Page 16 of Santa Daddy, I'm Not the One

He dug in his heels. “I’m not riding in that thing.”

“Haven’t you done enough?” I pushed him forward. “Do you want me to leave you here so the angry villagers can get at you again?”

He scampered up into the sleigh, sulking but silent. He even had a beautiful sulk. Landon sat still beside me, his body stiff and unyielding. I snapped the reins, and the reindeer took off.

Landon let out a cry as the reindeer’s hooves left solid ground and flew up. He grabbed me around the waist and buried his face in my side, digging his fingers into the fabric of my coat.

“Easy there.” I rested one hand on his back. “You have airplanes, don’t you?”

He shook his head. “But I’ve never traveled in one.”

“Never?”

“No. This is insane. Reindeer don’t fly.”

I chuckled. “That’s the magic of Twinkle Glen. This is what I wanted you to see.”

He loosened his grip. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t believe. I never will.”

I fell silent, anger rising inside me. “Even after everything you’re experiencing?”

“This is just a dream.”

“No, Landon.Youhave been living in a dream, and it’s time to wake up. There’s good in people. There’s good in the world.”

He scoffed and scooted over to the end of the seat. “You live in a perfect world, in a perfect town where even the snow is warm.You have no idea what the real world is like, so unless you’ve lived twenty-two years of my harsh reality, what right do you have to judge me?”

As we soared back to the workshop, the tension between us was palpable. We landed smoothly on the snow-covered ground outside the workshop. Landon didn’t waste a minute hopping down and running off.

“Landon, stop!” I cried. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m finding my way home.”

“Even after what you just caused, you won’t give up?”

“No!”

I ran after him, catching up with him easily. I snagged him around the waist and plucked him effortlessly off his feet. He was as light as a feather.

“Put me down!” He kicked his legs.

I threw him over my shoulder, his harmless little fists pummeling my back as I walked us back to the workshop. Framed against the windows were several faces of the elves, staring at us in shock.

Just what I need.

I brought Landon inside, but instead of the guest room, I took him to my personal quarters, a place I never allowed anyone else to enter. I slammed the door shut and lowered him to his feet.

He made a beeline for the door. I caught him around the waist and shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth.

“Will you stop trying to run off? Where will you go?”

“That’s none of your business. You don’t care about me. All you care about is your stupid tree.”

Never before in my life had I ever felt such blinding anger. In a flash, I sat on the bed and pulled him over my knees.

“What are you doing?” he screeched.

“Treating you like the brat you are.” I slapped his backside in a firm, disciplinary spank. The action was instinctive, a responseto his insolence, but the moment I touched his plump ass, a jolt of electricity shot through me. “You won’t listen to reason, so maybe you’ll listen to this.”

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