Page 45 of Holly Ever After

“Well, someone's got to do it.”

I shake my head, still smiling. “You're crazy and I love you.”

“And you're smitten with Santa,” she says, still not letting me off the hook.

“I'm not—”

“Save it. Your secret is safe with me.”

I roll my eyes but can't suppress a grin. “Fine, let's just say, if that's Santa, I wouldn't mind being on the naughty list this year.”

“That's the spirit! Now, let's see what kind of Christmas spirit Santa brings us from the bar.”

Santa brings lots of spirit and keeps them coming. So much spirit that I'm not sure if I'm merry from the alcohol or from the intoxicating mix of Christmas music and eye candy.

Naughty Santa got us tipsy.

I wipe the sweat from my brow as Jackie and I dance.

Speaking of Santa, where is he?

I scan the crowd. It's a forest of Santa hats, ugly Christmas sweaters, and an elf or two. But there's only one Santa I'm looking for, and he's nowhere to be found. When I finally spot him, he's perched on a bar stool, having ditched the ridiculous beard and Santa hat. Now it's just the red suit. And damn it, how does he pull it off?

The outfit does nothing to hide those broad shoulders, the curve of his arms, or the toned shape of his body. I shouldn't be surprised. This is Sean, after all. Even in a Santa suit, the man would look like he stepped out of a magazine.

And those eyes. They find mine across the room, making me sweat for an entirely different reason. Perhaps it's the alcohol, or maybe it's the electrifying atmosphere, but I hold his gaze. Boldly, I sway my hips to the beat of the music, my skirt swishing around my thighs as if it's part of the performance.

I watch as he shifts in his seat, his eyes darkening a shade.

Mission accomplished.

The intensity of the moment stretches between us like a wire pulled taut, humming with electricity. My heart pounds in my chest, each beat echoing in time with the music and his unwavering gaze. Thoughts I shouldn't be having flash through my mind, vivid and uninvited. Thoughts of his mouth on mine. Thoughts of what it would feel like to be pressed against him in that ridiculous Santa outfit.

New kink unlocked, I guess.

Just as I'm about to give in to whatever magnetic pull is drawing me toward him, my line of sight is blocked. A woman slides into the space next to Sean. I don't recognize her—likely a tourist—but what irks me is the ease with which they fall into conversation, both of them laughing like old friends.

A bubble of jealousy forms, unbidden but unmistakable. For all the times Sean has scared off any man that so much as looked my way, I decide it's high time for some payback.

I glance over at Jackie, but she's lost in her own world, headbanging to a punk-rock version of another Christmas tune. She won't notice if I slip away for a moment. Determined, I weave my way through the crowd, straight for the bar, straight for Sean.

Slipping myself between him and the woman he's chatting to, I make a show of hopping onto his lap. I drape my arm around his neck and pull myself close, as if I belong there.

“What the fuck are you doing, Squirt?” he hisses in my ear, the tension in his voice as tight as his grip on my waist.

Ignoring his apparent rage, I smile sweetly at him, then raise my voice for the benefit of our audience. “My goodness, Santa, did you forget you had a wife?”

The woman's eyes go wide, her mouth forming a perfect O of surprise. “I'm sorry, he never said a thing. I'm not getting involved in this.” She scrambles away, disappearing into the throng of Christmas revelers like a snowflake in a blizzard.

Sean glares at me, but I see the corners of his mouth twitch. “You enjoyed that, didn't you?”

I look up at him, all innocence. “What, you mean reminding Santa he's a married man? Always.”

His jaw clenches, and for a second, I wonder if I've pushed him too far. But then he leans in, his lips almost touching my ear, and I'm too entranced to care.

“You just made the naughty list,” he murmurs. “I hope you're happy.”

The thrill that courses through me is immediate, electrifying. “Ecstatic,” I reply, locking eyes with him. “Absolutely ecstatic.”

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