McDonald_NoELFngWay_GEN_Dec2015 (4 page)

No longer distracted Nicky gave him a strange look in return. “Nooooo… I met an elf today… all on my own.”

“Yes, I heard that, and actually, I do know Vixen,” Dash responded, telling the truth.

“Do you know if she keeps her promises?”

Dash sighed. Nicky was obviously worried about his letter getting to Santa. Despite the fact she hated him, he was sure Vixen had handled things as well as possible.

“Yes. You can trust her. Vixen is a very good elf.”

As well as a drop-dead sexy one in that costume of hers, Dash thought. Not that he could entertain any ideas now of ever enjoying it. He had no idea how to convince the woman to give him a second chance.

“Good. I just wondered,” Nicky said, going back to his cars. “You can watch TV now.”

“Thank you, son. It’s good to have your permission to watch TV. I’m happy to know I’ve been replaced by you as the alpha male in this household.”

Dash chuckled at his own joke as he picked up the remote. Maybe a football game would distract him from his wicked thoughts of having Vixen Dunder’s sexy legs wrapped around him.

Dash stared down at the ten pounds of fake gut strapped over his own mostly flat stomach. He patted the rounded protrusion and snickered. If he didn’t get back on the squash court at the gym, he might look like this for real one day. It was not an appealing thought.

He could barely see the tips of his shoes past the Santa belly when he looked down. What if he needed to use the bathroom dressed as he was? He was going to look like he was playing with himself trying to get it done.

“Hold on, Santa. Your belly is too low. Let me adjust your straps.”

Vixen ignored Dash’s shoulders and refused to think about her old fantasy of kissing her way across them. “With the belly up higher, you’ll be able to sit more comfortably as well as have more of a lap for the kids.”

Dash swallowed and held his breath as confident hands ran up and down his back, making the fake Santa belly rise in the front. How had Vixen ended up his elf after she’d vowed not to have anything to do with him? Evidence of his joyful surprise was thankfully hidden from view inside the enormous Santa pants pulled over his jeans.

Apparently his body didn’t care one bit that the woman openly hated him. And he wasn’t even looking at her at the moment. Those astounding legs were out of his view. It was disturbing to learn that her voice and hands were enough to make him want to surrender his celibacy to her. He was bordering on being obsessed.

“I met your son at the mall on Saturday. Nicholas Dasher Sleigh Number 3 is a truly amazing little dude. Congratulations, Dad.”

“Thank you.” It wasn’t a brilliant answer to her compliment, but it was all Dash could think to say. His brain hadn’t turned loose of wondering why Vixen was even talking to him. “I’d like to take all the credit, but of all people, I know you would never believe it possible. I guess I can’t blame you… based on what happened between us.”

“Do I hear sweet regret for the sins of our youth in that pseudo-apology? His Mima Cupid was with him. You know your mother brags about your parenting skills all the time. Since I would never call your mother a liar, it leaves me little choice but to believe you had at least a little to do with Nicky’s charm.”

Dash felt a firm tap on one shoulder blade and then a brush of red velvet against his arm. The white t-shirt he wore stretched tight across his shoulders as he shifted stiffly to accommodate the unspoken request. He reached back blindly to slip his arms into the sleeves of the Santa jacket.

When Vixen moved around him, his breath caught. It was hard not to fall into her busy hands as she briskly tugged on his jacket front to straighten it. She kept her head bowed as she hooked up the fasteners. He was mesmerized by her fingers, and totally wished the clothing was coming off rather than going on.

“The truth is that I think about how lucky I am every time I see him run to me,” Dash confessed, staring at the jingle bell on the end of her hat.

When Vixen’s serious gaze lifted to his, he felt the impact of it all the way to his toes. He wanted her… but he also wanted to get to know her… again.

“I like being a dad,” Dash admitted.

Vixen clicked her tongue. “You’re a hard man to get over, Dash… and a harder one to hate evidently. I guess you’re forgiven for being a schmuck to me when we were in college. From now on, I’m going to pretend we’re strangers and that you’re just some random good-looking father with a charming son.”

Vixen thought he was good-looking? That worked for him.

Dash stared into her eyes and imagined her under him. He imagined the drugging kiss he remembered, and the way Vixen would melt into the passion leaping between them. He’d never taken it beyond kissing in college. His ethics had at least extended that far toward being fair.

Today the need to see if Vixen still responded that way took him over. He wanted to watch her eyelids drop slowly as she whispered his name just before she…

His sexy daydream was broken by a hand smacking his chest above the fake gut.

“Well?” Vixen demanded. “I’m pouring out my soul here, Dasher Sleigh. Can you do something other than stare at me like I just said the stupidest thing you ever heard?”

Annoyed at his lack of control, Dash reached out and flicked the end of her hat bell to send it ringing. Then he caught it in his grip so she couldn’t easily get away. He knew it was too soon to make a grab for her. He wondered if she’d ever be receptive to his touches again.

“You have a strange effect on me, Vixen Dunder. And I’m not sure I want to be a random stranger to you. Despite letting my friends talk me into being stupid enough to hurt your feelings, I never forgot kissing you for endless hours. Since I’d like to keep that part of our past, I think I’d rather focus on convincing you I’m no longer the callous kid you once dated.”

“Really? How do you propose to do that?” Vixen asked.

“Oh… the usual ways. Coffee. Dinner. Getting another chance to kiss you,” Dash said quietly, holding her alarmed gaze with his steady one. His instincts about a woman had never been so loud.

Vixen leaned away until Dash’s hand let go of her noisy hat ornament. She wasn’t able to move the rest of her. If she retreated now, she would be constantly retreating from the man. And Dash would know how much she was still bothered by him. It was something she wasn’t ready to admit… would never be ready to admit again.

She shook her head. “No further convincing needed. Your son was enough proof.”

Dash smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “But it wasn’t my son who hurt you. What kind of example would I be setting if I didn’t make this right? I want real forgiveness, Vixen. And I think I’ll get it because I’m a patient man. Lord knows, Nicky has given me plenty of practice.”

When his body loomed over hers, and his face started to lower in her direction, Vixen did step away. Unfortunately, Dash’s impact was stronger at a distance because now his handsome face was no longer out of focus. She had a full view of the most gorgeous male she’d ever known.

“This isn’t a good idea, Dash. My life is complicated enough as it is. I appreciate the offer, but I don’t like visiting the past. Frankly, mine hasn’t been very good. If it’s all the same to you, I’d just rather start over.”

Dash pulled himself out of forbidden mental territory and back to the present. He nodded and took a step away.

“Okay… I’ll take that no for the moment. Will you help me with the beard before I go out there? If my dark one shows through the white, one of the kids is going to call me on it.”

Vixen took a deep breath and picked up the Santa beard and attached hat from the chair. Dash bent so she could position it on his head. It brought his mouth within reaching distance of hers. She saw his dawning awareness moments before she covered his face with white. She found the tiny self-stick tabs with nervous fingers and tightened them until the beard molded to Dash’s incredible facial structure. The natural beard he wore looked new, but it only enhanced the thirty year-old version of himself.

“There. Now you look like a real Santa,” Vixen teased to distract herself.

Then she sobered when she recalled Nicky’s insistence that his letter get into the real Santa’s hands.

“Dash…”

“Yes?” he answered, the beard muffling his lips as he spoke.

Vixen wavered. Was she really going to dump his son’s heart-wrenching wish on him right at that very moment? Dash had just hinted at them dating again. If she gave him the note now, wouldn’t he think she was doing it because she was interested in the position?

Her face flamed at the idea of making a fool of herself again… especially with this man. She just couldn’t do it. Ratting out Nicholas Dasher Sleigh Number 3 to his father would have to wait a bit longer.

Vixen sighed and shrugged. “Nothing, really… I guess I’m glad we talked.”

“Me too,” Dash said sincerely. He thought he sounded like he had a pillow stuffed in his mouth.

Vixen laughed at his muffled speech until his face creased into a genuine smile. “Don’t worry. Kids never notice. Gruff is good in a Santa voice.”

“Says Santa’s too sexy elf with great legs and wonderful diction.”

“Santas aren’t supposed to be looking at elf legs,” Vixen chastised.

Dash said something as he walked out the door. She wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly, but was pretty sure he’d said
he couldn’t elf himself
.

She snickered thinking about it. He’d had that same dumb sense of humor back when she’d known him in college. It had been part of her attraction to him.

And if Dash hadn’t been a man on the list of those who had broken her heart, she would have said yes to coffee, to dinner, and to giving him that kiss he’d almost taken without her permission anyway. He hadn’t been the only one wanting to erase the distance between their lips a few minutes ago.

“You’re being a bad elf, Vixen… a very bad elf,” she whispered.

Walking out the door to go do her job, she shook her head and sent the jingle bell on her hat ringing.

***

Dash was grateful Vixen had been to his right and out of his line of vision for the majority of their shift. The one time she’d come to rescue a crying baby from him had put his forehead at hip level and his gaze on the naked expanses of thigh above her socks. She was wearing elf booties today instead of the red heels. He was grateful for that concession, or his mouth would have been level with his growing obsession. He was definitely not going to think of Christmas costumes ever again without thinking of her in that elf one, that was for sure.

Vixen had put out the
SANTA IS ON BREAK
sign out five children ago and they were finally on their last child. He understood now why Blix had scheduled each Santa and elf pair in short, two-hour stints. Talking to just Nicky was always exhausting. The thirty or so he and Vixen had gotten to see had worn him out mentally.

After the last photo was snapped, the three-year-old boy on his lap scrambled down and ran after his mother. Dash stood and sighed with relief, wearily following Vixen’s swaying hips and jingling hat back into their staging room. Inside, they encountered the next Santa and elf set getting dressed. He started to rip off his beard but stopped to look down when he felt a tug on his pant leg.

The dark-haired pixie at his feet must have been three or four. Her hair hung past her shoulders. Someone had taken the time to curl it on the ends and a sparkly red hair band held it in place off her forehead. She had five tumbling reindeer on her red sweater dress and a quizzical look on her face as she stared up at him.

“Are you a Santa too?” she demanded.

Dash laughed. “No. I’m more like Santa ten or twelve. But I can do the job as well as any of these other guys,” he bragged, pointing to his nearly dressed replacement.

Her giggle made him smile beneath his white beard. He reached up and stroked it, unsure now whether to undress or not.

“You can take off the beard. I know you’re not the
real
Santa,” she sang, actually interpreting his hesitation. He watched the little intuitive minx dance away to return to a woman across the room.

His cohorts in the Great Santa Deception going on at Sacks-Rudolph laughed at the girl’s pronouncement as they left the room to take their turn.

Dash felt his chin and sideburns for the tabs to release the beard from the hat. When it was off, he scratched his own beard, which now itched from contact with the synthetic fabric. Pulling off the hat too, his attention went back to the girl who giggled again.

“You’re laughing again. Is my real face that funny looking?” Dash asked.

“No,” she said slyly, glancing at the older woman beside her before looking back at him with a secretive smile. “You’re much prettier than Santa.”

Dash laughed. Maybe his luck with females was changing. “Thank you. That’s the best compliment I think I’ve ever had from a woman.”

“I’m not a woman,” she protested, giggling again. “I’m a girl.”

Dash grinned. “Well, you will be a woman one day. And I can see you’re getting in some good practice at flirting already.”

“Flirting? What’s flirting?” she asked.

His grin widened. “Ask your mother,” he ordered, hoping he wouldn’t be there when she did.

The bathroom door opened and Vixen walked out of the small room. Caught up with the child, he hadn’t noticed his elf’s quiet disappearance.

“Mommy!” the girl sang out, running as fast as she could to Vixen who scooped her up.

Dash’s heart clenched when the little pixie hugged Vixen’s neck with all her might. He knew exactly how that felt and was glad Vixen did as well.

“Mommy, what’s flirting mean?”

Dash hung his head and sighed heavily at being busted.

“Flirting? Where did you hear that?” Vixen demanded.

When Dash metaphorically grabbed what was left of his balls and lifted his head, it was to the child’s pointing finger and huge grin. He saw the twinkle in Vixen’s eyes and released a ragged breath. Near miss, he decided. Was he ever going to get things right with the woman?