“I’m going home,” I muttered. “I’m tired, my feet hurt, I’m hungry, and I just want my bed.”
“So dramatic,” she muttered behind me. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Paul and I are going to stay and tidy up so we don’t have to do it tomorrow.”
I couldn’t contain the giggle when I saw Paul’s face drop in disappointment at her words.
He narrowed his eyes at me in warning, obviously having heard my giggle. A smirk appeared on his face before he nodded his head at the doorway.
“Have fun walking home.” He took Emma’s hand and pulled her over to where some leaflets were littered on the floor.
I frowned, wondering what he meant before I shook my head and left them to it, too tired to wonder what he meant. I walked outside, cringing when I felt the cold wind blow against me.
Why didn’t I bring a damn coat?
I began walking down the path, regretting my decision to come in only my outfit when I saw someone standing at the end of the path.
Great, last thing I needed was some weirdo hanging around after hours outside a children’s and parent’s event. This is why I should have a car. Less chance of bumping into random strangers.
Before I could look away, the stranger turned around, surprising me when I saw who it was.
“Hey, sugar.” Jack grinned at me, staring at my striped legs before making a slow path up my body. He stopped at my chest before he looked up to my face. “You make one sexy elf.”
I laughed, feeling embarrassed. Fuck he was so damn sexy.
What the hell do I say in response to that?!
Chapter Four
Jack
Staring at Faith, I grinned when she ducked her head, hiding her blushing face from me.
Whenever I imagined being with Faith—just me and her—I never imagined she’d be a blusher. I loved it. I couldn’t lie. It made me wonder if she blushed all over. I looked down at her chest, wondering how far down I could make that blush travel if she would let me.
“Stop staring at me like that!” she snapped suddenly, surprising the hell out of me before she stormed past me.
“Like what?” I grinned, loving how much sexier she looked when she was having a tantrum. “I’m just saying you make a sexy elf.” I looked down at her legs, wondering how far up those stockings went.
She blushed at my comment before she spoke.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered. She wrapped her arms around herself and I knew she was probably a little chilly wearing only that outfit. “I’m just tired. My bitchy side comes out when I’m tired.”
“It’s cool.” I shrugged out of my coat and slipped it over her shoulders.
Her eyes moved down to my chest before a small smile appeared on her face.
“Thank you,” she whispered. She slipped her arms into the sleeves, chuckling when they hung down past her hands. “What about you?” she asked. “That jumper doesn’t look very warm.”
“I’m fine.” I shrugged my shoulders, not liking the idea of her worrying about me like that. No one had worried about me like that for a long time and I wasn’t really sure how I felt about it. “I’m not very cold.” I slipped my hands into my jean pockets, loving the way that her eyes followed the actions.
I was enjoying having her eyes on me. More than I thought I’d like.
We walked the rest of the block in silence. She looked lost in her thoughts and I was eager to know what they were. That surprised me a lot because I never gave a fuck what a woman was thinking when I was with her. When I was with a girl, it was just sex. Plain and simple. With her, though . . .
With her, I wanted to know what she was thinking.
“Well, this is me.” She came to a stop and pointed at her building. “Thank you for walking me home, Jack.” She slipped the coat off and held it out to me. “Thank you for lending me your jacket.”
I reached out and grabbed it, freezing when our fingers touched. I loved the spark that shot through me at the action and as I looked at her, I let myself believe that she may have felt it as well.
“Fancy a drink one night?” I smiled down at her, not wanting to laugh at how out of place she looked. Not just in the outfit but with that ridiculous hat on her head.
“Jack.” She sighed before pulling the hat off her head. She must have unconsciously agreed about the hat. “I don’t think we should do that.” She shook her head at me and I hated that she looked so miserable when she said that.
“Why not?” I asked. I grasped my jacket tighter in my hand and let my arm drop to my side.
I don’t think that I had ever had a woman turn me down before.
“Because.” She reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair that had fallen free of her plaits back behind her ear. “I’m not some fuck buddy, Jack.”
I wasn’t prepared for the shot of anger that travelled through me when I imagined her being someone’s fuck buddy. I didn’t like it. She wasn’t going to be anybody’s fuck buddy if I had anything to say about it.
“I know,” I agreed.
She nodded at me and I hated that a shadow of hurt travelled across her face. She turned away from me but before she could get too far, I grabbed her wrist, stopping her from getting too far away from me.
“Come out for a drink with me,” I said, repeating my words. “One date. One chance. I promise I won’t screw it up.” I stared into her eyes, trying to be as honest as I could with her.
She was right when she mentioned fuck buddies. That’s all I knew. I had never been in a relationship and had never had anything longer than a couple of weeks with another woman.
I don’t know why I was thinking about anything long-term with her. It was likely we’d have nothing in common and would only cause heartbreak for the other but all I knew was that I couldn’t continue having a one-handed relationship with the shower fantasy version of her.
I wanted more and I wanted it with her.
She stared back at me for a moment before she slowly nodded her head.
“Okay,” she whispered. “One chance.” She stepped away before she trailed her fingers across my palm. “It should be interesting.” She turned to the door and took a step closer to it.
“Interesting how?” I asked, confused by her choice of words.
“I’m not like those other girls you’ve dated before, Jack.” She raised her hand and gave me a small wave before she disappeared inside.
I turned away, giving myself a mental fist pump before my phone vibrated in my pocket with a text message from Paul.
“Won’t be home tonight. Staying at Emma’s. How did it go with your elf?” – P
He was such a nosey fucker. He and Emma made a good pair. Knowing him he’d probably drop a hint in front of her when the two of them got back to Emma and Faith’s apartment and try and embarrass her.
“Got myself a date. Don’t embarrass her.”
I placed my phone back in my pocket and shrugged my jacket on before I walked the rest of the way home in silence. I could feel my phone vibrating with incoming calls but I didn’t bother checking it. I had a feeling it’d be a female and after tonight with Faith . . . No way was I going to do anything to fuck it up.
I heard her clearly. One date; one chance.
Entering my building, I ran up the stairs, concerned I’d get busted in the hallway by the nympho in the apartment at the top of the corridor. She made me look like a saint. She was a cougar and I think that she had a different man with her nearly every time that I saw her.
Ducking in through my doorway, I frowned when I saw the answering machine flashing.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, looking down at the flashing number. Nine fucking messages.
I shook my head, pressing the delete button, not in the mood to go through them. It made me an asshole but I didn’t care. The only girl I was interested in was Faith and I was determined not to screw it up.
Chapter Five
Faith
“Morning,” I muttered as I walked out of my b
edroom. I lifted my hand in a wave at Paul sitting at our worktop, still dressed in his t-shirt and pajama bottoms, eating a bowl of cereal. I looked down at my pajamas—strappy top and pink and white spotted bottoms—and took a seat next to him.
“How long have you been up?” I asked him.
“Not long.” He shook his head at me before he reached for an empty bowl in the middle of the worktop and poured some crunchy cereal before drowning it in milk. “Here you go.” He slid the bowl in front of me before offering me a spoon.
“Thanks.” I took it off him and spooned some into my mouth. “I love that you know I need lots of milk in my bowl.”
He laughed at my wording before he shrugged his shoulders dismissively.
“Well, we’ve done this a few times. I should have figured it out by now.” He grinned down at me before he spooned some more flakes into his mouth.
“Good morning sunshines!” Emma greeted us as she came out of her bedroom already dressed for the day. She was in what I referred to as her ‘business suit dress’. Her hair was curled and she had a full face of makeup on. “You’re looking so happy today, Faith,” she said in a dry tone. “Morning, sweetie.” She bent down and kissed Paul before she ruffled my hair as she walked past me. “Did you have fun last night?”
“Tons,” I muttered.
“So.” She took the stool next to Paul, leaning her elbow on the worktop and holding her chin. She gave me a sickly-sweet smile before she asked the question she’d probably been dying to ask me since she and Paul came home last night. “I hear that someone has a date.”
I glared at Paul, cocking my head at him. “Really?” I muttered.
“What?” He laughed at me, holding his hands up. “I only mentioned it.”
“Right.” I spooned the last bit of cereal into my mouth before I stood and dropped my bowl and spoon in the sink. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Will we see you at the workshop this evening?” Emma called after me.
“Like I have a choice,” I muttered quietly.
“I heard that!” she yelled. “5:00 p.m. We start at half-past.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I closed my door, cringing at the day ahead of me.
I had a long day of working in the local council’s estates office manning the phone and boring data entry work before I’d be back in my jingling outfit. I think I must have been a total bitch in my past life because karma really had it in for me.
It was hours later and I was locked in the ladies’ toilets at Santa’s workshop, fixing the stupid green hat on my head. These next two weeks leading up to Christmas Eve couldn’t come fucking fast enough if you asked me.
I jumped in surprise when a loud banging noise came from the door.
“Faith, I need you!” Emma shouted through the door.
“What is it?” I called, unlocking the door and yanking it open. “What is it?”
She looked freaked out and was pacing outside the door.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. I pulled her into a hug and rubbed my hand up and down her back, trying to calm her. “What’s wrong?”
She pulled back from me.
“My Santa has just put his resignation in.”
“What?” I shrieked. “Why?” I looked past her, seeing Paul standing at the doorway. “Do you have another Santa?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond. I walked past her, going straight past Paul to find out what the hell was going on.
Nick was standing in the middle of the workshop dressed in normal clothes.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“I’m sorry, Faith.” He slid his coat on before dropping his hands at his side in a defeated gesture. “I have to travel out of town. My mother has taken a nasty fall and I need to go and see her.”
“Oh.” My shoulders dropped and I knew that there was no way that I could say anything.
I had come in here with the idea of asking him what the hell he was playing at but as I looked at him, I could see that he really didn’t have much of an option. It was his mother. Of course, he had to go.
“I’m really sorry, Nick.” I stepped forward and hugged him, tapping him on the shoulder before pulling back. “If there’s anything that we can do.”
“Thank you.” He looked past me and I knew that Emma and Paul had joined us in the room. “I’m really sorry to let you down, Emma.”
“Don’t be silly.” She walked toward us and pulled him down into a hug. “You get going and let us know how she’s doing, okay?” She pasted a brave smile on her face. “We’ll be okay. Honestly.” She smiled as Paul stopped at her side before he shook Nick’s hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
We waited for Nick to go before I turned to face her.
“This is easy to fix,” I muttered. “Just promote Paul to the Santa position and . . .”
“No,” she said, shaking her head and cutting me off. “I chose Paul as an elf because he’s so friendly and he loves kids and . . .” she paused to look up at him before she grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the other side of the worktop. “He will kill me if I make him Santa. Plus, with all the hours that he works . . .”
I looked past her, freezing when I saw that he was talking on his phone to someone.
“I think I have an idea,” I said.
I walked past her, holding my hand out for the phone in his hand.
“Is that Jack?” I asked.
“Uh . . .” he held the phone out to me before he raised his hands in a ‘backing off’ gesture and walked over to Emma.
“This is Faith,” I said into the speaker. “I have a huge favor to ask of you. How quickly can you be at the workshop?”
Chapter Six
Jack
Standing outside the back door to the workshop, I was waiting to see why the hell I had been summoned to my version of hell. When Faith’s sweet voice came on to the line, I was intrigued. She knew how fond of this place I really wasn’t so the fact that she wanted me here had my thoughts going in two different directions.
“You’re here!” She opened the door and quickly closed it before pressing her elf-dressed body up against it. “I have a humungous favor that I need to ask of you and I need you to say yes.”
“Not sure I like the sound of that.” I chuckled when she ducked her head to the floor. “Yeah, I’m really not going to like this, am I?” I stared at her waiting for a response. “Ask and I’ll see,” I added, trying to make her comfortable enough to just say whatever she had brought me here to say.
“Okay.” She nodded at herself before she looked up at me. “I need you to fill in temporarily as Santa at our workshop.”
I stared at her for a moment before a loud laugh escaped me.
She rolled her eyes at me before she crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side waiting patiently for me to stop laughing.
“I’m sorry.” I chuckled again before giving her a serious look. “I’m just trying to think of all the ways I can say no.”
“Please!” She clasped her hands together and rested them beneath her chin, begging me to change my mind. “I need you to do this. There’s no way that I can let her down.”
“The way I see it, if there’s no Santa you win.” I waved my hand toward her, indicating her outfit. “You get out of elf duty and can go back to your normal routine.”
She blew out a breath before she pushed back off the door and walked toward me.
“Jack, I can’t let her down.” She stopped in front of me and looked up at me, her beautiful eyes shining up at me. “She needs this. I have known Emma for seven years and I have never let her down. I don’t want to start now.” She reached down for my hand and gently grasped my fingers. “Please . . . Say you’ll do it.”
I groaned, leaning my head back against my shoulders before looking back down at her.
“I fucking hate kids, Faith,” I muttered. “And Christmas. And, to be honest, people in general.”
She giggled at my rambling before she entw
ined our hands and squeezed gently.
“So, is that a yes?” she asked, grinning up at me.
I stared down at her, hating the way that she had me wound around her little finger. I usually prided myself on being an unsociable bastard but when she looked up at me like that—like she trusted me—it made me agree to anything that she was asking.
“This is going to cost more than one fucking date.”
I said it as a threat but when she gave me a sexy smile and took a step closer to me, all thoughts of threats went out of my head.
She let go of my hand and slid both of her hands up my chest before entwining them around my shoulders. The action brought her upper body closer to mine and as I looked down at her dressed in the most fucking ridiculous Christmas costume ever, all I could think about was peeling those stockings down her legs.
“Well,” she whispered. “I was hoping for a lot more than one promised date.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and rested my hands just above her ass.
“And what were you hoping for?” I asked, eager to know what the hell was going on inside that head of hers. If it was half as filthy as the thoughts that were going on inside of mine, then I definitely wanted her to continue talking.
“Well, you know how Santa has a naughty and nice list?” she asked.
I nodded my head, wondering where she was going with that question.
“Well.” She leaned up and kissed the corner of my mouth, surprising me a little with her actions. “I can be a very nice elf.” She smiled at me before taking a step back, trailing her hands down over my chest. “But I can also be a very naughty elf for Santa.”
Fucking minx.
I had been with my fair share of women and none of them had ever made me want to fuck them as badly as I wanted to fuck Faith.
I stepped toward her, loving it when she took a step back. With every step that I took, she backed further up until she was back against the door. I placed my hands on either side of her, grinning down at her. I knew that I was making her nervous but she had me wound so fucking tightly with her flirtatious looks and teasing touches that I was almost ready to burst.
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