Page 17 of Naughty Elf: Shimmersnap

“No, no, it’s fine. Just trust me.”

I did. Shimmersnap always seemed to work miracles with paperwork, so why would this be any different?

He worked so fast, setting out all the containers in an organized fashion. It was like his hands moved via magic. The whole table was a flurry of color, and the scent of the sugary sprinkles and hot chocolate filled the air.

“Voila!” he said. Somehow, he had even managed to sprinkle sparkles over the tabletop. They gleamed in the holiday lights that surrounded us. Where had he found a cute Christmas tree and snowman figurine for the table?

Shimmersnap was a miracle worker. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he had magic.

“It’s gorgeous,” I said.

“It looks great, doesn’t it?” He smiled and stood taller.

“Much better than when we arrived, for sure. You did great, Shimmersnap.”

“It turned out nice.” He tapped that finger to his cheek again, deep in thought. “Now, if only we had a little bit of—”

Just then, the clouds seemed to let loose, and large, fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky.

“Snow!” I said.

“I was thinking the same thing,” he said with a wink. His cheeks were red, and the hat he wore was just a bit silly. It was crocheted, red yarn with flecks of sparkles in it. There were always sparkles wherever Shimmersnap went.

“You should try some.” He ladled some hot chocolate into a cup, tossed in a few marshmallows and a candy cane, and handed it to me. I took a sip, my gaze holding his.

“It’s delicious,” I said.

“I know,” he said.

I desperately wanted to lean forward and kiss him. The hot chocolate was sweet, but nothing was sweeter than kisses from Shimmersnap. The very essence of the man was sugar and sparkles. He was all things good and wonderful. The world shined brighter whenever he was near.

I set my cup down and leaned toward him. Snowflakes had fallen and landed on his cheeks. I brushed them away with my thumb. “Thanks for doing all this,” I said. “It really is amazing.”

I didn’t even care that we had a long night ahead of us of handing out hot chocolate to all the festival attendees. It would be fun with Shimmersnap at my side.

“You’re welcome.”

He licked his lips, drawing my gaze there. I leaned forward, ready to break the rules I had just set this morning.

“Oh! Is this where we get the free hot chocolate! It looks amazing.”

We were out of time.

The both of us separated and began our work.

Chapter 11

Shimmersnap

Our shift was only supposed to last two hours, but somehow, we managed to stay longer. Our hot chocolate bar was all the rage, if I did say so myself. Plenty of people came by, wanting to see the cute display. Given more time, I could have created a really crazy setup, maybe with a fountain that was five feet tall and had different flavors and varieties of hot chocolate. Peppermints, caramel, white chocolate drizzle so we could make snowflake designs or maybe sparkly sprinkles that gave the hot chocolate that extra shine.

But alas, I could not do such a thing—doing so would give away my magic.

I caught Walter smiling more than once. He even laughed and chit-chatted with the people who stopped at the booth, making small talk about the weather. Walter never made small talk. Once our other volunteers arrived to relieve us, I wasn’t sure what the plan was. Would we each go our separate ways, still pretending that nothing happened between us?

I knew I wasn’t going to forget last night. I just needed to convince Walter to give us a shot. A real one. One where we lasted forever. One where we started a family and spent all our Christmases together. Not just because if we didn’t, I’d end up as an elf figurine forever, but because I truly cared for him. Loved him, even.

Walter smiled at me once we were officially off duty. “Well, that was busy. Usually people pass right on by, even though we give out free stuff. This year I think everyone at the festival had a cup.”

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