Candy opened her laptop and checked her email. She had another rejection email. It was the twelfth in a row. She sighed and frowned at her email as if that would make the contents of the email change.

“Why so sad?” asked a woman’s voice.

Candy looked up. One of her regular customers, Pandora, was standing in front of Candy’s table, with her friend, Jack. They were both sipping lattes from their thermoses. They were one of the few sets of customers that brought their own thermoses to the cafe. Pandora’s was red and green while Jack’s was icy white and blue.

“Hey, Pandora. Hey, Jack,” said Candy. “Do you two need this table?”

“No,” said Jack. “We saw you sitting here, giving your computer a death glare, and wanted to see what was up. Is something wrong?”

“It’s just bakery stuff,” said Candy. “You don’t want to hear about it.”

“This is my dad’s bakery, so I do,” said Pandora, taking a seat.

“Your dad?” asked Candy.

“My father, Santana, is both Avery and Krampus’ boss. You must’ve met Krampus by now, right?” asked Pandora. “Tell me: is his new lumberjack a hottie?”

“He’s so hot, every time he walks into the bakery, I’m afraid that the Christmas tree in the corner will go up in flames,” said Candy.

Jack cleared his throat.

“What’s the bakery issue?” asked Jack.

“Avery wants to drum up business by running an ad campaign targeting women. I came up with the idea for some ‘sexy Santa’ themed ads,” said Candy. “What do you think of that theme, Pandora?”

“Yeah, Pandora, what do you think?” teased Jack, elbowing his friend lightly in the arm.

“I, uh, am really not into ‘sexy Santa’ stuff, but that’s just because of my dad,” said Pandora.

“Oh, did your dad dress up as Santa when you were a kid?” asked Candy.

“You could say that,” said Pandora. “However. I know it’s a popular theme for ads. What’s the problem?”

“We want to play this straight and have a smokin’ hot model come and do a photoshoot with us so we can run an ad campaign, and then, we also want to host a sort of ‘meet and greet’ party where moms can come, let loose, and ‘sit on Santa’s lap,’” said Candy.

“If you have a plan, what’s the problem?” asked Pandora.

“All the models I’ve contacted have rejected the bakery’s offer,” said Candy. “They either want to spend the holidays with their family or they aren’t comfortable doing what they think is a ‘goofy’ campaign or they don’t want to hang out at a party with ‘normal people.’”

“Have you tried calling and asking about male strippers?” asked Pandora.

“Believe it or not, yes,” said Candy. “They all have ‘prior engagements’ for those evenings. I guess there’s a lot of lonely people looking for companionship during the Christmas season…which is exactly why our event would be a smashing success if we could just find a frikkin’ model.”

“Wait, didn’t you say that Krampus’ lumberjack is a hunk?” asked Jack. “Why don’t you ask him to work the campaign?”

“I can’t ask him to do that,” said Candy. “First of all, before he came out here, he was a celebrity. He was a romance novel cover model. He doesn’t look recognizable, what, with his longer hair and the rough stubble, but I bet he’d clean up real nice. There’s no way he’d take some small podunk gig like the Bear Claw Bakery ad campaign. Second of all, he’s busy working for Krampus. He won’t be able to get time off to help me out.”

“I’m sure Krampus would allow it, in exchange for the privilege of watching the show,” said Jack. “One year, he had one of his lumberjacks strip to work off stress.”

“He what?” asked Candy. “That doesn’t sound like Krampus.”

“He’s a tricky man,” said Pandora. “You’d be surprised at what shenanigans he’d encourage his lumberjacks to get into.”

“I thought the entire point of his weird Christmas tree camp was that he was teaching bad boys discipline,” said Candy.

“You know the idiom, about donkeys, sticks, and carrots?” asked Pandora. “Well, the work done on the island is the stick, and free time on The Wreath is the carrot.”

“Fine, I guess I could ask Cain to help me,” said Candy.

“Good, because I just saw Krampus walked into the bakery,” said Pandora, peering toward the back door. “Whew! Is that Cain? He’s hot!”

Jack frowned and clenched his fists. Candy could tell Jack was jealous. He had on a leather jacket as if he was a bad boy, but apparently, he had a soft side. Did Jack have a crush on Pandora?

Cain spotted Candy and walked over to the table.

“Am I interrupting something?” asked Cain. “My ears were burning. I could’ve sworn I heard someone say my name.”

“Cocky,” said Pandora, shaking her head. “Typical bad boy.”

“Was I wrong?” retorted Cain.

“No,” said Pandora. “In fact, Candy and I were just talking about you, Cain. We have…a proposition.”

“The last time two beautiful women propositioned me, I woke up in another time zone without my wallet,” said Cain. “Exactly what mischief do you two have in mind?”

“I’m looking for a model to work our Bear Claw Bakery campaign,” admitted Candy. “I know you’re probably busy and —”

“I’m in,” said Cain.

“Y-you are?” asked Candy. “Well, I also need the model to show up to our ‘sexy Santa’ themed party and interact with the public. We’re doing a ‘mom’s night out’ type of event.”

“I already said I’m in,” said Cain. “I’m ready to help give some moms a very Merry Christmas. I have a suggestion, though.”

“Yes?” asked Candy.

“Invite a lot of single moms, widow moms, moms with husbands serving abroad, those kinds of women,” said Cain.

“Why? So you can hit on them?” sassed Pandora.

“No. Those women really need a night off,” said Cain. “I should know. My dad was never around. My mom was always exhausted, wrangling my siblings and me during the holiday season. Find a babysitting service to handle the kids while the moms take a load off.”

“That…is actually a good idea,” admitted Candy.

“And, you should get some male strippers to give lap dances,” said Cain. “I know this club, Bear Buns —”

“Alright, alright,” said Pandora. “Quit while you’re ahead, buddy. Go grab your junk and head back to the island. Candy has work to do.”

“But —” started Cain.

“She’s a very busy woman,” said Pandora. “Shoo, bear! Get!”

“Candy,” said Cain, giving Candy a one finger salute…before grabbing his ‘junk’ as he walked away before winking at Candy. Candy couldn’t help but watch as Cain’s hands moved to his crotch. Her eyes widened. Cain was one flirty bad boy.

As soon as Cain had left the building, Candy looked at Pandora with wide eyes.

“What?” asked Pandora, munching at her cranberry maple muffin. “You look like you’ve seen a Christmas ghost.”

“How were you able to do that?” asked Candy. “Do you have frikkin’ superpowers?”

“Able to do what?” asked Pandora.

“Able to talk to Cain!” hissed Candy. “He’s been coming in here every day since December first, and I have barely been able to have a conversation with him. He always makes my heart feel, I don’t know, weird. Every time I look at his chiseled jawline, or his firm abs, I just…lose the ability to say what I want.”

“Well, two things. One, I don’t have an issue talking to hunks, because I’ve got a little thing called ‘confidence,’ and it’s stored in my thick curves,” said Pandora, motioning over her BBW body. “Two, I’m not hopelessly in love with that model-turned-lumberjack. You are, which is why you can’t talk to him.”

“In love?” asked Candy. “We haven’t even gone on a date, or, y’know…”

“I know how shifters work,” said Pandora. “You can spare me the details.”

“How do I get to the point where I can talk to Cain?” asked Candy.

“Get confident and admit you like him,” said Pandora. “Honesty is always the best policy. After all, if you lie during the Christmas season, you might just get put on The Naughty List.”

“Pandora, we’ve got to get going,” said Jack, looking at his watch. “Candy, good luck with your ad campaign.”

“And good luck with your bad boy,” said Pandora, getting up from her seat. “There’s nothing I love more than a bad boy.”

Cain and Krampus were halfway across the lake when Krampus’ phone started to ring. Krampus took the call, and after a few minutes, the call was over.

“And when were you telling me that you had volunteered to help Avery and Candy with their little bakery problem?” asked Krampus, pocketing his phone.

“I was going to tell you I’d committed to it tonight, so you couldn’t tell me that I can’t do it,” said Cain. “Did the strategy pay off?”

“You can do the campaign and the party, but only because it’s a favor for Avery,” said Krampus. “Don’t think I won’t be making you do another two thousand push-ups for this.”

“Ah, so the fact I’m helping Avery is what you care about,” said Cain. “Can’t say I’m surprised. I’ve seen you two together. You’d make a cute couple.”

Krampus said, “And you must really love push-ups, boy.”