It was early Christmas Eve and Kate was the only one sleeping. Bristol and Dawson had woken shortly after me and gone out to do chores. I was finishing work so I didn’t have to be torn tonight for the meal.

Our arrival hadn’t been as awkward as I’d anticipated. Dawson and Bristol had greeted Kate like normal and then they’d sat us down and showed us their growing plans for the sobriety ranch Cartwright Cattle would soon become. Bristol wanted it done right, so she and Dawson were taking their time, adding ideas and striking thoughts throughout the winter. Next month, they’d start researching companies to make Bristol’s dream into a reality.

Upstairs, the bedroom door opened and a few seconds later another door closed. Kate was in the bathroom. My gaze drifted up the stairs and followed the railing that divided the bedroom area from the living room and kitchen space.

I clicked to another report. Tried to concentrate. My gaze rose to the second level. She’d be naked by now.

The entirety of our relationship, we’d never had sex in this house. I hadn’t wanted to make Kate feel uncomfortable at the thought of fucking under Dawson’s roof. Or having sex while one or two of my brothers, and maybe even Dad, slept nearby.

I sucked in a breath and adjusted my thickening dick. Sitting in jeans with an erection didn’t make it easier to forget about my naked wife. I forced my eyes back to the report. Which site was this again?

Dawson and Bristol were still outside. If they came in and heard us, it’d serve them right. Dawson might rethink the robot bullshit. I flipped the lid shut on my laptop and bounded up the stairs.

The shower was running. I gripped the doorknob but it didn’t turn. Damn. That was what growing up with one bathroom did to a girl.

I ran down to the office, found a paper clip, and straightened it as I sprinted up the stairs. It took two seconds to pop the lock and I was inside. The double shower curtain hid my nude wife.

Kate’s soft humming stopped. “Hello?”

“It’s me.” I locked the door behind me.

“Oh. I’m almost done.”

“I’m not,” I growled as I ripped my sweater over my head. I’d picked the beige cowl-neck one that Kate liked, but she’d have to wait to see me in it.

She peeked out the door of the shower, her gaze landing on the hard-on I’d just freed from my pants. I kicked out of them, took my socks off, and stalked across the bathroom.

Her eyes went wide.

I answered her unspoken concern. “They’re still out doing chores.”

She flicked her gaze behind me like she was checking it was just us, then she pulled back the shower curtain wider to let me in.