The Best of Both Worlds

6. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Once Brandon finished eating, she washed up his dishes and finished putting the kitchen back in order. It was another one of his rules. He liked his home spotless and organized, which she found funny considering Caiden’s view of him being a slob. While she was cleaning the kitchen, both men disappeared out the front door without a word and when they returned, they were ladened down with boxes, only to deposit them on the living room furniture before leaving again for another load. By the time she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, the guys were busy opening several boxes, one the size of a coffin. “I forgot how many decorations you two have,” she said as she stared at the chaos that enveloped their apartment.

Caiden glanced up at her, his eyes alight with a child’s excitement. “Isn’t it great?”

Brandon just shrugged. “It’s a little over two weeks until Christmas. I thought it was about time to decorate the place. I mean, you can’t receive gifts, if there’s no tree to put them under, right?”

“And I want gifts,” Caiden said, his boyish face bringing a smile to Susanna’s lips. “Lots of gifts.”

She couldn’t stop the giggle that jingled out of her lips. “I know. I remember last year. However, since you haven’t told me what you want for Christmas, I may have to buy you something terrible.”

Brandon pulled the branches of their artificial tree out of the cardboard coffin. “Or not buy him anything at all.”

“Hey, that’s just rude,” Caiden said, his lips out in a pout.

Susanna walked over and patted his arm. “You poor baby.” He just gave her a sad nod and mopey eyes, which only made her giggle more. “Well, if we’re doing the decorating now, I suppose we need Christmas music.”

“And eggnog,” Caiden said.

“With rum,” Brandon nodded.

“But of course.” Susanna turned back toward the kitchen. “I’ll get the refreshments, if someone else can set the mood with music.”

“On it!” Caiden leaped from the couch, abandoning the box of garland he had just opened.

As she pulled the eggnog out of the refrigerator, she heard Andy Williams sing It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. She laughed as the familiar song filtered through the speakers Brandon had installed throughout the apartment last summer. “You didn’t wear this out last year?” Andy Williams was Caiden’s favorite holiday album and the first they played every year.

“That’s the great thing about digital recordings these days,” Caiden called out. “No needle marks or scratches. Of course, that’s also the sad part of the digital age, as well.”

She poured three glasses of eggnog, which she had started putting on the grocery list since before Thanksgiving, added rum, and slipped the glasses on a tray so she could carry them out in one trip. By the time she returned to the holiday chaos that was now her living room, the men had the tree stand up and the bottom circle of branches slid into their slots. After setting the tray on the coffee table, she stood, watching them work together for a moment. They were two vastly different men, one all prim and proper and the other a shaggy, spontaneous beach professor. One required structure and order, while the other thrived on chaos and impromptu happenings. Yet, she found her heart caught between the two, desiring both, unable to choose between them. She hadn’t meant for it to happen. As with most things in her life, it was out of her control. One day, it was just there, and she found herself in two extremely different relationships with men she couldn’t bring herself to live without. She wanted them both but knew she couldn’t have them both. Sooner or later, she needed to make a choice. She dreaded that day.

Picking up two glasses, she handed the men their eggnog for the first Christmas toast of the year. Once she had her drink in hand, they clinked glasses and toasted. “To Christmas,” she said.

“To getting this mess in some kind of order,” Brandon added.

“To gifts!” Caiden cheered.

Susanna laughed as Brandon shook his head. They all drank, however.

After taking a deep swallow of her doctored eggnog, Susanna set her glass back on the table and reached for the tree lights to untangle the knots that seemed to happen no matter how careful they were when packing them away. “So, what is it with Andy Williams? Isn’t there a more popular Christmas album you like?”

Caiden had just reached for more branches and, as he stood, his smile told her he was thinking of another time in his life. “Christmas is about looking back for me. These songs played throughout my house growing up from Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day, along with Bing Crosby and Elvis. The house was open as a cool breeze blew the curtains around, and the music filtered to my sister and I outside as we were playing. Mom was always baking—cookies, pies, shortbreads. The aromas drifted out the open windows, and the whole block knew special treats were coming, because my mother always made enough for everyone. Dad would be putting the Christmas lights up on the house or be sitting yelling at whatever football game blared on the television.” He turned and smiled at her. “The new songs are great, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t hold the memories I get from listening to the old ones. When Bing sings White Christmas, it’s almost as if my mom is still in the kitchen, waiting for my sister and I to come in and help her cut out reindeer cookies while Dad is on the couch lost in some sports game. I can pretend they’re still with me for a little while.”

She wasn’t sure what to say as her heart ached for the pain of his loss. His parents had both passed away when he was in college, his mother of cancer and his father of a broken heart. She sometimes forgot that Caiden just couldn’t pick up the phone and call them, like she could her parents. “That’s a good reason to keep playing them then,” she said, her voice cracking just a little.

He nodded. “I think so.”

She wiped at a tear from the corner of her eye before he could see it. “How about you, Brandon? Any favorite Christmas music?”

He was putting the top of the tree in place, his body stretched just slightly, his arms bulging in his dress shirt. When he could return to a more relaxed position, his hands on his hips, inspecting their handiwork, he shrugged. “I prefer Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. The music soothes me without having to worry about the words, which in most Christmas songs make no sense.”

Caiden just laughed. “You don’t think Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer makes sense? Where’s your Christmas imagination?”

“Oh, I have plenty of imagination,” Brandon said. “Usually, I’m decorating my submissive in Christmas lights with Christmas bulbs hanging from different parts of her body, instead of using them on a fake tree.”

Susanna felt her s*x quiver at the thought of being bound in Christmas lights, the different colors illuminating her flesh as ornaments dangled from her n*****s. She took a deep breath and changed the subject before her arousal was too apparent. “I like it all. I just think it’s fun to put the playlist on shuffle and see what comes up. Each song makes me think of something else or feel something different. That way I don’t get trapped in one frame of mind.” She shrugged. “What can I say? I like variety.” As she said it, she realized she meant it in more ways than just Christmas music. Apparently, she liked variety in her relationships, as well. Too bad the men didn’t.