric of my clothes when he grinds against me.

Reece finally moves, coming up behind me. His hands caress my shoulder blades in a slow, deliberate glide that turns into a gentle squeeze.

His fingertips ghost down my back, raising goosebumps in their wake.

I can’t think. My secret is blurred at the edges now, overtaken by the pull of them.

Jack deepens the kiss, just enough that I gasp against his mouth.

Liam takes that as an opening, tilting his head so his lips graze the curve of my neck.

The scrape of his stubble sends a shiver through me.

Reece’s hands wrap lightly around my hips, his chest brushing my back, his breath warm against the shell of my ear.

“You’ve been tense all night, sweetheart. Let’s fix that.”

God, I should stop them. I should pull back and blurt it out before this goes any further, before we all cross another line we can’t uncross without the truth between us.

But my body doesn’t listen.

Instead, I melt further into them.

There’s no competition between them, no jockeying for dominance, they know each other too well for that. It’s seamless, a give-and-take that leaves no gaps, each of them instinctively finding the space the others leave open.

What does surprise me is Jack.

Not the way he tugs me toward the bed, his touch firm and unhurried.

It’s how, instead of shutting the others out like he has in the past, he lets Reece and Liam crowd in close.

It throws me for a moment.

Jack’s always been the one to want me to himself when we’re together, but tonight it seems there’s no boundary line, no possessive wall keeping the others at bay.

Tonight, his gaze is steady on mine, but there’s an uncharacteristic openness there.

I’m stripped slowly by three sets of hands.

Fingers brushing over skin, tugging at fabric, slipping straps from my shoulders until each piece is gone.

They don’t rush it, and that somehow makes it even better.

Every second stretches long and heavy, my breath coming faster even before I’m completely bare.

Then a pair of strong arms wraps around me from behind. I know instantly by the scent that it’s Reece.

He lifts me effortlessly, the warmth of his chest at my back, and then I’m being guided forward, settled over Jack’s lap.

My knees sink into the mattress on either side of his hips, the solid muscle of his thighs braced beneath me.

My skin prickles as the heat of him presses up against me and then I feel the unmistakable brush of his bare length sliding along my slick skin.

My breath stutters, Jack’s large hands clamping around my hips hard enough to keep me exactly where he wants me.

He tilts his head back just slightly, eyes dragging over my face before lowering to watch the slow grind of our bodies.

The muscles in his jaw flex when he rocks me forward, bringing us flush together in a smooth, deliberate motion.

“That’s it,” Reece says from behind me, his voice a deep growl that sounds more than approving.

His hands come up from my waist to my chest, cupping my breasts, squeezing just hard enough to draw a gasp from my throat.

The bed dips slightly at my side from Liam, close enough now that I can feel the heat radiating off him.

I reach a hand out to touch him, running my fingers along the plains of his abs and chest.

Reece leans in again, his mouth at my ear. “Ride him until he’s gone, sweetheart.”

Jack’s hands tighten fractionally at my hips at the comment, and just like that, my body moves on instinct, swaying forward into Jack’s heat, feeling him slide perfectly against me while Reece’s grip on me from behind makes it impossible to think about anything but the three of them surrounding me.

My eyes flutter closed.

Jack’s hands slide up, his thumbs sweeping along my ribs before settling at my waist again. “Look at me.”

My eyes snap open instantly.

Jack watches me with barely controlled lust. “Take what you need, Holly.”

A moan spills out of me.

I shift on his lap, finding that spot again, the one that drags another helpless sound from my throat.

Liam finally moves, his hand sliding along my thigh, fingers trailing up until they ghost over where Jack and I are joined. He hooks his fingers under the hood of my pussy and finds the bundle of nerves there.

Reece’s mouth teases the side of my neck, his teeth grazing before his tongue soothes the spot.

Every pass of his lips sends a shiver racing down my spine.

He knows exactly what he’s doing, knows how to keep me balanced right on the knife’s edge where I can’t think about anything else but this moment I’m in.

Liam’s fingers continue to stroke along my inner thigh.

Every time he comes close to where I’m aching, he retreats, dragging the anticipation out until my breath is coming in shallow pulls.

Jack watches all of this with interest—every tick in my expression, every little gasp that leaves me.

He soaks it in, drinks it up, and demands more when he tilts his hips up into me to grind himself deeper.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” he murmurs.

I lean back into Reece without meaning to, my head finding the solid line of his shoulder.

He makes a low, approving sound and slips one hand lower, his fingertips brushing over Liam’s as they both touch me at once.

It’s too much.

It’s not enough.

I want and want and want.

My body moves like it’s theirs. Maybe it always has been.

I move faster without meaning to, chasing something I can’t quite name.

My skin is burning under their hands, my pulse wild and erratic.

Liam’s touch presses more firmly now, timed perfectly with the rise and fall of my hips, and the sound that tears out of me is desperate.

Somewhere under the rush in my ears, under the heat and the pull of their voices telling me “Good girl” , coaxing me “That’s it, baby,” promising me “We’ve got you,” is another one far more sinister.

It’s quieter. Colder.

It whispers, “What if this is the last time they touch you like this? What if tomorrow, everything is ruined?”

I push it away.

I push everything away until it’s just this moment.

Jack’s grip on my hips is bruising now, guiding me down onto him harder, deeper.

Liam and Reece’s hands move in a perfect rhythm, sending me right over the edge.

“That’s it. Let it happen,” Reece says, voice so low it’s practically a growl.

His hand slides from my ribs to my throat, giving it just enough pressure to make the world narrow to this one singular moment.

The sound that rips out of me is nothing I can control, a raw, helpless, almost a sob as the wave takes me.

My whole body locks around Jack, every muscle seizing before it breaks, melting into pure sensation.

Heat flares behind my eyes, the string of fairy lights blurring into a halo of gold.

Jack groans, pulling me flush against him, holding me steady as he empties into me.

Liam’s touch softens but doesn’t leave me, easing me through every aftershock until I’m trembling and leaning slack into Reece’s awaiting arms.

For a few moments, there’s nothing but the sound of our breathing.

Reece presses a kiss to the curve of my shoulder and eases me back to get a better hold of me, keeping me upright.

Jack’s thumb is stroking lazy circles into my hip, while Liam runs his fingers through my hair to soothe me.

I should feel safe. Usually, I do.

But as my head clears from the endorphins running through me, my throat begins to ache.

This warmth, this closeness, is what I’m going to miss most if they end up leaving me.

It’s going to kill me if, after I tell them, they decide to part ways and I’ll no longer have any of this.

I rest my head back against Reece’s shoulder, eyes shut tight.

My body’s loose, and completely boneless, but my chest feels heavy and too full of guilt to be settled.

Reece murmurs something I don’t quite catch, and Jack chuckles softly in response.

I want this moment to last forever.

It breaks my heart knowing it never will.

A scream yanks me out of sleep like a bucket of ice water poured straight onto my bare skin.

One second I’m floating in that warm, blissed-out haze of post-sex and the next, I’m bolt upright, heart pounding against my ribs hard enough to hurt.

My fingers fumble for the robe hanging on the back of the door, shoving my arms through the sleeves before I even have time to think.

Behind me in my bed, Reece stirs, voice thick with sleep as he mumbles my name and reaches for me.

But I’m already moving, shoving past the doorway, bare feet slapping against the cold floor as I follow the sound of commotion down the hall.

Another noise, sharper and more like a gasp than a scream, echoes from the living room.

I round the corner fast, adrenaline spiking so hard it makes my vision blur…and then I stop dead.

Because there she is.

My mother .

Standing in the middle of my apartment, her wide eyes scanning the room before locking on me, looking like she’s been dropped into the middle of some nightmare.

Her mouth is open, trembling around the words she hasn’t even spoken yet.

And in front of her are Liam and Jack.

Half-naked.

The morning light from my windows catches on their bare shoulders, on the twist of a blanket knotted low around Liam’s hips, on the mess of Jack’s hair that I know is my fault after I finally fell asleep on his chest last night.

Every detail screams guilty , even though my brain is still trying to deny what she’s seeing, let alone that she’s even here in the first place.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t even think .

Because there’s no way to explain away any of this without it sounding like a complete lie.

Her presence feels like a spotlight, burning away the comfortable shadows where I’ve been hiding all my secrets.

“Oh my god,” she breathes, her gaze whipping between them and me. “Holly…what…is going on here?”