“Darling.” Her eyes snap to mine. Lips parted. Cheeks flushed. She knows what I want. I want to see her face when she comes. “You’re filthy.” I curl my fingers through the necklace and draw her in closer. Close enough to feel her panting breath. “Don’t lose it now,” I warn. “You’ve been so good. You’re so fucking wet. I want to feel it when you come. Quietly, darling. Quiet—”

She makes a sound like a sigh, like a question, and comes.

For all my patience, I can’t resist her. Haley is still mid-orgasm when I yank her hips down against mine, again again again, three strokes is all it takes. I’ve been inside her for so long, poised and waiting. She’s watching me, too, barely breathing, and I let her see it happen. I let her see the way I can’t stop a low noise from breaking free. I let her see the way I have to bite it back when I empty myself into her. Haley’s fingers work faster on her clit. “Oh, oh, oh,” she breathes, and she comes again from the watching.

Jesus Christ.

Her lips are soft under mine, soft and relieved, and I kiss her carefully. It wouldn’t do to destroy her now. I hold her face in my hands and make her look into my eyes. “You’re paying for that,” I tell her.

An adorable, lopsided grin. She shivers on top of me. “When we get home?”

“If I can wait that long.”

There’s enough time before we arrive to put us both back in order.

Haley’s nervous when Thomas lets us out in front of the Morelli mansion, which is a winter wonderland of expensive decorations. It’s always been this way at Christmas for as long as I can remember. The presence of the holly boughs and ribbons brought a certain comfort. Public events meant public personas. The directive to be on one’s best behavior hasn’t changed. The landscape has. All the tended grounds remain in roughly the same configuration, but the balance within our family has shifted, making things more unpredictable.

“Wow,” Haley says, looking up at the mansion through the car window, her body pulled back from the door. She doesn’t want to get out. I don’t, either. If it weren’t for the rest of my siblings, I’d tell Thomas to drive away. Anywhere but here. “This was your house.”

“Yes.”

“It’s huge.”

“It is.”

“None of the siding is coming off.”

“None of the siding is coming off your father’s house, either.”

She shoots a look at me over her shoulder. “That’s only because you keep sending people there.”