by Jana Aston
“The North Pole Café?”
“Yup.” They serve drinks in old-fashioned Santa mugs year-round. It’s the best.
“Do you think Santa has a job during his off time?” Teddy asks while we walk, our feet crunching over a layer of snow packed down onto the sidewalks. There’s nothing better than that sound, in my opinion.
“Like a side hustle?” I’m smiling when I ask it, because I love ridiculous theoretical conversations.
“Yeah. Three hundred and sixty-four days off seems excessive.”
“Does he really have three hundred sixty-four days off though? I imagine it’s a full-time gig, overseeing the toy-making and keeping track of everyone on the naughty list.”
“Is the naughty list something you’re familiar with, Noel?”
He’s just opened the door for me at the café. I turn to face him, sure there’s a slight blush on my face but hopeful my cheeks are already red from our brief walk.
“You don’t think I’m naughty list material?”
“I’ve heard you’re the headmistress of the nice list.”
Hmm, headmistress. That has a nice ring to it, even if it’s leader of the good girls.
“Wow, I had no idea I had a reputation,” I tease back.
“Small towns, everyone is always talking.”
When we get to the counter, Teddy insists on paying, which is nice. He also insists on adding a couple of sandwiches and two frosted sugar cookies to the order, “just in case you decide you’re hungry.”
Of course I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since I left my house hours ago.
Which means he’s sort of manipulated me into having dinner, but he’s so charming about it I don’t even mind. Secretly… I’m sort of thrilled. What’s not to like about him, exactly? He’s handsome and charming and there’s something between us that’s just easy. I’m drawn to him and spending time with him is fun. Teddy is fun. And what’s better than having a casual dinner with a man who interests you and who adds dessert without being asked? With a man who referred to you as sexy?
Not much is better than that, my friends.
We grab a table and settle in like a couple of writers with charged laptops and deadlines. Which is to say, our behinds don’t leave those seats for far too long.
“So you’re staying in town for a while?” I ask. I shouldn’t ask. It doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter. Not to me. We’re not doing anything, he and I.
“The rest of the month.” He nods his head slightly, a long pause while he looks at me. “Or maybe longer.”
Good Lord, he’s a flirt. I swallow and remind myself of this fact because the way he just looked at me when he said that has caused a dozen tiny reindeer to practice their Christmas Eve flight pattern in my stomach.
“I’d forgotten how charming Reindeer Falls is,” he adds when I don’t say anything, but he’s still looking at me with that thoughtfully sexy look he has down pat.
I grip the Santa mug filled with hot cocoa between my fingers before taking a sip, a dab of whipped cream sticking to my upper lip. I swipe it away the moment I set the mug back on the table.
“Very charming,” I finally agree. “If you’re into that sort of thing.”
“Who’s not into charm?” He flashes a smile at me that would seduce a nun and I’m not sure we’re talking about the same kind of charm.
“What do you like most about living here?” he asks once he’s taken a sip of his own hot chocolate. He wipes away his whipped cream mustache with his tongue. That isn’t distracting at all.
“Everything,” I answer, honestly. “There’s no place like home, you know?”
“Yeah.” He nods, his expression thoughtful, but encouraging me to go on.
“My family is here. I like the size of the town. I like being able to walk to places when I want to. I love the people. I love my job. I love the European architectural flair on Main Street and the way the entire city comes alive at Christmas. I know all the Christmas-themed things might be too much for some people to deal with year-round, but I love it. It’s a bit like living inside of a magical snow globe filled with hope all the time.”
“That’s—”
I interrupt before he has a chance to finish. “Super dorky?”
“No. It’s lovely.”
“Well. I also like that Detroit is only ninety minutes away. So if I want to go to a hockey game or an art museum or catch a flight to Belize, I can. Easy-peasy.”
“Easy-peasy.” Teddy smiles at that description.
“If you could hop on a plane right now and go anywhere, where would you go?”
“That depends,” he replies, easing back in his chair with a small smile on this face like he’s got all the time in the world to play this game and he wants to know all the rules.
“Money is no object,” I clarify. “An unlimited budget and you’ve got nowhere you have to be.” I reach up to give the hair tie in my hair a tug, ensuring my messy bun hasn’t fallen out as it’s prone to do.
“Would you be with me on this hypothetical trip?”
“Sure.” I roll my eyes, playing along, but I’m smiling too. I like being on the hypothetical trip.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing you in Belize.”
“Why is that?”
“I’m hoping you’d be wearing a wetsuit.”
“A wetsuit,” I reply with a laugh, unsure what the heck he’s talking about or if I should be offended. He’s imagining me in a wetsuit? Not a teeny-tiny string bikini? “Why a wetsuit?”
“Because it’d drive me crazy. It’d be like a tropical version of your turtleneck.” His gaze drops to the shirt in question before he meets my eyes again. “Theoretically prim and proper, but secretly sexy as hell underneath.”
Okay, yeah. He’s really good at flirting. I squirm a little in my seat, wearing my turtleneck and sipping hot cocoa and believing I might actually be sexy to him just as I am. That’s effective flirting. A-game. Major-league. Executive-level. First-class flirting.
Chapter 5
Listen. I’m not exactly sure how it happens but the next thing I know Teddy’s inside my house and we’re making out like teenagers pressed against the front door.
Okay, okay. I know exactly how it happened. He offered to walk me home after our coffee-shop dinner. The snow was starting to come down in big fluffy flakes and we used the Santa suit like umbrellas, each of us with a piece of it over our heads to protect us from getting wet as we walked the couple of blocks to my house. The air was chilly, but not torturously so. Crisp. The kind of weather that made you feel invigorated as opposed to miserable. The sky was dark and clear, holiday lights twinkling and Christmas music playing.
It felt like being on the set of a romantic holiday movie.
Which always makes me feel a certain sort of way.
Annoyed, if I’m being honest. No one ever makes out in those movies! If you’re really lucky they share one chaste kiss and you then have to use your own imagination to fill in the rest. And sometimes I didn’t want to use my imagination. Like right now, with Teddy. I wanted something not suitable for television with Teddy.
So somewhere along that very short walk I decided to invite him inside. Sure, Jillian warned me off him, but that was more of a suggestion than a request. Right? Besides, it’s just one night. Also, I deserved a Christmas bonus for taking care of the Santa thing today.
Wait, that didn’t sound right. Well, whatever. Teddy didn’t seem averse to giving me a Christmas bonus and honestly that was all that really mattered here.
So I unlocked my front door and while he was asking for my phone number I dragged him inside.
Like, literally. I grabbed a fistful of his jacket and tugged him right over the threshold.
Which leads us to right now.
“You really are the most unexpected surprise, Noel.” Teddy is smiling as he’s kissing me. Or maybe I’m kissing him. Whatever, I’m not going to second-guess this. It’s mutual kissing. He’s as into it as I am.
“Do
n’t tell your sister about this,” I say, pulling my lips away long enough to put in the request as I shrug off my jacket and toe off my boots.
“Okay,” he replies slowly. He seems almost confused by the request and I’m starting to wonder if this was some kind of tricky setup. Jillian knows how tired I am of people trying to set me up, so maybe she told me this wasn’t a setup as some kind of reverse psychology trick? Telling me Teddy was unsuitable so I’d drop my guard?
You know what? I don’t want to know.
“Don’t ruin this for yourself, Teddy,” I interrupt when he starts to say more. I roll my eyes but I’m in the process of pulling my turtleneck over my head so he can’t see me. Why are men so stupid? Does he want to talk me out of this? I’ve been in a dry spell more suitable for a convent than for a single woman in her twenties. I really need this to happen. I drop my shirt on the floor.
Teddy’s eyes trail slowly over me, another grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“I really like you, Noel.” Again, like earlier he seems a bit surprised by me. As if I’m not matching up to whatever he was told about me.
“I’m sure you do,” I agree. I’m half naked, what’s not to like? But then I add, “I don’t normally do this,” not because I particularly care if he thinks I’m ho-ho-hoing it up with every guy in town. But just because I feel like mentioning it. That’s all. Not at all because I might like him too.
“Yeah, me neither.”
I side-eye him as I toss the Santa suit in the direction of a bench in my living room I keep for the purpose of collecting things.
“I promise you, I’ve never met anyone like you. In all my life.” His eyes trail over me again in that way that he has. That way that feels like he’d still be looking at me even if there were twenty topless women to choose from.
“Take off your boots,” I tell him before I do something really stupid. Like lose all my sensibilities and allow him to walk on my carpet with wet footwear.
“Yes, ma’am.” He gives me a little wink when he says it and I very nearly consider unbuttoning his pants right in the tiny vestibule that makes up my front entryway.
When he’s got them off I take his hand and guide him over to the couch, not bothering to turn on any lights. My Christmas tree is on a timer, set to start sparkling promptly at six o’clock, so it’s already on, illuminating the room with the perfect mood lighting.
I had no idea Christmas was so sexy, but really everything about it is an aphrodisiac. Sparkly lights, snuggle weather, and mistletoe hanging all over the place encouraging kissing.
Maybe it’s not supposed to be sexy, but Teddy is bringing the sexy back to Christmas. He’s putting the X back into X-mas. He’s adding the hung into hanging the stockings. He’s about to Christmas bonus me into next week.
I laugh at my thoughts as I sit on the couch, pulling Teddy down with me. I. Am. Ridiculous.
“Something funny?” he asks, brushing a few strands of my hair away from my face. I had it up today in a topknot but I’m sure yanking a turtleneck over my head didn’t do it any favors.
“Yeah, me,” I answer, but when I don’t offer any further explanation he laughs.
His fingertips are cool against my skin, but soft as he tucks the loose hair behind my ear. The simple skim of his fingertips running along the shell of my ear is heavenly. Who knew my ear was such an erogenous zone? Not me. Then again I never had a thing for Santa before today either so I guess that old saying is true. You really do learn something new every day.
“This bossy librarian updo has been driving me crazy all day,” he murmurs, his voice gruff as his fingers move back to my hair, searching out whatever is holding it in place so he can remove it.
“I’m not a librarian,” I object, but I pull the band out of my hair holding it all in place and let it tumble down all the same. It makes me shiver as the strands hit my bare skin. Teddy groans, the sound a barely audible sigh as he smooths the mess of it over my shoulders. One finger lingers on the strap of my bra, toying it back and forth over the curve of my shoulder.
“But you are bossy.”
“Assertive,” I correct, challengingly, with one brow raised. He laughs, and even his laugh is attractive. He laughs like we’re in on the joke together, the rumble low and sexy.
“There’s nothing wrong with bossy. It’s hot. I like it when a woman knows what she wants.”
“I want your shirt off.”
He smiles and obliges me and once his shirt is gone I start to see the value of unemployment because he’s clearly dedicating some hours to the gym. I place my palms against his chest and explore. He’s warm and solid. Firm and toned with a light smattering of hair. I have a thing for the perfect amount of chest hair on a man and he’s got it. I like the smattering of it across his pectorals and the trail of it from his bellybutton down to the space where it disappears beneath his waistband.
Below my fingers his chest rises and falls with his breathing as I explore and take him in, my eyes moving back to his face when he slides the straps of my bra over my shoulders and unfastens the clasp behind my back. I move my hands long enough to divest myself of the bra completely and when he sinks his teeth into his bottom lip at seeing all of me I shiver.
“Are you cold?”
“Not in the slightest.” I shake my head to back up my statement. He’s running his hands slowly up and down my arms. I’m not sure if it’s an attempt to warm me or just a caress but it feels so good to be touched like this. To be touched by him. I want to feel every inch of him pressed against every inch of me so I lean forward and kiss him again, our chests flush. There is nothing quite like naked kissing. The feeling of skin-to-skin contact. Especially when he has a good chest and even better lips. They’re smooth and warm and he’s got one of those pouty bottom lips usually reserved for models and Photoshop. I’m pretty sure I’ll die when he gets around to sucking a nipple between his perfect lips. I moan out loud at the very idea of it.
His hands are gliding over every inch of me he can reach. Down my back, up my sides. His fingers stop to massage the nape of my neck while we kiss and it all feels so good. So lovely I’m not sure how I’ve survived without it before this moment. Every place he touches me sets my skin humming with want and need and frankly if Santa can’t get this sleigh off the ground tonight I will die.
Not that I expect any issues there because I can feel his sleigh through his pants and it feels real sturdy. Dependable. Like it’s capable of being ridden all night long. I swing a leg across his lap to straddle him, grinding myself against him as if I’m too impatient to wait for actual sex to get off. And honestly, I might be. I’m so turned on it wouldn’t take much for me to orgasm at the moment.
Teddy uses our new position to cup my breasts with his hands, flicking my nipples with his thumbs before pinching one of them. I think it was the left one, that lucky bitch.
My head drops back involuntarily and the words “Oh, holy crap, fuck me,” slip out of my mouth.
“Is that what we’re doing? Thank you for clarifying.”
I’d call him a smartass but he’s still playing with my nipples and then he bends his head and—oh, God, yes, his mouth. I’m not even sure how to qualify the noises coming out of my mouth and I don’t think Teddy can either because he chuckles against my breast and it all feels so freaking good and fun and if I had any remaining doubts about doing this they’re gone now.
Also…
Jobs are so overrated. I would totally make out with him again even if we had to do it in his parents’ basement. Which we wouldn’t, because I have my own place. But the point is I’d be willing to make some compromises.
“You’re so beautiful,” he tells me when his lips have moved back to mine. Soft, sexy kisses, our lips exploring and teasing and tasting every bit of each other we can reach. He trails those lips down my neck and across my collarbone. Sucks an earlobe between his teeth and gives it a gentle tug.
It’s insane how good this is between us. I’
m not normally this… uninhibited. I’m normally nervous with someone new. It’s always slightly awkward the first time, in my opinion. Like learning how to ride a new bike and you’re not sure how high to raise the seat or how well the brakes work or if that squeak is a one-off or if it’s something you’re going to have to get used to hearing every single time you want a ride.
That sort of thing.
I can’t recall a time it was ever this good.
This is… seamless. Like a sex dream where it all goes perfectly and you never want to wake up. Maybe it’s all the mistletoe floating in the air—theoretically speaking. Maybe it’s Teddy. I’m enjoying this too much to think too hard about it, so screw it, I won’t. I’m just going to enjoy every moment of it.
“That’s quite the package you’ve got there, Santa.” I roll my hips against him, hoping we can move this into my bedroom. Or we can just stay here and take off our pants. I’m not picky.
“Did you really just make a dirty Santa joke?” His tone is incredulous but he’s laughing. Which is totally normal in the midst of a hookup.
“Err, maybe? Too much?”
“Maybe just a little. Unless you’ve got a genuine Santa fetish you want to disclose at this time.”
“I don’t.” I shake my head vigorously while running my hands across his chest again. Really really nice chest hair.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Would it have been a deal-killer if I had?” I press. Why in the hell am I asking? Now I’m laughing too. At myself.
“I think we could have worked something out.” Teddy manages to say this like he means it, which is rather nice of him.
“Thanks.”
“Do you have any others?”
“Fetishes?” I perk up. I don’t actually, but it’s nice to be asked, isn’t it? Maybe I can develop one. A really good one I can use to establish my street cred on the kink scene in Reindeer Falls.
As if Reindeer Falls has a kink scene.
I start laughing again.
“Bad Christmas jokes,” Teddy clarifies with an amused grin.
“Oh, those. For sure.”
