Page 22 of Stalked By Santa

But then I walk past a doorman denying a homeless person entry to an apartment building, and it hits me how truly dumbandungrateful I am. It’s a scene I’ve probably witnessed hundreds of times and never really thought twice about.

But now?

Well, one, it puts an end to my pity party. Yes, this situation sucks. But my life could be so much worse. Yet it’s the second thing that it makes me realize that has me kicking myself for being so dumb. I may not have the key to my apartment, but I won’t have to break in. All the doormen who work in my building know me. Someone will let me in and get a spare key from the building manager.

All I have to do is walk another thirty blocks.

That realization deflates my spirits, but I force myself to keep walking. Of course, now that I have a plan to solve my need for shelter, my thoughts inevitably return to Nick.

Leaving him, returning that ring, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Yet what choice did I have once I knew what marrying me would cost him? What it would cost theworld?

The elf made it clear how selfish that would be. She said he was the best Santa they’ve ever had. How could I ask him to turn his back on that just to be with me?

I’m no one. The elf madethatclear, too. She called me a selfish nobody. And while her words stung, there was truth to them. Because really, what have I done with my life? Nothing, that’s what. I’m just a spoiled little girl who’s been content to drift along after college and let her parents pay for everything. I’ve never even held a real job.

No, Nick is better off without me.

FOURTEEN

NICK

Maddie’s surveillancedot on the map calls to me. I still don’t know whether she’ll even speak to me, but Blitzen is right. The fact that she hasn’t disappeared from the system proves that, if nothing else, she still believes.

I have to try. I can’t just let her walk away. Even if it means kidnapping her against her will this time.

When I appear on the sidewalk in front of her, I don’t give her a second chance to run. Wrapping my arms around her, I transport us to my New York penthouse.

The feel of her in my arms when I thought I’d never hold her again blots out the speech I’d rehearsed. Holding her more tightly, clinging to her as if I were drowning, I crush my mouth to hers.

And God help me, but she melts against me, kissing me back in a way that suggests she might be drowning too.

Not releasing her, not breaking the kiss, I fumble with my pants until my cock is free. We fall to the floor, tongues warring, our kiss growing more desperate. Frantic, I shove up her skirt, tearing off her underwear, needing to be inside her.

Because I need her, need to claim her, need the reassurance that she’s mine.

She wraps her legs around my hips as I slide into her, heels digging into my back as she urges me deeper. As I thrust into her, I finally break the kiss and look into her eyes.

“What the fuck were you thinking, angel? Running from me? Leaving your ring? Scaring me like that?” I punctuate each verb with a sharp thrust of my hips.

Tearful, she looks up at me. “Christmas means too much for me to deliberately ruin it. Santa means too much.” Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling me into another kiss.

When we’re forced to finally come up for air, she continues, gasping. “There’s so much darkness in the world. How could I selfishly keep one of its few bright lights all to myself? And once the elf explained about the contract—”

She left because she thought she was saving Christmas? Not because she was disgusted by my obsession?

This time, I kiss her—but softer this time, with more finesse now that my panic is beginning to abate. Maddie moans into my mouth as I slip a hand between us and rub her clit.

And then there’s only our mutual pleasure, a slow-building ecstasy that eventually overwhelms us both. Shuddering, I come inside her as she cries out my name.

I collapse onto the carpet next to her. But as the fog of our frenzied coupling dissipates from my mind and I replay what my angel just said, I feel my anger growing.

Not anger at Maddie, but…

“What elf approached you? Who told you about the contract?” I demand, already knowing the answer.

Maddie winces. “Don’t be mad at her. At least not if she was telling the truth.”

“Which elf, Madelyn?”

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