Page 25 of Knot My Secret Santa

“Come see what you called a dark little closet, darling.” Olivia’s eyes twinkled as she led the way.

“What could you have seriously done to a damn closet in a day?” Lloyd groused.

I caught Avery’s gaze and her smile grew. The excitement in her expression was plain, but she was letting Olivia do the reveal. She motioned with her head for me to go on in too.

“Hot damn!” Lloyd exclaimed, and immensely curious, I stepped in through the door.

I didn’t see the closet before, but it was like any standard walk-in. There was a door coming from the bedroom, and it formed an L to end in another door which led into the bathroom. There were shelves of varying sizes, a place for a vanity which I knew Lloyd would not have, and two long sections with rods for clothes.

What this room had become was an exotic lovers’ getaway. The bed was positioned in the far corner, filled with cushions of all colors, and framed by silken curtains which looked like they could be pulled completely around it. Above the bed, the wall held several frames containing pictures of Lloyd and Olivia, and some things that looked like ticket stubs and menus. Sections of the wall had decorative blue foam pads—sound dampening panels—which gave the illusion of flowing water. Several hand-painted pots were set in holders on the walls and contained bright flowers, and lamps cast soft light. Baskets nestled in the shelves, and the rods which I guessed still held Lloyd’s clothes were hidden by more flowing drapes.

“How did you get a bed in here so fast? How does it even fit?” Shaking off his surprise, Lloyd managed to say more than stunned curse words.

“I had the carpenter who was on site come up, and we had a few pieces made to support the mattress to slip between the bench and shelves that were here,” Avery said from the door. “Everything is removable, so you can easily convert the room back into a closet. All of the storage is mostly hidden. There’s a mini fridge behind that curtain. We talked about other possibilities if Olivia wants to stay here for a longer period of time like cutting out a section of the ceiling for a skylight to give her natural light.”

“I want a skylight now!” Lloyd laughed.

“And look!” Olivia drew back one of the curtains to reveal a stool and easel with a shelf containing several painting supplies. “I have my own little creation space. And it’s so quiet here. When we got the sound proofing up, the renovations were almost completely muffled.”

“My beautiful Georgia O’Keeffe.” Lloyd kissed her and finally caught sight of the pictures above the bed. “My heart, oh, the memories here….” Olivia hugged him again, and suddenly his eyes dilated. He turned and pointed to the door. “Hey Hen, take Nate and Avery to your room. Show them every toy you have. Mama and Daddy will take everyone to dinner after… we get ready.”

There was no chance to say anything. I was practically bulldozed out of the room, and the door slammed shut. Even with the sound proofing, I could hear what was going on in there.

Avery flushed and set the boy on the floor, taking his hand. “Which way is your room, Henry? I would love to see your toys.”

Thankfully the child’s room was at the other end of the hall, and we couldn’t hear anything that was going on in the nest. I was already mentally going through places I knew I could order take-out, because with the way Olivia and Lloyd had been looking at one another, I didn’t know if they would leave that closet tonight.

Avery was a natural with the kid. She reacted with awe and delight to everything Henry showed us, and then when she asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he didn’t know, she sat with him to make a letter to Santa. The boy was enchanted by her, and I was lost further to this bewitching Omega.

Hopefully Lloyd would be distracted enough by his wife and her romantically redesigned nest to forget about our conversation in the car. The last thing anyone needed to know was that I bought lingerie for one of my employees.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – Avery

Nathaniel and I had ordered out for food, and we were eating with Henry in the kitchen when Lloyd finally came downstairs. His beard and hair were mussed, and he didn’t seem to care that he was wearing a plaid robe with clearly nothing underneath it. I tried to look everywhere but directly at him.

“Sorry we missed our reservations. If you’re still around tomorrow, we’ll do it then. Right now, Liv is in bed for the night.” Lloyd scooped up his son and kissed his cheek. “You smell like cheesy chicken, Hen. Say goodnight and thank you to our guests then go up and give your Mama a kiss before I give you a bath.”

Henry giggled, squealing something that sounded like a thank you, and, once he was set on the floor, zoomed out of the room with energy I envied.

“We have food for you and Olivia too.” Nathaniel motioned to the fridge. “Avery ordered strawberry cheesecake for dessert.”

“Dear lord, you sweet angel.” Lloyd immediately went to the fridge to retrieve the cake and a happy chest rumble filled the room. “Oh yeah, one of Liv’s favorites. Thank you both for watching Henry while we broke in the new love nest. You did an amazing job, Avery. Far beyond anything I expected in a day. I’m willing to give up my closet to keep it the way it is. And write me up to get a new skylight, Nate. I want to stare up at the stars as I lie in that bed holding my wife.”

“It was my pleasure to work with Olivia and help make the space just what she needed.” I had so much fun. It didn’t even seem like work. The carpenter whipped up just what we needed in an hour with spare pieces of lumber from the worksite, and all the workers were happy to move stuff around for us. “We did talk about some other features we wanted to do tomorrow. She wants to take Henry down to the water to collect shells and stones for an art piece, and she’ll need you to get an empty barrel so we can convert it into a little vanity.”

“Fucking hell, do you want to make me cry with joy today too?” Lloyd put the cake on the counter and took out a bottle of wine from a rack beside the fridge. “Take this. Drink it all. It’s the least bit of celebration you deserve, Avery. And you too, Nate, for hiring this treasure.” He patted Nathaniel on the shoulder and then held it very firmly. “Don’t ever think about getting rid of her. My wife wants Avery as her personal designer forever now, and I make sure she gets whatever she wants. If you fire Avery or even hurt her feelings a little bit, I will hunt you down and string you up by your balls. Understand?”

The look Lloyd gave Nathaniel was intense. I thought for a second he had been joking around, but the tension between them was as heavy as a mountain. What was going on?

Nathaniel gave one slow nod. “Understood.”

“Good.” Lloyd dug out a spoon from a drawer before motioning to the door. “Go, drink, be merry. We’ll see you tomorrow. Right now I have a beautiful Omega to woo with cheesecake.”

With that, he left us alone in the kitchen. I wanted to giggle about Lloyd romancing Olivia with cake and ask Nathaniel about what went unsaid between the two of them. Instead, I bit my tongue and started to clean up before I realized something.

Nathaniel and I were alone in the kitchen.

No one was supposed to leave an unclaimed Omega alone with an Alpha.

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