Page 23 of Naughty Elf: Shimmersnap

“Can you pop us to my apartment?” Dancer asked.

“Sure,” I said, and I gripped Dancer’s hand. We landed in his living room, and he sat down immediately.

“Geez, can you warn a guy? You know, I still have work to do. I don’t want to end up at the medical building for me. Milton would kill me.”

“Your work can wait,” I said.

“Only because I’m ahead of schedule.”

“I do appreciate it, Dancer. Thank you.”

“Sure, sure.” He waved a hand. “Go take your test.”

I was nervous and excited at the idea of having a child. It would be a dream come true to have Walter’s baby. But how would he feel? And how was I going to explain all of this? I was an elf. The child would likely come out with pointed ears.

I did my business and let the test rest on the counter. Once the two blue lines showed up, indicating what I already knew to be true, I quickly ran to Dancer.

“Positive!” I said. “It’s positive!” Glitter rained down around me, coating my wet eyelashes.

“I take it you’re happy?”

I jumped. “Yes, so happy!”

Dancer winced. That’s when I realized I had coated not just myself, but the whole place in glitter.

“I’ll clean this up,” I said.

“Youwillclean this up, because my mate and child are going to come visit tomorrow, and he is not going to be happy about all this.”

I grinned. “We should get our two grumps together. I bet they’d be great friends.”

Dancer shook his head. “Clean this up, then get back to your mate. Okay? Tell him the truth. Tell him everything. It will work out.”

I nodded. “Okay, I can do that.”

It sounded so easy when he said it.

All I had to do was say to Walter “I’m an elf.” Simple as that.

What could possibly go wrong?

Chapter 14

Walter

I had to have misplaced my elf. There was no other explanation.

I had a security system. It wasn’t as if someone could have broken in and only stolen an elf figurine—unless, of course, the elf was valuable and I just didn’t know it. Still, no one knew I had the damn thing.

It shouldn’t be important at all. It should be inconsequential, just another knick-knack.

But it wasmyelf, and I really liked it. So much so that I spent the weekend deep-cleaning my house on the off chance that it had landed somewhere I didn’t realize. I even tipped my couch upside down and made sure it hadn’t somehow fallen into the back and was trapped somewhere.

I had lost my mind along with my elf.

Now it was Monday morning. My house was sparkling clean. My elf was nowhere to be found, and I had not heard from Shimmersnap at all. Not a text, not a call, not anything.

I sat at my desk in my office, tapping my pen impatiently on my mouse pad. I should’ve been focusing on work. We had deadlines. It was the end of the year after all, and people wanted their paperwork done. I should’ve been preparing for tax season. Yet all I could think about was that stupid elf and Shimmersnap.

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