Two rings and a ceremony, and we'd be fucking married. How scary is that?

Pause please for the death of Taylor's party life.

No, seriously though, even more frightening was the fact that I was starting to like this domesticity thing we suddenly had going. Whoever thought AJ would be a good homemaker?

Yeah, me neither. I kinda like it, though.

I closed my eyes and stuck my toes a teeny bit closer to the surf. Growing up in the North, Christmas usually meant snow and cabin fever. To have a warm, watered Christmas was a pleasant change.

Having a little bit of love on the side wasn't so bad either.

"Taylor! Get in here before the tide comes in!"

Speak of the devil...

I turned around to ask him to join me, but he'd already gone back in. With a heavy sigh, I bid the ocean a Merry Christmas and headed towards the porch. When I finally arrived at the screen door, I realized that all of the lights had gone out. It didn't occur to me to worry about this. Playing with AJ in the dark sounded like one hell of a good idea.

I opened the door, and Christina Aguilera's voice greeted me.

I furrowed my brow in confusion and continued toward the bedroom, wondering what the hell Mr. Sixty-Nine had planned this time. I should've known that he couldn't get through Christmas without making it kinky in some form or fashion. He is, after all, the sexiest Backstreet Boy.

Not the Sexiest Pop Star, though. Eyebrows nabbed that one.

Snicker.

I dropped my coat outside the bedroom door and slid through. Once I entered, two things happened; Christina's voice got a hell of a lot louder, and my jaw dropped.

AJ was reclining on the bed, basking in the glow of two dozen candles and wearing nothing but his new Santa hat.

For those of you who missed the connotations of that sentence, allow me to spell it out for you.

AJ was naked. COMPLETELY naked. On the bed. And I was fully clothed. Is anyone else finding something wrong with this picture?

"Speechless?"

I smirked at AJ's one-word question. "Only slightly. Merry Christmas, baby."

He grinned wickedly at the lyric. "Did I treat you right?"

"That is yet to be decided, actually."

"Oh really?" An expectant eyebrow reached up to touch the white fur of Santa's cap. "Well, what are you waiting for? Come join me."

I chuckled and began to tug my tee-shirt over my head, but his hands stopped me.

"Allow me."

Tenderly, he slid his fingertips along my sides and lifted the shirt over my head. As my hair fell down around my shoulders, he smiled. "God, you're beautiful."

"You're not so bad yourself," I returned in a whisper. His abdomen trembled with silent laughter as he gingerly fingered the hem of my cutoffs.

"Let's get you out of these."

With that, he kneeled down and kissed my lower stomach before undoing the button of my shorts. Slowly, he undid the zipper and slid them off of me. He rose, and I took his hand as I stepped out of them. He caressed the flesh of my back, bringing his palms to the back of my shoulders and pulling me close enough for a searing kiss. His tongue gingerly parted my lips, and I sighed contentedly into his mouth.

We'd never gone so slowly before.

His fingers found the clasp of my bra, and he undid it deftly so that my breasts fell out of captivity and into his hands. He began to run his thumbs gently over my nipples, causing them to rise to hardened peaks. After a playful pinch, his palms slid past my breasts and over my ribs. He slid his thumbs into the waistband of my underwear and pulled until they dropped to the floor.

I stood naked before him, amazed and aroused beyond belief. It wasn't until I jumped AJ after the Scrabble game that I realized what talented hands he has. And how very talented they are.

He cupped my ass and pulled me to him for another kiss, teasing my tongue with his, and I could help but think that his tongue was pretty talented as well. His thumbs moved to my hip bones, and he began to massage southward as I wrapped a hand around his neck and deepened the kiss. I scraped my nails along the nape of his neck and smiled against his lips when he moaned into my
mouth.

Few things in the world are better than making love to AJ.

He leaned his forehead on my shoulder and turned so that his lips brushed my earlobe. "We should move this to the bed."

I nodded. Truth to tell, I was way too aroused to speak. I was also more than willing to continue what we'd started.

AJ lifted me up until my legs were wrapped around his waist and carried me to the bed. He laid me down gently before dropping his head between my legs, where his tongue licked a trail up my inner thighs to my most sensitive spot.

Merry Christmas indeed.

All too soon, my body was quaking with my first orgasm. I closed my eyes to relish the explosion of ecstasy, and as my limbs relaxed, I reached a hand down for AJ. His hand found mine, and we shared a squeeze before he joined me on the bed.

"Everything you wanted?"

"More," I told him truthfully. "You're amazing. You know that, right?"

He gave me a smile. Not the cocky pop star smile, either, but the real, semi-shy Alex smile. "I do now."

"Let me be amazing for you."

At this point, Diana would've been laughing her ass off at me, but AJ smirked.

"I'd be an idiot to deny you."

I grinned and shoved him gently onto his back, causing him to close his eyes. When his arms were securely above his head, I leaned down to his chest and flicked my tongue first across his Adam's apple, then across his nipples. He drew in a sharp breath, and I moved down to his belly button to trace the infamous 69 tattoo. My tongue dipped into his belly button, and I could feel his abdomen clench.

"Damn, baby..."

I smiled and moved slightly upward to nip at his nipples. Pain before pleasure makes the pleasure all that much more...well...pleasurable. I know from experience. AJ was about to learn.

"Do I frustrate you?"

I licked a line up the underside of his growing erection, and he groaned loudly.

"Fucking...leave John Mayer out of our sex life. Any man who thinks compares this to banging a coke can with a mallet is just...fuck."

"Maybe the problem is that he isn't fucked," I interjected with a laugh, and AJ flinched.

"Babe, I'm...shit..."

I understood enough to suck lightly on the tip of him, causing him to thrust his pelvis towards me. I took it slowly, though. Teeth and tongue and lips one at a time. When I felt he was properly flustered, I took all of him in. He bit back a scream as I began to hum.

"God, Taylor..."

God Taylor. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

I'll spare you the details of AJ's orgasm, but let's just say that I gave him another gift and attempted not to be too girly.

I'm sure you wanted to know that.

I got up to join him on the bed, and he grabbed my arm. "Five minutes," he promised, still gasping for breath. "Just give me five minutes to cuddle with you, and then I'll give you the ride of your life."

"So this is a special Christmas," I teased, and AJ nodded.

"God, yes. It sounds fucking corny, Tails, but I've enjoyed our little makeshift holiday more than I've enjoyed traditional Christmas for the past few years."

I nodded my understanding. "I agree. I mean, Christmas with the grandparents is nice and all, and I love them, but...I always feel like I'm missing something, you know?"

He shook his head in agreement. "It's the same way with me when it's my mom and I. I mean, we make a good team, but I can't help but think that everyone else has a father to share things with."

"Except for me," I countered, and he smiled softly.

"Yeah, except for you."

And so the secret is out. See, when I go back home to Jersey in between terms, I go to my grandparents' house. Not because it's a big family get together, but because they are my family. My parents died in a car crash when I was ridiculously little. I don't necessarily miss them because I never really knew them, but I do wonder sometimes what it would be like to have a normal family. My grandparents are wonderful, and I wouldn't trade them for anything, but sometimes, I wish I'd had a chance to experience truly parental love. Biological AND emotional.

Anyway, on to happier things.

"You've always been really chill about your situation," AJ remarked. I shrugged. When he first found out about it, we spent some time psychoanalyzing me, but now he understands. One of the benefits of being friends first is that you don't have to interrupt your sex life constantly to tend to your past.

"That's the way it goes. There's nothing I can do to change it. Besides, I was so young when it happened and my grandparents are so fucking cool that I really don't have any reason to complain." I paused. "Plus, Diana's situation kinda makes me glad that I have anyone around that I can count on."

"That girl needs a boyfriend."

I sighed. "She'd never open up to one."

"We'll see."

"Hey, AJ?"

"Ma'am?"

"Why are we talking about Diana's family when we're supposed to be having sex?"

He flinched and turned bright red for a short amount of time. When he finally lost the crimson shade, we quickly remedied the problem.

Well, not quickly. Really slowly, actually. And then, when we had both nabbed a piece of heaven, we held on tight and fell asleep together, warm and wonderful under the sheets.

It was a wonderful end to a wonderful evening.