Page 12 of Stalked By Santa

Turning back to my angel, I shrug off my jacket and wrap it around her before answering. She’s so tiny that the jacket swallows her, but she’s still showing too much skin for my liking, particularly around a reindeer. While they’re excellent pilots, they’re also total sluts.

Still, there’s no help for it at the moment, so forcing some semblance of calm into my voice, I answer her. “Yes, Comet is a member of the Reindeer Corps.”

She frowns. “Wait, so they aren’t, like, actual reindeer?”

“No, we haven’t used those in nearly a century. Not since the sleigh drivers got their pilot’s licenses.”

While Maddie seems to be considering this, Comet clears his throat. “Uh, boss? Is it safe to turn around yet?”

“That depends on what you have to tell me,” I say, forcing myself to turn my back on Maddie once more. “Your orders were to wait in the sleigh.”

The reindeer faces me. “I know. And I’m sorry to interrupt, buddy. Believe me. But we’re low on fuel from diverting so far off course. It would be a mistake to keep the sleigh idling much longer.”

At my stony glance, he adds, “I could go refuel, then come back for you. But if you want to reach the pole before dawn…”

Sighing, I shake my head, the full weight of my responsibilities returning. I may be perilously close to breaking the Christmas Contract, if I haven’t already, but I can’t disregard my duties entirely. The elf teams will need to debrief, be checked against the list.

And yet the thought of leaving Maddie’s side is unbearable. So I do the only thing I can.

I kidnap her.

SEVEN

MADELYN

He doesn’t ask permission.He doesn’t even warn me. One minute, I’m standing in my parents' living room. The next, I’m hanging upside down, draped like a doll over Santa’s shoulder.

Santa…

Is it possible that this man actually is Santa Claus? When Nick was spanking me, believing felt as natural as breathing. And yet it seems impossible that the only man I’ve ever truly wanted is not only real but has been stalking me for years.

Belatedly, I realize I should protest, put up a fight. There’s no escaping the muscular arm wrapped around my legs. Struggling won’t help. But I could scream…

Suddenly I’m staring down at black roof tiles flecked with softly falling snow. Santa sets me down, still keeping one possessive arm wrapped around my waist.

And, yes, this man is Santa. The sleigh is proof.

Or at least, I assume the sleek black vehicle parked on the roof is a sleigh. Much like my stalker, it isn’t at all what I envisioned in any of my Christmas fantasies.

The sleigh looks like a cross between a sports car and a small aircraft. Its windows are tinted such a deep black that they’re nearly indistinguishable from whatever material covers the sleigh’s body and wings.

A faint beep, the sound you hear when a car unlocks, pierces the silence of the sleeping neighborhood. Two doors swing upward, revealing two compartments. One appears to be a cockpit, judging by the lighted instrument panel. But it’s the rear compartment that Nick gestures toward.

“After you.”

The roof tiles are cool and rough against my bare feet as I hesitantly approach the sleigh. My mind too blown to do anything else, I get in.

The interior of the sleigh is shockingly warm after the cold December night. Nick slides in beside me and pushes a button that causes a privacy screen to rise, closing us off from the cockpit.

I can almost pretend that I’m sitting in the back of any luxury sedan. The illusion is shattered, however, when the sleigh begins to move. My stomach drops as we gain altitude, lifting off the roof into the starry night.

Because while on the outside the windows may be opaque, from the inside of the sleigh there’s a spectacular view. I stare down in wonder as we fly over my childhood neighborhood. Houses and shops spread out below us, like a fairytale gingerbread village.

Only when the objects on the ground become too small to see do I remember where I am, who I’m with. All the impossible events of the past hour rush through my mind as I turn away from the window and examine the man sitting beside me. A man who is staring at me with such intensity that it should frighten me.

Heshould frighten me.

Because he looks more like a biker than a merry old man. He doesn’t look old at all, although he’s clearly much older than me. Older and dangerous.

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