The Most Valuable Gift

He tore his eyes away and rushed after the rampaging kids missing how she bit her lip as she watched him.

They spent the next two hours digging the boxes out of the basement, assembling the tree, hanging the ornaments and each of the kids wanted Santa to lift them to hang ornaments up near the top. Once they'd finished decorating the inside of the house they settled down as Santa read them a story then it was off to bed. Each gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug before they went. Ed was glowing with Christmas cheer as he sat with Stephanie in her kitchen.

"That was fun!" Ed said quietly to Stephanie. "Do you have lights for outside? I could put them up too."

"There's a box in the garage. The ladder's in there too."

Ed found the box and realized the lights were the same as Carolyn's. Fifteen minutes later the lights were up and he put the ladder back in the garage.

"Ed?"

He looked over towards Stephanie's red SUV. She was in the back. The rear seats were folded down and she was lying in the back wrapped in a blanket. Ed blinked in confusion. What was she doing in the back of her car in her garage?

Stephanie was feeling a little foolish. She'd watched her favorite movie the previous night and the scene where the brash young artist made love to the woman in the back of a car parked in the ship got her so hot. All she could think of was what it would be like to make love to Ed in a car. When Carolyn called to say Ed was coming over the scene returned to her mind. Now that he was standing right there in a Santa suit looking at her in confusion she felt silly.

He approached and saw she was naked under the blanket. Naked in the back seat of a car. Something clicked in his memory. There was a movie he'd watched with Grace years ago about lovers on a large ship having sex in a car. He remembered how awkward he'd felt with Grace as he got excited.

He reached up and pulled his hat, wig, and Santa beard off. Stephanie's eyes lit up as she saw his confusion give way to a hunger. He slowly ripped open the jacket, the Velcro seam parting noisily, and pulled the belly suit up and over his head. He'd gotten a little sweaty under the padding.

Stephanie watched him exposing his shining, rippling muscles as he lifted the padding up and off and she bit her lip. Then she crooked her finger at him.

Ed kicked is boots off and tugged the pants off until he was standing next to the car in just his underwear. Stephanie moved back as he crawled into the back of the car with her, pulling the door closed behind himself.

They were so close in the back but he was just a little chilly. She touched his chest, not at all turned off by the light layer of sweat there. She found it highly erotic.

He slid his hand around her head and pulled her mouth to his. She gasped as he gently sucked on her lower lip then she was exploring his mouth with her tongue. Her hand slipped down his chest to reach under the waistband of his underwear. Her slim fingers wrapped around the hard shaft of his erection. They both moaned as her fingers stroked the length of his heavy member.

It was a little awkward moving around in the back of her car but Ed managed to free up his hand to move it down her naked curves until he gripped her taut ass. Stephanie gasped in his mouth as he squeezed the muscles and slipped his fingers down between her legs. He found her hot and wet as his fingers dipped inside.

"Oh FUCK!" she cried out and stroked him harder.

Ed pushed his fingers in deeper and her body seemed to be sucking them in further. He gathered the slick fluids on his fingers then pulled them out. He rubbed the head of his throbbing cock with the slickness and pushed Stephanie's hand away as his hand went down the shaft.

"Fuck yes! Fuck me Ed!" she said, trembling with need.

"Are you nervous?" he said, recalling a line from the movie.

Stephanie's eyes flashed to his and a smile spread across her lips. "No. Put your hands on me... Ed."

He kissed her hard as he rolled her onto her back. She had no time to prepare as his cock lined up with her opening and pushed just inside. Her cries were muffled by their kiss but as he slowly stroked in and out, going deeper with each drive forward her voice got louder.

Ed was no longer chilly. The car was heating up from their bodies and the effort needed to make love without crushing the woman in the small space was intense. She felt so incredibly good it was all Ed could do to slow down and stretch out the experience for her.

He gave up on the kiss as Stephanie was too far gone from the intense sensations. He was almost fully inside and each stroke made her cry out. As he released her lips she was finally able to verbalize her joy.

"SO FUCKING BIG! OH GOD, ED! THAT'S SO GOOD!"

He smirked. He was pretty sure that wasn't a line from the movie.

His need was becoming too demanding and his hips began to twitch on their own with each thrust. Their bodies began to slap together and Stephanie's eyes and jaw opened wide though she made no sound. While Ed was still making long strokes each ended with their bodies crashing together. The impact on her clit was obliterating her ability to think. She could no longer speak. Everything was sensation and it was too good. She was very close. She looked to the window and saw they were steamed up just like in the movie. The two perceptions suddenly overlapped and her eyes rolled back as she reached out to touch the cool glass. Her hand was moving on its own as she crashed through her release.

Ed felt her clamping down on his cock and that pushed him over the top. His orgasm rocked through his body as he held her. When he finally came back to his senses his body shook one more time.

"You're trembling," she panted quietly as she touched his cheek.

He smiled as he caught his breath. "Don't worry. I'll be alright." He moved to lie beside her, relieving the pressure on her body.

Stephanie rolled onto her side facing him. She put her arm over his body and snuggled up close as she felt a glow wash through her body. He was so in tune with her it took her breath away.

They lay together for a while longer then Ed felt himself begin to nod off. That was the signal to get moving.

"I'm falling asleep," he murmured.

"Mmmm... would that be so bad?" she sighed in return.

"Depends if you're ok with your kids finding us here tomorrow morning," Ed said with a sleepy grin.

Stephanie moaned unhappily then squeaked as Ed's lips found hers in the dim light of the garage. The squeak became a purr as he nibbled his way across her lips.

"God! You're going to get me going again and you're right, it's late." Stephanie said after pulling away from his kiss.

The inside of the car was positively steamy and it smelled like sex. Ed looked at Stephanie. "Do you have an air freshener for the car? You drive the kids to school in the morning, right?"

She noticed what he was talking about and realized she should have thought about that. They wouldn't recognize the smell but they would notice it. Damn! She'd just have to deal with it tomorrow. Maybe it was time to get the car detailed.

They stepped out into the garage and quickly dressed. Ed gave her another sizzling kiss and she pushed him out the door with a big grin on her face. She leaned back against the door as her body trembled and her heart soared.

Chapter 5

The next two days were a blur to Ed as work became frantically busy. He finished the physical inspections early and started in on the documentation but was pulled aside for other work. As he knew Ed would be unavailable for the entirety of the following week Mr. Drakos had his schedule fully loaded. He was interfacing directly now with the developers of the shopping complex and they had a number of items they needed his help on. He tried to explain that he was really only certified for heating and cooling but blue prints and schematics were being passed by him to review. When he spotted the address of a different build site printed on one of the pages he called them on it and Mr. Drakos got involved. He wasn't too hard on them as he wanted to maintain a good relationship with the group but he made it clear Ed was a resource not to be taken advantage of. And he wanted first dibs on the contract for the new development project they were having Ed review.

All this extra work meant Ed was working past dinner hour for the two days and was pretty tired when he got home. Tonight Rachel told him she was going to give his boss a piece of her mind for running him ragged before his vacation but Ed managed to convince her to let it slide and she headed out to Angie's place.

He was crashed on the couch watching TV with Grace who was resting against his side when the telephone rang. He moved to get it but Grace patted his leg and went for the phone.

"Hello? Hi Stephanie! Yes, he's right here. Is everything ok?" Ed looked over at Grace who was frowning as she listened. "What assholes! Hang on." Grace handed the phone to Ed.

"Hi Stephanie, what's up?"

"Ed, I'm so sorry to call so late but I need your help."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"I just got my new furniture for the master bedroom. They were really late in arriving, took the old furniture away but they just dumped all the new stuff in the center of the room and left. The bed needs assembly."

"Do you have tools?" he asked.

"I think so," she said but Ed heard the doubt.

"I'll be right over."

"Thank you so much!" she gushed.

Ed got up and kissed Grace sweetly. "It may be a late one."

"I have an early class so I probably won't see you until tomorrow night," she pouted.

"Since I'm going to be away for a week we're going out to dinner tomorrow night, just the two of us. We can go to that restaurant with all the cheesecakes. This time we skip the appetizer so we can actually try a dessert!"

Grace's face lit up with a smile and she kissed him again.

He picked up his tool box on the way to his truck and drove over to Stephanie's. She let him in and immediately she saw how tired he was.

"Oh Ed. I'm so sorry to drag you out on a work night. I can see you're tired. Let's just forget it. I can sleep on the couch," she said with a troubled expression.

"Don't be silly. It won't take me long and I'll be away all next week. It's tonight or a week from now." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead and she instantly felt comforted. He set off for the master bedroom carrying his tools with her following.

The new furniture was indeed sitting in the middle of the floor in the large room with the exception of the mattress and box spring which rested against one wall and a very large flat screen TV box resting against another.

"I vacuumed the carpet after they pulled all the old furniture out then they just piled all the stuff here and left." Stephanie complained.

"Not very good service. You should let the store know."

"Oh, I intend to do exactly that tomorrow morning!" she said with a fierce look.

Ed chuckled. "Go get 'em tiger!" That drew a satisfied smile from her.

"We're going to need to make some room so let's move this stuff out into the hall, except for the bed," he suggested.

The two of them were able to get the pieces out of the bedroom and he had her begin removing the plastic wrap on all of those items while he assembled the bed. He really liked the new furniture. It was sleek and contemporary but still solidly built. He read the instructions and realized it was a four poster bed with a canopy. A very romantic look. Compared to the heavy dark furniture the room previously had this was a complete change!

He had Stephanie hold some pieces in place while he bolted them together and it didn't take him long to get the frame built. It would be up to her to put the fabric canopy over the frame. They unwrapped the box spring and mattress and put both in place.

Then they carried the unwrapped furniture pieces back into the room and positioned them where she thought they looked best.

Finally it was time for the TV. There was a wall mount rack in another box so he realized that needed installing. He pulled out his stud finder from the tool box.

"What's that?" she asked.

"It's a stud finder."

She practically leapt over to him and snatched it from his fingers with a giggle. She glanced at it, pushed the button and held it against his chest. Nothing happened and she pouted dramatically. "It's not working... Stud!" She couldn't hold the pout and began to giggle again. He reached for the device and she slid it away down his chest. It wailed as it passed his zipper.

Stephanie's eyes flew wide and laughter burst from her as Ed rolled his eyes. He plucked the device from her fingers as she gasped for breath from laughing so hard.

"Is that exactly where the bed is going?" he asked. "Once the TV is up that's where it stays."

Still chuckling she walked around the bed and confirmed its location. She nodded at him with a mischievous smile as she bit her lip. He just grinned and shook his head.

He located the studs and mounted the rail on the wall. They unpacked the TV and he installed the two brackets on the back of the TV. He turned to Stephanie.

"Do you want to run the cables through the wall?" he asked.

"Would that mean I wouldn't see any dangling wires?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, I'd like to do that. Is it hard to do?" she asked.

"No, but I don't have all the parts to finish the job. I can make the holes and run the cables through for now but I'll need to come back and add the boxes and wall plates later. To make it look neat."

She nodded with a smile and he took some more measurements. Then he use a small knife to cut two holes in the drywall both next to a stud but one behind the TV and one a foot off the floor behind the low dresser. He tucked all the cables through the top hole and pulled them out the bottom hole. Then he got Stephanie to help him lift the TV in place. Once it was up he connected all the cables. They moved the dresser back in place and he put the cable box and a digital media player on top of that and made their connections.

He stood back and looked at his handy work. He was pleased with the final appearance. The TV seemed to be floating over the dresser. He looked back and Stephanie was finishing up putting sheets on the bed. She looked at the TV and her eyes lit up.

"That looks incredible! Thanks!"

Ed pressed the power button on the universal remote and the cable box, TV and digital player all came on. He bumped the play button accidentally and suddenly the large screen filled with the image of a naked woman riding an equally naked man. It was artfully done but the look on the woman's face left no doubt that she was enjoying the aggressive sex.

Stephanie squeaked and leapt at Ed to snatch the remote from his hand. She hit the power switch and the screen went black. "Yup! The TV works!"

"A little research?" he asked with a coy smile.

Her embarrassment quickly turned to a wicked smile and a nod. She really was an imp, Ed thought fondly.

He looked around the room and realized he was all done. Suddenly a huge yawn caught him by surprise. A heavy fatigue descended over him and he moved to put his tools away. Once he was all packed up he set down the box and yawned once more. His eyes were really bleary.

"Ed, I don't think you should drive home. You look exhausted. You could... stay here with me tonight. I have this brand new king sized bed. Fresh sheets?"

He looked out in the hall and realized he hadn't heard or seen the kids all night. He looked back at Stephanie.

"Sleep over at Carolyn's," she said understanding his unspoken question. "Besides I don't mind them knowing you're my... boyfriend," she said the last word nervously.

Ed saw her watching for his reaction. She thought he'd reject her?

He reached over and pulled her against his chest and felt her relax in his arms. "Yes to both things." He leaned back a little and took her face between his hands. He gazed into her happy blue eyes. God! She had so much love in those beautiful eyes. He felt his own heart responding in kind. He knew now. It was love! She was so energetic, adventurous, and full of mischievous glee he found her completely addictive.

Another yawn threatened to shatter the tender moment and she snorted as he struggled to supress it.

"Get undressed before you fall asleep on your feet!" she grinned. He stripped down to his boxers then looked at her delighted expression. While he had undressed she'd put on a nightie.

"Do you have an extra toothbrush?" he asked.

She nodded and dragged him into the bathroom. He opened the package and they brushed their teeth together. Then they went back to the bed and crawled in.

"I promise tonight will just be for sleeping. I can see you're exhausted. It's just really nice to be able to sleep next to someone after so long," she said with a tremulous smile.

"Now that we're officially girlfriend and boyfriend it's ok for me to tell you I love you, right?" he said quietly.

Stephanie gasped and her eyes filled with tears. She leaned over and kissed him tenderly. When she pulled back tears of joy were on her cheeks. "Yes, Ed! That's perfectly fine to say! It's wonderful! I- I love you too!"

"I was talking with Rachel about my relationships with the six women in my life. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I have strong feelings for all of you but aside from Grace and Rachel I wasn't sure if it was love. You're all so different and my feelings get all jumbled up sometimes. I- I can be kinda slow when it comes to people stuff. It takes me time to understand feelings. I'm sorry about that," Ed apologized looking her straight in the eyes then another yawn overtook him.

Her smile was brilliant. "Go to sleep big man. We can talk in the morning."

He nodded and closed his eyes.

He felt her snuggle in and sigh contentedly then he was gone.

Chapter 6

The restaurant was just as busy as it had been on their first 'date'. That was before they'd confessed their love for each other. It had been a pretend date but it was a special memory for both of them.

Tonight Grace was wearing the earrings he'd bought for her that night and she looked ravishing. She'd been losing weight slowly but steadily as she watched her diet and kept her idle hands busy with her classwork. She had little time to snack as she was completely absorbed with her classes. Rachel had taken her out shopping and found some lovely clothes that fit her less abundant form. She would never be as svelte as Rachel was as it just wasn't in her genes but Ed loved her as she was and she gained an enormous amount of satisfaction from that fact.

Once more they were almost undone by the variety on the menu. Ed ordered the burrito once more and Grace tried something new. They sipped at their waters as they waited.

"Are you all packed?" she asked.

"Yes, Rachel did that for me."

"Is your passport up to date?"

"I still have almost nine years to go on it. Mr. Drakos insisted I get it but I'm not sure why. I have no stamps in it yet."

"Well your first one will be Barbados!" Grace smiled.

"I wish you were coming with us," Ed said sadly.

"You know I can't take the time now. Rachel promised me she'd take good care of you." Grace said taking his hand.

He smiled and nodded then lifted her hand to his lips. Her face got a little flushed at the feel of his soft caress.

Their orders arrived and talk took a back seat to eating the delicious food. Grace did tell him about her classes, her teachers, and some of the other students.

Ed told her that Mr. Drakos told him that he'd realized he'd been pushing Ed too hard all week so Ed got to stick around the office today just finishing up his paperwork. He'd only had to work an extra thirty minutes.

Then he told her about the work he'd done at Stephanie's the night before. He told her that he'd determined that he loved Stephanie and did his best to explain it. She watched him struggle, trying to put into words something that could only be felt. She gripped his hand once more and smiled at him.