One Little Question

One could say they were jolly, even.

"You're late," I said to Seth as he scrambled past me towards the build ten minutes after he was supposed to be there.

"Sorry," he said, his voice hoarse.

I frowned as I studied him. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was messy.

"And you look like hell," I said.

He laughed. "Thanks, boss."

"Everything alright?"

"Everything's great. Just, uh... didn't sleep well," he said.

I nodded slowly. "Alright. Don't get hurt because you're too tired to pay attention. The last thing I need today is a worker's comp claim."

"You got it."

When I joined the rest of the crew inside, Benny was whistling as he worked like he was in fucking Snow White.

"What're you so happy about?" I asked.

He shrugged and continued whistling.

"Dunno what you're complaining about, ya damn Scrooge," Adrian said from where he was loitering near the toolbox. "Do you know how hard it was to drag myself out of bed this morning knowing I was giving up a hot, tight—"

"We don't need to hear about your escapades with your Fleshlight," Kendra said.

He gave her an unimpressed look. "I was going to say 'nest of blankets,' pervert. And her name is Olivia."

"Your Fleshlight has a name?" Rob asked.

"Excuse you," Adrian said with a laugh. "That's not a very nice way to talk about your neighbour."

"What?" Rob said.

A shit-eating grin spread across Adrian's face. "Your neighbour. Olivia. She lives in your building, on the fourth floor? Nice girl, works at the lingerie store in the mall? But frankly, the fact that you consider women to be nothing more than a Fleshlight is really worrying, my friend."

"Oh, fuck off," Rob said, but he'd started laughing. "How was I supposed to know an actual woman wanted to take your sorry ass home?"

"Wait, so you actually got laid last night?" Kendra asked.

Adrian pretended to examine his nails arrogantly, which was somewhat ineffective given that he had his work gloves on.

"I did," he said. "And not to brag, but I fucking rocked her world so hard she's having dinner with me tonight."

"Wait, you have a date?" Benny said as he turned away from the area he'd been working on.

"Sure do."

"She must've been something else to get you to give up your man-whore ways," Seth said.

"She is," Adrian said, and I swear the fucker's voice was almost dreamy. "Is it too soon for me to plan a Christmas morning proposal?"

The crew laughed like he was joking, but I was fairly sure there was a hint of seriousness in Adrian's eye.

"I dunno, man," Benny said. "Sounds pretty sus to me. Since when do you see the same woman for more than a one-night-stand?"

"Since I found one whose oral skills meet or exceed my own," Adrian shot back.

"Right, I forgot," Kendra said, laughing. "You're the pussy-eating master."

I might have been imagining it, but I thought Rob and Benny might have exchanged a look just then.

"Reminds me," Rob said casually. "I got something for you in my truck, Adrian. Don't let me forget before we go."

"Aw, you got me a little present?" Adrian said.

"You said I could pay you back with a bottle of bourbon."

Adrian frowned, then his face brightened up. "No way?! You actually—"

"Shut up, man."

Benny burst out laughing. "Too funny. I got him a case of beer for the same reason."

"What reason?" Kendra asked, bewildered.

"The vortex?" Adrian said.

"The vortex," Benny and Rob repeated knowingly.

But none of them elaborated. Kendra and Seth both looked confused and I rolled my eyes.

"Enough chitchat. I wanna get out of here at a decent time. Get back to work, you useless tits."

"Back to work would insinuate we'd started working in the first place," Adrian said.

"And I find tits very useful," Seth said.

I laughed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rob exclaimed. "Was that a laugh? What's got you so fuckin' chipper this morning, Jay?"

"What do you mean, chipper? I have to work with you assholes," I replied.

"He does seem chipper this morning, doesn't he?" Kendra said.

"We haven't hit the first coffee break and he's giggling like a kid on Christmas morning," Seth said. "I'd say the man's downright fuckin' merry."

Which was true.

I was merry. And chipper. And cheerful, jolly, joyous. Whatever you wanted to call it. Because when I'd left the site yesterday intent on going for a drink with some of the crew, Candice had sent me one of those particularly naughty photographs and my dick had directed me to head back home post-haste.

And when I got home?

I showered, then went into the bedroom, where my lingerie-clad wife was lying on the bed with her legs spread wide as she read a book.

"Get to work, darling," she said, casually turning a page.

I didn't come up for air until I'd made her come on my tongue three times, which was a personal record. Usually I could only get two out of her before she was demanding my cock.

I didn't leave our bed until I'd had to drag my sorry ass out of it to come to work. Not even for dinner; we'd ordered pizza and tried to fuck before the delivery guy arrived, but Candice was still riding my dick when the doorbell rang. So she'd ordered me to stay where I was, shrugged her bathrobe on, and went to get it, then brought the boxes to our bedroom and set them on the nightstand on her side of the bed.

"Ready to eat?" she'd asked, opening the box and helping herself to a slice.

I'd have preferred for her to keep riding my cock, but if she wanted to stop, I might as well join her. So I started reaching across her to grab a piece, only for her to stop me.

"Ah, ah," she said. "You can have some pizza when you're done eating."

And if you think I wasn't going to go to town on my wife's pussy while she ate pizza... well. I guess that means you've missed the point.

But despite having to leave the comfort of my warm bed and my gorgeous sleeping wife to come out here into the fucking cold and bust my ass to finish the job before Christmas, I was in a pretty good mood. Candice had finally convinced me to get up by promising to show me the other things she'd bought from Lacy Pleasures once I got home. Still, I would've much rather spent the day in bed with her, eating cold leftover pizza and some of the cookies from her cookie exchange and watching those stupid Christmas movies she loved so much.

Though, there was a good chance if I saw The Muppet Christmas Carol one more time, I might throw up.

Knowing what was waiting for me later made the morning pass slowly, though. There wasn't much chatter as we worked, all of us focused on our tasks so we could get out of here as soon as possible. Just as I was wondering if it would be worth asking the crew to skip our coffee break and keep going, though, something forced us to stop.

"It's time for a break, everyone!" called a familiar voice from outside the build.

I frowned over the noise of our tools. "The fuck?"

"Is that Candice?" Benny asked.

"The ho, ho, hos are here!" yelled someone else, and then there was a swell of feminine laughter. Rob shot up, his eyes wide.

"Halle?" he said, abandoning his task and striding across the building to the entrance.

"Ooh, if that's Halle, I'm going too," Kendra said. "She's hot."

"You're married," I said.

"So?" she said, following after Rob. "Melissa thinks she's hot, too. She was bummed she had to miss out on an opportunity to ogle Halle during the cookie exchange yesterday because she was working."

But as it turned out, Melissa was making up for missing out on the cookie exchange that day.

I started laughing when I left the building and saw what was waiting for us. Standing around the frozen mud-and-snow-covered site were the crew's wives and girlfriends. Halle was already in Rob's arms, giggling as she tried not to drop the Tupperware container in her hands. Beside her, Kendra was kissing Melissa, her hand on the belly of her very pregnant wife. Next to her, Denise was waving wildly as everyone pretended we couldn't tell there was a pregnant belly beneath her bulky winter jacket. And Laura, shyly smiling from under the hood of her pink winter jacket as she clutched a huge thermos of coffee.

Then, in the middle of course, the most beautiful woman in the world.

Candice was grinning that confident, knowing grin of hers. Her lips were painted red and she held a container like Halle's as she caught my eye. Without even consciously making the choice, I started towards her, not stopping until she was close enough to kiss.

"What's all this about?" I asked even as I pressed my mouth to hers.

"Mmm," she replied, kissing me before she pulled back. "I thought I'd drop by after bringing some cookies to the mall for Phoebe's sister. I figured you could use a little surprise on your coffee break since you all had to work today. And the others all wanted to come, too."

"A surprise?" I asked.

She held up the container. "Well, we all have, like, eight dozen cookies. We figured we could spare a few. And—" She glanced at the other women, who were all distracted by their respective partners by that point "—I have a special surprise for you."

I raised my eyebrows and she leaned in.

"The set I got today is pink," she whispered. "And I think you should decide how it comes off when you get home tonight."

I groaned softly. "You're killing me, beautiful."

She laughed, a bright, joyous sound, and parted from me.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" she called. "We thought you could use a sugar rush to get through the rest of the day."

"Do I get a kiss, too?" Adrian said to Candice as he came up behind me.

"Unless you want to eat these cookies by me shoving them up your ass with my steel-toes, no," I snapped.

He clapped me on the shoulder as both he and Candice laughed. She hugged him hello, but he made the very smart decision to keep his lips to himself.

"I brought you a little extra something, Adrian," she said as we walked over to Rob's truck since he'd volunteered to use the tailgate as a table for the cookies and coffee. "Since all the others got to see their girls."

He grinned as she handed him a small paper bag, which I figured had a mickey of bourbon in it.

"Damn, am I ever going to have a party tonight," he said, tucking it into his coverall pocket. "But maybe next year you'll have someone to invite to this."

Candice's eyes widened. "You met someone? Oh, if I'd known, I would've asked her—"

"Don't worry about it," Kendra said as she helped herself to some cookies and a cup of coffee from the thermos. "He only met her last night."

"And he's already planning the wedding," Benny said as he filled up a coffee cup and handed it to Denise. "All morning it's been 'Olivia this' and 'Olivia that' and—"

"Wait, Olivia?" Candice said. "Does she work at the lingerie store in the mall?"

"Yeah!" Adrian said. "That's, uh, her. How do you know her?"

Candice glanced at me, hiding a smirk. "I occasionally shop there."

"Ooo—" Kendra started.

"Shut up," I said stiffly, and the crew burst out laughing.

Candice slipped her arm around my waist, even as she giggled. "That reminds me. I'm sure she won't mind me spilling the beans, but Phoebe—you know, from the cookie exchange? She's Olivia's sister. She got engaged last night!"

"Aw, that's amazing!" Halle said. "I'm so happy for her. She's seeing that bartender from Whiskey Sours, right?"

Candice nodded. "Miguel. Apparently, that little, um, discussion we had at the cookie exchange yesterday set something in motion."

Melissa looked intrigued. "What discussion?"

"They were talking about eating pussy," Kendra said loudly. "And whether men do it for their pleasure or their partner's pleasure."

It was a testament to how well everyone there knew each other that no one looked scandalized at the statement. Though, I did glance at Seth, worried he'd have the same uncomfortably embarrassed look on his face that he'd had when we talked about it yesterday. But he was exchanging a knowing glance with Laura, whose cheeks were pink as she hid a smile behind her cookie.

"Exactly," Candice said. "And as it turns out, one thing led to another and Miguel was so... let's say... delighted with what things led to that he hauled out the ring box he'd planned to give her on Christmas morning and got her to open it right then and there."

"That's actually adorable," Denise said.

"I guess that one little question did a lot of good," I said.

There was no mistaking it that time; there were a lot of knowing looks exchanged between partners in the beat of tense silence that followed my statement. Laura didn't manage to suppress her giggle and Seth's face went red, but he looked distinctly proud. Denise was grinning as Benny covered his smile by rubbing his chin and Halle was looking up at Rob, her eyes round as he tried to give her a subtle shake of his head. I looked at Candice, who was watching with an amused expression on her face.

"It sure did do a lot of good," Adrian finally said. "At least for me. I mean, you can all ask Olivia about just how good—"

"Rob freakin' rocked it last night," Halle blurted.

"Halle!" he hissed, but it was lost under the roar of laughter as his face turned red.

"Nice," Kendra said.

"So did Seth," Laura added in a quiet voice.

Seth's face also went red, but that might have had more to do with the loud whoop Adrian let out before clapping him on the shoulder.

"Atta boy!" he said, and I was fairly certain everyone was laughing so hard they couldn't breathe.

When things finally calmed down, no one seemed quite sure what to say. The last few chuckles and giggles faded, leaving us standing there in the cold as we took in the strangeness and hilarity of the situation.

"So Candice," Adrian said. "You got any more of those little questions for us?"

And my wife, ever the mischief-maker, grinned.

There's no beginning
There'll be no end
'Cause on Christmas
You can depend
It's written on the wind
It's everywhere I go
So if you really love me
C'mon and let it show?
—Christmas Is All Around, as performed by Billy Mack

***

Thanks to everyone who helped proof and beta this story. Special thanks to Nora Fares and Chasten. To Paul M, Kevin Matheny, centralsquareguy, KW, AG, PM, N, ED, KJ, MidNyt, RP, and Caleb Waters -- thank you for your support. And, as always, thank YOU for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story, and whatever you celebrate this time of year, may it be wonderful.

Xoxo, Cheryl