Page 93 of Christmas off Script
‘I’ve blocked his number.’
‘Jesus, Ella. I’m so fucking sorry!’
‘Leo, you’ve already killed two elves with this conversation.’
He gave a strangled laugh. ‘True. Although I think they’ll pop back into existence the moment I’ve murdered Fabian Fitzcannon. Get rid of one nasty piece of work and two nice things have to happen. It’s how karma works at Christmas.’
Ella let out a long slow breath, her stress levels easing. ‘Thank you. For everything.’
‘I don’t feel I’ve done much. Please, can I slay the Fitzcannons?’
‘Slay as in kill, or sleigh as in the thing Santa pulls?’
‘Both. I’m going to borrow Santa’s sleigh and joyride—sorry, “joy to the world ride” into their house, slaying them in the process.’
She snorted. ‘Thank you for telling me to cancel the payment. And thank you for making me feel better.’
‘You know what would make you feel even better?’
Her heart and stomach lurched.Having sex with you?‘Er, what?’
‘TheMuppet Christmas Carol! Tonight should be movie night.’
She exhaled in a rush. ‘Good plan. But it can’t be a late one as I’ve got school tomorrow.’
‘You back around six?’
‘Should be.’
‘Well, I’m finishing here at three, so I’ll come home and prepare picnic food we can eat whilst we watch the movie. I’ll have you in bed by nine, I promise.’
I’ll have you in bed by nine. Ella closed her eyes as arousal rushed around her body.
‘You’ll get at least eight hours of beauty sleep by my calculations,’ Leo continued, seemingly unaware of the double meaning of his words. ‘Which is seven and a half hours more than you need. Deal?’
She nodded.
‘Ella?’
‘Yeah, sorry. That’s fine.’
‘An elf just died! Now I really have to remove the Fitzcannons from the world, or there won’t be enough elves left to wrap all the kiddie’s presents properly.’
Ella giggled. ‘You can’t kill them.’
‘Think of the children!’
‘Lunatic.’
‘But you still love me.’
‘Of course I do,’ she replied, hiding her truest feelings in plain sight.
‘Excellent. I’ll spare their pitiful lives in a charming show of princely benevolence and see you later.’
Finishing the call, Ella sat on the bench watching a dog walker and feeling the winter stillness all around her. She’d hopefully seen the last of the Fitzcannons and things were back on track with Leo. Last night was just a blip in their friendship and one they’d already worked through and moved on from.
So why did she feel an emptiness inside rather than relief?
