Chapter 5

Evan

Mid-December

As soon as Belle and her father walked away with gift in hand, Reid was there. He strode up onto the platform where Santa sat and bent down to whisper something in Santa Gary’s ear.

Whatever it was, it had Gary blanching beneath his fake white beard.

“Hey, mate,” Gary pulled away from Reid. His words just loud enough for me to hear, “No harm meant, aye.”

Reid cut him a dark look before turning it on me.

I bristled at his displeasure as his gaze raked down my body and back up again. “They needed an Elf,” I whispered.

Suddenly he was before me, his chest almost touching me. “And you thought it would be a good idea for my PA to dress up in a ridiculous elf costume? Why couldn’t someone else do it?”

“You’re making a scene,” I said it through gritted teeth as I beamed up at him. “The kids are waiting to meet Santa.”

He flicked a look over my shoulder and his scowl eased. When his gaze returned to mine he said, “As soon as you’re on break, I want you in my office.”

Irritated that he was being so uptight about the whole thing, I gave him a brief nod and then whirled around to face the line of kids again. As I talked with a shy little boy, I eventually felt the heat of Reid’s stare disappear. When I turned back around toward Santa, my boss was, thankfully, gone.

“Is it true Mr. Shaw is unhappy about this?” Kelly hurried toward me as I walked through the atrium in my costume, drawing stares from customers.

As promised, I was on my way to deal with Reid during my break. I waved Kelly off as she walked along with me. “It’s fine. I should have asked him before I agreed to do it. He obviously needed me for something and is annoyed I wasn’t there for him. Which is fair enough.”

“Oh God, I feel awful for getting you in trouble.”

I shrugged. “How much trouble can I really get into? I’m leaving, remember.”

“Right.” Kelly frowned. The announcement I was leaving confused most of the staff. When asked why I was moving on, I lied and said I needed a new challenge. I knew they weren’t buying it. Who needed a new challenge after only working in a job for nine months?

Oh well.

Let them gossip about it.

I left Kelly standing in the beauty department and made my way to the elevators. Swiping my ID card across the screen below the buttons for the customer floors, I unlocked the staff floor buttons. With a shaking hand, I pressed for the top floor.

Why I was so nervous, I had no idea.

I couldn’t possibly still care what Reid thought of me.

Yes, I could.

Ugh!

By the time I reached his office door, my heart hammered against my rib cage. I knocked softly.

“Come in.”

My belly fluttered at the sound of his voice.

Damn him.

I stepped inside and found him walking around his desk to lean against it. He crossed his arms over his chest and his right ankle over his left.

His dark eyes gleamed with something that could have been anger or lust. Maybe even both.

That look made my palms sweat.

Reid’s gaze lowered down my body and back up again.

I shifted uncomfortably, feeling a deep, low, needful tug in my belly.

While earlier he’d said the costume was ridiculous, I got the very distinct feeling he was imagining ripping me out of it.

Oh boy.

“You wanted to see me?”

His eyes returned to mine. “Didn’t you think it appropriate to ask me first before you played Santa’s Little Helper for the day?”

“Probably. But we had paying customers waiting to meet Santa. They needed me.”

“I needed you. We were supposed to go over the applications for your replacement today.”

My replacement.

I hated how much that word stung.

“I assumed you could do that on your own.”

“You assume too much.” Reid abruptly pushed up off the desk and strode toward me.

I braced myself, my breathing grew shallow.

The air between us crackled. There was a dark intent in Reid’s eyes.

To my confusion, he brushed past me. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering where he was going.

He looked back at me as he stopped at the door and then very deliberately locked it.

Oh. My. God.

“Reid?” I could barely hear over the rushing of blood in my ears. The damn elf costume was suddenly way too hot. The stockings chafing.

“It doesn’t matter,” Reid said.

“What doesn’t?”

“The applications. I’ve already chosen your replacement.”

That damn hurt shoved its way through, confusing me all the more. Why was he saying that when he looked like he was ready to devour me?”

“Oh?” I frowned.

He nodded and prowled across the room to me. I sucked in a breath as he cupped my hips in his hands and began pushing me backward. I stumbled a little at first, but then dazedly allowed him to move me across the room, my silly elf shoes jingling all the way.

Until my arse hit his desk.

I was panting now at the unadulterated desire in his eyes.

“I’ve decided to replace Evan Munro with Santa’s Little Helper.” He smirked, bending his head toward mine.

Wait!

What was happening here?

Yanking myself out of the sexual fog he so easily cast over me, I pushed against his chest, stopping his descent. His brow furrowed, his eyes questioning.

“Don’t,” I said, almost pleading and hating myself for it. “I can’t be just a casual fuck to you.”

Reid’s expression hardened with anger. He wrapped his hand around my nape, a possessive, territorial, claiming gesture that secretly bloody thrilled me. “Is that what you think of me?”

Trying to control my breathing and failing, I whispered, “You said I was too young. That we couldn’t because of Patrick.”

“I was a damn fool,” he said hoarsely, his lips almost brushing mine. “I can’t let you go. I can’t stop thinking about you.” His gaze moved from my mouth to meet mine, and his grip on my nape tightened. “You’re all I think about, Evan. You’ve driven me to goddamn distraction. If I don’t get inside you soon, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“But—”

“It’s not just sex,” he cut me off. “You’re in my blood. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”

Just like that, all my defenses crumbled.

Exultation gleamed in Reid’s eyes as he read my expression. He massaged my nape, sending shivers down my spine. His lips brushed mine and he commanded, “Spread your legs, Ev.”

I made a sound like, “Gah,” from the back of my throat as arousal flushed through me, and I slowly spread my legs.

Just like that, whatever control Reid had snapped. He crushed his mouth down on mine, his kiss voracious, his tongue exploring, chasing mine. It was the deepest, dirtiest fucking kiss of my life, and I loved it.

I clung to his waist, trying to draw him closer, to feel him between my legs.

As we kissed, he reached beneath my petticoat and tore at the stockings. I broke away, panting, “My costume!”

“The costume is indecent,” he replied, nipping at my lips, trying to pull me back into the kiss as he yanked the tights down my thighs.

“It’s the most demure elf costume ever!”

Reid pulled back, scowling. “Every time you bend over that fucking Christmas tree, your skirt flies up. Every father in that line got a view of your spectacular arse, and Santa wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding how much he was enjoying himself.”

“This costume is ridiculous,” I argued.

“Yes, and yet somehow I’ve been fighting a hard on ever since I first saw you in it.” Reid reached down and pulled off my elf shoes. My tights followed suit.

“Reid!” I braced my hands on his shoulders for balance.

“Please tell me your wet,” he practically begged as he coasted his hands along my thighs and curled his finger beneath my underwear.

“I’m always wet for you,” I whispered, almost mournfully.

Whatever he heard in my tone stopped him. He cupped my face with his other hand, his thumb brushing my mouth. “How long?”

I knew what he was asking.

“Since I was thirteen,” I admitted, knowing there was no point hiding it now. I’d loved him in some way or another since I was a kid.

His expression was so tender, if I could have melted any more I would have been a puddle of feels at his feet. “Patrick is going to kill me,” he replied hoarsely.

I stiffened.

Reid shook his head. “But you’re worth it, Ev.”

Just like that, I couldn’t wait. I needed him. Now.

I told him as much, fumbling at the slim leather belt looped through his black suit pants.

We were frantic; hot skin and searching hands. Reid took over releasing himself, while I shimmied out of my underwear and kicked them across the room.

Then he was there, revealed to me.

Hot, hard and thick.

Watching him roll a condom over his length was the sexiest show on earth.

“Oh my God.” My inner muscles squeezed as if they could already feel him inside me.

“I wanted you naked and bare to me the first time we did this … but I just can’t fucking wait to be inside you.” Reid pulled me across the desk to meet him, one hand clasping my nape again, the other gripping my hip beneath my skirts.

I gasped against his mouth as he prodded between my legs.

He thrust at the same time he kissed me.

Pleasure-pain exploded in a cascade of shivers down my spine and the back of my legs, tingling all the way down to my toes. I was small; he was thick.

It was a tight fit.

Slipping my hands down over his rock hard arse, I wrapped my legs around his hips. He glided out of me and pumped back in. The slight burn eased and all I felt was the overwhelming, amazing fullness of him moving inside of me. I revelled at the feel of his muscles shifting beneath my hands and I dug my fingers into his cheeks, begging for more.

“Harder!” I broke our kiss to pant.

Reid lifted his head. Our eyes locked as he moved his hand from my nape to my other hip, so he could steady me.

Then he fucked me in earnest.

I had to let go of him to hold on to the desk.

Biting back my cries of pleasure, I held Reid’s eyes the whole time he drove into me. His expression was fierce with need, eyes glittering under the light, teeth slightly bared as he took his pleasure from me.

Surprise flickered over his face. “I’m … I’m going to come. Fuck.” He slipped a hand between my legs and rolled his thumb over my clit.

“Oh God, of fuck, oh God.” My head fell back on my shoulders as that tight, winding tension building inside of me reached the heavens.

And shattered with the bliss of it all.

I cried out, forgetting where we were, as my inner muscles rippled around Reid in voluptuous tugs.

His eyes widened with the sensation. “Evan!”

My body was still pulsing with release as he throbbed inside me, his hips shuddering against mine as he climaxed.

I reached for him, kissing him through the last of it; desperate kisses that turned languid and luxurious as our orgasms eased.

Finally, Reid lifted his head to cup my face in his hands. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

I grinned and agreed, “Yeah.”

“It’s not enough,” he breathed, peppering sweet kisses down my chin and throat. “I need you again.”

As much as I didn’t want to remind him, I whispered, “I have to get back to the grotto.”

With a heavy sigh, Reid nodded and reluctantly eased out of me.

I winced a little.

“You okay?” he frowned.

“More than,” I promised him.

His eyes roamed over my face. “No regrets?”

“No regrets.”

“You’re not leaving me.”

I grinned. “Was that a question or a demand?”

He scowled, but his tone didn’t match his expression. “Evan … please don’t leave me.”

Tenderness flooded me. “What about Patrick?”

Reid sighed again. “If he cares about us, he won’t stand in our way.”

“I don’t want to cause problems between you. I know how much his friendship means to you and vice versa.”

“It does.” He slid his hands beneath my skirt again, causing goosebumps to chase his touch. “But I told you, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. If I let you walk away, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

His words caused me to smile so big, I probably looked like a moron.

Reid didn’t seem to think so, though. He smiled, squeezing my thighs. “Happy?”

I nodded. “Extremely.”

“Good.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Because it’s my new mission in life to make you happy. So happy you’ll never want to leave me.”

“I approve of this mission,” I teased, pressing kisses to his bristly cheek until I reached his ear. And then I took a plunge of faith and confessed, “I love you, Reid.”

He jerked back from me, making my heart sputter with fear.

But then he demanded, “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”

Trying to quell my smile, I replied, “I mean it. No way has ever made me feel the way you do.”

Confusion flooded me as he reached past me for his wallet. At the same time, he kicked off his shoes and the trousers that had fallen to his ankles.

“What …”

He was pulling out another condom. “Take off the dress. You’re going to be late.”

“Reid?”

“You just told me you love me. I want to say it to you while you’re naked and on your back and I’m buried deep inside you.”

I’d never taken off a dress so fast in my life.

Minutes later, I was sprawled across the couch in Reid’s office. We were both gloriously naked.

And he made love to me as he murmured how much he loved me over and over again.

Neither of us cared how loud we were or if anyone heard us.

All we saw was each other, all we felt was one another and all we heard were those three little words whispered between us as we connected in every way two people could.