Page 6 of Temporary Santa's Knotty Workshop
He stood up from his desk, and I shouldn’t have been surprised at the mere height of him, but I was. He was, after all, Nick’s brother. And Nick was big. But Campbell? He was bigger. A lot bigger than Nick and a whole lot bigger than me. His hands could probably wrap around my waist.
I shook that thought away. Why was I envisioning his hands on me? I blamed the dildos.
He held out his hand, his eyes still sparkling. He leaned in a little too close. “Nick never told me he had such handsome elves running around here, William.”
“Willy. It’s Willy, sir… I mean Campbell—”
“Ooh, I do like when you call me sir.” His voice washed over me like a caress, and I shuddered. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. Argh.
He reached a hand out like he was going to stroke my face, and I flinched and backed away. He dropped his hand immediately, putting them both behind his back.
I shook myself. This was not us starting off on the right foot. I needed a do-over.
“Listen, sir. I’ve been in charge of the workshop for many years now, and I have a binder here of everything that needs to get done in the next three months. I’ve even noted when you’ll need to do certain tasks, but for the most part, we won’t expect much from you.”
Campbell narrowed his eyes. “So you want me to just sit here and stay out of your way?”
I swallowed thickly. “No, sir, that’s not—” Except it kind of was exactly that.
“I didn’t come here to make waves, ElfWilly.” Maybe William was better even if it wasn’t my name. “But should the situation arise, I think that there are some improvements we can make to this little workshop.”
“I assure you, sir, we are running at the highest production we ever have. At this time, there are no new improvements we need to make. If you have ideas for next year, we will be happy to discuss them when your brother returns.”
Campbell crossed his arms over his broad chest, making his pecs perk up and his muscles tighten. “Some of these lube flavors leave a lot to be desired. I think more flavor is necessary.”
Sugar plums. This was not a sugar-coated test kitchen.
I had to look away. “Oh, for candy cane’s sake. I can assure you that that won’t be necessary.”
“And the dildos. They need a bigger girth.”
No. No. No. I was absolutely not having this conversation with him. Nope. Not going to happen.
“We are already pushing the legal limit and the physical limitations of most people at the size they are now.” Yes, I was making gumdrops up as I went a long, and I didn’t care. Why did I think it was a good idea to come in here, again?
“Maybe they need more ridges. I think I’ll have to test each one of them. Maybe I need a test subject.”
He looked at me. My skin flushed. Where was Krampus to throw me in his basket and get me out of here.
“Sir, if I could—”
“Let me think about this more, and I’ll get back to you. I’ll have some ideas for you to consider.”
He wasn’t taking no for an answer. How on marshmallows was I going to survive these three months?
“Perhaps you could review the binder I created. That will guide you.” I needed to get out of here. No good could come of us going around like this.
“Absolutely. Hand it here.”
I handed it to him. Just then, a floppy-eared puppy came out from behind his desk. I absolutely melted. Puppies were my kryptonite.
“Who is this?” I said, sinking to my knees and letting the puppy come to me.
“That’s Snowdrop. I found her in the woods.”
“You found an abandoned puppy?”
“I did.”
