The doorbell over the door dings.Crap! I must have forgotten to lock the door. We don’t open for a couple more hours. I peek into the storefront.
Krampus… or rather, my human who likes to pretend he’s the keeper of the naughty list. His hair is a mess… a very sexy look. But his breaths are heavy and he looks like he hasn’t slept. His possessive Daddy energy radiates.
“You’re here. What’s wrong?”
“I can’t lose you, Bellamie.”
“What do you mean, lose me?” Did he find out about the auction? About what I did with my stepbrother?
“You have to give me a chance.”
I step closer, not understanding why he’s so frantic. “I am, that’s why I texted about a date… or did autocorrect make my text wonky?”
He grabs my hands. He’s practically trembling. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Same. You’re supposed to be out of town.”
“I thought…” It’s clear he’s redirecting whatever he was going to say. “Can you get off work? Can I take you on a date right now?”
“What’s going on?”
“I shouldn’t have left.”
Maybe the auction worked its magic after all. I will get my chance with someone who didn’t run off when I said I loved kids. “I shouldn’t have told you I have a three-date rule.”
My stomach knots at how I got caught up in the moment last night. I should have asked Loren to wear a condom. But I’m faithful about my pills. And here I am again getting caught up in the moment–wanting to have sex with Krampus. I’m tender from last night, but that isn’t changing a thing.
“Get someone to cover your shift?”
“Technically, we aren't open, I just forgot to lock the door when I came in.”
He rushes to the door, flips the lock, then embraces me. “Bellie, when you said we had to wait until after Friday and then when you didn’t have time for me because your friend was in crisis, I thought you were blowing me off. I didn’t–”
An explanation would definitely kill the mood. I try to sound playful, but surprise myself by how raspy and seductive my voice turns. “I really did have a friend in crisis. Jolene was named guardian of her cousin’s two-year-old daughter. But Friday has come and gone. Where did we leave off, D– Do you remember?”
I stop myself just short of calling him Daddy.
He cups my neck and kisses me–with even more hunger than where we left off. He hoists me onto the cash wrap and I’m lost in how badly I want him. And how badly I want him to be my Daddy.
No more fear that guys don’t want to date me because I love kids too much. No more fantasy that my stepbrother would rally a team of guys to win me. No more putting my life on hold for what other people believe is right for me.
But there is one thing to consider. “Wait, we can't do it out here… the windows.”
He looks around. I motion to the fitting rooms. He takes me inside the oversized, handicap accessible room, sets my feet on the floor, and steadies me for a second before we both start flinging our clothes.
I need him inside of me, but dangit, I’m moving so fast, my hands get tangled in my long sleeves.
His wicked chuckle draws my attention. “May I?”
He’s reaching for my trapped hands. I nod, my body shaking in anticipation as I remember how good it felt to be tied up, and at the sight of his erection. I don’t think I can trust my memory, but he might be thicker than Loren was.
“Naughty girls need to be punished. Have you been a naughty girl?”
“You have no idea.” But if I was truly a naughty girl, I would have quit worrying and given him the nickname I’m dying to use.
His deep laugh makes my knees week. “Krampus knows everything.”
Yeah, probably not.