Chapter Six

Alex

The look of sheer-panic on Maci’s face likely mirrored my own, carefully hidden with glued on eyebrows and beard. Oh boy, this could be interesting…

Before I could decide how to play it, one of the costumed elves ushered Maci and her daughter forward. The dark-haired girl was a carbon copy of her mother, just with rounder cheeks and eyes. She was going to be a knockout when she grew up. Just like Maci. The girl smiled as she bounded for me. “Hello Mr. Santa, it’s very nice to meet you.”

I reached out a gloved hand and ushered her forward. “It’s very nice to meet you too, Alyssa.”

The girl’s eyes went even wider. She snapped around to look at Maci. “Mama, he knows my name!”

Maci gave a strained smile and nodded encouragingly. “That’s right, Sweetie. Santa knows everything, remember?”

Alyssa let me take her by the hand and then lift her onto my knee. “So, Alyssa, what would you like me to bring you for Christmas?”

Alyssa folded her hands, a pleading gesture. “I want a Livia Tablet in hot pink!”

She said it loud enough that some of the people at the front of the line heard her. One little boy rolled his eyes and called out, “They don’t even make it in hot pink!” He scoffed, clearly disgusted. “Girls…”

Irritation roiled up inside me but I smiled patiently. “That’s why I have elves. They can work magic.”

Alyssa had stars in her eyes at my reassuring comment. “I believe in you, Santa!”

“I know you do, Alyssa.” I glanced up over the half-moon fake spectacles. Maci was looking away, her eyes roving around the elaborate staging, determined to look anywhere but at me. I consulted Alyssa. “What about your mom? What does she want Santa to bring her?”

Alyssa’s eyes sparkled even brighter as she twisted in my lap to look at her mom. “Mommy says she needs a Prince Charming and a pack of cleaning fairies!”

The people in line behind Maci and Alyssa started to laugh. Maci cringed at the tittering sounds and scrambled forward. She reached for Alyssa’s hand. “Come on, sweetie. We don’t want to take too much of Santa’s time. Let’s go pet the reindeer and head home.”

I held up a hand. “Wait, one moment,” I said. “We didn’t get our picture taken yet.”

Maci shot me daggers but stepped off to one side to let the photographer get a clean shot.

Alyssa smiled and leaned in closer. “You have to say Mickey Mouse, Santa.”

I chuckled. “All right. Mickey Mouse!”

The photographer snapped a couple of shots and then Maci charged forward, snagged Alyssa’s hand, and helped her from my lap. “Thank you, Santa,” she said, her voice still frosty.

“Bye Santa!” Alyssa waved as Maci led her away. “See you soon!”

“Bye, Alyssa! You’ve been a very good girl. I’ll be sure to get that Livia Tablet for you.” I winked and Alyssa giggled and tugged excitedly at Maci’s hand as she spoke in hushed tones with the photographer.

The next family was being ushered forward but I couldn’t tear my eyes off Maci. She was smiling but quietly trying to explain to the photographer that she wasn’t interested in the deluxe package.

I jumped off the gaudy throne and hurried toward Maci. One of the elves—a twenty-something who took her job a little too seriously—started to pursue me but I held up one finger and told her I’d be right back. The crowd of people waiting in line muttered collectively.

“Hold on!” I called.

Maci stopped talking and turned to face me. Alyssa smiled up at me. Shit. This is going to be tricky.

“Yes, Santa?” Maci said with a pointed expression.

She was pissed.

Not that I could blame her. I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with my current position. Now she probably thought I was some loser who couldn’t get a real job.

“Dean, go ahead and give them the deluxe pack. On me.”

Maci frowned and started to object. “That’s really not—”

“I insist.”

Her eyes darkened but she managed a polite smile. “Thank you, Santa.”

The crowd over my shoulder was grumbling louder. The over-zealous elf was tapping me on the shoulder. There was no time, no way I could say anything else without blowing my cover in front of her sweet daughter.

“I hope you have a Merry Christmas,” I said, resigned.

Maci’s eyebrows lifted but she didn’t say anything. I turned away and trudged back to the throne where the obnoxious boy who’d made fun of Alyssa’s request was waiting. I forced a smile that was nowhere near jolly and plopped back down. By the time the boy got done rattling off his obscenely long list of demands, Maci and Alyssa were gone.

***

When the long night finally ended, I barely waited until I was out of my beard and suit to dial Maci’s number. She didn’t answer and I cursed under my breath.

“That’s not very Santa-like,” the aggressive elf chided.

I rolled my eyes and held up the beard. “My name’s Alex. I’m not actually Santa. You do get that, right?”

The girl scoffed. “Whatever.” She slung a messenger bag over her shoulder, still fully in costume, and stalked out of Santa’s Workshop.

I grumbled under my breath and went behind the curtained off section of the workshop to change into my street clothes. When the Santa suit and accessories were all safely locked up for the night, I headed out of the mall to the Buick. Once behind the wheel I dialed Maci again. I got sent through to her voicemail.

I released a slow sigh and let my head loll back against the headrest as her sexy voice instructed me to leave a message and have a nice day.

Beep.

“Maci, it’s Alex. Listen, I know you probably have a lot of questions. I’m sorry I didn’t mention the Santa gig earlier. It’s a long story…” I sat up and turned over the engine. “I’d really like to see you again. Please call me back when you get a chance.”

I hung up, stashed my phone in one of the cup holders, and drove off.

Midway back to my parent’s house the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“I don’t even know why I’m bothering, but let’s hear it,” Maci said in lieu of a greeting.

Even at the annoyance in her tone, I couldn’t help but smile. She shot straight from the hip in a way that most women didn’t even dare when they knew who I was. I’d had more than my fair share of gold diggers who wanted nothing more than access to my bank account and a good time every so often. Maci was so different. I hated the thought of telling her the truth and having her change in any way.

“The proceeds of the photographs go toward a few local charities. The Santa gig is a volunteer thing. My dad’s been the Cascadia Mall Santa for the last seven years. He got hurt and I offered to take his place.”

Well, offered wasn’t quite the right term, but it worked anyway.

“That’s nice and all, but what I don’t appreciate is being blind-sided. You should have told me. You knew I worked part time at the mall. You really didn’t think I would notice? I’m there every day. I walk by Santa’s station every night on my way to the food court.”

“To be honest, I didn’t think about it until it was too late.”

She sighed. “It’s fine. It just caught me off guard. Way off guard.”

I allowed a soft chuckle. “What? You never dreamed of getting down and dirty with Santa?”

She laughed and the pressure in my chest released. “Ya know, it never cracked the top ten.”

Heat flashed through me and I found myself sitting up a little straighter behind the wheel. The light turned green and I rolled forward slowly. “I’d love to know what the top ten things entail.”

Maci paused and for a moment I worried I’d taken it too far. Asking a woman for her darkest sexual fantasies—over the phone, no less—after one date wasn’t exactly up to the gentleman’s code of conduct I tried to live by. “I’ll just bet,” she finally said, the smile evident in her tone of voice. “Let’s see, where to start…Santa might not be my thing but ya know who gets me hot? The guy on the paper towel wrapper.”

“The Brawny man?” A wide grin split across my face.

She giggled. “Oh, yeah. So hot.”

Even though she was clearly joking, the thought was getting me hot nonetheless. I’d wear a flannel shirt and pair of boot cut jeans any day of the week for her if it would get her moaning like she had the night before. “I’m almost home. Mind if I call you right back when I can fully enjoy every delicious detail?”

“Of my romp with a cartoon character?”

I laughed loudly and hit my blinker. “Yes.”

“Alex, I don’t know what to make of you.”

“Guess that makes two of us.”

She laughed softer and after a pause said, “Sure, call me when you get home. Drive safe. It’s slick out there.”

She disconnected before I could thank her and I set the phone back in the cup holder.

I called her back before even getting out of the car. I reclined the seat back and listened to the silky purr of her voice as she answered the call. “Boy, you promise a guy some dirty talk and he’s Johnny-on-the-spot with the call back!”

I chuckled and nodded. “You’ve got my number, baby.”

“Where are you?”

“The garage.”

She laughed loudly and I smiled like a fool. “You’re in pretty deep, huh?”

“Well, as much as I would love you to talk dirty to me, what I really want to know is when I can see you again. Preferably while not wearing a three-sizes-too-big crushed velvet suit.”

Maci cracked up. “Why not? If any Santa can get me hot and bothered, it’s definitely you.”

“I’m flattered.” I shook my head. What was this woman doing to me? “So, dinner? Or, we could skip right to dessert. That worked well last time.”

“I would love to, but I really should stay here with Alyssa. Between working two jobs I don’t see her nearly enough and taking another night away wouldn’t be the best right now.” She paused and my heart fell, trying to decipher if it was a brush-off or if she sincerely couldn’t. “Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow night?”

My eyebrows shot up. Hours before I’d imagined I’d seen the last of her, now she was inviting me to her house, for dinner, presumably with her daughter present.

Maci scrambled to add to her invitation. “If it’s too much, too soon, I get it. But I had a really good time with you last night and I don’t want my chaotic schedule to get in the way of getting to know you a little better. You’re obviously a natural with kids. I think you and Alyssa would hit it off.”

This was massive. Even without seeing her face I knew this was her way of baring herself to me in a way far more intimate than she had the night before. This wasn’t just sex. And as I thought about it, I realized that I’d somehow known that from the moment she joined me at that sticky food court table.

“Yes.” I gave a decisive nod. “Tell me time and what to bring and I’m there.”

Maci breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief and then told me to bring nothing but myself and rattled off a time.

I hung up and went inside, wearing a wide grin that didn’t leave me the rest of the night.