Page 47 of Santa's Dark Secret

“It’s working like a charm,” she says. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

I can’t help but laugh as I drop my hand to her lower back, leading her back down the hall toward my office. I won’t lie, it’s always been a fantasy of mine to fuck her across my desk, though something tells me she’s not quite ready for that. Give it time though. She’ll come around.

Reaching my office, I push the door open only to come face-to-face with my parents, the two of them gaping at me in horror.

“Ahh fuck.”

“Holy fucking shit,” Mila breathes beside me, gaping at my parents the same way they seem to be gaping at her. Only Mila looks starstruck while my parents look confused. Mila smacks me as she stares at my father. “It’s Santa and Mrs. Claus.”

“Yep,” I say. “My parents.”

“No one gives a shit about that,” she tells me. “It’s the real fucking Santa Claus.”

“The fuck, babe? I’m the real fucking Santa Claus.”

“No you’re not. You’re just some dude who took over,” she says, stepping past me into my office and staring at my father in awe. “This is the real Santa Claus.”

My father laughs and offers Mila his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, darlin’. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on you. Though I must admit, I’m a little surprised to see you.”

“I bet you are,” she says, glancing back toward me. “I take it your son failed to mention I was here?”

“You guessed correctly.”

“Ahh,” Mila muses just as her eyes begin to sparkle with wicked delight, and I realize this right here is the reason she wanted to come. Fuck the town and the workshop. She wanted to meet my parents just to drop me in a world of shit. “So, I take it that he also forgot to mention that he kidnapped me?”

Well fuck. She didn’t even try to sugarcoat it.

My parents glance at me, concern in my mother’s eyes, while my father just seems . . . unsurprised. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I ask, stepping deeper into my office and closing the door behind me, figuring that whatever is about to be said in here isn’t meant for the whole town to hear.

Dad offers me a tight smile before dropping his gaze back to Mila, taking her hand and leading her to the chair opposite my desk. He takes the one beside her, and in that sincere way my father has become so famous for, he looks at my girl and gives it to her straight. “Oh, sweet girl. I know my son can be quite . . .difficult to deal with sometimes, and I’m sure you’ve had your moments of frustration, but it wouldn’t be possible for him to kidnap you if you hadn’t wished it into existence,” he explains. “You’re in love with my son, aren’t you?”

Mila gapes at him, her gaze flicking back at me. “I . . . I’m too angry at him to be in love with him. I mean, I guess I am, but I’m really trying to focus on not loving him, and it’s working really well for me.”

My mother laughs and looks at me as though she’s never been so proud before striding over to join Dad and Mila. She takes Mila’s hand and holds her stare. “Let me tell you about the day this old buffoon kidnapped me right out of my bed in Colorado.”

16

NICK

JUNE

Idon’t know how the fuck it happened, but somehow Mom and Mila are best friends. They spend nearly every day together, filling each other in on the laughable stories about me. Only issue is, Mila likes to offer up a story every time Mom tells one, and considering Mila doesn’t have quite as many, she’s given Mom all the filthy details. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so glad that Mila was so attached to the bright red dildo I handcrafted for her, but sharing with Mom what we did with it over Dad’s birthday dinner wasn’t exactly my best moment.

We’re well and truly halfway into the year, and while Mila has definitely eased up on her silent treatment, we’re still not where we need to be, but there’s no doubt how happy she is now. She comes and visits the workshop nearly every day, and while shehasn’t come right out and said it, I think she’s found purpose there.

She smiles every day, and I fucking love it. She even offers the occasional one to me, and when she does, it always blows me the fuck away. I always find her checking in on me, whether she casually walks past my office, acting as though she isn’t peeking in to see what I’m doing, or simply just being near me around the house.

She needs me, and while she won’t admit it, I know that she knows it.

Mila Morgan still loves me. I just wish she’d be able to get past this anger that’s engrained so deeply in her soul, and while it will kill me for her to ever leave here, if that’s what she still wishes by the time Christmas comes around, I will send her home.

We finish up dinner with my parents, something we tend to do quite a lot now. I never used to. Every blue moon I’d head over to their place, and it usually had something to do with not being fucked to cook, but things have been different since Mila arrived. My father doesn’t look at me as though he fears I’m going to fuck up anymore, and when Mom looks at me, it’s always with a proud smile.

Tonight though, it’s our turn to host dinner, and as usual, Mila stood right beside me in the kitchen and helped me cook a meal for my parents. And by help, I mean she eagerly listened to instructions, fucked them up, and needed me to fix it. She’s a disaster in the kitchen, and I don’t say that just to be a dick. I fucking mean it. She can’t be left alone with a spoon, but I love that she tries anyway. And I love that every time she does, she always glances over her shoulder, checking to see if she still has my undivided attention.

The answer is always yes.

I watch her, but she watches me right back, both of us trying to be discreet about it, but when it comes to Mila Morgan, there’snot a damn discreet thing about her. We’ve become in tune with each other’s movements, to the point that we no longer need the strained communication. I can simply look her way and she knows what I’m thinking. Same thing in the morning, she knows that after I’ve had something to eat and a coffee, there’s roughly three minutes until I walk out the door, and she always makes sure to beat me to the snowmobile to be the one who gets to drive.

---