by Megan McCoy
“Luce, Izzy, Joni and I are heading out,” Shana said. “School starts early in the morning and while the kids are thrilled if we are late, the bosses aren’t.”
“Thanks so much for coming.” Lucy went around the circle and hugged them all. “Take some leftover cookies with you!”
“I’m heading out too,” Bella announced. “The place looks fantastic. I hope you win!”
“Me too,” Lucy said and yawned.
“Why don’t you head out, as well?” Ellie suggested. “I don’t have to be at work till ten in the morning, and I’ll clean up the boxes and things.” And would be alone with Mike. Win/win!
“You sure you don’t mind?” Lucy yawned again and Ellie laughed.
“I’m sure,” she said.
“Okay, let me go tell the boss man, then,” Lucy headed back towards Mike’s office and Ellie heard soft murmurs as she started packing up.
“Bye, Ell, thanks again, see you soon.” Lucy headed to the coat rack.
“Don’t forget you are one of my spacers in the parade,” she reminded her.
“I won’t!” Lucy slipped into her coat and waved, letting a blast of frosty air in as she went out.
Ellie stacked storage boxes and got the pizza boxes, cups, and napkins ready to toss in the dumpster out back while she wondered if Mike would come out and chat with her. He didn’t though, so she just kept working until things were cleaned up. Well, fine, then. She’d take the trash out and tell him she was leaving. Or maybe she would just leave. If he didn’t want to talk to her, she didn’t need to talk to him.
Grabbing her coat, she put it on, then added her hat and gloves. It was cold out. The trash gathered in her arms, she headed out the side door closest to the dumpster and shivered as she stepped outside. The wind had picked up, it had started to lightly sleet again, and it was simply nasty out. Ellie did not mind the cold, but that biting wind just cut through you. Plus, the sleet hit her just at the wrong angle, and stung her face, the only part of her that was really exposed. Luckily someone had cleared and salted the icy path to the dumpster and she got everything quickly deposited. Turning, she went back to the door, tried the handle and found it had locked behind her. Dang it. She didn’t have her phone on her, it was in her purse in the office. She banged on the door and waited a minute. Now what? She shivered again and pounded some more. What were her options? Front door. She left the cleared path and started walking to the front door; her feet freezing in the sneakers she wore that were immediately soaked.
Mike wasn’t spending the night here, so he would be leaving at some point. Ellie hoped it was soon. As she got close to the front door, she looked up and down the street. Nothing was open within eyesight. Only dark windows showed everywhere up and down both sides of the street. Dang. And other bad words. She shivered hard again, as she blinked ice from her eyes, went to the front door and started pounding on it. It had to be below zero out here.
Banging on the door, and buzzing the doorbell did nothing. Was the man deaf? Ignoring her? She thought they had ended on a high note, but right now she didn’t care if they were the worst enemies in the world. It was awful out here and she was freezing. She couldn’t even feel her toes anymore. What should she do? Why hadn’t she grabbed her phone? Should she walk and try to find one, so she could call her brother? He would chew her butt off, but he would come get her, she knew. But right here there was someone in there, very close who only had to open this door, let her get her car keys and drive home. Of course, she’d automatically locked her car too. She had no idea how far she’d have to walk to find something open that would let her call her brother. She banged on the door again and almost started crying she was so miserable. The heck with it. She decided to walk around the building and see if there was a window she could tap, back by his office. Nope, the only windows were in the front where the nativity scene sat.
Getting back to the front door, she let out a big sob and pounded as hard as she could. One more minute and she’d start walking to, well, somewhere. She pounded every second, starting to count out loud. “One, two, three,” by the time she got to fifty she’d all but given up. She was so cold and miserable she just couldn’t deal anymore. She had to find someplace open. Ten more, she told herself. At least the movement kept her blood flowing.
Finally, the door flew open and a strong arm yanked her in. “Ellie, what the hell?”
“I took the trash out and the door locked.” At least that was what she thought she said, because her teeth were chattering so hard she couldn’t understand herself.
“Where’s the damn control?” He reached over to the desk and turned on the gas fireplace, then pulled her over there and started stripping her out of her soaked hat and gloves, then her coat. “I wish I had a damn shower to throw you in,” he muttered. “What were you doing out there?”
He pulled off his sweatshirt and put it on over her, thankfully, dry shirt.
Ellie could barely think and just let him move her like a puppet.
Mike pulled the office chair over, sat her down to pull off her wet shoes and socks, and then left the room.
She was in such a stupor that she didn’t even wonder where he went, before he was back with a towel. He started rubbing her bare feet, drying them off and getting the feeling back in them, which hurt! Her feet stung and burned, and she started crying again. She never cried. What was wrong with her?
“I swear if you were mine, I’d blister your ass so hard you wouldn’t sit for a week.” Mike’s frustrated words made her cry harder, for some reason. “What were you thinking?”
“The trash,” she managed to say between tears and shivers.
He went to the coat rack, pulled his coat off, brought it over. and covered her up.
It was heavy and smelled like him and for some reason she immediately relaxed under it. She was going to live, after all.
“What about the trash?” he asked, looking at her, and reaching over, wiped the tears from one cheek; that made her whimper.
“It needed to go out,” she sobbed. Why was she crying? She was safe. She was starting to warm up. Her pants were wet, but her feet and upper body were getting better. She just felt, she wasn’t sure what. Guilty? Why? It wasn’t her fault the door locked, it was his. It was his office. A huge shudder ran through her and he kneeled down and pulled her into a hug.
He was so warm and comforting, although the words he whispered in her ear weren’t. “As soon as you feel better, I am going to warm that ass and you will think twice about doing something so stupid again.”
“I wasn’t stupid! I took the trash out. People do it every day!”
“Not in this kind of weather and if they do, they make sure they can get back in.”
She heard the sleet hitting the window harder and started crying again. How was she going to get home? She just felt overwhelmed. Cold, wet and overwhelmed. And tired. She just wanted to be at home in bed. How long had she been outside? She looked over at the clock on Lucy’s desk. It was nearly midnight. She’d been out there for almost an hour. She hadn’t thought it was that long. Yet, at the same time, it had seemed like forever. How stupid was she? She could have walked to her brother’s place in an hour.
“Maybe I was captured by aliens,” she mused. Wait, had she said that out loud? Obviously, because he was looking at her as if she had two heads.
“Aliens?”
“Time loss. I was out there a long time,” she said.
Mike rolled his eyes. “Apparently,” he agreed. “Take your pants off, I’m going to get you a blanket and take you home.”
Take her pants off? What was with that? She was too cold to take her pants off. She just sat there, shivered, and tried to not cry. She would never make it in Alaska. Obviously she didn’t like the cold. Or it didn’t like her.
Mike came back with some kind of afghan thing, like her grandma used to crochet.
Ellie just looked blankly at him.
“I thought I told you to take your pants off,�
�� he said.
She just shuddered and gave out a huge sob. Man, she was tired. Tired of crying, tired of being cold and tired of being scolded for something that was not her fault.
“Stand up.”
She did as she was told, too tired to argue. “Why didn’t you answer the door?”
He unsnapped her jeans and pulled them down and she didn’t even feel embarrassed, just cold and huddled under his coat. “Step out. I was on the phone with Max. He is driving in this crap to take his dog to the hospital about an hour from here that has the treatment she needs. Step out on this side now. So I didn’t hear the door.”
“I’m sorry,” she said and tried not to cry again. Poor Max. Poor dog. “Is he okay?”
“I don’t know,” he said, drying her with the towel and then wrapping her in the afghan and putting her back in the chair.
His frustration level was at a high point. What the hell had she been thinking? She locked herself out of the office and stood outside for a damn hour? Why didn’t she walk down the street or break a window or something? It was five degrees, who knew what the wind chill was, and she was soaked to the skin. He was taking her home and putting her in the shower to warm her up. But not before he taught her a lesson though. Off and on, she acted as if she were semi hysterical and he knew how to deal with that.
She’d started to cry again and he went over and yanked her out of the chair, sat down and put her across his lap. She was too docile. Shock. He brought his hand down on those quite adorable green and red panties. Had she worn them for Christmas decorating? Cute. Very cute. He approved.
“Ow!” she jerked.
“I told you I was going to blister your ass,” he said. He had no intention of doing that, however, this time at least. He just needed to snap her out of this cycle of crying and shock she seemed to be in.
He smacked those pretty panties about five more times until she started to whine and protest, and then sat her up on his lap. “You better now?” he asked.
“Better?” She whimpered and cuddled up against him, sobbing so hard he thought her chest would explode.
Well, now, that didn’t work, did it? He sighed, suddenly exhausted. It was after midnight. He just wanted to be home, but he was taking her home first. Hell, he was staying with her. Maybe they would just stay here tonight. Well, they could if he had some blankets and pillows. Curling up in front of the fireplace sounded really good. But all he had was this afghan from Max’s office, that his mom had made him. They had to go somewhere. Her house it was. As soon as she stopped sobbing.
Chapter 4
Ellie stretched out in bed, feeling warm. Very warm. Why? And there was daylight coming through her window. Oh yeah, she didn’t have to be at work till, wait... What? She rolled over in bed and Mike was right next to her. Why did that feel... okay? All right, she didn’t drink last night, so? Oh. Yeah. Everything flooded back to her and she laid there a minute, reliving things, up till the moment she was sobbing in his lap, half naked. What he must think of her! Why was he here? How was she here? She didn’t remember coming home. That was scary. Shock? Had she really been outside in the freezing cold for an hour? Well, worker people did it all the time, she told herself. Sure, they were dressed for it, but she didn’t die or anything. Why did she over-react like she did? And why wasn’t she reacting to Mike being in her bed?
He was in her bed!
She jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. There was a man in her bed. Seriously, what if her brother came over to check on her? Why would he? He wouldn’t. He only rarely did. He’d call. Where were her clothes? Why did she want to just crawl back in bed with him? He’d spanked her! Could she just block last night from her memory forever? Would it be a funny story in five years? Her brain needed to shut down and now. And she needed clothes. Oddly, she didn’t keep any in the bathroom, so she’d have to go back to the bedroom. After washing her hands and brushing her hair, she tiptoed back to the bedroom.
It was no use, Mike was awake.
“I don’t suppose you have coffee,” he asked, stretching under the covers. What was he wearing under there?
“Of course, I have coffee,” she said, pulling open drawers and pulling on jeans and a sweatshirt, and two layers of socks, her feet were so cold, wishing she could shower, but, man in her bedroom! “Do you think I’m a heathen?”
“After last night, I’m not sure what you are,” he said, propping up on one elbow.
Oh, good, he had a shirt on. She felt better. Or did she?
“I mean, you were kidnapped by aliens, after all.”
Aliens? Oh. Yeah.
She fled to the kitchen to make coffee, glad she had mopped yesterday. Was it yesterday? She didn’t remember. She peeked out the window. The ground looked ice covered. But the sun was out so that would be good, right? What time was it? Seven thirty. She had hours before her first appointment, if they didn’t cancel again, like they had the last three times. She needed to find her phone and look at her texts. But right now, she needed to get him coffee and find out what happened last night.
Did he take anything in his coffee? Shouldn’t she know this? No, she didn’t think he did. Her head still felt a little fuzzy, but, well, after what happened last night... What happened last night? Ellie sighed and poured two cups of strong black coffee and headed back to the bedroom to find out what she didn’t know and what she didn’t want to know. Oh, that coffee smelled good.
Mike was sitting up in her bed, flipping tv channels around, but it was on mute.
She could have used some noise, she thought, as she put his cup down on the end table on his side of the bed. His side of the bed? What was she thinking? Then walked around to the other side, her side, the regular side, the normal side, put her cup down and climbed in next to him. She was so tired of this feeling right, and it hadn’t really ever happened before. But she felt safe and sort of at home with him in her bed. Weird.
“Thank you,” she started.
“You are welcome,” he said, picking up his coffee.
“So. Can we talk?”
“Not really doing anything else.” He reached over and switched off both the tv and the lamp.
She liked the dusky ambiance, it helped relax her for this conversation. “I went outside to take the trash out,” she said. “I sent Lucy home because she had to get up early for work.” Ellie hesitated. “But I wanted to hang around and talk to you.”
“I didn’t know you were staying,” he said. “I was on the phone with Max. He was pretty upset and stressed. Otherwise, I would have come out to talk to you.”
She picked up her coffee. “That is good to know. I was hoping I wasn’t being a fool.”
“You aren’t. Except for the part where you went outside without making sure you could get back in.”
“Who has an automatic lock on their side door?” she asked and sniffed her coffee. She did make good coffee, she must admit.
“Most businesses,” he said. “Don’t you?”
She shook her head. “I only have one door. Up and comer here, not old and settled.”
“Who are you calling old?” He teased back and she relaxed a little.
“I don’t know what to say about last night,” she said. “I just guess I got so cold I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“I guess,” he agreed and sipped his coffee, looking over at her.
“Thank you for warming me up and bringing me home,” she said. At least that is what she assumed happened, it was a little hazy.
“You are welcome,” he said.
Now what? “You spanked me,” she blurted out without thinking.
“And I’m going to do it again at some point, I imagine, if your decision-making skills are as flawed as they were last night. Besides, that was just a couple little smacks to get your attention.”
“Do it again?” Ellie felt flabbergasted. “Um, grown-ups don’t get spanked,” she said.
“Sure, they do. Lots more than you realize.” He smiled at her. “A
nd you will find Santa is a very good spanker. Sitting on his lap isn’t the only thing he’s good for. Naughty big girls go over his lap too.”
“Why?” Why was she fascinated by this conversation?
“Because it works, mainly,” he said, sitting up and throwing the covers back. “And they deserve it.”
She shook her head in silent disagreement and he nodded his. “Sure, it does. Cuts through all the nonsense and gets my point across pretty quickly without a lot of back and forth. Now, how are you feeling this morning?”
Ellie tried to think of how she felt, but all she could think about was being over his lap. Oh, Santa, what thoughts you put in my head! “I guess I feel fine,” she said. Did she? She didn’t know, actually, but assumed so.
“Good. You can thank the heater in your bed last night.” He stood up and pulled on pants that had been on the floor by the bed. Briefs, not tighty whities, she noticed.
“I’m going to work, and then I’ll bring your car back a little later, once I see how the roads are this morning. You stay here and rest up.”
“I can go with you and drive my car home,” she protested.
“No.”
A simple no. No explanation or compromise or anything. Well, she did need to take a shower and eat something, she guessed. And check on her ten o’clock appointment. But seriously?
“Are you the boss of me now?” she asked, not sure if it was a question or not.
“Yeah, I imagine I am.” He walked by and kissed her nose. “You are welcome.”
Ellie sat there in stunned silence wondering how much her life had changed in just twelve hours. Santa sure had come to town, she guessed.
“So, do you know him?” she asked her brother a few days later, sitting his kitchen, as he tipped back in his chair, a thing their mom had always hated.
“I know his partner Max, so I know of him,” Hank said. “Think I might have met him a couple times. Is this a serious thing?” He gave her that look. She didn’t like that look. It meant he wasn’t happy.
