Chapter 12

Ella

“No! You didn’t!” Jo gasped, her hands going to her mouth.

“Yup,” I said, looking around for the billionth time to make sure no one would overhear. “I didn’t plan on it. I guess I didn’t mean to, but it just kinda happened.”

“But it was good, right?”

I could feel myself blush vibrantly, and I dipped my head down for a moment. “Yeah,” I admitted. “More than good. It was incredible. The best in my life, actually.”

Jo let out a caw of victory, and I had to quickly slap my hand over her mouth until she quieted down. It took a couple of seconds, but she calmed, and I carefully withdrew my palm. “That’s awesome,” she whispered.

“Yeah, yeah it was.”

“And so, is that it? Just a wham-blur-thank-you-sir and now you’re over him?”

“Not quite. We’re going on a date on Wednesday. A real date. Like to the movies or dinner or something.”

“I knew it!” Jo was shouting again, and I shot her an urgent glare. Thankfully, she remembered herself and lowered her voice again. “I knew the two of you would get together. I could tell from the moment you freakin’ sat on his lap. I wish you could have seen the both of your expressions from my point of view. It would have been so obvious.”

“Wow, calm down there with all that meant to be stuff, Jo,” I said, somewhat defensively. “We had one hookup and haven’t even gone on a date yet. For all I know, we’ll find out we’re not compatible at all and that will be the end of it.”

“If you say so,” Jo answered with a shrug. “But there is something you need to keep in mind.”

“Oh, really?” I countered. “And what’s that?”

“He’s a seasonal employee. And a Santa at that. As soon as Christmas is over, he’s totally gonna be bye-bye birdy.”

I froze at that, my mind blanking out for a solid second. “W-what?” I managed to sputter.

“Come on, Ellie-babe. Don’t tell me you never realized that.” She gauged my expression and let out a sigh. “Oh, you didn’t, did you?”

“No,” I breathed, my thoughts scrambling to catch up. “I never thought about it.”

Suddenly, I was very uncomfortable. There was a time limit to whatever was going on between Drayer and me, and I didn’t like that. I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt beyond my excitement, and I didn’t want to be rushed about it. And yet, it seemed like that was exactly what was going to happen.

“Earth to Ella, we should probably get to work. Otherwise, you won’t get to see him a whole lot sooner.”

I shook my head and brought myself back to reality. “Yeah, you’re right.” I chugged the rest of the drink and headed out, but my mind was already returning to the latest plot twist to my life.

This time of the year was not a great time for me to make personal decisions for … reasons. And I had just met Drayer. There was no way I could make a decision about him in less than a month. That was how you got your heart broken.

I sighed to myself and went about my work. But like always, I couldn’t keep my eye off of the door as I waited for Drayer to arrive in the middle of opening duties. Sure enough, he strolled in fifteen minutes before his shift with Nick, both of them armed with coffee.

I didn’t have time to go and greet him in the break room, so I would have to resign myself to talking to him at our lunch break. But still, my eyes were automatically drawn to him as soon as he came out, decked in his red velvet suit and bushy, fake beard.

I made sure to keep up with my work, but I spent more time than I probably should have watching him with the kids. He was so sweet, so attentive. I knew a lot of macho, manly men who were so insecure in their masculinity, they would never be able to get into the character of a holly, jolly old man so convincingly, but Drayer didn’t care. All he seemed to worry about were whether the kids and the parents were happy.

Maybe trusting him wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. He was obviously thoughtful and actually cared about emotions, which seemed to be a rarity nowadays. And when I had told him I had issues with my ex, he hadn’t pushed, hadn’t tried to get his way. He’d just listened and treated me with the utmost respect.

God, I sounded so sappy. I needed to get it together. I felt like I needed to punch a bear or chug some terrible IPA so I could recover from the gooey romance flooding my mind. I was a smart girl, and I needed to handle this like a smart girl.

But still, it was hard to be smart when he was so damn hot. And I couldn’t stop thinking about how thoroughly he had worked me over on Saturday. I was still somewhat sore but in the most delicious way possible. Already, I could feel myself wanting more, even as the logical side of my brain told me I needed to take it slow.

I heard the shrill cry of an infant, and my gaze was drawn right back to the North Pole set up we had. A kid was bawling his eyes out, upset that Mommy had put him in a stranger’s lap. But Drayer handled it like a pro, craning around to look the kid in the eye. I couldn’t see what expression he was making or hear what he said, but whatever it was cheered the kid right up, and in less than a minute, they were ready for their picture.

Wow.

How was I supposed to not melt at that? Leaning against the shelving in the men’s section, my heart warmed, and I had no idea what I was going to do about this perfect man who had walked into my life.