Page 16 of Wrong Number, Right Santa

I wasn’t going to. If it had been something a little less rich, I might have “accidentally” dropped something, but the cream sauce was probably going to upset his tummy. And that aside, if there was garlic, there were probably onions too, and he didn’t need that. I’d have to magic him up a treat later—possibly a toy. He seemed like a squeaky-toy boy.

The conversation flowed very easily between Dario and I, but it was all superficial: the event, how he got the job as chairman, how he found me via a random card on the ground. Now that I’d heard his version, I knew exactly how he’d found that card, and there was nothing random about it.

Ryfon. Oh, Ryfon. But I couldn’t even be mad at him, because here I was with this man I wanted to get to know better—all because of my meddling elf.

“Listen...” I set my fork down. “I... I know about… and I want you to know that I won’t tell.”

I wanted him to trust me about his beast, but also, I didn’t feel right just saying it out loud. I didn’t know the nuance of shifter law, but I was aware enough to know that sharing who he was had to be done in a certain way, and me announcing it to him wasn’t that.

“Know what?” he asked.

But I wasn’t sure if he was asking or just wanting to verify that he’d heard correctly. It took me a minute before deciding to spit it out with the hopes of not having messed it up.

“That you’re a shifter. That you were... you were Dasher today.”

He nodded. “I’m glad you know about that. Because speaking of it... there’s something I have to tell you too.”

“I have something else too.” Please don’t let me being Santa be a dealbreaker for Dario.

Chapter 13

Dario

My head was spinning.

I was aware Chris knew I was a shifter, but he wasn’t of our kind. He was my mate, but we hadn’t discussed that. So much had happened in one afternoon, I needed a nap to rest my brain.

But here we were, and I couldn’t waltz off to sleep the confusion away. Chris was here, and the only way to go was forward.

“Me first.”

He nodded, and I was tempted to run my fingers through his beard and drag him into bed. Why waste a night together when we could be in one another’s arms? Unless he had another Santa gig to get to tomorrow.

Tell him.

Yeah. This was a biggie, and while his little glances, him nudging me, his fingers brushing over mine suggested he was into me, telling him he was my mate might trigger an adverse reaction.

“Are you ready for this? It’s big.”

He smirked. “I’m familiar with big.”

Damn him. Again he was referring to his cock without actually saying the word.

“You’ve established that I’m a reindeer shifter.”

“Mmmm. I’ve met many of your kind. Not surprising, considering my work.”

That was a little weird. Reindeer shifters wouldn’t reveal their identity to a Santa impersonator.

I ignored his comment and continued. “Shifters are similar to humans in many ways, but there is a huge difference.”

He nodded and grinned. “Huge.”

Gods, for a man who dressed up as Santa, he liked to discuss sizes, and like the naughty Santa that he was, he somehow got me thinking of cock size. His had to be enormous. He was a big guy with broad shoulders. His pants must barely contain his length.

“But in one respect, we’re very different.”

Chris leaned in close, leaning on his elbow, his warm breath billowing over mine. “I can’t wait to discover what that is.”

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