McDonald_NoELFngWay_GEN_Dec2015
Read McDonald_NoELFngWay_GEN_Dec2015 Online
Authors: Donna McDonald
Tags: #Holiday Romance, Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
No ELFing Way
by
Donna McDonald
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should delete it from your device and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.
This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.
Copyright 2015 by Donna McDonald
Cover by
Rebecca Poole of dreams2media
Edited by
MYST Partners
This book is for all those who still believe in Christmas magic.
“Okay people—listen up. I want to see all the elves on the left and all the Santas on the right. Quickly please.”
The bump of thirty-two bodies in the Sacks-Rudolph Department Store’s miniscule staging area had everyone laughing as they scrambled to obey their boss. There was a pleasant buzz of happiness among those that had volunteered for the children’s charity fundraiser. Any of the famous store’s wealthy patrons were quite willing to give generously in exchange for a safe Santa experience for their child.
“Looks like you could have said girls on the left and boys on the right, Blix. Did you fly this by Human Resources before handing out Santa and elf assignments?”
Dash grinned at the white-haired, dignified man as he asked the question. Blixem House was like his favorite uncle—one with a sharp sense of humor.
“Are you calling me sexist, Dasher Sleigh?”
“No… no, of course not. I’m just saying you could have sprinkled in a few males among the elves so the bias wasn’t so obvious.”
Dash heard the chuckles of the other men he worked with behind him. Blix knew he was teasing. So did they. Two or three even volunteered to be elves instead of wearing the Santa belly which weighed over ten pounds. Wearing it would be a serious workout for those not in the best of physical shape.
Blix’s nod was perfunctory, but his gaze narrowed. Dash’s wicked grin got wider. He knew the man was considering what to say in retaliation.
“First you dish out the insults, then you question my judgment in front of my most loyal employees. I ought to put you personally in one of the elf costumes just for the hell of it. Your mother would probably donate her retirement to the charity this month just to see her arrogant son humbled.”
“I’m not proud. Do you think I wouldn’t wear it?” Dash demanded, ready to take the dare.
Laughter over their verbal sparring rippled across the room’s gender divide.
Blix let loose an impatient snort before answering. “I guess we’ll all see shortly. The costumes are being borrowed from my niece’s costume shop. She’s sending over a model in an elf one so we can get a preview. Some of the elves might want to be demoted to more fashionably conservative toymakers, which the shop can also handle. But if any smart-ass, bragging Santa wants to wear it, I’m completely open-minded enough to let him do so. Incriminating photos will be taken and shared on all company social media.”
More chuckles over their jesting had Dash grinning hard as he shoved a hand in his pants pocket. Maybe he shouldn’t enjoy being a regular nine-to-five hourly employee so much, but he did. Being a single parent was a challenge he hadn’t mastered yet. He didn’t need to complicate his daily responsibilities with being in command at a high-stress job like the special delivery company his father had started. Blix was handling the CEO position much better than he would have.
The man his father had trusted implicitly had stepped up to fill the gap when his mother had left two years ago to help him care for Nicky. Turning the company over legally to Blix was probably the smartest move he and his mother had made about his father’s legacy.
The shareholder dividends and retention of benefits they now enjoyed had transformed his work at the company into a pleasure rather than a necessity. His new role as marketing director slash multitasking problem solver perfectly suited him and fit nicely with his demanding single parent schedule.
As a CFO, Blix had been supportive, but he’d since morphed into a terrific boss. The older man was fatherly enough to command obedience and yet kind enough to earn the loyalty he thoroughly enjoyed having. When he’d asked for volunteers for the fundraiser, nearly all of his two hundred plus employees had signed up to help.
Dash could have declined since so many had offered to help. Being a widower himself, Blix was sympathetic to Dash’s life and wouldn’t have thought a thing if Dash hadn’t participated. Remembering the man’s unfailing support brought forth a surge of guilt for his teasing. Blix had enough to deal with already.
He was trying to think how to make up for his smart mouth when the door to the small staging room at the store flew open. A jingle of bells barely preceded the flash of a short green skirt. As his gaze dropped to the bottom of the costume, it took in red-striped, just-over-the-knee socks showcasing a pair of the most awesome legs he’d seen in ages. They ended in a pair of red stilettos with at least a four-inch heel.
He wrestled his gaze back up the model’s body only to get caught again by slivers of naked thigh highlighted between the socks and skirt. He was officially lusting after a woman whose face he still hadn’t seen.
When he could finally tear his gaze away from those enticing slivers of skin, his eyes lifted until they met flashing green gaze glaring intensely at him. The rest of the face was airbrushed smooth cheeks and lips coated with shiny red. The face was framed by massive dark curls hanging to her shoulders. A green elf hat with an oversized jingle bell on the tail topped it off.
The whole package looked amazing, and for the first time in a long while, Dash realized he was actually interested in meeting a woman. He wondered how Blix would react if he asked for the model’s name. Months of celibacy added up in his mind, and he was amazed at how long it had been for him. Mildly embarrassed by his carnal reaction and his thoughts about dating her, Dash glanced around and saw the gaze of all his fellow Santas also glued to the elf’s short green skirt and sexy over-the-knee-socks.
Fortunately, the gaze of every potential elf was also glued to her… for different but related reasons he figured. Their eyes shone with pleasure, and Dash immediately thought of all the lucky boyfriends and husbands who would get to enjoy their sexy costumed elves at home.
He sighed wistfully and met the glare of the model again. This time he was certain the glare was reserved for only him. What the hell had he done to offend her? He was completely clueless. If it was the attention, it wasn’t like he was the only one checking her out in the incredible outfit. She was blazing hot in it and he was pretty sure she knew it.
Her glare moved away as she began chatting with Blix, who seemed surprised to see her. His attention snapped back to reality when Blix called his name and waved him over.
“Dasher, stop staring and come say hello. You two probably haven’t seen each other in years.”
Confused by Blix’s statement, Dash separated himself from the Santa group. As he walked to Blix’s side, behind him he heard sighing. The other Santas were probably wondering why they had not been deemed worthy of getting a personal introduction to the sexy elf. He started to offer his hand and best smile, but quickly tucked it into a pocket instead when her eyes narrowed angrily on his face again.
“Great costume. I haven’t met many elves,” Dash said softly, “but I’m sure I would have remembered you if we had met before.”
“Are you a hundred percent sure of that?” she demanded.
Dash’s eyebrows rose in confusion at her terse answer to his social pleasantry. She turned her glare away from him to favor Blix with a tolerant, but irritated smile.
“Uncle Blix, I never told you, but Dash and I didn’t just know each other. We dated in college. He conned me into writing his paper as well as mine for a theater class we had together. After our papers were submitted, he unceremoniously dumped me. I’d like to be polite here, but it would be a stretch. Dash was my first introduction to shallow men.”
“Dash? Is Vixen telling the truth? What’s your side of this story?” Blix demanded.
Dash scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “Vixen? Oh… damn. Yes. I do remember. Vixen Dunder… Thunder—uh...”
“
Thunder Dunder
?” Vixen supplied as she filled in the nickname. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes. That was the name you and the guys in your fraternity gave me. I was aware of it.”
“I…” Dash tried to think of what to say, but his mind was blank. Mortification did that to a person.
Vixen snorted and glared. “You know, Dash… I was only packing a few extra pounds in my hips back then. Not all guys considered those kind of curves so bad. Your buddies seemed to think I should be grateful for your brief attention. Personally, I thought the whole lot of you should have been neutered so you couldn’t reproduce. If I had known you were still involved with Uncle Blix’s company, I wouldn’t have gotten involved with this project.”
Dash swallowed tightly as Vixen dismissed him and his discomfort over her shocking revelation. College guys should have to wear a ‘stupid’ label so nice women wouldn’t fall for their lame pranks. Guess that old—and admittedly cruel—rejection had been a thorn in Vixen’s side for quite a while.
But he did remember her… and in way she would be equally shocked to know. He remembered kissing her. Vixen’s kisses had packed a sexual punch he hadn’t forgotten, even though plenty of women had followed her before he married.
If he’d been less shallow about appearances back then, and less influenced by his stupid fraternity peers, he and Vixen might have even worked out. For a brief time, they’d certainly had the chemistry… and the budding friendship. He’d screwed even the friendship up by not groveling for forgiveness after his friends had bragged about what he’d done to her.
So yes… he could completely understand why Vixen flatly announced his sins to her uncle after the smarm he’d dished during their re-introduction, especially since it had followed him blatantly checking out her legs. Her ballsy confession was on point about their past. She was firmly and definitely letting him know up front that there was no way he was going to charm her again.
He finally noticed Blix looking totally embarrassed by the tension between him and Vixen. Dash was nothing but regretful about his past mistake, but what could he do now? His shallow act of using Vixen had been almost a decade ago. Why had he never made the connection back to Blix?
“Is it too late to offer an apology for my bad behavior?” Dash asked hopefully.
“Yes—about a decade too late,” Vixen replied firmly. “But since we have to work together now on Sacks-Rudolph’s project, I’ll do my best to stay out of your way and spare you my glaring. In fact, I’d appreciate a similar courtesy in return. Maybe we’ll both get lucky and never run into each other again after this is over.”
Dash sighed quietly as Vixen strode off to join the group of women to let them have a closer look at her outfit. Though taller in her heels than she would have been normally, Vixen still nearly disappeared in the crush. Only the top of her jingling elf hat remained visible. The bell on it rang every time she laughed at something said to her.
He sighed again and shook his head. Blix’s low chuckle made him turn his face in the older man’s direction.
“I find this astounding, Dash. All these years and Vixen never once said a negative thing about you. At least now I know why she left the room every time your name was mentioned. She and your mother get along fine, so her nasty attitude is doubly confusing to me. I had no way to know she was going to show up to model the elf costume herself. It must have set her off when she walked in and caught you ogling her legs.”
Dash snorted. “I wasn’t ogling,” he denied. Blix’s knowing laugh had him snorting. “Well, I wasn’t ogling any worse than the other Santas. She looks great. Who wouldn’t ogle her?”