The Gift (4 page)

Nicky gave him another. Charles leaned against Nicky's body to reach a higher branch. His free hand settled on Nicky's waist. As he straightened, pulling Nicky back to lean against his chest, his hand slid around his pet's body.

He was already half hard, responding as rapidly as he always did to the change in his master's mood. Charles wrapped his hand around Nicky's cock and took up a slow, stroking rhythm. Nicky gasped. A bauble dropped from his fingertips, bouncing on the thick carpet. Charles turned him around. Trapping his erection between them, he pulled Nicky in close for a deep kiss.

Their lips moulded together until Nicky whimpered and pressed against his master, desperate for more than a kiss.

As Charles trailed his lips along his jaw line to his ear, Nicky trembled in his arms. Charles slid his hands over Nicky's bottom, massaging the tight muscles in his grip. Nicky felt his master's cock rapidly stiffening against him.

Charles might not be over enamoured with his decorating, but there were some things Charles always liked. Sliding his 30

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fingers along his cleft, Charles smiled against Nicky's ear when he found he was all lubed up and ready for him.

"Expecting company, pet?"

"I always like to be ready for my master," Nicky whispered.

Charles nudged him across the room, towards the table.

Pushing back boxes of decorations, he cleared a Nicky-sized space where he could bend over the polished mahogany surface. In seconds Charles's fly was unzipped and he buried himself in Nicky's body.

Nicky grasped at the table edge. For a few moments, Charles stilled inside him and gave him time to adjust to the wonderfully full, stretched sensation.

Charles obviously wasn't in the mood for anything fancy.

He set up a fast, punishing rhythm. Nicky whimpered as his hips connected painfully with the hard edge of the table.

Charles slid his hands between Nicky's hip bones and the table, protecting him against the harsh contact. He thrust into him again and again.

Nicky whimpered again. This time the sound was filled with pleasure. "Master?"

"Not yet, pet. You may come with me, not before."

Nicky knew his master held back, making them both wait to increase their pleasure. Somehow, Nicky held back until Charles finally came, deep inside him. Nicky groaned. Jerking, he followed his master's orders and came at the same time as Charles. The last hard thrust pushed him over the edge as much as the command, but that wasn't the point. Nicky still 31

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knew it still gave Charles some special pleasure every time Nicky came when he was told to.

As they parted and Charles tidied himself up, Nicky straightened, arching his back to work out the kinks table sex always put in his spine.

Opening a drawer in the cabinet alongside the table, he took out a wipe and cleaned up his stomach where his semen was turning uncomfortably sticky. A glance at the table and he gave that a wipe over too.

Charles smiled and stroked his hand though Nicky's hair, pushing it out of his eyes. "I've got some paperwork to do.

You finish off what you want to do here. Come in and sit with me when you're done."

Nicky nodded.

When Charles reached the door, Nicky had to say something. He cleared his throat. "Master?"

Charles turned back to him. "Yes?"

"Thank you."

Charles's lips twitched. "You're very welcome."

Nicky blushed bright red. "I didn't mean, I meant," he waved a hand away from the table and towards the tree.

Charles followed the gesture to the few baubles he'd hung on the branches. "I put up a couple of decorations, pet.

Hardly a taxing undertaking. Certainly nothing you need to be grateful for."

Nicky nodded again, because Charles was his master and he should agree with him. "But thank you anyway."

Charles smiled and shook his head at him as he went off to his paperwork.

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Charles looked across the room and watched his pet. Nicky
went to the tree. Running his finger along one of the balls
Charles hung in place, he smiled to himself in obvious
satisfaction. With one last glance at the baubles he turned his
attention to putting up the remaining Christmas decorations.

Charles went to his side and whispered in his ear. "It
looks, beautiful, pet. You did very well and your master is
very pleased with you."

Nicky turned to the box of baubles and looked straight
through him.

"He can't hear you," the spirit reminded him.

As if that wasn't bloody obvious. "I know."

"Then why speak to him?"

"Because it should have been said then," Charles said
simply.

Nicky began to flicker out of existence.

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"Can't you leave us in one damn place for more than five minutes at a time?" Charles demanded. The whole room wavered into and out of existence once more and Charles suddenly found himself in the bedroom he and Nicky shared for the last five years.

Charles looked around the room, trying to place himself in a timeline.

"This is another Christmas you shared with Nicholas Lewis."

"Three years ago, 2005," Charles cut in, feeling quite smug that he'd worked it out before the spirit could tell him. The guy in the toga was really starting to get on his nerves.

Charles turned his back on the spirit and approached the bed. Nicky lay awake. His lips moved. Charles studied them, trying to read the silent words. Nicky was counting. Charles forced himself not to reach out to his pet. The way his hand went through his lover last time, made him determined not to make the same mistake again. Instead, he sat on the bed, as close as he could get to Nicky without making contact.

Nicky stared at the ceiling, listening to his master's breathing slow into a sleeping rhythm. He lay very still and quiet, trying to give the impression he was asleep too. Finally, Nicky felt sure Charles was fast asleep. Wary of any movement that could make any noise, he sat up.

Charles didn't stir. Nicky took a deep breath. If he could make it out of the room, he would be fine. He just needed to 34

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be very quiet. One foot on the floor, Nicky slid out from under the blanket. He held the covers down behind him, trying not to let a draft slip under to rouse Charles.

Out from the warm cocoon under the blanket, he stood by the side of the bed for a moment and watched his master sleep. His hair was too short to fall over his eyes, but the black strands stood up at odd angles against the pillow. Nicky smiled and resisted the temptation to reach out and smooth them down.

The room was cold this early in the morning. A shiver ran through Nicky. He slipped from the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him. Down the stairs, skipping the fourth creaky one, Nicky made his way into the living room. It was even colder down here.

Ignoring the overhead lights he put the lights on the tree on instead. It was hard not to smile at the sight. Christmas was a time for smiles. He opened the cabinet next to the fireplace and took out the small stash of supplies he'd hidden there.

Charles was going to learn to love Christmas one way or another. If decorating the tree didn't bring a smile to his face, Nicky would just have to leave a present under the tree that would.

Nicky sat on the floor by the base of the Christmas tree.

The more traditional presents he'd bought for Charles were already under there, neatly wrapped with brightly coloured papers. Next to them lay Charles's purchases, similarly wrapped. He'd come a long way over the last two years.

Nicky was quietly pleased with his progress.

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Charles might not love Christmas, but he was learning to sing along to the score sheet whenever Nicky nudged him in the right direction. While Charles had always been very generous, he just bought things when he saw them and gave them when he felt like it.

It had taken a long time to convince Charles he might want to save his presents up for special occasions. Even though Nicky knew his master only did so because it kept his pet happy, it was still progress.

Nicky unrolled a length of bright red ribbon from a cardboard spool and laid it neatly on the floor in front of him.

He placed the others items from his stash next to it. Lube first and then a bright red butt plug—complete with a pattern of little snow flakes and Christmas bells printed over the smooth surface. He tied one end of the ribbon to the flat end of the plug and considered the effect. He formed the end of the ribbon into a bow and nodded his satisfaction to the empty room. It would do nicely.

Nicky deftly coated it with lube and worked the rounded end of the plug inside his hole. It rubbed right against his prostate. Nicky wriggled against the intrusion. The lube was warm from its hiding place so close to the blaze that filled the fireplace all day. If felt amazing inside him.

He wriggled again as he sat back on his heels. The ribbon bow tickled his buttocks. He took a calming breath. A certain amount of frustration was to be expected. Taking up the roll of ribbon he began to wind it around his body.

Up over his shoulder to follow the line of his leather collar, where he attached a little gift tag, then down to crisscross 36

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over his chest. The bright red ribbon rested neatly against his pale body, the contrast making his skin look snowy white.

The room progressed from not very warm to bloody freezing as the last of the day's warmth faded into the old stone building. Nicky shivered.

As he wound the ribbon around and around his body, it became increasingly difficult to hold onto it. With his arms half held down against his body he could barely reach back to swap it from one hand to the other.

His hand slipped, the roll of ribbon sprang out of his grip.

Losing its tension, the neat curves of ribbon embracing his body drooped. Nicky sighed and began winding the ribbon back onto the roll, around and around until he was almost back where he started.

He tried again. And again. And again. The roll had a mind of its own. Each time he came close to completing the wrapping, it jumped from his grip.

Nicky bit back a curse. "Knew I should have bought a bloody box..."

He wound the ribbon again and tried for the sixth time to make the pattern he wanted. Around his thigh, in a bow around his now flourishing erection, up and around his body.

Bondage always got him worked up quickly—even self bondage. The ache in his crotch didn't make it easier to concentrate on what he was doing, or to coordinate his hand movements.

Finally he did it. Finishing the ribbon off with a pretty bow around his wrists and tightening it with his teeth, Nicky smiled his satisfaction. A lock of hair fell down over his eyes.

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Nicky glared at the blond strands, going cross-eyed in the attempt. He tried to lift his hand to push it back, but couldn't quite manage it in his ribbon restraints. He sighed and put his hands back on his lap.

As and when his master got up in the morning, he would probably push the lock of hair back out of his way.

A noise in the doorway made him look up.

Charles blinked sleepily at him. It was still completely dark outside, only the lights from the tree broke the gloom. He should be in bed for a few hours yet, but as Nicky watched, the sleepiness faded away from Charles's eyes to be replaced with amusement and desire.

"I wondered where you'd got to," Charles observed, walking over to him. He spotted the gift tag. "For me?" he teased.

As if Nicky would ever offer himself to anyone else that way.

Charles turned the tag over. "To my master, with love, Nicky." His lips lifted into a smile. He crouched down and stroked Nicky's cheek with the back of his knuckles. "And do you come with instructions or may I do whatever I want with you?"

"Whatever my master wants," Nicky whispered.

He tried to read his master's expression, wondering what Charles really thought of his present.

"In that case, I'll take you back to our bed and open you there," Charles announced. He picked him up easily. Trapped in the roll of ribbon, Nicky couldn't even hold on, he could only trust his master not to drop him. He leaned his head on 38

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his master's shoulder and smiled contentedly into the curve of his neck. Charles seemed pleased with his present.

The bedroom was wonderfully warm after the chill of the living room.

However, as Charles put him down in the middle of the bed and ran a hand down his back, his pleasure in his gift seemed to fade. "Some warm wrapping paper would have been very appropriate," Charles said.

Tilting Nicky's face back, he made him meet his eye.

Nicky nodded. "Yes, master." Charles was always reminding him to take better care of himself.

When Charles allowed it, Nicky looked down.

Charles stretched out on the bed next to him. For a long time he just looked at him. Then he began to trace the lines of ribbon. "If you leave yourself out in the cold again, I will warm you very thoroughly," Charles told him. "Starting here."

He tapped Nicky sharply on the bottom.

Nicky gasped. He offered Charles a small smile, sure now his master wasn't really angry with him. Charles only ever spanked him in play, never as a real punishment.

Charles tapped him again on the other buttock, evening out the heat spreading through his body. Nicky wriggled in his bondage, wondering if the ribbon was loose enough for Charles to turn him over his knee without taking it off first.

Too late, Nicky realised he should have tied the bow around his cock more loosely. It acted like a cock ring, trapping the blood in his shaft and making him swell more than ever. Charles trailed his finger tips over the length of his erection.