Page 33 of Santa Daddies
The family looked at me and then at Kristoffer as if they’d forgotten we existed.
“Why don’t we decorate ours like Santa Claus?” I grabbed a red-velvet fur-trimmed tree skirt out of the box. We can rope the red lights tightly around the top and add the white light star as the pompom and use the tree skirt as a coat. The smaller red balls for the nose and mouth, and the bigger ones for the cheeks. The silver balls for the eyes and all the white ones for the beard. We can even use the string lights to outline so they really stand out.”
“Oh!” The couple’s daughter held up some white tinsel. “This would also work for the beard.”
The son added, “No one will be doing this, which means our tree will stand out!”
“These stockings can be used as his boots,” the mother suggested and everyone was on board.
Kristoffer winked at me and whispered, “I might need to hire you for future negotiations.”
We worked together until our creation was perfect and when we lit it up there wereoohsandahsfrom passersby. Kristoffer took my hand and tugged me behind the tree under the guise of looking at it from the back. And when we were hidden from our team and the crowd, he pulled me against him.
“Kiss me, Little Red,” he demanded, but didn’t wait until I complied. Instead, he leaned down, wrapped his strong arm around me and kissed me hard on the mouth.
“What was that for?”
“You deserved it because we’re going to win this, thanks to you. And the bakery has stopped taking Christmas pie orders for weeks now and I really wanted a cherry.”
The dad popped his head around the corner, and I jumped back from Kristoffer.
“We’ll meet up later at the post office for the results. But I already know we’re going to win. Great idea, Emily.”
“Thanks!”
“Sure thing, Jim,’ Kristoffer replied, and the man dashed off with his family.
After that, we strolled through the square to the cookie-decorating station at the bakery and decorated gingerbread men. Three men of the dozen we bought didn’t make it into our takeaway box, and two of those were eaten by me with no remorse. Next, we stopped to feed the reindeer at the little petting zoo the town had set up for the kids.
“Did you know all of Santa’s reindeer are actually female?” I asked as I held my hand out flat for the deer to nibble the pellets they sold for us to feed them.
Kristoffer ho-ho-hoed in my ear and whispered, “Of course I do, I’m Santa and I’m all-knowing, but why?”
I giggled. “Male reindeer shed their antlers in the winter. Female reindeer shed theirs in May, so all of your reindeer are female, including Rudolph, Santa.”
“Is that so?”
We skipped the hot chocolate booth and the poutine truck since our bellies were warm with Gløgg, Glüwein, traditional German Christmas food, and gingerbread cookies. But we did stop and have maple syrup on popsicle sticks in the snow because it didn’t get more Canadian than that and neither of us had done it since we were kids.
“Come on, this is a shortcut,” Kristoffer said, ducking down a path between a couple of shops that weren’t open for the festival. As soon as we were alone, Kristoffer tugged me around against one of the brick buildings and planted a kiss on my lips. I was taken aback again, but it wasn’t an unwelcome kiss, especially once he cupped his gloved hands on my face, looked at me tenderly and kissed me again, deeper this time. My heart kicked up and my middle warmed even more than it already was.
“I enjoy spending time with you, Emily.”
When he pulled back, my eyes shuttered. He rarely called me Emily and this time it changed something in me. Little Red was fun and flirty. It fit my narrative that we were just having a casual good time. But we’d just spent the evening decorating Christmas trees and gingerbread men and feeding and petting reindeer and kissing and that sounded nothing like two people only together for sexual gratification.
My gaze scanned his face in the dim light, and I suddenly didn’t care if this was just about sex to him. I had loved everysecond of the night and kissing the gorgeous man between the buildings of the picture-perfect little town was the perfect complement to that.
Reaching up and grabbing the lapels of his wool coat in my mittened hands, I tugged him back toward me, rose onto my tippy-toes and kissed him. Our kisses were deep, meandering, and sweet, flavored with the spiced wine, gingerbread and the headiness of whatever was budding between us.
As our kisses ended and we came back to the moment, we both noticed the snow had started back up suddenly and those big fluffy flakes were floating gently around us again. A woman sangLast Christmasfrom the karaoke booth and the notes fluttered around us with the snow.
It was perfect. Hallmark movie perfect.
“That was nice,” Kristoffer said as he set me back slowly onto my feet. I hadn’t even noticed he’d released my face with one of his hands to wrap his arm around me and boost me up. It was such a great kiss I thought I’d imagined floating off my feet.
“Mm, it was.”
He took off his glove and ran his thumb across my cheek. “I liked it very much.” And then before I knew what was happening, he dipped me to the side. “And I like you very much, too.” And then he leaned to my lips and kissed me again.
