Page 40 of Naughty Santa

Months?

That thought had her pulling away from him. Paris wasn’t staying months. She wasn’t supposed to be here beyond tomorrow, but she hadn’t bothered booking a flight home, claiming she needed to stick around until the store sold.

Joe didn’t pick up on her sudden freak-out. Thank God. Instead, he gave her that adorable lopsided grin, his voice filled with regret. “It’s going to be a long night.”

She laughed because that was the right response, the one that would keep him from realizing her heart was racing, her ears thudding, her head reeling.

Paris had initiated this, proclaiming she was going to teach him all about casual sex.

Yeah, that had blown up in her face.

Because it was starting to feel like she hadn’t taught Joe a damn thing.

In truth, she was the one who’d learned something she hadn’t intended, hadn’t thought she wanted.

It was Joe who had taught her what it felt like to fall head over heels in love with a sweet, sexy, romantic Indiana boy.

And the most shocking part of that was…it didn’t scare her or make her want to puke up duck confit.

“You okay?” he asked when she continued to stare at him like an idiot.

Paris nodded, afraid to open her mouth, terrified of what would fall out. Because there were three little words clamoring for sound.

But she couldn’t say those to him.

Could she?

Joe smiled and headed upstairs to where they’d stashed his costume while she drifted to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out an open bottle of wine. She tugged out the cork with her teeth and brought the thing to her lips, taking a big-ass chug, much like she had her first night in North Pole.

Shit.

She was in love.

So what the hell did she do now?

“Merry Christmas toall and to all a good night!”

Joe ducked back into the wooden Santa house behind the huge chair that, honestly, felt a little like a throne during this annual party.

He loved being Santa for the kids. Yes, he’d tried getting out of it, saying that it was someone else’s turn, but damn, seeing someone’s face light up when he walked into a room was special. Seeing an entire gaggle of little kids lighting up, gasping, grinning, and waving? Yeah, that was kingly shit right there, and he had to admit, he ate it up.

As Paris, Sandy, and the parents distracted the kids with their new gifts and mountains of cookies and other treats, Joe snuck out the back door of the little house, crept down the aisle with the snow globes, sprinted for the aisle of chicken feed, before finally shutting himself in the workroom.

It was the look on Paris’s face that was really sticking with him. Sure, he loved making the little kids happy. But Paris had looked almost choked up tonight as they worked together, listening to the kids whisper their secret wishes and handing out gifts. He’d seen her brush a tear away when one of the older ladies, Lenore Arnold, pulled her aside and told her how the store and the party was exactly the way it had always been when Lydia put it together. When Bob told her it was better than Lydia’s parties and that Lydia would have loved it, Paris had excused herself to the restroom for a bit.

While Joe had grinned like a damn fool through it all.

Because his girl loved it here.

She was taking pride in the store. It felt like she belonged here—at the Holly Jolly and in North Pole—and she was certainly putting her heart and soul into making both better places to be.

Joe sighed. He was starting to get his hopes up. He knew better, of course, because he’d been down this road before. But this felt different. This felt more real. The other girls he’d fallen for had been here and looking for a way out.

Paris wasn’t from here. She already had a life outside of North Pole. Her love for this town wasn’t because she didn’t know anything else or because her roots were here. Hell, she hadn’t even wanted to come here, and she certainly hadn’t intended to like it.

No, her feelings of pride and happiness and belonging were fully and truly about falling for this place.

And maybe…falling for him?

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