Chapter 40 - Naughty or Nice

            Alyssa stared out the window of Nick's Escalade as they pulled away from the condo. It was Christmas Eve and Nick had insisted on coming to pick her up to bring her to his house for the night. She would be staying overnight and he'd drive her back home Christmas night. She supposed there had been a method to his madness in picking her up at the condo. It was closer to him than her house and ensured them a little bit of privacy, something that they probably wouldn't get much of this holiday.

            "You didn't have to come pick me up," she insisted for what felt like the hundredth time.

            "Well, it got me out of the house," Nick explained. "Don't worry. Everything is under control. My siblings are already there and BJ is already working on dinner for tonight." He glanced at her out of the corner of the eye noticing a look of apprehension cross over her delicate features. "What's wrong?"

            "I guess I'm just a little nervous... I've never really met your sisters before and it's been years since the last time I saw Aaron. I'd be surprised if he even remembers me," Alyssa shyly admitted.

            "He remembers you, trust me," Nick assured her. "And the girls are usually pretty friendly. Leslie will probably take you right under her wing. So, you have no reason to be worried." It was a slight exaggeration on his part. He really was not at all worried about Leslie and Alyssa getting along. BJ could be a little standoffish at first, but he knew that once she really got to know Alyssa there would be no problem. He was the most worried about Angel's reaction. She'd made it very clear that she wasn't impressed with Alyssa when Nick had made her aware of their situation over Thanksgiving. Sometimes Angel could be snotty, especially when she felt the need to protect her older brother.

            "Then of course there's Shayla..." she continued. "I still don't understand how you got her to agree to let me spend Christmas with you all."

            Nick smirked. "It wasn't easy. I kind of basically just told her that you were coming and that was that. If she didn't like it she was more than welcome to make other arrangements for Christmas."

            Alyssa looked surprised. "You didn't..."

            He just nodded. "I swear to God... That's exactly what I told her."

            "I didn't want to cause any problems for you. If she's going to be a bitch to me these next two days, I don't have to come."

            "Uh uh..." Nick shook his head. "You're coming home with me, end of story. Shayla will be on her best behavior. I promise."

            "She better be. I don't really think she wants to piss off a hormonal pregnant woman," Alyssa toughly replied. "She'll be sorry if she does."

            Nick just laughed at her attitude. "I love it when you sound all feisty."

            Alyssa just rolled her eyes. "You better not talk like that in front of anyone else or you'll blow our cover."

            "I'll have to try my hardest," he promised as he continued to speed in the direction of his home.

************

            They arrived back at Nick's house a little while later and Alyssa timidly followed Nick in through the door, almost hiding behind him. "I'm back!" he shouted.

            The only one of the Carter siblings to immediately appear was Aaron. Alyssa found him almost unrecognizable compared to the young teenager she remembered him as. He'd shot up in height and was now nearly as tall as Nick. "Wow... You're a lot bigger than I remember," he remarked, taking in the sight of her large, pregnant stomach, but then immediately reddened when he realized how it had come out sounding. "I mean, you're supposed to because you're pregnant. It's just a bit of a shock," he clarified.

            Alyssa just laughed, knowing that Aaron hadn't meant it as an insult. "And you're a lot taller than I remember," she told him as she leaned forward to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "What happened? You look like a beanpole!"

            "Aaron apparently never was blessed with big ole Carter gut like I was, that lucky bastard," Nick explained.

            "Oh, stop!" She told him slapping him on the shoulder.

            Before Nick would respond back, a blonde headed girl rushed towards them who Alyssa assumed was either BJ or Leslie. Behind her sulked in a darker headed girl who Alyssa knew from was Angel from Nick's descriptions. "Hi, I'm Leslie," the blonde introduced herself as she approached Alyssa. "You must be Alyssa." Her eyes settled on Alyssa's stomach and they lit up. Without thinking, Leslie stepped closer and put her hands over her protruding belly. "Nick told us that you're pregnant. You're having a girl, right?"

            "Yea," Alyssa proudly replied. She wasn't too uncomfortable because she was beginning to get used to random people coming up to her and wanting to touch her stomach. "If you're pretty still she may even kick for you."

            "Really?" Leslie asked. She stood still and sure enough a few moments later an excited grin came over her face. "Oh, wow! I really felt it. That's so cool! Angel, you've got to feel this," she instructed to her younger sister.

            Angel crossed her arms over her chest. "No thanks. I'll pass," she coolly replied. Was it Alyssa's imagination or was she glaring at her a little?

            "This of course is my youngest sister Angel," Nick quickly jumped in to introduce, relieving the tense moment.

            "Yea, I kind of figured that," Alyssa told him with a nervous laugh. "It's very nice to meet you, Angel. Nick has told me a lot about you." She extended her hand towards hers, but Angel made no move to accept it.

            "Nick's told me a lot about you too." Again there was no denying the icy glare she gave Alyssa. Did I say or do something to offend her? Alyssa found herself wondering. Maybe she's just really close with Shayla and she feels like I'm stepping on her territory? That was probably it. She'd probably warm up throughout the next few hours.

            "Where's Beej?" Nick asked.

            "She's in the kitchen," Leslie reported. "She's still working on dinner."

            "And Shayla?"

            "She's upstairs. Doing her makeup or something," Angel told him with also a hint of disdain in her voice. Was it possible that she just didn't seem like anyone that her brother was involved with?

            "Come on. I'll introduce you to BJ," Nick told her, leading her deeper into the house into the kitchen. Standing by stove, hunched over a mixing bowl was another taller blonde woman. "Beej, I have someone I want you to meet."

            BJ looked up from what she was doing and turned around towards both Nick and Alyssa. "This is my friend Alyssa, Alyssa this is BJ," he quickly introduced.

            "Hello." Alyssa gave her a friendly wave. "It's great to finally meet you."

            "Yea. You too." Alyssa couldn't help, but notice BJ's eyes warily giving her the once over before turning her focus back onto her cooking. Alyssa was a little surprised by her lack of friendliness. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea coming over here for Christmas. So far outside of Nick, only Aaron and Leslie had made her feel even the slightest bit welcome.

            Sensing Alyssa's disappointment Nick put his hands on her shoulders. "Don't mind BJ. She's just not very trusting of people at first. Once she gets to know you, she'll be a lot friendlier. You just kind of have to make the first step," he whispered to her, so that BJ couldn't hear. In a louder voice he announced, "Well, I guess I better go see how Shayla is doing. I'll take your bags upstairs to one of the guestrooms, okay?"

            "Okay," Alyssa agreed. A few moments later Nick was gone and she was left alone with BJ, feeling pretty awkward. Nick said that you'd have to make the first move, she reminded herself as she slowly approached the other woman. "Is there anything I can do to help you out? I'm not the best in the kitchen, but I can try."

            BJ looked up seeming rather surprised and maybe even a little impressed by the offer. "Sure... If you want start peeling those potatoes over there that would be a huge help."

            "I can think I can handle that," she told her as she grabbed a potato peeler and got down to work feeling like she may have just won a small victory.

            "You know... I didn't think that Nick hung out with any girls that were willing to get their hands a little dirty in the kitchen," BJ commented.

            Alyssa just shrugged. "Like I said, I wouldn't say that I'm extremely domesticated by any means, but I do try. I feel bad that you're in here all by yourself."

            "Yea, well Leslie and Angel wind up doing more arguing than helping and Shayla? Well, she's pretty much useless. At least you know how to peel potatoes." Was that actually a little smile she'd just gotten from BJ?

            At that moment Alyssa knew that BJ wasn't as unfriendly as she first feared. It seemed like besides Shayla, the only other member of the Carter clan that had an issue with her seemed to be Angel. She made a mental note to ask Nick about what her damage was later on.

*********

            Alyssa spend the next few hours helping BJ prepare dinner and set the table while Shayla sat around talking to Nick, Aaron, Angel, and Leslie. The two women hadn't exchanged a word outside of very fake hello and how are you's, as if they were desperately trying to save face.  She wondered if anyone else besides Nick could see right through it. She couldn't help, but notice how whenever Shayla caught sight of Alyssa, she'd automatically cuddle up next to Nick or interlock her fingers over his or rest her hand on his thigh. Does she honestly think that's going to upset me? Alyssa wondered. By now she was more than confident that those types of gestures meant nothing to Nick. She just held her head up high and pretended not to notice.

            Dinner passed by pretty uneventfully. The food was actually very delicious and she made a point of letting BJ now. While she was helping her out in the kitchen, Alyssa had learned that BJ was currently attending culinary school and had hopes of becoming a chef and opening up her own five star restaurant in LA someday. The only awkward part of the meal had been when Shayla had tried to make some small talk with her.

            "So, you and Nick have been spending a lot of time together I've noticed," she innocently commented. "It's such a shame that your husband is so far away, huh? It has to make the holidays very rough."

            "It is tough. Especially being pregnant and all, but that's why I'm so glad to have Nick. He's been such an outstanding friend these past few months and he's definitely gone above and beyond for me. I mean I don't know what I'd do without him, especially trying to set up the nursery... That baby furniture is so heavy!" she expertly played off, outsmarting Shayla at her own game. There was no way that she was going to fall into her trap.

            Seeing that she'd been outwitted, Shayla gave up for the moment and dinner had continued on peacefully. After dinner and dessert Nick began explaining a Christmas Eve tradition of their own to Alyssa. "I know in your family you guys don't open any presents on Christmas Eve, but we all open up one of our presents tonight and we save the rest for tomorrow. What we do is we write everyone's name on a piece of paper and everyone picks one name. That name is the person that they receive their gift from tonight. Sounds good?"

            "That sounds like a cute idea! I'm in," Alyssa enthusiastically agreed.

            After the table was cleared off and all the dishes loaded into the dishwasher, they all piled into the living room where the presents already had been piled under the tree. Naturally of course Shayla made big production of pulling Nick onto the loveseat where there would be no room for Alyssa. Alyssa shrugged it off and took a seat on the couch between Leslie and BJ. Nick passed around sheets of paper and pens for them all to write their names and then the pieces of paper where placed in an empty candy tin. The tin was passed around the room until everyone had received a piece of paper. "We usually go youngest to oldest, so we start with Aaron," Nick continued to explain. "Who did you get?"

            Aaron unfolded his paper slowly. "Leslie," he read.

            Leslie got up from the couch and searched under the tree until she found her package to Aaron. It was pretty small in size and sort of an odd shape. Not quite flat, but not really round either. Aaron tore it open to find a new pair of designer sunglasses. "Thanks. These are hot," he told his sister.

            Angel picked Shayla and rolled her eyes a little as she read the name. She opened her package to find a chic looking sundress. "You loved the one that I have like this so much that I thought I'd get you your own," she explained.

            "Yea, so I can look just like you. What I always wanted," she replied with a sneer. Shayla looked hurt, but played it off. Surprisingly Nick did nothing to make her apologize. Interesting, Alyssa noted.

            Leslie picked Angel, who bought her a really pretty coral bracelet and BJ picked Nick who had bought her a special bag designed to carry all of her cooking equipment to and from class. Alyssa almost choked when she heard that Shayla had picked her name. She'd had a hard time figuring out what to buy her since she literally was the girl who had everything and had very expensive taste. Finally, Alyssa had settled on a pair of funky looking brown chandelier earrings she had seen in Lord and Taylor. Of course even Shayla's reaction to the gift couldn't be complete without a little dig at Alyssa.

            "Ooh how cute! Costume jewelry! These look just like all the teenagers are wearing now from, what is that store called again? Oh yes, Claire's!" Shayla exclaimed. "Thanks Alyssa."

            What an ungrateful bitch, Alyssa thought to herself as she unfolded her own paper. She got BJ who bought her a set of fancy silver photo frames that had different baby engravings on them. "I thought that these would be a nice idea. I don't know you very well and I just remember Nick telling me you were pregnant," she explained.

            "They're perfect. Thank you so much. I can definitely use these," Alyssa assured her.

            Finally Nick opened up his slip of paper with Aaron's name on it. Aaron got him a pair of pajama pants with reindeers on them as a joke and a new video game for his PSP. After all the presents had been exchanged, everyone sat around the living room for a little while talking until some yawns began to escape mouths around the room. One by one, everyone retired to their rooms for the night. Nick had set Alyssa up in one of the guest rooms down the hall from him and Shayla.

     "You have your own bath off the room, so if you want to freshen up or take a shower or anything you can," he offered her. "If you need anything at all you can just barge in and ask me."

     "All right. Thanks Nick..." she told him. "Good night." She leaned forward to give him a light kiss on the cheek before she closed the door for the night.

     Nick stood outside for a moment or two wishing that he could spend the night in there with her. For a second or two, he contemplated sneaking into her room later on after Shayla fell asleep, but he quickly changed his mind. It was much too risky. He was being bold enough just by having her here in the first place.

     He headed back in the direction of his own room and closed the door. Shayla had headed up a few minutes earlier and he could tell that she was in their bathroom by the crack of light underneath the door. Too tired to wait for her, he pulled his shirt over his head and began to change into a white wifebeater and the reindeer pajama pants that Aaron had gotten him. He had just finished getting changed for bed when the adjourning door to their bathroom swung open and a flood of light fell over Nick. He looked up to see Shayla's figure in the doorway and froze not sure whether to laugh, be turned on, or be terrified. His wife was provocatively leaned against the door frame dressed in a skimpy red nightie complete with fake white fur trim and a matching Santa hat on her blonde hair. The look actually bordered on ridiculous and for a moment or two Nick almost found himself laughing out loud at the sight. Then he realized that this was no joke. She was completely serious.

     "Santa told me that you've been a real naughty boy this year," she purred as she sauntered over to him. She pushed him onto the bed so that he was in a sitting position and swung herself onto his lap. Her hand slid down the side of his face. "Is that true?"

     Is she for real? Nick wondered. He wasn't sure if he could even play along if he wanted to without cracking up. The outfit definitely was not exactly his idea of sexy and the cheesy lines were totally not Shayla's style at all. What is she doing?

     Shayla was staring at him expectantly for an answer, so Nick had to scramble to think of something to say. "Uhh... I guess so," he managed to squeeze out. I had to have been pretty bad to get THIS a present, he mentally added.

     Shayla's arms hooked around his neck and played with the hairs on the back of his neck. Her mouth suctioned on to his neck, kissing upwards until she reached his earlobe. "Why don't you show me just how naughty you can be?" she whispered, grinding her hips into his teasingly.

     "Uhh... Shayla..." he tried to protest. He wracked his head trying to come up with some kind of excuse to get him out of going through and having sex with her. "You know we have guests and it just doesn't feel right. It's kind of rude."

     She froze for a moment and gave him an odd look. "Since when are you so concerned with etiquette? Besides, it's your siblings. They're all adults. They know we're married and shockingly enough that we actually do have sex occasionally." Her voice dropped an octave or two lower. "Although I think I need a reminder of what it feels like again because it's been awhile."

     "Oh, really?" Nick's voice squeaked. "I hadn't noticed, I guess."

     Shayla raised her eyebrows, but let his comment slide. "Silly boy," she teased with a smirk as her lips drew nearer to his. Aggressively, she pressed her mouth against his, her tongue boldly breaking through his closed lips. Nick couldn't help, but to compare even the way she kissed to Alyssa. Alyssa was much more of a slow, sensual kisser. Even when she was trying to be aggressive, she still was able to maintain a certain level of softness. Shayla on the other hand, tended to become sloppier when she was in control, almost as if she were trying too hard to turn him on. This time was no exception. She continued to roughly kiss him as she rubbed herself in a circular motion over his crotch. For one of the very few times in his life, Nick felt nothing from the movement.
    
     Shayla pulled away for a moment once she noticed that nothing seemed to be going on down below. Looking almost puzzled, she stuck her hand down into his pajama pants and started to rub her hand up and down against him. Still nothing seemed to be happening. "Are you feeling okay, Nick?" she asked sounding concerned. "This has never happened before."
    
     Before Nick could open his mouth to respond, he heard the sound of their bedroom door creak open. "Nick, I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't fi-" Alyssa stood frozen in front of them her mouth gaping in horror as her eyes fell on Shayla and her trashy Santa outfit straddled across Nick's lap, her hand still down the front of his pants. Nick tried to pull Shayla off of him, but it was too late. "Oh, God! I'm so sorry!" Alyssa cried, her face already bright red as she covered her eyes. "Never mind it's not important. I'll just uhh leave you guys alone." As soon as the words left her mouth she was out of the room like a flash of lightening.

     "Alyssa, wait!" Nick called after her, practically throwing Shayla off of his lap. "Shit!" he cursed as he pulled himself off of the bed.

     "Don't tell me you're actually going to go after her now?" Shayla firmly crossed her hands over his chest.

     "I think I should. She's probably mortified. I should apologize or something," he muttered.

     'Apologize? For having a little fun with your wife? It wasn't like we were doing anything she hasn't already done with Sean," she argued.

Somehow I don't think Alyssa has ever dressed up in a sexy Santa outfit for Sean or any other guy for that matter, Nick thought to himself with a smirk. Alyssa never had been a one for tacky dress up outfits. Some classy lingerie, yes. But definitely not to Shayla's extreme. He just ignored Shayla's pleas and stumbled out into the hallway in search of Alyssa. He traveled down the hall to the bedroom she was staying in and stuck his head in. The room appeared empty, but the door to the bathroom was open and he could see Alyssa inside at the sink, splashing water onto her face.

     "I'm sorry you had to see that," he started off, apologizing as he closed the door behind him for privacy. "I swear it wasn't what it looked like." This wasn't the first time that Alyssa had caught him in a position like that and in the past she had a tendency of flipping out on him. He wasn't sure if she was upset at the moment or just extremely embarrassed.

     Alyssa looked up. The expression on her face was unreadable. "You don't have to apologize for anything. I mean I can't tell you that you can't have sex with your wife if you wish." An amused smirk came over her lips. "I just didn't know you were into any of those trashy outfits, but if that's what turns you on I'll have to just keep that in mind."

            Now it was Nick's turn to turn red. "I'm not," he insisted. "That was the problem."

            "There was a problem?" Alyssa raised her eyebrows. "There didn't look like there were any problems going on in there when I walked in."

            "Well..." Nick paused as he tried to think of a way to explain the reality of the situation to her without further embarrassing himself because the truth was rather embarrassing in the first place. This is Alyssa though, a voice in his head pointed out. She's seen you at you absolute worst and hasn't held it against you, so I don't think she'll be too turned off over this. Still he was flustered as he attempted to explain what had really been going on in front of her eyes. "Let's just say that the whole sexy Santa look wasn't really doing it for me..."

            Alyssa gasped as she sank back down on the bed and tried to keep herself from laughing when she realized what he was getting at. "You mean that you couldn't...?"

            "Yea..." he quickly answered her before she could complete her question as he looked away, his cheeks flaming.

            "Wow... She must've been pretty pissed," Alyssa sympathetically commented, feeling his embarrassment. "That's never happened before, at least not with me." She smirked in his direction trying to assure him that she wasn't the least bit upset with him. It gave her a strange sense of satisfaction to hear that Shayla was unable to get him aroused, something that Alyssa had never seemed to have a problem with. "But then again red silk and faux white trim don't exactly make a very sexy combination. I'd probably be turned off too."

            Nick relaxed and lightly laughed seeming relieved that Alyssa was neither mad nor disgusted at him. He plopped down next to her on the bed. "Yea... I don't think I'll ever to be able to look at a picture of Santa Claus the same way ever again."

            Now it was Alyssa's turn to laugh. "I never knew that Shayla was such a fan of dress up. She strikes me as way too classy for that. Where did she get that outfit? The seasonal lingerie department of Wal-mart?"

            Nick shrugged. "No clue and honestly this is the first time she's ever done anything like that. It shocked the hell out of me and not in a good way."

            "Sure..." Alyssa's voice teased. "I'm sure she has an entire closet full of kinky little outfits. Like a pleather French maid uniform and one of those naughty flight attendant get ups."

            "If she does I certainly don't know about it," he insisted. "Seriously though... You know that's not what I like. The only night of the entire year you can pull off one of those is Halloween."

            Alyssa eyed him flirtatiously. "So then what do you like?"

            Nick was a little thrown by the forwardness of her question. "Uhh... In all honesty? I'm good with just a real simple, sexy piece of lingerie." He stopped and smirked. "Or just bare skin."

            Alyssa grinned as she turned towards him. "Now that definitely sounds more like my style." Her voice dropped down into a sultry tone and she pressed her hands on top of his thighs, her mouth slowly moving towards his.

            Nick closed his eyes, his mind being swept up in old, intimate memories the two of them had shared. Alyssa was right. She'd always been very classy, sexy. Never the least bit trashy. He could smell the scent of her skin as she neared closer to him. He felt the heat of her breath against his mouth as their lips now were only half an inch or so apart. All he'd have to do is move just a tiny bit closer... Then he remembered that they were still in the guest room of his house and his wife was just down the hall. If he allowed himself even one kiss he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop. Very reluctantly he pulled away with a sigh. Alyssa looked up at him with questioning eyes. "We can't do this here. It's not a good idea," he explained. "Too risky."

            Alyssa just slowly nodded. "I understand. You should get back to Shayla."

            "Yea, she's going to start getting suspicious of why I'm in here so long." He stood up from the bed. "Goodnight Lyss. See you tomorrow morning."

            "Night." Alyssa smirked and tried to stifle a little chuckle as she noticed the tent that had formed under his pajama pants. Obviously the problem wasn't Nick at all. Alyssa had barely done anything and she'd managed to get more of a reaction out of him than Shayla.

            Nick must have noticed her amused expression because he just looked at her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

            "Nothing," she managed to say without laughing. "Goodnight Nick."

            Nick left the room and crept back into his bedroom which was now silent. Shayla was already in bed her back faced away from him. She's changed out of her ridiculous Santa outfit into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She appeared to already be asleep. Whatever, he thought to himself as he slipped into bed beside her. Just as well. I don't feel like dealing with her right now anyway. Just to appease her though he curled up next to her body. He closed his eyes and within a few minutes he was drifting towards sleep.

            Shayla was wide awake the whole time and the moment she felt Nick get underneath the covers her eyes flew open and her mouth fell in shock. He really hadn't left for that long of a time, but Shayla immediately felt one major difference. He's hard, she realized. He couldn't get it up for me, but he goes in to see his pregnant ex-girlfriend for a few minutes and it's instant hard on? Something definitely wasn't adding up here. He couldn't have lost any bit of physical attraction he'd ever had for her, could he?

            What am I doing wrong? she wondered as frustrated tears burned her eyelids.