Page 15 of Knot My Secret Santa

“Take these because I’m going to eat the rest.” Noelle laughed and handed me three more. The pastries’ warmth felt wonderful in my chilly hands. “Nate, you need to sing with us later today. I bet you have a great rumbling baritone.”

Now it was our boss’ turn to look like he wanted to run away. “Thank you, but I’m not a singer, and I really don’t know any Christmas carols.”

“Not know any carols?” My mom exclaimed and slapped her gloved hands to the sides of her face. “How can you not know any carols?”

“Everyone knows some carols. The Twelve Nights of Christmas?” Noelle asked and he shook his head. “Rudolph?” He shook his head again. “Jingle Bells?”

Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders. “We didn’t do Christmas in our household.”

My entire family gasped. Even I let out a little one.

“Don’tdoChristmas?” Noelle gaped at him. Then my mom added, “That just isn’t right.”

Noelle held out her hand. “Give me your phone, Nate, so I can call your parents. I need to give them a good talking to.”

I munched on the rest of my donut holes, hiding the warring amusement and horror on my face. The holly-jolly gene was going to go on a rampage. I wanted to run and yet I couldn’t turn away. If I looked uncomfortable, Nathaniel was ten times that right now.

Nathaniel gave her a tight smile. “Sorry. None of my family is living.”

Any mirth I’d felt fled immediately. I couldn’t imagine life without my family. They were a very big part of who I was. How lonely it must be for Nathaniel. I reined in the urge to hug him and gripped his tie in my pocket again.

Noelle smacked a hand to her forehead. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Nate. I didn’t know. What do you do for the holidays? Please tell me you don’t work. No one should work on Christmas day.”

“Usually I spend it with my friend Landon. We used to go see his family, but in the past few years, we did some traveling.” Nathaniel shifted from foot to foot. His gaze wandered back to me and then jerked away to the skating rink.

“Landon? That handsome young Alpha with the east coast accent?” Noelle asked and he nodded. “He just got married, didn’t he? Yeah, he did. So what are you doing for Christmas this year?”

My mom folded her arms. Oh no. I knew what she was going to say before she even said it. “He’s spending Christmas day with us, that’s what he’s doing.”

No! I opened my mouth to protest, but my aunt jumped in.

“Yes!” Noelle clapped her hands and grinned. “We already have a big feast planned. One more is always welcome.”

My mom and aunt rattled on, not even giving Nathaniel a chance to respond. He even looked a bit helpless between the two of them. My heart raced. This was such a bad idea. Though my heat should be done by Christmas day, there had been instances where Omegas were not knotted and their heats extended through two to even three weeks. If the pain had been bad on Friday, I didn’t want to think about what it might be like after that long.

I’d come off as rude or spoiled if I jumped in and said something now, though. My mom and aunt were already making plans. There was no deterring those two women when they got an idea in their heads.

But, there was one chance. “Dad,” I leaned into him and whispered into his ear. “You’ve got to make them stop. My boss cannot come to our house for dinner.”

My father gave me a soft smile and kept his voice low. “Why not, honey? The poor man doesn’t have anyone else. Let your mom and aunt fuss over him. If they’re catering to him all Christmas day, you and I can sneak off to add more rum to our eggnog.”

God, my dad. Geez. I loved him for it, but I had to stop this. Please let the protective father instincts kick in. “No, Dad, you don’t get it. Not only is he our boss, but he’s an Alpha. Have you forgotten that I’m an Omega?”

“I haven’t forgotten.” My dad clucked his tongue and studied Nathaniel for a moment before nudging me. “I don’t see a problem. You’re both here right now, and everything is okay. You work in the same office as him all week.”

“But we’re really careful at the office,” I interjected. “I hardly see him there.” I’d seen all of my boss in his hunky glory, but there was no way I was going to tell anyone that.

“We’ll be careful at home too. Hey,” he suddenly grew a mischievous grin. “We’ll seat your boss down at the end of the table with the twins. Let him have to deal with those monsters.”

I couldn’t stop my snorting laugh. No doubt Nathaniel would be the only person to be able to rein in those boys. His glare alone would make them behave. I fixed my smirk back into a serious expression. “We never had to deal with that at home before, though. It’s a place where I don’t have to worry about all the dumb rules that Omegas have to follow.”

My dad patted my hand. “Honey, it’s just for one day. We don’t want anyone to be alone on Christmas, right?”

“No,” I huffed, defeated. Of course I didn’t want anyone to be alone for the holidays.

This was not the Christmas I’d imagined for myself. My holly-jolly gene cheered me on saying the more, the merrier, and all would be good. My Omega self wanted Nathaniel to wrap me up inside his coat with him and secret me away so we could feast upon one another again. The holly-jolly gene perked up further, saying yay to a holiday fling, and how she really wanted to open that package.

I trembled, hugging myself, as I could not stop from looking at Nathaniel again. Fuck, I wanted him. I was getting hotter under my coat, and I fought with my body as it seemed to be tugged toward him.

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