Page 14 of Santa's Knotty Workshop

He laughed. “I haven’t had a chance to think about any of this, Nick. It all happened rather fast. I don’t regret it, but goodness, I’ve only been out of my heat for a few hours. I’m still having trouble walking, and I can still feel you everywhere.”

I growled at that. “Damn right. I want you to feel me everywhere, always. When I go on my Christmas Eve run, I want to leave you plugged so that when I come home, I can take care of you right away, preferably in my sleigh. I don’t care if the whole workshop is there to witness it.”

His gaze turned dark again. “That sounds amazing.”

“Great. Now let’s get your things.”

Percy tugged at my sleeve. “Wait. I can move my things later. I want to help in the workshop.”

“Love, you just heard—there’s not much to do.”

“There must be something.”

I sighed. He wouldn’t be a proper mate if he didn’t want to help. I loved this about him. But also, I wanted him to take some time to adjust.

“Let’s see how things go, all right?”

He nodded.

Chapter 9

Percy

Two Days Before Christmas Eve

“Oh, Percy, we need you in here!” Chester’s sing-songy voice startled me out of the package I was working on. None of the items coming down the conveyor belt compared to the real thing, but I could see their appeal. I was sure there would be days when Nick and I might want to play with toys such as these. Then again, if I had the real thing, why would I ever want a substitute?

I couldn’t help but smile as I leapt out of my seat and went down the hall to where Chester was. All the items coming out of Whipsy Lane were labeled, wrapped, and ready for delivery, so everyone normally stationed there was helping wherever necessary.

I found Chester at the Lube Lagoon.

I also found a big mess. My eyes widened as I took in the sight: an enormous vat of purple lube had spilled onto the floor, coating the surface in slippery goo. Mixed in with the lube were individual strips of ribbon. No… not ribbons.

“Are those silk ties?” I asked. Not ties like the ones you wore around your neck, though a person could, I suppose. These were restraints. “Tell me they aren’t supposed to be going out in two days’ time.”

Chester nodded. His expression wasn’t one of concern about how we were going to meet our deadline. No, it was defiant. He folded his arms over his chest and lifted his chin.

“What are you going to do about it?” And just like that, any sympathy I had over his distress flew away like a sleigh.

“Me?” I squeaked. I was new to the department, and even if I wasn’t, I was in charge of nothing. I barely knew my job.

“Yeah, you.” He looked down his nose at me, a snarl growing on his face. He liked this far too much. What a Krampus wannabe!“You’re the second-in-command, aren’t you? Santa’s mate. Mr. Claus.”

Oh, sugar plums. I was all of those things, but I assumed I would ease into the role slowly throughout the year, rather than being thrust into it in the middle of our busiest time. Still, I would not let this mess go to someone else. It had to be dealt with, even if Chester found my distress pleasurable. I’d worry about him later. We had Christmas to get ready for.

“Okay, here’s what we do. What items that were destroyed are necessary to be shipped out on Christmas Eve?” I feared it was all of them, but maybe they were surplus? At least then all we had to do was clean.

Jimmy, who was doing his best to keep the lube from spreading even further, spoke up. “The lube was supposed to be bottled into sample sizes and put in with our sample kit.”

“Right. Okay. Do we have anything else we can swap it out with?”

“We have some excess of the pink, but then the kits would have two similar flavors.” He stopped mopping and leaned on the mop handle. “I suppose, given it’s pink cotton candy that wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen. People love the tingle.”

I filed that information away for later.

“I think, for this situation, similar flavors are better than missing a flavor.” If they had asked for a sampler, it meant they didn’thave a preference, right? “And all of this is contaminated, so it will need to be destroyed.”

I wasn’t even sure how you destroyed lube. This was so not my department.

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