Nate was usually home early on Christmas Eve, but a minor last-minute crisis demanded his attention. He could have left it till after Christmas, but he was taking the time off between then and New Year's, so he preferred to take care of it now rather than interrupt his days off.

Rereading the email from Maria reminded him of her beautiful smile and kiss goodbye this morning, but avoiding more disappointment, he decided not to read too much into it.

‘Nathan, I have a special meal I’m preparing for you tonight, so I need to know when you’ll be leaving so it can be ready when you get home. All my love, Maria.’

He replied that he’d be home at about five-thirty, and she acknowledged it with a ‘Thanks, honey!’

It took a little longer than planned, so he texted her when he left the office. As he drove home, he recalled what they used to do on Christmas Eve before they had Sean, and while the memories were quite pleasant, they were just reminders of days long past. Maria had been far more affectionate since she’d gotten together with Alicia, but there was never even a hint of him getting something out of it, and he expected nothing more tonight. A nice meal, pleasant conversation for a change, and maybe, if he was lucky, a loving cuddle on the sofa. While he wished there’d be more, he would be happy with that as before Alicia, Maria had been getting difficult to live with, aside from the lack of sex.

As he drove up his street, he was surprised to see his house dark with only automatic exterior lights lit. Still, once in the garage, he got out happily, ready to spend a quiet evening with Maria and Sean. He recalled briefly the doubts about Santa’s existence expressed by his growing son and smiled at the thought.

Stepping inside the almost dark kitchen, his eyes were drawn to a single candle standing on the floor, just barely illuminating the room, but it was what was next to the candle that got his attention; a pair of black spike heels he hadn’t seen in years.

He hadn’t figured it out yet, but another candle in the dining room with another garment started lifting his hopes; a short black pleated skirt Maria wore when she wanted his attention. Still in disbelief but hoping he understood the game, he walked toward the foyer where he could see another flickering candle and one of his favorites; a lavender camisole blouse that used to have his mouth watering over Maria’s prominently displayed tits.

The candle at the entrance to the hallway lit the strapless bra that almost matched the camisole and created such delicious cleavage.

He stared at the next candle at the entrance to their bedroom without moving toward it. The door was closed, but he could see the bra-matching panties laid out on the floor. Despite his mental caution not to expect too much, his anticipation was building, yet he was still afraid to open the door.

For weeks now, he’d worried that he’d lost his wife to the lover he still missed. She was clearly happy about the arrangement, and he’d appreciated the attitude change that had wrought, but he was so often disappointed he steeled himself for another letdown as he walked to the door. He blew out the candle as he had those before, hoping it wasn’t a foreshadowing of things to come; the candle representing his wife and life, blown out as acceptance of his mediocre existence.

He opened the door and almost cried.

“Merry Christmas, honey!” Maria said with a breathy voice from her position lying on the bed.

“Oh, Maria!” he said, his voice shaking with relief.

Naked, but for a wide red ribbon wrapped around her chest with a bow over her cleavage, she was a vision of days long past. Her hair, her lightly made-up face, and the tantalizing body she was once more offering to him made memories once again pleasant. With one knee crooked and the opposite arm atop the pillow next to her as an invitation to join her, she was suddenly that exciting young girl who’d so enriched his life when she gave herself to him.

“Aren’t you going to open your present?”

“You said something about a special meal?” he replied, regaining his composure and teasing a bit himself.

“You’re a little late, so I’ve been keeping it warm for you!” she said with her hand slipping between her thighs to touch what he could not see yet. “I hope you’re hungry!”

She was so happy with his response since she really didn’t know what to expect from him. In effect, she’d been cheating on him for weeks, putting him off, if not completely ignoring his subtle clues, so she wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t accept her offering in the spirit in which it was made. Recent engagements with Alicia found her interest in Nate returning, and the last meeting with her had put an exclamation point on it.

The wait for his response had seemed interminable, and though his words expressed playfulness and desire, he hadn’t yet acted on it. He would either devour her like a starved man finally fed or approach her tenderly with the love she hoped was still there. While she’d enjoy either path, she hoped for the latter.

He walked slowly to the side of the bed and sat, putting one hand on her upraised knee and the other behind her neck to pull her into a soulful, romantic kiss that lasted forever.

“Oh, Nate! I love you so much and … and I’m sorry!” she said, staring into the eyes that had captivated her so long ago.

“Let’s not talk about that. Not tonight,” he whispered.

Wrapping his arms around the body he’d missed so much, he mashed his lips to hers with all the passion that had been bottled up for so long. With eyes ablaze, he pulled away and looked down at the ribbon and bow around her chest that had become disheveled with their embrace.

Maria stuck her chest out provocatively, and repeated, “Merry Christmas, honey!” with her chest heaving when he pulled the barely fastened ribbon free, tossed it to the floor, and bent to kiss each luscious breast several times. She pulled his face between them and squashed them against his face, remembering it as something he always loved.

“No. Let me!” she said when he started to open his shirt.

With the last button open, her hands slipped inside to caress his chest before pushing it up over his shoulders and behind, where he shook it loose. Swinging her legs to sit on the bed’s edge, Nathan rose to stand before her, with her fingers working the belt, button, and zipper open. His slacks fell to the floor and he kicked them off along with his shoes.

Reaching up to caress his broad, bare chest again, her hands then slid down his side to the ordinary underwear he wore, unaware of this impending reunion. Maria licked her lips at the sight of his enlarged cock peeking out above the waist of his briefs and recalled Alicia’s comment about missing a ‘strong man with a real cock.’ Leaning forward, she kissed and licked the sensitive underside of the exposed glans, with Nathan sighing.

With her fingers in the waistband, she slowly drew his underwear down, letting them fall to his feet, but when she looked down and saw his socks, she bent to remove them as well, his free-swinging cock practically slapping her in the face. He wasn’t coming to bed with her after so long wearing socks!

Looking up into his eyes, her hands reached around and grabbed his muscular cheeks, the word ‘strong’ coming to mind again. Leaving one hand behind, the other returned out front to take his cock in hand and guide it into her mouth. Licking and sucking, she had him moaning in seconds, and while she had another surprise for him, she decided to hold that for later. A few licks later, she stood, and with their bodies secure in each other’s arms, she tipped her head back for a kiss, moaning at the feeling of her chest pressed hard against his. His hands on her ass reminded her of the special ‘meal’ she’d promised him.

While he’d gratefully accept her loving hands and mouth, she knew he’d prefer to give first. She remembered their first intimate times together, where he’d always made her pleasure a priority and where he’d be quick to remove her panties and use his fingers and tongue to make her cum first, an attribute that set him apart from most men. She felt guilty about all the time they’d been essentially apart, accepting responsibility and wanting to make it all up to him tonight. Though realizing that was impossible, she knew the first step was to let him give her what she’d turned down so many times in the ensuing years.

“Would you like your special meal now?” she asked.

“More than you know!” he replied.

“I think I do know, Nathan, but I’ll let you show me,” she sighed, her eyes shiny and wet with threatened tears.

“Now, now! We’ll have none of that. We won’t talk of anything but our love tonight because I love you now more than ever!”

“Oh, Nathan! I love you too!” she said, unable to hold back the tears, a few streaking down both cheeks.

“My meal, Maria?” he asked after wiping her tears, happy to get a smile from her.

“Are you hungry?”

“Starving!”

“Good, because you know you have to eat it all up!” she joked as she returned to lying on the bed, holding his hand and pulling him down to join her.

Seeing her clean-shaven pussy for the first time, he smiled his approval as fingers caressed the smooth surface of her mons. She knew his questioning eyes were asking for permission to start there and not with her breasts, and she nodded just enough to send the message.

He climbed on the bed between her legs when her knees rose and parted. First with his fingers, but soon with his tongue, he enjoyed the slight swelling of her pubis, a rounded contour that was somehow not as appealing with the strip of hair she used to keep there.

“Mmm,” he hummed, his nostrils flaring, “Smells delicious!”

“Eat me, Nathan! Oh, yeah!” she moaned with the first touch of his tongue, remembering how good he was with it and hoping to make up for the past.

She lifted her hips off the bed, and he slipped his hands under in a well-practiced move they both remembered. With his hands on her ass, he pressed her fragrant fruit to his mouth, savoring her taste. He couldn’t possibly enjoy her more than he was right now, having waited so long for her desires to return. So enthralled with the fact that she finally wanted his face in her pussy again, he had to remind himself to take it slowly and not sprint for the finish line.

Maria teetered between the immense joy of their reunion and the almost shameful regret of wasted years. She’d begun to worry that he’d run out of patience for her and would want to leave but felt utterly helpless to do anything about it. Now, here he was, giving to her as he always had, and she couldn’t get enough.

“Oh, Nathan!” she cried as his tongue slithered through her slit, back and forth, stopping at each end to nibble on her clit and poke inside. She thought briefly of Alicia, but only as a comparison, applying the adage that neither was better, only different.

She was close to cumming, and he wanted it to be the best he’d ever given. Leaving one hand on her ass, insinuated in her cleft, he was knocking on her back door while the other’s fingers slid deeply into her pussy. With the addition of his tongue concentrating on her clit, he had her writhing, not knowing which way to turn.

“Oh God! Oh! OH! Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!” she panted and finally came, her whole body trembling with the powerful sensations.

Nate smiled with a joy he hadn’t felt in years. Watching her face, he waited until her eyes opened, telling him whether she wanted more of the same. Softly stroking and kissing her pussy to keep the pilot light lit in case she did, he loved how a faint shudder accompanied his tender touch, but when her eyes finally opened, she reached her arms out for him.

“Mmm,” she murmured as he lay atop her, feeling his cock pressed between their bodies. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a loving kiss. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” He almost answered ‘Not enough’ but didn’t for fear she wouldn’t take it as the joke he intended.

“Yes. You have,” he said looking into her chocolate brown eyes and stole another tender kiss.

“Come inside? Please?” she pled.

“Only if you tell me you love me again!” he said, only half joking, being so addicted to hearing it in this context again.

She said the magic words, and his hips rose, but before he could do so himself, she reached down to grab his cock and quickly stuffed the first couple of inches in, begging for the rest. She gasped as he plunged his real cock deep inside her, and she swore like a sailor in response.

“Oh fuck! Just a little!” she said as he pulled back, and, “Ohh!” as it seemed to reach even further inside, noting her fake substitute was no match for his flesh and blood.

Supported on his elbows, he kissed her again, passionately, as each stroke had him pulling a bit further back. He wished he could get his mouth on her erect nipples but had to settle for fingers of one hand at a time.

“It feels so good being inside you again! I love you so much!”

“Oh, Nathan!” she said wistfully, her hips rising to meet his and falling as he withdrew in perfect sync.

Both were panting in no time, Nathan holding on as long as he could, wanting her to cum with him. Their gradually increasing pace suddenly became frenzied as they raced toward their climax together.

“Oh fuck, Nathan!” she yelled, feeling his pulsing cock pumping his seed deep inside and cumming herself as a result.

They squirmed on the bed as their bodies quivered and shook, with his cock still hidden within her sheath. They rolled to their side, wrapped tightly in their arms, letting each other know how thoroughly satisfied they were with quiet eyes and tender touches.

“I know this can’t make up for all the times I turned you away, but I hope it was a good start?” she said as a question.

“It wasn’t easy, but I always knew why and understood. I felt the same way after Sean was born. I guess I just recovered more quickly. And this was all the sweeter for the joy of having you back.”

“Thank you for being so understanding. I doubt I would be in your place, but it's over now, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Love,” he said and she almost cried upon hearing the term of endearment he used seemingly ages ago. She kissed him with all the love she could convey.

“I did actually make you a meal for tonight. One of your favorites, Quiche Lorraine! I just have to warm it up. Wanna eat now?”

“Only if I can have you for dessert!” he said, delighted in hearing her sexy laugh again.

Donning short robes over their naked bodies, they headed for the kitchen.

“I loved the trail of clothes you left for me,” he said, seeing the spike heels still on the floor. He hadn’t noticed it before because the candle and shoes captured his attention, but he could still smell the buttery pastry lingering in the air. Neither had he seen the candles on the kitchen table creating an appropriately romantic mood.

Maria glided around the kitchen, starting the oven, setting places, and finally putting the quiche in the oven. She’d bent down to peer inside the oven when Nathan came up behind her and engulfed her in his arms from behind.

“Oh, Baby!” she cooed when his hands slipped into her robe to give her tits a proper welcome. She turned to face him, taking his rising cock in hand. “I have another surprise for you!” she said as she knelt, taking him in both hands now, then quickly into her mouth.

“Oh, Maria, Love!” he said with his fingers entwined in her hair. Despite being unable to get all of him in her mouth, he remembered how she’d always made up for it with enthusiasm.

He was well on his way to another cumming when suddenly he felt her nose against his abdomen and then realized his cock was deep in her throat. She gagged a couple of times, but that didn’t stop her, and soon she was sucking him like a porn star.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed and warned her with, “I’m gonna cum, Maria!” Still, she continued, disregarding his warning. Holding on tight, he warned her again, but she looked up at him with a smile in her eyes and her hand on his sac, triggering his release just as the oven timer pinged. “Wow, you’ve never done that before!” he said as she smiled and licked a bit of cum from her lips.

“Mmm, looks like something else is ready to eat, too!” she joked as she stood and kissed his surprised face. She would have told him that Alicia had taught her that new trick but didn’t want to do anything to spoil the incredible mood. “Get the wine, Babe?”

They sat directly beside each other, wanting to remain close while they ate, occasionally feeding each other a morsel or two like newlyweds. They didn’t have to say much; their eyes and actions said it all. Both were incredibly thankful for this second chance, and Maria’s love grew greater because of Nathan’s total forgiveness, knowing that many, perhaps most, men wouldn’t have tolerated her former behavior, let alone forgive it.

“Sean’s at my mother’s,” she said as they’d finished their meal, sipping the remainder of the wine.

“I figured as much,” he replied.

“I’ll pick him up at nine. While I’m gone, you can get his presents out of hiding so we can put them under the tree once he’s asleep, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan. That leaves us just over an hour!”

“My thoughts exactly! Wanna take me to bed and fuck me silly?” she said with a light touch of her lips to his.

“Mmm, I’d love to! And don’t call me silly!” he joked.

She slapped his shoulder yet hugged him tightly, grateful that another part of his character had been revived; his Groucho-esque sense of humor.

They returned to the bedroom, threw off their robes, and literally jumped into bed. Minutes later, Nathan’s face was again between Maria’s thighs, giving her one orgasm after another, with another deep-throat adventure between.

Maria laid face down on the bed, with her head on her folded arms, and lifted her hips, an invitation to one of their favorite positions. Having just had his face sat on, Nathan was more than ready and remembered this position.

Between her spread legs and supported on locked arms above her, he eased into her syrupy wet pussy in one long, slow thrust, with her hips falling to the bed again. She lifted her hips as he withdrew like she was pushing him out. He’d fill her again once she’d fallen back to the mattress, starting the cycle again with her ‘pushing’ him out. Their bodies moved together in a beautifully choreographed dance that allowed them to savor the delicious connection.

He loved the beautiful smile on her face that spoke of the bliss they both felt. They’d always been surprised at how long they could sustain this wonderful waltz, but eventually, their arousal grew to proportions that called for a more lively dance.

Maria lifted her hips as high as they would go while her head remained on the bed. Nathan’s pace increased rapidly, as did their panting breaths, running and then sprinting to the end with him holding her hips and pounding her pussy with short, jerky thrusts until they came a few seconds apart.

“Oh God … Nathan! That was … so good!” she gasped as he fell atop her while kissing her neck and breathlessly whispering words of love.

They rolled to their sides with his arms around her, his hands gently massaging her tits. They remained in each other’s arms for quite a while, silently thanking whatever divine entity saved their marriage. It was a lovely way to put their reunion on pause while Maria went to pick up Sean.

“Mommy!” Sean cried when he heard his mother’s voice and came running into Grandma’s foyer. She lifted him into her arms and hugged him tightly, sharing her newly regained love with her son.

After a few worries and questions about Santa still finding him since he wasn’t home, she sent him to retrieve the backpack, books, and toys he’d brought with him. With the ‘naughty or nice’ question still in the air, he ran off obediently, lest Santa leave coal in his stocking.

“How did it go, Maria?” her mom asked, though the answer was obvious. Her body radiated happiness.

“Oh, Mom! It was magical!” she started, tears flowing when she told of Nathan’s forgiveness.

“I told you he’s a good man. You should have trusted him.”

“I know,” she cried. “I can’t wait to get back to him!”

“Seems like you should thank Alicia for her part,” she said. Maria had always been very open with her mother, including her escapades with Alicia.

“I know that too. Thank you, Mom! So much!” she said as she hugged her mother, who’d always been a great source of support. She’d listened to and advised her daughter when she asked for it, never condemning her bisexuality.

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Maria and Nathan are finally together again, but will they find room in their lives for Alicia? I really appreciate 'Likes,' 'Favorites,' and comments if you enjoyed my story and ... THANKS FOR READING!