Page 6 of Santa's Baby

I wasn’t lying before. I do sometimes faint. I try to think if he’s ever been there when I’ve done a spontaneous flop. Maybe that time I whacked my thumb with a hammer while my dad and Ford built our deck, but he might have gone home already.

The twisted ankle, thanks to an impromptu soccer game gone awry at a picnic. . . Was he there? He wasn’t there when I passed out on the subway because it was too hot and filled with too many people, that's for sure.

After I pee, I wash my face in the sink.

I don’t recognize the woman in the mirror.Get your shit together,I tell her.You faint, it’s fine. Just tell him that.

And now he thinks I have a fever.

Have him check me again, but with his lips.

I don’t feel sick. I feel like I’ve already made a fool of myself in front of Ford, so why not go all the way and tell him how I feel?

Stepping back, I adjust my dress. It was up around my waist when I woke up, which means Ford saw my panties. Did he like that?There’s only one way to find out. . .

The mature thing to do would be to talk about it. Unfortunately, the last thing I want to be around Ford is mature. I wanted all sorts of fantasies that were inappropriate in real life. I want him to touch me in my sleep. I want him to look up my skirt while I pretend to be all innocent.

I want him to lose control around me and want me the same way I want him. With filthy, dirty, secret desire.

Still unsure of what I’m going to do or say next, I open the bathroom door.

Ford is waiting on the other side with a few folded pieces of clothing. None of them look sexy in the slightest. I swallow my secrets and give him a bland look. “See? I’m still standing.”

“Good.” He doesn’t move. “We should get you back to bed.”

“So I don’t stay up too late, get into any trouble?” I’m smirking. I can feel it, but I can’t stop myself. Ford brings out the absolute worst in me when he puts this stiff distance between us.

“Yes.” His eyes flash with a peculiar heat that makes me feel bold.

“I’m fine, by the way. Thank you for coming to find me, but I faint sometimes. It’s called a vasovagal response, and it’s actually normal. It can be triggered by cold, stress, or pain. It just happens. It’s not dangerous.”

“Until you freeze to death.” He’s so bossy and stern. I should be scared, but I’m not. I like the way his voice gets tight, like he’s worried about me because I’m Neely, and not just because I’m a dumb kid.

“Ford—”

“No.” His face goes thunderous. “If I were your father, you wouldn’t be allowed to leave the house in barely there tights on a day like today.”

If only that kind of threat actually worked to tame me, instead of making me hot.

“I thought we were both supposed to be glad that you’re not my father,” I whisper.

He shoves the clothes at me. “Put these on.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” I don’t take the bundle.

Now that I think about it, that curious heat in his eyes might mean something promising. The same promise that comes from him peeling off my clothes.

I gesture down to my bare legs. “I guess the outfit was more complete before someone took off thosebarely theretights, of course.”

“They were wet,” he growls. “And you wouldn’t wake up.”

I step right against him, lifting my face to glare back at him. “If you want my legs to be covered up again, then I suggest you dress me yourself.”

“Don’t think I won’t.”

I wait.

He steps back, sets the clothes on a side table, and picks up a pair of sweat pants that will fall right off me. He kneels in front of me, unaware of the wild heat this position sends racing through my body.

---