Arms folded over his thin black sweater, pushing out his broad shoulders, his jeans cupping his taut ass perfectly, Matt was a fairytale and porno wrapped up in one.
“Hey.” I strolled up to his figure, getting lost in his raw beauty. “What are you doing out here?”
Vibrant blue eyes shot to me, always filled with a deep primal hunger which made me inhale sharply every time he looked at me.
“Thinking.” His gaze ran down me, gobbling me up, as if he were still famished, before looking back out at the night.
“Do I dare ask?” My hand ran over his bicep. He instantly dropped his tucked arm and wrapped it around me, tugging me into his body with a rumble.
“Just how different last year is to this one.” His large hands ran over my ass, pulling me in tighter. “The married man, who had a kid playing inside, couldn’t fight the pull to come out here. How hard I tried to rationalize my attraction to you. The draw that pulled me like I didn’t have a choice.”
“Because you didn’t.” I pressed into him. “Just as I didn’t.”
Matt’s mouth brushed up against my ear. “I miss him.”
“I know.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “That will never stop.”
“Remembering the other boy makes me feel as I’m betraying my real son, but then it freaks me out when my memories of the other Tim start to fade.”
I leaned my forehead against his. There were no words of wisdom or anything that would speed the healing of his loss. Time might ebb it, but him missing Timothy would never go away.
Here, Scrooge went by Matt Hatter, the single neighbor I fell in love with. Jessica took herself out of the equation, but the few who saw or met the fragile Tim vaguely remember him. The story my neighborhood understood as truth was Matt had lived next door with his sickly son. A widowed father whose son had died of cancer this past year. We had started a relationship, falling in love—some said too quickly since he was mourning, and I was crazy, but they chalked it up to my impulsive nature. I could give a shit what people thought. The rumors of Matt coming to get me at the “fraud facility” were hilarious because none of them came close to the utter ridiculous truth.
Within the month of coming back home, he sold the house, and we moved to New York, starting a business.
My parents tried to avoid the topic of Tim or the first wife, but Matt would freely talk about them. Telling us funny stories from when Timmy was a baby, and he and Belle struggling to figure out parenthood. All they knew about Belle was she was killed in a tragic accident before he moved here. I think it was helping Scrooge heal. Not ignoring his son’s death or Belle’s, but to acknowledge the joy and pain openly.
His fingers went under my sweater, skating up my body, his teeth grazing my neck.
“We need to get back.” My breath hitched as his mouth and hands danced over my skin, his touch still speaking like fire and ice. The connection between us only grew, weaving our tale even tighter together.
“How about we sneak around the side of the house? Fuck you in the snow.”
“We were almost caught earlier.” My head dropped back, his mouth nipping at the skin. A slight scar still lined my neck from the ice pick, always reminding me I survived so much. I also still had one above my heart from the bullet wound. I was thinking about putting a tattoo there. Not to cover, but to add. I loved my imperfections. Like Dee’s, they were my survival scars. They told the tale of who I was today. What I went through.
My story.
“Dammit, Scrooge.” I moaned as his fingers dropped down into my jeans. The man knew how to tease my body in an instant, and we had yet to find any limit of wanting each other. “We really need to get back to the city. Plus, we aren’t good at being quiet. At all.”
“No, you aren’t.” He smirked in my ear. “Had to muzzle you earlier.”
A hot blush burst over my cheeks. He really did. We had snuck up to my bedroom before dinner… then the bathroom after dinner. I was sure my family knew what was going on, but everybody acted as if they didn’t.
It took everything I had to step back, sucking in the frozen air, hoping to cool myself down.
“Come on.” I held out my hand, feeling his fingers thread through mine, his gaze still devouring me. “Let’s go home.”
A naughty grin hooked the side of his mouth as he followed me back inside.
“Guys, we’re taking off.” I reached for my long, gray winter coat, grabbing the bags full of our gifts and a few things I took from my old room.
“I don’t understand why you can’t stay.” Mom sighed. “Why you need to work on Christmas Day, I don’t understand.”
“Get used to it, Mom.” I hugged her as Dad shook hands with Matt. “This is my life now. Plus, we’re spending Christmas Day with Matt’s family.”
“Will we ever get to meet them?” Dad hugged me next, squeezing extra tight.
Matt looked at me, winking. “Someday.”
We knew that day might come to pass, but right now was not the time. I think my mom still tip-toed around me, afraid I’d fall off the secure wall and crack like an egg again.
When I felt the time was right, I would show them that I never lost my mind, though they might lose theirs. Everything I saw was true and very real.
Hugging my sister and Scott while my mom fussed over Matt, handing him more bags to carry, we finally got out of the house.
“Sis?” Dinah called out to me as I opened the car door. Matt still wasn’t comfortable driving since he was born in the time of horses and wagons. He had become a fan of the metro, though.
I looked up at her, an odd sadness flickered over her features.
“I love you.”
“Love you too.” I slanted my head, taken back by her sudden declaration before getting into the car.
Matt climbed in next to me, tucking a bag I handed him between his feet as I pulled out of the drive. We gave my family one last wave before setting out.
“Wait. I don’t think this is ours.” He touched the fabric busting out the top of the shopping bag.
“No, it is.” A salacious smile grew on my mouth, staring out in the dark night. “Is it most definitely ours.”
“I don’t remember opening this.”
“It wasn’t a present from my family.” I grinned, sliding my eyes to him briefly. “It’s a gift from me.”
“To me?” His expression furrowed, tugging at the garment. “I know I didn’t open anything with green and red stripes.”
“It’s something you will unwrap when we get home.”
“Really?” His eyebrow curved, his finger sliding slowly over the material. “Can I peek now?”
“The naughty boys always do.”
He grinned, tugging out the item, holding it up.
“Holy shit.” He breathed. “Is this...?”
“My slutty elf costume?” I still had one hanging in my closet, the outfit I was wearing when we first met. “Thought tonight you might enjoy a stroll down memory lane.”
“You will definitely be going on the naughty list tonight.” Scrooge slid his gaze to me.
“Then you like your gift?”
“Best fucking present ever… Christmas or any other holiday. And I’m not talking about the costume either,” he rumbled next to me, his eyes glowing as they trailed over me. “Now, get us the fuck home immediately, Ms. Liddell.”
The snow glowed with colored twinkle lights from windows and doors, the trees wrapped up with white lights. Peopled bundled up against the chill, and the streets bustled with merriment and cheer. New York was always moving no matter the weather or time. In the quaint streets of Greenwich Village, Christmas Eve celebrations filled the local pub a few buildings down. Holiday music weaved down the street to us as we walked up to the building where we both lived and worked.
The area was one of the most expensive, and I was nowhere close to being wealthy by any means. Santa had made it possible to afford this place. A “gift” he bestowed upon me six months ago as a �
��un-Christmas” present on July 25th. A thank-you, though I still believed I did very little.
My feet stopped on the pavement, my gaze wandering across the crazy sign hanging over the front of the building. I still couldn’t believe it, my dream alive in front of me.
Alice and the Hatter was scrolled in funky lettering pouring out of a teapot into an upturned top hat with a red scarf, appearing like it was blowing in the wind. Tucked through the scarf were subtle illustrations of a penguin, twin elves, reindeer, a white rabbit, and other depictions you’d really have to look close to see. Our family and friends up for the world to see. I couldn’t describe it, but magic seemed to weave around it. Mysterious. Sexy. Playful. Alluring.
The same effect coiled inside the store over every piece I had on display. Like curled fingers beckoning you closer to hear a juicy secret, the store seemed to draw people in like moths. Since the day I opened four months ago, we had been so busy with sales and custom orders, I could barely keep up. It even got more intense when a celebrity living down the street bought one and tweeted about the store. I had to hire two employees and soon we’d be expanding the hat shop with a bakery next door. The two might not seem to pair together, but I never thought having a life on earth and in Winterland would work either.
The bonkers and rational sometimes were the perfect combination.
Matt and I were exhausted, but I ended every day with a smile, knowing I wanted to do nothing else. I looked forward to the craziness of the next day.
“I still can’t believe it’s real,” I muttered up at my store, my head shaking in disbelief. The passion I had for so long but worked in jobs I hated, the sketches that landed me in an institution—it all lead me here. My crazy designs fitting perfectly in New York.
“This is what you can’t believe?” Matt smirked, pressing into me, glancing at the closed store, the windows dark. “Reality is to accept the truth in the unbelievable.”
“Ugh.” I moaned, my head falling into his chest. “You sound like Frosty.”
“Ohhh.” Scrooge hissed, his arms wrapping around me. “You will pay for that insult later, Ms. Liddell.”
“Looking forward to it.” I winked up at him. Scrooge and Frosty would never be friends. It was hard to get them to be civil to each other, but they tolerated each other enough not to kill the other. No longer running the Night Rebellion had turned his focus on getting the landscape of the villages and workshop up to par. Though Frosty spent more time being the leader of town gossip than anything else.
“This time I might have to borrow Santa’s whip.” Scrooge’s hand slid into my hair, his mouth crashing down on mine. Desire. Want. With every kiss he claimed more of me, his mouth incinerating every nerve. He devoured. Demanded. And gladly I gave, challenging him with my own need.
His fingers zinged sparks through my scalp, rushing heat between my legs, my intensity increasing, causing him to growl. We had trouble stopping. Once we touched, it usually led to wild sex in the back room or running upstairs to our apartment on a break. After closing, the display tables and cash register saw a lot of activity.
“Alice.” His voice husky and dripping with lust, his chin clicking up at the sign. “You know someday I will take the ‘and the’ out of the logo.”
Leaving…
Alice Hatter.
My chest hitched with the idea.
“But that’s right, you don’t believe in marriage.” He nipped my ear. “Don’t see the point.”
“If you recall, I also said I’m not against it either. Life will let me know in time.”
“I guess it will…” He grinned playfully. I’d never want to be with anyone else. Ever. Matt/Scrooge was so deep in my soul. I knew he felt the same, but neither of us was ready yet. He still had issues to work out about Belle and dealing truly with Tim’s death. I was happy with our life right now, coming into my own, focusing on my career. We had time, and that someday would eventually turn into today.
His lips captured mine again, hungry and ferocious. Just the way I liked it.
“Let’s get upstairs before they know we’re back.” I tugged on the band of his jeans, pulling him to the door.
Crash!
From inside the store came the sound of things tumbling and hitting the floor.
I didn’t even flinch.
“Too late.” Scrooge grinned against my mouth, his eyes flicking to the side. I glanced over my shoulder, seeing a black and white head peeking from the dark window.
“Don’t worry, Ms. Alice. I got it… It’s not bad… Well, not as bad as last time.” Penguin’s words to us were muffled by the window.
My hand went to my head, and I started laughing. This wasn’t the first time Pen destroyed the shop. He was a bull in a china shop.
Snickering next to me, Scrooge unlocked the door and pulled me inside, quickly locking it behind us. Almost every hat and headband on the display by the window was scattered over the floor. Penguin hopped around picking up hats, but with his flippers he could only get two before they fell back to the floor.
“I got it, Pen.” I bent down, kissing his head before I picked up the items, placing them back on the table. “I’ll reset them before we open the day after tomorrow.”
I had lied to my parents. The store wasn’t the reason for our need to get back to the city. Though I had no doubt we’d be put to work soon.
“So sorry, Ms. Alice. I got bored… and then I waited for you guys… I got bored again.”
“Bored?” Matt scoffed, dropping all our bags behind the counter.
“I was trying to help. I really was, Mr. Scrooge… but I got tangled in the tinsel and ribbon.”
“Let me guess.” I peeled off my coat. “Dee kicked you out.”
Penguin let out a little muffled sob as he tipped side to side. “She yelled at me.”
“Here.” Scrooge dug something out of a bag, handing it to Penguin. The bird’s eyes widened, his beak chattering with excitement. “Ooooohhh, so pretty!” He stirred up the snow inside, humming “Let It Snow.”
It was a miniature snow globe my sister put in my stocking, which oddly had a gingerbread house, along with a snowman and a penguin. Little did she know how relevant those were in my life.
He trailed us into my back office, lost in his new toy. I turned on the light, igniting the tiny room swathed in sketches, fabric, and tools. It had a workspace to create my designs, which was also my desk. Several filing cabinets filled the space, along with a huge calendar. But the largest thing in the room was the mirror leaning against the wall.
We also had one upstairs, which Scrooge threatened to take out because our privacy ended up being interrupted a lot.
The mirror wobbled, rabbit ears popping through. “Fuck! It’s about time you guys got back.” Hare hopped into the room dressed in his frilly apron, his foot hanging around his neck. “Dee is making us all crazy. She’s stepped back into her role a little too well. Tinsel my holly balls, she is on the war path to make this the best fuckin’ Christmas ever, which is making me want to snap her like a candy cane.”
After the battle the year before, Dee worked hard to get Christmas on track, stepping back in her role of running the workshop, but still so much remained to be rebuilt, and there were fewer hands to work at the shop. This year Santa’s Workshop was ninety percent back up and running because of Dee’s determination. Her “warrior” mode had become a little intense.
“She’s telling me I’m not baking stocking treats fast enough,” Hare exclaimed. “You do not tell a chef, an artiste, to bake faster. Oh no, girlie. I am creating art for the mouth. You do not rush that.”
“Hare! Where are you?” Dee’s voice screamed through the mirror.
“Oh fuck.” Hare darted for my desk, scrambling underneath. “Don’t tell her I’m here.”
Dee’s head came through the mirror, wearing a head mic and holding a clipboard, her face set with determination. “Har—oh good, you guys are back.” She nodded at us, pointing down at her pa
per. “I need you guys in gift wrap. Bea will catch you up on what you need to do.”
“Gift wrap?” Scrooge laughed, his head shaking. “Hell no.”
Dee’s lids narrowed on him until he blinked, his mouth snapping shut.
“We are at the crucial hour.” She glared at him, tapping her watch, which had every time zone on it. “Santa and the reindeer are already behind schedule. We still don’t have the numbers we used to, and we have three times more children to deliver to than last year.”
Santa’s Workshop was a lot more complex and high-tech than you’d think. They had a room that looked similar to a NASA control room, which not only kept in contact with Santa, marking his drop-offs, keeping him on the tight schedule, but they had to be on alert for weather, planes, and other complications.
The size of a warehouse, gift wrapping was like a conveyor belt of people working seamlessly together, making it look far easier than it was. The one time I tried, I quit within fifteen minutes, not able to keep up.
The actual “workshop” was a lot smaller now since not many toys were “made” anymore, except for items like stuffed animals, wooden toys, and dolls. The largest room was filled with bikes, electronics, and toys gotten from a store and held there.
“Hare, I know you are hiding under the desk,” Dee called out, rolling her eyes. “We need another twenty-dozen chocolate Santas and snowmen.”
“No.” His voice squeaked. “You can’t make me, Fräulein Miser.”
“Miser?” My mouth dropped open.
“Yeah. You know the Miser brothers?” Hare replied.
“As in Heat and Snow? Those Misers?” I peered up at Scrooge. “They aren’t real, are they?”
“You really want me to answer that?” He smiled at me, then shook his head. “Don’t even get me started on those douchebags.”
“Come on! Chop. Chop.” Dee’s foot tapped on the wood floor.
“Bad choice of words there.” Hare scoffed from the desk.
“Time is ticking. We have a lot of work to do before we can relax for a day.”
Ascending From Madness Page 37
