“Is that what you want?” he asked. “A relationship?”
Her breath caught. “Don’t you?”
He smiled. A real smile without sadness. “Of course I do,” he said, and then he leaned in to kiss her.
Delbert cleared his throat. “You guys realize that you’re going to need me.”
Could Delbert get any more annoying? “For what?” Julka asked.
“The second test. Your first planned event. Seems someone figured out that the kids here weren’t going to trick or treat because of the snow, so they’ll need some kind of open house, complete with candy and costumes. I’m told that you have to organize it pronto, with enough advertising that the kids can find you.”
Julka turned inside Marshall’s arms. “What? We don’t celebrate Halloween.”
“But everyone here does,” Marshall said. “So they told me I needed to show how well I could plan something—and do it fast—and so I thought of this.”
“And then they told me that you’d need S-Elf assistance, so I’m going to assist,” Delbert said, straightening up proudly.
Julka thought it all through. It only took a moment, but she realized what had just happened. She had gotten her Christmas wish. Wishes, actually. The ones she never talked about.
The ability to stay in the Greater World if she wanted. The chance to do a job she would love—organizing. And someone beside her. Someone who would love her and cherish her. Someone she would love and cherish.
“Delbert,” she said. “We need some privacy.”
“Then I suggest you leave here,” Delbert said. “They can turn on the monitors any time.”
Marshall slid his hand along her back and said softly, “My house is right outside.”
“And besides,” Delbert said loudly, as if he didn’t want to hear any of that. “I have to find a great venue, and that’ll take the sleigh. So get out.”
They didn’t have to be told twice. Julka took Marshall’s hand and led him out of the sleigh. They barely made it down the steps when the sleigh took off, displacing the snow, and sending a huge greasy waft of peppermint-colored exhaust into the air.
“Is that normal?” Marshall asked, looking at the red-and-white smoke glistening around them.
“None of this is normal,” Julka said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Marshall said. “Men, women, kisses, soul mates. Seems normal enough to me.”
He wrapped his arms around her again.
She giggled. “I thought you didn’t believe in soul mates.”
“I didn’t believe in Santa either,” he said. “Yet somehow, you managed to change my mind. In an instant. On both things.”
Then he kissed her.
And kept kissing her as much as he could for the rest of their long, magical lives.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Called “The Reigning Queen of Paranormal Romance” by Best Reviews, bestselling writer Kristine Grayson has made a name for herself publishing light, slightly off-skew romance novels about Greek Gods, fairy tale characters, and the modern world. Her novel,
Utterly Charming,
which Sourcebooks reissued in October of 2011, won the 2001
Romantic Times
Reviewer’s Choice Award. Her most recent novel,
Wickedly Charming,
appeared in May of 2011 from Sourcebooks.
Charming Blue
, her next novel from Sourcebooks, will appear in September 2012.
If you liked
Up On The Rooftop
you might like these works by Kristine Grayson.
Absolutely Spellbound
Completely Smitten
Simply Irresistible
Standing Up For Grace
Thoroughly Kissed
Totally Spellbound
Utterly Charming
Wickedly Charming