Stockings and Suspenders (34 page)

Authors: 10 Author Anthology

He laughed with her. “Maybe I am, at
that.”

“What do you mean?”

Nicholas stroked her hair and gazed
into her eyes with such depth she thought she might drown in his. “That letter
of yours is why I came over here.”

Confusion cut through her drowsy
afterglow and happiness. “I don’t understand.”

“Didn’t you wonder why I showed up at
your house?”

Elise shook her head. “I told you what
I thought. Why did you come, anyway?”

“I’m a postman,” he said, with a grin
so mischievous she thought he might sprout elfin ears. “You know, a mailman, I
work for the post office.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Earlier today, I decided that I
would find a good deed to do for Christmas after work. I picked up the last
bunch of mail from the drop boxes by the supermarket about five thirty tonight,
well, last night, I guess, and your letter to Santa fell onto the pavement.”

“You read it!” Her outrage wasn’t
faked.

Nicholas smiled. “No, I didn’t read
it. I picked it up and I saw it didn’t have a stamp. I wondered if you had
mailed anything else so I sorted through the mail until I found your letters.
None of them were stamped so I separated them out and decided it could be my
good deed. I hated for anyone to have their bills show up late so I kept your
mail.”

It sounded plausible, even cute but
she had a question. “If you work for the post office, don’t you wear a
uniform?”

“Yes, I do,” Nicholas said. “But I was
on my way over to my brother’s house for Christmas Eve so I went home to
change.”

He missed a family gathering because
she kissed him, all but dragged him into her bed. With some humility, she said,
“I’m sorry. Won’t they wonder what happened to you?”

“If they do, I’ll explain tomorrow
when we go to have Christmas dinner with them. Anyway, I stopped by here to
give you your mail so you could put stamps on them and you know what happened
after that.”

Elise nodded, silent as she pondered
what he told her, mind stuck on that phrase ‘when we go to have Christmas
dinner’ as if they were a couple, a real one. “If I hadn’t kissed you, you
would have given me the mail and left, right?”

“That was my original plan but I’m
glad you kissed me.” His eyes held hers, open and without any artifice.
Somehow she thought he spoke the truth, no artifice or lies like her last
boyfriend. She almost purred.

“I am too.”

“Tell me about this letter you wrote
Santa Claus.”

“I just asked him for a lover, that’s
all.”

“Why?”

Elise pressed her face against his broad
chest, embarrassed and afraid to let him see the stray tears that tracked down
her cheeks. “I’m lonely and I hated to spend the holiday alone. Writing Santa
was just a whim but I’m glad I did because it brought you here, Nicholas.”

“So I guess in a way the old elf came
through, huh?” he said, with a chuckle. “He delivered what we wanted for both
of us. I never thought about writing a letter but I wished for someone special.
That’s part of what the good deed was about, thinking if I did something for someone
else, maybe fate or karma or someone might give something back. And it worked,
I got you.”

Inside her heart, his words resonated
with the merry peals of a bell ringing in the holiday. From that first moment,
Nicholas unlocked her body and now, with his open admission, he released her
emotions so without fear of rejection, with nothing but her whole heart and all
she felt, Elise spoke. “I think I really like you, Nicholas. I could get used
to having you around.”
“Really?” he asked, “I know I want to see a lot more of you, Elise.”

She laughed with elation, delighted
and so full of happiness that she thought she could burst with it. He joined in
her mirth and as they laughed with the same kind of carefree, full-bodied joy
children know on Christmas morning. Somewhere distant in the moonlit night,
Elise would swear she heard the sound of sleigh bells.

“I’d like that, very much,” she said,
with a whisper softer than the slight wind that moved the bare tree branches
outside the window to create lace like shadows. “I’m happy with my present from
Santa this year.”

“Good,” he whispered back, his hand
tracing the outline of her lips. “Have you ever heard that the third time’s the
charm?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go for three,” he said as
he kissed her, slow and sweet, as they continued what began with a Christmas
wish and a letter to Santa.

The End

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Other Books by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy:

Wolfe's Lady

Love Tattoo

Love Scars

Love Knots

Midnight Seduction