Page 3 of Reindeer and Restraints
"So what do you actually want tonight? You can't hook up with a Krampus for real?"
"I have no intention of unmasking any of those beasts. The fantasy is all in the costume and the roleplay. I'm the naughty girl. He gets to punish me."
Bellamie shivers. "That's a hard no for me, being tied up and literally paraded in front of everyone."
"Or spanked." I wink at her.
"Worse!"
"Says the one who wants to be bred after the auction. I want time to enjoy my life of luxury. More than a few months with my guys before my body starts getting all..." A shudder runs through me.
Starla says, "Pregnant. It's totally natural."
"I'm not the mothering type yet. Someday I'll have kids… maybe. Should I tell the auction people to announce that as part of winning me—no guarantee of kids. I'm not done figuring out who I am. And who I'll be when I'm loaded? That's the real adventure."
Bellamie says, "I'll need you to be the same rowdy, vivacious friend who drags me into crazy shit."
"I can be the cool aunt."
The dress fitting is going great, making the auction seem so much more real. And then a really freaking hot older dude walks in like he owns the place–-straight off a romance novel cover. I hate to admit a ridiculous bias, but he’s far too attractive for this to be a home invasion.
But when he strides straight to Starla and pins her against the counter, I’m ready to spring into action. No home invader, no matter how sexy, is going to hurt my friend… except she knows him. Why hasn’t she mentioned him?
It’s all happening so fast, I can barely process it. Why is she letting him lick drips of eggnog off of her?
I have so many questions. But for now my fitting wraps up, and Starla wants to try her dress on next, no doubt so this guy can see, but we’re not supposed to tell anyone we’re in the auction ahead of time.
She must know he’ll keep quiet.
“What are you wearing, young lady?” Starla’s dad’s voice bellows from the front door. “I thought you were entering the eggnog contest, not the…” He gestures wildly.
“It's not for tonight.” Starla’s response gives me a chuckle but fails to address her father’s concern.
Her stepbrother, Ryker, walks in behind her dad. Both stare, wide-eyed, but the lust in Ryker’s eyes is completely different than the disapproval in her father’s.
“Where do you plan on wearing it?” Her dad asks the question she can’t answer.
“It’s for a Christmas thing.”
“Thing?” He won’t accept her answer.
She stands a little taller. “It’s a Christmas charity auction.”
That’s dangerously close to— Apparently her dad’s heard of it, because he’s furious. She spills the whole deal, arguing with her dad and brother about appropriateness, but it’s the other guy’s reaction, the one who was licking eggnog off of her, that really surprises me.
He says, “There’s no way my best friend’s daughter is going to sell her virginity.”
Surely she would have told us if she had a thing with him. Now is not the time to focus on that. Her dad grounded her from going to the auction. Who grounds their twenty-two-year-old daughter?
The rest of the dress fitting is marred by the argument. I bet this is more than the seamstress bargained for.
I wait until we’re in the car on the way to the Krampusnacht festival to help Starla brainstorm how to sneak out so she can get to the auction. And even though she swears there’s nothing between her and her dad’s best friend, Bellamie and I are certain he’d like to change that.
Too bad he missed his chance. As of Friday, we’ll all have new lives with the guys who win us in the auction.
The parade kicks off, and I scream so loud I scare the little girl next to us when the Krampuses come into sight—towering figures of fur, curling horns, and rusty sleigh bells clanging on chains. They stalk the route, growling at onlookers, tossing little burlap sacks labeled "COAL" to squealing children.
Waving wildly, I vie for their attention. One Krampus locks eyes with me—or so I think. It's hard to tell with the mask. He stomps toward our spot on the curb.
