Night Before

by Dani Wyatt

  I rub my body up and down, slipping in and out of her opening, keeping the pressure on her slit.

  She closes her eyes and I feel her body release. As she drenches my cock with her orgasm, I press deep, digging as far into her body as I can and letting myself go.

  I come so hard, stars drift through my vision. I’m not sure how long my climax lasts, but it’s the hardest, most intense orgasm of my life, as I deliver my essence deep into her willing body.

  My throat tightens, my heart feels like it’s going to explode, and my vision blurs as we find each other’s lips and bind together in the moment with a deep kiss.

  I take her again when she’s ready. Then again after that from behind, insatiable for my sweet Christmas elf.

  When the clock chimes three times, we are both spent, and I pull the covers over us. As we fall asleep in the middle of the village, the lights twinkle and glitter above us, and my arms wrap around the best gift Santa could have ever delivered.

  C H A P T E R E L E V E N

  Penny

  AFTER MALCOLM WOKE me with his mouth between my legs, he flipped me over and centered me on top of him. He told me to show him just how I’d ridden my pillow that night on the phone when he told me to imagine it was him.

  Even as sore as I was, I did as he asked, and we both came with a shudder, drenching the sheets in the enormous bed yet again before he took me by the hand and showed me to the executive suite at the back of the Village.

  With the swipe of his card, we were inside, and soon cleaning off together in the large marble shower. He washed my hair, soaped my body and—losing my inhibitions—I dropped to my knees and sucked him to orgasm again, feeling strangely accomplished and powerful as he filled my mouth with his cum.

  “Merry Christmas.” Malcolm dries me as I step out of the shower, my legs quivering from the longest night of sex imaginable—and a morning of yet more sex.

  “Merry Christmas.” I smile even as I struggle to keep my feet under me.

  “Did you ever imagine you would wake up on Christmas morning in the North Pole? Smack in the middle of Christmas itself?”

  “Never. It’s a dream come true. In fact, this whole thing is like a dream.”

  “Penny.” Malcolm pauses in the middle of toweling my hair. He’s still naked, his erection still at half-mast even after he came twice in the shower. “I’m going to take you to my party today. Then tonight, you are coming home with me. No arguments. I know we’ve only known each other a short time, but when I thought I’d lost you yesterday...” His voice hitches and catches before he continues. “I’ve never felt anything like that sense of loss.”

  He looks down for a long moment and I watch as his chest fills with a deep breath. He holds it there, forlorn, his hands unmoving now on my shoulders.

  I feel the sadness emanating from somewhere within him. “What is it?”

  “I have felt that loss before, but only once. When my mother died. It was that deep, Penny. I felt the same sort of grief when I thought I’d lost you. I can’t explain it, but it’s like I’ve been waiting for you, and yet I’ve known you all along. Please, tell me you feel the same way.”

  “It’s a Christmas miracle.” I can’t help the giggle that erupts.

  “One more time.” His eyes darken and before I know it, he’s got me up and against the wall, his erection buried deep inside of me. He fills me yet again with another round of cum, groaning his latest release until it’s dripping out of me.

  He’s insatiable.

  After he eases me down from the wall, he begins to run down how we are going to spend Christmas day. We are walking naked, hand in hand, back to the bed. I need to retrieve my costume since I have nothing else to wear at the moment.

  “Okay. So, I’ve got security to escort you around. You pick out anything and everything you want, including a dress for tonight. Don’t even look at the price tags. Take your time, I’ve got to finish my speech for the party, get my tux, and meet with a few of the board members before it begins. Aaron, my driver, will take me where I need to go while you shop. Then he’ll be back here in about twenty minutes, after he drops me off at my apartment. It isn’t far from here. He’ll come back up here, you can dress, and he will take you to the party. I will meet you there.”

  He leans down and kisses me.

  “Oh and here.” He reaches down into his back pocket. “This is a phone for you. Had security run out during the night and get you a phone you can use for now. Tomorrow, I’ll get you a new iPhone from the Apple store, but today is Christmas and all but a few stores are closed. Sorry, it’s not the best, and I always want you to have the best. But at least I can keep track of you and you can call me if you need me.”

  “Thank you.” I take the nondescript black phone from his hand.

  “Anything for you, Angel. What else do you need right now before I go?”

  “I need another shower.”

  “Nope, I’m not going to allow that. I want my cum dripping down the insides of your legs. That’s all mine and fuck if the thought doesn’t make me hot as hell. Knowing my scent is on you. That no one else is ever going to touch you. Not while I draw breath.”

  He watches me as I pull on the dress he brought me. As I slept, he snuck out and grabbed a few things since all I have in the world right now is my elf costume and my purse.

  “Watching you put that dress on, fuck, you’re a dream. I think I should go back out and find something a little less flattering. I trust Aaron, but I don’t know the security people here all that well, and the thought of anyone even having a less than platonic thought about you sends red into my vision.”

  “You just have a thing for elves. It’s your kink. I’m sure there’s a name for it.” I grin teasingly.

  “Fuck.” He shakes his head. “You are so fucking beautiful. I can barely breathe around you.”

  “Stop.” I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks. “I’m just a simple Christmas elf.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re my Christmas elf.”

  With that, he kisses me and taps on his phone with one hand, calling for the security guard to meet me in the jewelry department.

  I listen as he walks away, talking into his phone. “I want you to open all the cases for her. Whatever she wants. And I do mean whatever she wants. Just keep the tags, I’ll take care of it all. Then take her to the formal gown area, turn on all the lights in the store, the music—make sure it’s Christmas music—everything...take care of her or I won’t be happy. And if I’m not happy, you won’t be happy, capiche?”

  Twenty minutes later, I’m wandering through the most lavish, luxurious areas of Knight & Knight, following the security guard as he steers us towards the glimmering jewelry cases.

  “Take your time. I’ll be over here. Got my newspaper yet to read. See what makes news on Christmas Day.” He’s an older man and I feel comfortable in his company. He shoots me a fatherly smile as he takes a seat on a stool behind the counter and leaves me to stare at the treats in front of me.

  I’m overwhelmed. Diamonds, gold, platinum, emeralds...even tiaras with pearls and dangling jewels of every color, size, and shape. It’s all so eye-catching. An hour later, I’ve tried on everything and chosen nothing. With a sigh, I come around and lean on the glass case, and the security guard sets his newspaper down in front of me.

  I expect a playful pretense at exasperation, but instead I see something heavy in his eyes.

  “You made the paper, Elf Penny,” he says and I look up. “So did Mr. Knight. You both made the paper. Christmas Day. Naughty and nice.”

  He slides the open newspaper my way. I look down at the headline.

  Knight & Knight set to close all Christmas Villages! The sub headline continues... while Elf Penny Shows Malcolm Scrooge the true Meaning of Christmas.

  My heart catches as I read. Malcolm convinced the board of directors that the Christmas Villages are a waste of company profits. Why? Why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense, not the M
alcolm that I know. He wouldn’t...would he?

  According to the newspaper, he would and he has. They are to be dismantled beginning January 2nd and replaced by additional ‘revenue generating’ retail space.

  The article goes on to interview the last family that went through the Village at the flagship store. Seems the reporter had a leak about the closing and caught the last family to go through on the street outside—the foster family I’d taken pity on. They told the reporter what had happened, how I’d paid for their admission and how it was the greatest gift anyone could have given their foster children.

  I’m glad I did it, but my heart still sinks. I finish the article as it lays out Malcolm’s true feelings about Christmas. It just doesn’t sound like the same person. The article includes how he and his father always viewed the season as a boon to their bottom line only, and that the Christmas Villages were no longer profitable in a world of minimum wages and health and safety inspections. It goes on to quote an anonymous source speaking of Malcolm’s reputation as a cold-hearted businessman, who’s left a trail of broken hearts in his path. Dating women then calling them into his office when he was finished with them.

  Dismissing them like a bad employee.

  The realization hits me like a steam train. I’m just the latest in a long line. He’ll shower me with gifts today, then discard me tomorrow. Is that all I am to him? Glancing over at the jewelry laid out before me, it seems so obvious. I’m a PR move. Why didn’t I see it before?

  What hurts the most is that those other women were probably happy with that. I’m sure they took what they could get while it was on offer. But that’s not me. I don’t care about gold necklaces and designer dresses, I care about...

  All I care about is what I already had. The Christmas Village. A man who loved me.

  And now he’s taken those things away and replaced them with cold, hard cash. As if they were for sale.

  There’s more in the article, but I stop reading. I can’t take anymore. I push it away in disgust, certain now that I have absolutely no idea who he is. How could I love someone who hates Christmas? How could I have been so deceived? This isn’t the man who’s captured my heart and taken my body. And yet, the evidence is here, right in front of me.

  Just as tears are threatening, Aaron comes up from behind me and I jump at the sound of his voice. “How’s the shopping going?”

  I’m afraid the glare in my eyes is a giveaway, but I’m too upset to care much. “Malcolm told you to take care of me. To give me whatever I want, didn’t he? To do what I say?” My voice hardens.

  “Yes,” Aaron answers, his eyes narrowing.

  “Well, here’s what I want.”

  C H A P T E R T W E L V E

  Malcolm

  “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO tell you, man, she made a call, then handed me an address.” Aaron’s voice comes through my phone as I slam my fist into the door of my apartment and burst out into the hall.

  “Get here. Now. I’ll meet you outside and you can take me to that address.”

  Penny isn’t answering the phone I gave her and she’s not replying to my texts. When my frustration got the better of me, I dialed Aaron and he ran down what he knew. I picked up the newspaper that’d been delivered that morning outside my penthouse door and my heart sank.

  Fucking news leak has sent Penny running, and I can’t even say I blame her. Now, all I can think about is finding her and making things right. As right as they can be.

  Can she ever understand that I’m not the same person they describe in that article? Not anymore. Not since I met her. In the last couple of weeks everything in my world has changed, including my feelings about Christmas.

  Especially my feelings about Christmas.

  And reading the newspaper article, finding out about what she did. How she took the last money from her own pocket just to give some kids a bit of joy at Christmas. Kids who otherwise would not have been able to get inside the Christmas Village because of the exorbitant entrance fee we charge. Fuck. I’m a fucking asshole. All I’ve cared about is profit and loss. It’s all I’ve been interested in for so long, I had almost become numb to the real world. What was it Willie had said? You don’t care about anything. She was right. I didn’t care about anything. Not about anything that mattered.

  Ignoring the elevator, I race down the fire escape stairs, taking them two at a time. I can’t afford to stand there waiting. I need to be with Penny. I need to be with her right now. An instant later I’m outside, my former priorities in a heap around my feet as I stand in the snow, checking my phone anxiously while I wait for my limo to pick me up and take me to where ever she is.

  AARON IS SPEEDING DOWN toward Brooklyn, heading for the address where he dropped Penny off. I’m dressed in my tux, her Christmas gift in my pocket, and in my gut there’s a knot of tension I can’t shake.

  Apparently, Penny left with nothing from the store, wearing her Elf costume and demanding to be taken to an address in Brooklyn. Aaron had tried to call me from the car, but I was on the phone making the final arrangements for her to come back with me to my place and have everything she needed to be at home.

  “Faster,” I snap. “This is a fucking limo, not a hearse.”

  Anxiety courses through my body. My fists clench, hating myself for the man I’ve become and wanting so badly to be the man she needs. Hoping beyond hope that she will see in me the heart she’s uncovered and understand how, for the first time in my life, I see the world differently now. And it’s all because of her.

  Penny.

  Her name pounds in my head. As it has from that first day I saw her. Sure, I fought it. I didn’t even understand it that first night as I thought about nothing else. But now it’s all I can think of.

  She’s mine.

  Mine.

  I can’t stop the drum beat of that word in my head.

  And to think, my cold heart and profit-at-all-costs attitude could be the very thing that takes her from me. The idea turns my blood cold, the poetic justice of it all not lost on me.

  Now, I wake each morning with her on my mind. Every thought in my day is filled with her; the world of business, profit, winning at all costs – it seems a foreign language to me now.

  To my heart.

  A heart which, after lying dormant for most of my life, is now running the show.

  The limo slows outside a small bungalow on a street crowded with rows of similar homes.

  “Wait here,” I bark, already out the door.

  I take the porch steps two at a time and pound my knuckles against the wooden door, making the evergreen wreath that’s pinned to it bounce and shake.

  As I pause between breaths, waiting for the door to open, I hear it.

  The sound of ‘Silent Night’ being played on a piano filters through the closed door and wraps around my heart. Irrational need grips me. My dick hardens. The melodic song is like a primal call.

  It’s her.

  She’s playing.

  When the door opens and I see her there, I nearly bolt inside. She’s sitting at a piano in the middle of a room full of people, all gathered around her to listen.

  “Can I help you?”

  I must be a shock, standing here, a stranger on this man’s porch. It’s Christmas day and I’m wearing a tuxedo.

  “Yes. Penny is...” I pause, unsure how to explain to him what she is to me. “I’m here for Penny. I’m sorry to interrupt, you see, we had plans today but coming here was important to her, so I’m late.”

  “Oh, well, come in!” His polite invitation startles me. I could be anyone, and yet, he’s inviting me into his home without any further questions. “A friend of Penny’s is a friend of ours.”

  Inside the small home, it’s warm. It’s filled with the scents of comfort foods.

  There must be thirty people in the living room, ranging from an infant sleeping in a woman’s arms to an older man, grey hair and beard, his cane resting against his leg as a young girl sits on his lap listenin
g to the beautiful Christmas carols drift through the room from the old piano where Penny sits.

  Her fingers move effortlessly over the yellowed keys. I can hear the piano’s tune is not completely accurate, but it doesn’t matter. Penny makes the music come alive, and from the wide eyes of the children and the smiles on the other faces, everyone else hears what I do.

  Magic.

  I take a breath and step along the wall to where I can squeeze in and listen. And watch.

  She’s performing.

  In front of an audience.

  And it’s perfection.

  She’s perfection.

  I’m never letting her go; I know that now with every ounce of my being. My heart aches at the thought that my own stupidity almost caused me to lose her, but nothing again will ever come between us.

  As she ends the song, her head bows forward slightly. I long to see those shocking blue-white eyes turn my way, but there’s a sorrow in her and I cannot help myself as I’m drawn forward.

  I work my way through the children sitting on the floor to stand behind Penny. Her scent catches me, and the room seems to sway as I set my hands on her shoulders and bend down next to her ear.

  “Merry Christmas, my love.”

  She doesn’t startle. Her head comes up and she looks forward. Her hands fall from the keys to her lap and her spine straightens slightly.

  “What are you doing here?” Her words are tight and each one cuts into me. Knowing I’ve hurt her is the worst kind of torture.

  “There’s nowhere else I can be. You are here, so I am here. Penny, I’m so sorry. I lied, I can explain that. But what is worse is I didn’t understand the meaning of Christmas. Not for years. Until now. Until you.”

  “But you hate Christmas. I read the article. I know you are closing all the Christmas Villages in all the stores. All Christmas is for you is a chance to turn a profit. A chance to make money.”

  “That’s the thing though, it isn’t. Not anymore. Come with me. I need to explain.”