Page 1 of Santa's Dirty Secret
Chapter 1
OceanofPDF.com
ALEXIS
I thought it would be nice to surprise my father for Christmas since we had to cancel our plans over Thanksgiving. He’d called me last-minute to tell me that he had a business trip to London that couldn't be postponed. But I was determined not to miss out on spending some time with him over Christmas.
Before my Mom passed away five years ago, she used to go all out over the holidays. The clock would barely strike midnight on November 1stbefore my Mom would beg my dad to drag out the boxes of Christmas decorations. He would groan and pretend to be annoyed, but I know he secretly loved her love of the season. She'd spend hours turning the apartment into our very own winter wonderland right here in the city. I want to try and recreate that feeling again this year.
Her loss was sudden, leaving my dad like a boat without a rudder. They had been high school sweethearts who were still just as much in love with the other when she died as the day they got married. If it wasn't for his best friend Nick stepping in to help pull him back to the land of the living, I'm not sure what might have happened. In the last twelve months, Dad has only started to put himself out there and date again. But the women he's been dating are nothing like my Mom. They are young and only interested in his money—but he doesn't care.
For too long, we've let the holidays pass without even getting a Christmas tree. But all that changed when I arrived a few hours ago, and Manny, the doorman, helped me load the fresh tree and bags of decorations into the elevator and sent me up to my dad's penthouse apartment.
I work tirelessly, turning his home into the winter wonderland of the past. I know once he sees it that he's going to be grateful that I put in all the hard work. It will almost be like old times. Drinking cocoa by the fireplace, singing along to holiday music, and listening to my dad and Nick tell embarrassing stories about one another. My Mom was the glue that held together our make-shift family, and when she passed, we all drifted apart. But this year, I'm bringing us back together.
I add the last ornament on the tree, a glass bulb with an etching of the Eiffel Tower, and step back to admire my work. It's my favorite of all the ornaments, and it was the last gift Nick gave me before my world crumbled.
At the time, I was a junior in high school and obsessed with the idea of going to Paris for the holidays with my parents. Nick's company had just expanded overseas into the European market, and one of his clients offered him a chance to stay in his chateau outside of Paris. We were all going to spend the holidays together, but the universe had other plans. Nick gifted me the ornament with a little note tucked inside that promised he'd make sure I get that trip of a lifetime one day.
My gaze shifts from the ornament to the picture on the mantel above the fireplace of Nick and my dad standing next to one another. My dad is smiling brightly like he used to, and Nick gives the camera the barest hint of a smile. In all the years I've known him, he's never been one to give his smile away. If you want that man to smile, you have to earn it. But when you do, it makes you feel like you are the most important thing in the world to him.
A pleasurable heat between my legs begins to ache, and I press my thighs together to try and ease it. Nick may have forgotten me in the last few years, but I’ve never stopped thinking about him. I cup my breasts and close my eyes as I pinch my sensitive nipples, pretending they are his hands touching me. I know my feelings will always be one-sided, but that doesn't mean I won't stop my imagination from giving me what I've always wished for.
The sound of a key in the door snaps me out of my lust-filled fantasy about Nick. I push the empty box that had held the ornaments behind the couch and out of view. It’s barely in place before I spin around and catch my dad walking in.
“Alexis?” Dad asks, stopping in the entry hall. “What are you doing here?”
“I know I’m early, but I wanted to surprise you.” I throw my arms up into the air. “Ta-Da!”
I pick up the matching Santa hat to the one I’m wearing and put it on his head. His eyes are wide as he takes in all the decorations that I’ve spent the last few hours putting up.
“You did all this?” he asks.
I smile proudly. “I did.”
“Why?”
His question deflates me like a balloon whizzing around the room as it loses air. He doesn't look at all like I was expecting. He actually seems upset.
"What do you mean why? It's Christmas, and I thought it would help put you in the holiday spirit."
He pulls the Santa hat off his head and tosses it on the sofa. “I didn’t ask you to do this.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“Alexis, this is something your mother did.”
“And I’m continuing on the tradition,” I add, not understanding the anger in his tone. “I thought it was time to celebrate again. As a family.”
“Your mother is gone.”
“I know that,” I say, my words barely above a whisper. His words are like a punch in the gut. “You think that I’ve somehow forgotten?”
“I think that you have gone to all this trouble for nothing,” he says. “My assistant was supposed to call you and let you know that I have to cancel.”
“What?” I shake my head. “You can’t cancel again.”
"It's out of my hands. We are closing a deal, and Nick is sending me to make sure that everything goes smoothly."
