Page 18 of Santa Daddy, I'm Not the One

“You got what you wanted. Will you let me go now?”

He frowned as he approached the bed. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Be rude to people.”

I ducked my head. “You’re Santa. Shouldn’t you know everything?”

He sighed and sat on the bed. I planted my hands on the mattress to scoot away, but he placed his arm around me, trapping me.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Did I cross a boundary you didn’t want?”

I raised my head, my heart thumping at his closeness. With him so close, the flecks of snowflakes reflected in his irises were more pronounced. How enchanting.

“Landon?”

“No.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. No matter what, I couldn’t lie about that. I’d very much been an active participant in what had happened.

“Good.” He cupped my face and brushed my cheek with his finger. “I didn’t mean to make this sexual. I hadn’t come to visit you for this very reason.”

Surprised, all I could do was stare.

“You wanted it as much, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I said as though hypnotized.

“While you’re here, do you want to do it again? I won’t touch you if you don’t want to. It’s your choice.”

“Everything’s moving so fast.”

“But you can feel it, can’t you? This thing pulsing between us.”

I nodded. “Now what? Do we…?”

“Not yet. We need to talk about you being here and what happened earlier. Then I need to take you somewhere.”

“O-okay.”

“I’m sorry about what happened in the town.”

He was apologizing? I was the one who’d run away and made trouble.

“I swear the people are usually kind to strangers, but they were upset about the tree.”

“What’s so special about the tree?”

“The tree gives life to the town. You notice that even snow covers everything, it’s still quite warm? That’s the tree. If the lights go out, there’s no regulation in the weather. We will lose the village.”

“Oh.” Guilt reared up inside me. “I didn’t mean to touch it. I didn’t even plan to go near it, but when I moved closer, it felt like the tree was calling to me. When I touched it, it caused all these strange sensations to go through me.”

“It did?” His eyes widened.

“Y-yes.”

“That’s never happened to anyone else before. Just… me.”

Just him? Then…

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