Harris fell silent again while he mixed the milk into the butter. “Time to start layering.”
When he became quiet again, I wondered what was going on in his mind. Was he concocting new and exciting recipes? Maybe he was thinking dirty thoughts?
His eyes closed for a moment. “There’s something I need to tell you, Lou.”
I scattered the last of the cheese over the top of the potatoes and picked up the dish. “What’s that?”
Harris hurried ahead of me and opened the door of the second oven. I slid it onto the wire shelf, and he closed it up again. Then, after he set the timer for fifty minutes, he focused on me. “It’s about Kenya. I can’t come with you.”
My heartbeat thundered to a stop. “What?”
“Not right away. I’ll be with you for some of the trip, not all of it.” Harris rested his hands on his hips. “I need to be here to oversee the setup and opening of the restaurant.”
“I can’t go to Africa without you.”
“Yes, you can. Youwill.”Harris pushed his hand beneath my hair and cupped the back of my head. “You will achieve your goals, Lou, and so will I. We need to follow our own paths. Sometimes that will mean we have to leave each other’s company for a while. Just like Tate has to go on his business trips, so do I. This is what expanding my business means.”
“I know you’re right. Oblivionis important, and I’m so incredibly proud of you, Harris. I wish I could stay, but I have elephants to meet and help.”
“They’ll be lucky to have you, princess.”
I gave him a soft peck on the lips.
“By the time I get there, we will have missed each other so badly, we’ll barely be able to keep our hands to ourselves.”
Holy fuck, I loved the devil that entered his eyes whenever he spoke dirty to me. With a naughty laugh, I lost myself in him. Our hands journeyed over our bodies, our mouths twisted together, our tongues in a dance of passion I would miss while we were apart.
“How long will we be apart?” I mumbled through the kiss.
“Three weeks, maybe four.”
With a moan, I crashed into him again. After a few blissful moments, I pulled away. “We have an hour before the potato bake is ready, and you have to wait for the turkey to finish cooking and for the gingerbread house to set. Come and join us in the living room.”
“It’s baked ham, actually.” Harris shrugged. “I guess I can spare a few minutes.”
“Good.” I tugged on his hand and led him through to the living area.
“Hey, you managed to pull him away from the oven for five minutes.” Royce’s signature grin graced his handsome face. “Now we can open presents.”
“All right already.” With a sigh, Harris plopped down on the end of the couch. “How many are there, and will it take long? I have to baste the ham continuously.”
“Me first!” I bounced over to the tree and gathered up the guys’ gifts. I handed each of them out. “Merry Christmas, you guys. Thank you for bringing Jack and me to London for the festive season. I hope there are a lot more Christmases together in the years to come, no matter where they are in the world.”
“Guaranteed, sweetheart.” Eric winked at me.
“Don’t forget to open yours, Lou.” Byron led me to the tree and began loading my arms up with gifts.
“Holy moly.” Worried they were going to overbalance, I rushed to the couch and sat beside Eric.
Byron squished between me and Jack, who draped his arm along the low back of the piece of furniture. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him rubbing the tip of his thumb along Byron’s back.
As we all opened our gifts, I hoped I’d chosen well for my guys. At first, it was difficult figuring out what to get them, but it became easier when I began spotting things like the books on the Great London Fire for Eric, London architecture for Byron, and the beautiful tie for Tate.
Though, as I opened my own gifts, a theme began to appear. Sure, there were some heartfelt gifts amongst the things my men had bought me, and my new camera was to die for. They listened to me and found me a Nikon.
However, aside from those, it seemed they wanted to spice things up between us in the sex department. I thought they were spicy already, but as I perused my new erotic lingerie and the new collection of sex toys, it was about to become even spicier. I felt wetness pool between my legs at the thought.
Eric scratched his chin. “Did we all buy Lou sex toys and naughty clothing?”