“You are all out of touch,” Marisa chimed in, while twirling around in her cream sauce-colored toga gown. “She’s flat out in love with Nick and he with her, except he had another date to get rid of.”
“I knew something was up when he bought the flowers.” Terri put a comforting hand on Carol’s shoulder. “Trust me. I know why men buy flowers. Nine times out of ten it’s guilt.”
She was full-figured, but the royal blue silk dress she wore with a spiral twist at the waist and a full skirt highlighted her sexy curves.
“Not Ken,” Jolie, the pretty pink princess with the baby bump, said while patting powder on Carol’s nose. “Ken buys flowers because he wants to tell me a story. Each flower has a special meaning behind it.”
“The yellow roses were special,” Carol admitted. “But even better was his message. He said he’s devoted to me.”
“Oh, I could totally tell.” Terri chuckled. “He had that lost look, like part of him was missing and he was hoping the flowers would magically bring you back.”
“I’m still confused.” Nikki blinked, looking from one Bumblebee to the next. “I thought you guys said he had a date with the lawyer.”
“That was a fake date,” Marisa hotly contended. “I saw it a mile away. Brianna was blackmailing Nick.”
“How do you know all this?” Carol jerked her face up, causing Jolie to etch a line down her eyelid to her cheek.
“Why, Jason is a client of her firm. After Brianna went into the fire station, he told me she was part of a project to get Nick to come clean.”
“Come clean?” Carol dropped her jaw, and the lipstick Jolie was applying went flying to the floor.
“You have to stay still,” Jolie screamed. “How am I going to fix everything if you’re always moving around?”
“I’d like to know what Brianna hoped to gain by forcing Nick to date her,” Carol grumbled. “Why would she blackmail him if she wanted him to come clean? And to who? Is Nick in some sort of trouble?”
“Maybe it was an intervention of some sort,” Leanna said. “Or something her therapist told her to do.”
The bathroom door swooshed open and Patricia rushed in. “Carol. There you are! I tried to hold the fort as best as I could, but they’re waiting for you to do the keynote speech.”
“One minute.” Jolie’s hands fluttered through her makeup kit.
“It’s okay,” Carol said. “As long as I don’t have lipstick on my teeth, I’m good.”
“All of you need to get out there.” Patricia crossed her arms. “Your dates are eating up all the food.”
“Sure, sure! Give us a minute.” Nikki bent over and gave Carol a hug. “We didn’t get a chance to take pictures out front, so before we go, let’s get a group shot. Thanks for the dress. You’re such a good friend, and I’m proud to be your Bumblebee sister.”
“Yes, thanks so much.”
“You surprised me.”
“You’re the best. I couldn’t believe how thoughtful you were.”
“Love you so much, Care.”
“I was so touched when I found out you’d bought me the dress.”
Crowding around, each friend patted Carol and air-kissed her.
“I’ll take the picture,” Marisa volunteered. “You all stay still and …”
“No, you’re one of us now.” Carol waved at her. “We voted you in today. Let Patricia take the picture.”
“I can do that, but this has to be quick,” Patricia said, clearly nervous about the schedule. She took the camera from Nikki, and then everyone gathered around Carol.
“I’ll use burst mode, so say cheese.” Patricia held the camera in position.
“Bumblebees buzzzzzz!”
Carol threw her head back and laughed with the rest. She looped her arms around their waists and they leaned to her level. She belonged here with her Bumblebee friends. They didn’t just accommodate her and her wheelchair, they fully embraced her and all her abilities.
Carol finished her speech to a rousing and thunderous applause. She raised her fist in a victory sign and instead of giving her a standing ovation, everyone pumped their fists and hooted.
“You killed it!” Nick put his arms around her when she wheeled back to the head table. “I’m so proud of you.”
“Can you believe I was nervous the entire time?” Carol shrugged her shoulders in relief. “But everyone seemed receptive.”
“That’s because it’s a great cause, and you’re a convincing speaker,” Nick reassured her. “Want coffee and dessert?”
Up front, Nikki was presenting the awards to the children who participated in Wheelympics activities, and this was Carol’s chance to get away and change before the Santa showed up.
“Actually, I need to take a short break,” she said. “Do you remember where you put my overnighter?”
“In the cloak room next to my duffle. I’ll get it for you.” Nick winked and gave her a kiss.
Carol had about forty-five minutes to change out of her evening gown and surprise her friends as the elf. Problem was, she didn’t want to twist and turn and ruin her evening gown, and she didn’t have Marisa to help.
Her sister was at the extra table the club had set up where Jason, Brianna the lawyer, and Jason’s three firefighter friends were sitting. While making her speech, she’d circled the table and everyone there was friendly and encouraging.
So why did she keep thinking another shoe was about to drop?
Nick returned with her overnighter. He wore a sneaky smile on his lips and his eyes twinkled when he set the bag on her lap. “I know I’m not supposed to snoop, but, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, you know, there is a Santa out there somewhere looking for a Mrs. Claus.” He grinned from ear to ear. “Do you need any help putting that on?”
“Actually, I do. But where could we change?”
“There was no one in the cloak room.” His eyebrows wiggled. ‘I’m sure we won’t be disturbed in there.”
There he went again, lacing every innocent remark with a suggestive hint.
Carol swallowed a mouthful of drool and nodded. They departed the table without meeting the eye of any of her friends, who were clapping and cheering the award ceremony.
Click. Nick locked the cloak room and moved aside a rack of coats. He pushed Carol’s chair around the corner from the checkout area, and drew another rack of coats to block them from view.
It was crowded and musty, smelling like wet wool, mothballs, and cedar shelf linings, but at least it was private.
“Nick?” Carol’s voice was tiny. “We’re only changing our clothes in here, aren’t we?”
He knelt down in front of her and ran his hand up the slit of her shimmering evening gown. She shuddered slightly, licking her lips and flashed him a faint smile.
“You felt that?” He swept his hand to her inner thigh.
“Something melted, but I can’t say I felt anything.”
“Ah, but you do have reflexes and I’ve read that there are other nerve pathways to the brain besides the spinal cord.”
“Doing your homework, aren’t you?” She leaned toward him, and he met her halfway with a kiss.
“Always.” He touched her forehead with his. “What you whispered on my lap back at the Toy Drive changed my life. Up until then, I was a jerk, looking out for me, myself, and I. Not caring about anyone. But you touched me deep, told me to consider what it would be like to be you, or Jason, or any one of the children who’d sat on my lap and whispered their dreams in my ear.”
“So you got obsessed with wheelchairs.”
Nick’s lips twisted. “No, not with wheelchairs. But with the injury, how people adapt, and how others react to it. When I look at you, Carol, I don’t see the wheelchair. I don’t see anything but the woman I can’t stop obsessing about.”
“Oh, gosh, Nick. When I think about how you were when I first met you.” She kissed him lightly. “An
d how you’ve changed, it blows me away.”
“I heard about the ‘Nick-hate’ you had,” he said, smiling against her lips.
“They say hate is a form of love.”
“Is that your way of telling me you can’t live without me?”
She nodded, stroking the back of his head. “I fought it hard, didn’t I? Tried finding every excuse to hate you.”
“Including assuming someone paid me to pay attention to you.”
She lowered her gaze and nodded. “I lied to myself because what I felt for you was scary. I’m still afraid, but if I could face living the rest of my life paralyzed, I can take the chance and let myself fall in love with you.”
“That’s all I wanted to hear.” Nick splayed his hand across the side of her head and pulled her in for a deep and wet kiss.
Every hair on his body tingled with need and every nerve jumped with so much warmth and sweet loving feelings that his bones ached—wanting her so much.
He loved her. There was no doubt, and she’d opened the door to loving him, too. She wasn’t quite there, because he needed to earn her trust and show her she was worth loving, one day at a time.
She moaned into his throat and broke the kiss, panting. “You’re supposed to be helping me change.”
“I’m doing that.” He slid his hand down her back and lowered the zipper while nibbling at the shell of her ear. “How much time do we have?”
“About forty minutes.” She sighed and raised her head, giving him access to her neck.
“Plenty of time.” Skillfully, he peeled the material over her shoulder and extracted her arm from the single sleeve, kissing and licking her every inch. Because she had that injury to her spinal cord, sensations in her upper body were enhanced so that his every touch elicited a drawn out moan or a sexy gasp.
The gown had an integrated bra, so it was a simple matter of grasping it with his teeth and lowering it. Poof, out popped the sweetest set of tits he’d ever licked.
“Oh, Nick.” Carol’s body arched back as he latched onto her ultra-sensitive nipple. She threaded her fingers through his hair and held onto his head as he loved on her breasts.
Meanwhile, he lowered the dress to the level of her chair. She put her arms around his neck and he lifted her up just enough to shimmy the dress down below her hips.
He sucked in a hungry breath at the sight of her black lace panties, little more than a thong. Greedily, he dragged his tongue down from her belly button and again, lifting her slightly, he removed her panties.
Her sweet, clean scent was driving him crazy, and the way she writhed and shifted her upper body in the chair gave him the biggest and hardest hard-on possible. He wanted inside her now, but he had to hold back. This wasn’t fucking a girl in the cloak room and getting off as quick as possible, this was making love to the only woman who mattered.
Opening her legs, he moved aside the footrests and dragged her butt to the edge of her chair, giving him access. He kissed and tongued her clit and lapped the sweet juices running between her legs. She was so wet and so hot, but at the same time, soft and sweet, and very much engorged from his touch.
He glanced up at her, and he almost lost his breath. Her eyes were closed, and a sweet little smile winked on her face while she pinched and rubbed her own tits. A rosy blush spread over her chest, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her pointy nipples, so long and erect.
He kissed and swirled his tongue over her deliciously plump clit with renewed vigor. Inserting a finger, he stroked her insides, where the nerves still communicated pleasure.
“Nick, my heart’s exploding and everything feels so hot and so, so good.” She moaned and panted. “Make love to me, Nick. I want to feel you inside of me.”
Her husky voice and the way she vocalized her need had him throbbing almost to the edge. He rose up and claimed her lips, kissing her fast and furious.
He dug into his pocket for a condom and unzipped himself. Not bothering to remove the rest of his clothes, he pushed himself slowly, one exquisite inch after another, rocking gently, into her hot, welcoming body.
She melted around him, holding him close, and for that one, golden moment, neither moved.
He held her gaze and saw his future in her fern-green eyes. He and she, hand in hand, always laughing, always loving, rolling along the highway and byways of life. A home, a family, growing old together, a journey.
Then she did something that shocked him.
She grabbed the pushrims of her chair and using short choppy movements, she rocked the chair, only an inch or two back and forth, in a vibrating, pumping motion.
“This feels … beyond …” Intense pleasure shot through him. “Out of this world.”
He had to slow this down, count backwards, recite the Gettysburg address, anything to keep from shooting into the stratosphere.
His hands flew to her breasts, and he pinched and pulled her nipples until he had her sighing and humming, and throwing her head from side to side.
“Nick, Nick, harder, faster.” She jogged her chair faster, slamming into him.
He couldn’t hold back any longer. The pleasure was so intense, so out of this world, that he could no longer control the quaking building inside him. He could only hope she was right there with him.
His hips jerked on their own, pistoning and thrusting and pushing the chair against the wall.
She let go of her rims and dug her nails into his back, scratching up and down as she cried out, “Nick, Nick, yes!!!”
A deep ache blew out his insides, and he unleashed everything he had, ramming her while his cock pulsed and shot all the love in the universe into her tight, trembling body.
He held her, breathing hard, sweating and knew only one thing. He was gladly and happily forever chained to this wonderful woman.
“I love you, Carol. You are my very own Christmas Carol.”
“And you, my love, you’re my Saint Nick.”
“Not very saintly at all. But I’ll take it. I’ll take all of you for the rest of my life. Single Santa has just found Mrs. Claus.”
Thirty-Eight
Bang. Bang. Bang. Someone pounded on the door of the cloak room while a woman’s voice yelled, “Does someone have a key? The cloak room’s locked.”
“Oh shit!” Carol stared at Nick as he pulled up the zipper of his pants, having presumably disposed of the condom. “I’m naked and someone’s at the door.”
“Quick, here’s your dress.” Nick flipped through the overnight bag and handed her the striped top with the flared skirt.
She slipped it over her shoulders and then propped herself up on her chair with her hands on the hand rails. “Pull it down past my butt.”
Nick yanked the dress down, but the flared skirt was too revealing.
“Your panties are here.” Nick slid them up her legs and again, she held herself up while he pulled them over her behind.
“Is anyone in there?” The person continued to pound on the door.
Hurriedly, Carol rolled up the stockings to cover her dead legs, and Nick put the ruby red baby doll shoes onto her feet.
She heard the jangling of a key ring. “Hurry, where’s my hat?”
“Got it.” Nick placed it on her head while she pulled on the tiny vest.
He then picked up her evening gown and rolled it up before putting it into her bag.
Carol checked to make sure she hadn’t left anything else on the floor. The cloak room was hot with that balmy after-sex scent mixed with Nick’s cologne and her perfume. How were she and Nick going to get past the intruders?
The door opened with a thud, and an elderly man’s voice said. “Don’t know how it got locked from the inside. This is a deadbolt.”
Carol turned toward the doorway. She hoped her hair wasn’t too mussed up and that her face wasn’t flushed. Her lips were probably swollen from the hot kisses and her makeup was a disaster.
Nikki, Leanna, and Sherelle stood there, speechless.
Carol had no
choice but to greet them. “Surprise! I’m passing out the gifts.”
She had no idea if Nick was hiding or standing behind her. All she knew was she had to fake her way out of the closet to give Nick a chance to escape.
Leanna’s nose twitched, and she stepped into the room, fanning herself. “This place is like a sauna.”
“I smell a man’s cologne,” Sherelle remarked with a shit-eating smirk.
“Oh, he’s right there, hiding, and not too well.” Nikki slinked toward a rack of coats and flung the coats aside, exposing a sweating Nick crouching behind it. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t ol’ naughty Claus.”
With that, everyone burst into laughter while Carol quickly exited the cloak room, busted, but thoroughly loved and marinating in that after-sex glow.
Jolie was nowhere in sight, since she and Terri, the only two married Bumblebees, sat at a separate table with some of their guests. Carol had no choice but to touch up her makeup by herself. It wasn’t as if Santa Girl needed to be too dolled up. Maybe no one would recognize her.
She headed for the bathroom and realized she needed to empty her bladder. It had been more than three hours since leaving her apartment. She found the handicapped stall and latched herself inside. Hopefully the real Santa Claus had shown up and was passing out the presents. She’d meant to surprise her friends, but not with the cloak room escapade. Now, they would rib her for the rest of her life.
Carol removed her kit from the bag hanging on her wheelchair and tried to calm her hyperactive heart. Everything’s okay. I did my speech and it went well. I wasn’t supposed to pass out the presents, so that will be okay. The evening’s almost over, and everyone’s having a good time.
She took several deep breaths and inserted her catheter, then waited for it to drain.
Several pairs of high heels clip-clopped into the women’s room, and the doors of the other stalls banged as their occupants closed them and used the toilet.
Carol’s heart took a flying leap when she recognized two of the voices. Her mother and stepmother were talking to each other.
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