Page 58 of Love Song, Take Two

“Don’t say it too loud, it’ll stick.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

Fletcher pulled off his hat and tucked it into the pocket of his coat. “A few years. Hank enlisted me and I kept doing it in honor of him.”

“Right.” Micah nodded and Fletcher finally allowed himself to look her over when her attention was drawn to Emery. Her dress wasn’t revealing or would even be considered sexy, but God, she looked good. With an open collar and buttons down the front, the dress hugged every curve. A matching belt wrapped around her waist and was tied in a bow, tucking in at the sides. The top three buttons were undone, flaunting all that brown skin. Her bare legs ended in her white Chucks.

“It looks good on you,” she said softly and Fletcher blinked to focus on her. “Being Santa. The coat, the hat, the gray in your beard. You look happy.”

If only you knew how happy I looked when you’re around.

“Kids are weird, but fun when they’re not crying or screaming for attention.”

“Take the compliment, Fletch.”

He laughed and bowed his head slightly. “What are you two doing here?”

“This is where Em decided she wanted to do last minute shopping and drink cocoa. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Fletcher made a face at the question, because even though she didn’t ask it accusingly, he felt that way. “Honestly? I don’t know. Figured that since you didn’t care for Christmas, this might be something of a deal-breaker.”

“No way you thought that,” she whispered, frowning slightly. “It’s kinda hot, actually.”

“Really?” He arched an eyebrow as Micah gripped the front of his coat and tugged him towards her.

“Maybe I have a thing for Santa and you helped unlock it.”

Holy shit. Fletcher swallowed as he set his hands on her hips. She licked her lips and dragged her hands up over his chest and around his neck, smirking as her eyes met his. Her gaze moved up and a soft laugh fell from her lips. Fletcher followed her attention and found that they were standing below a sprig of mistletoe. He’d noticed it sprinkled all through the Village, but he never imagined he’d be standing there with Micah.

“It’s the rule, right?”

“Absolutely,” she mumbled as their lips met in a slow kiss. Micah’s fingers tightened around the back of his neck and he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth as he tipped her back slightly. She moaned and flicked her tongue against his, their bodies pressed together firmly as they held each other.

Someone started whistling “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and Fletcher leaned back to find Emery standing a few feet away, eyes averted from them. He chuckled at the frustrated look on Micah’s face.

“I’m almost done with my shift, we’re still on for tonight?”

She nodded, brushing his hair behind his ears. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Santa.”

A shiver of pleasure ran up his spine at the rasp in her voice on that last word and he stole another kiss before forcing himself out of her arms. With a playful tap against Emery’s shoulder, Fletcher joined his elves to finish their shift for the evening.

Then he could lock himself away with Micah for the rest of the night.

Micah

Worth the sixteen year wait.

It was close to 11 p.m. by the time Micah pulled up in front of Fletcher’s house. After Emery had done her necessary shopping and they’d indulged in hot cocoa, Micah had dropped her daughter off with Sadie’s nonna. The plan was always for Emery to spend the night there, but now Micah was even more anxious to drop her off so she could see Fletcher again. It didn’t help that Emery was still humming that silly Christmas song, enough that Nonna had a million questions the whole time Micah was attempting to leave.

Also, who knew she had a Santa kink?

Micah held Mrs. Hershey responsible.

She’d had a relatively light day at work, which she was grateful for after her stuttering days ago. However, she did have a session with Mrs. Hershey. After one week of reading picture books and helping her learn how to process certain words by the way they looked on the page, the older woman insisted they read her book club romance.

As luck would have it, the book that Mrs. Hershey’s book club was reading featured a hero moonlighting as Santa and a heroine with a Santa kink. If you asked Micah, she would have told you that she’d never considered Santa to be a kink. But after spending an hour reading all of the deliciously sexy things the heroine did with Santa, she thought differently.

“Did you ever think that Santa could be so hot?” Mrs. Hershey asked, fanning herself with one hand while wiggling her eyebrows.

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