16. Teddy

16

teddy

10 days until christmas

A blanket of strawberry blonde hair was sprawled across my bed, but I couldn’t even complain because Ivy was currently using my chest as her pillow. I was doing my best to ignore the press of her body against mine and the way it was affecting me in other places. At some point during the middle of the night, she’d cuddled up against me like she was seeking my body warmth.

I was content to stay just like this for a little longer.

“Mmm.” Ivy rolled over, throwing her leg over mine.

“Morning.”

Her eyes flew open, suddenly realizing where she was.

“Comfortable?” I asked, smirking at the elf draped over my body.

“Oh, I—” The tips of her ears were pink. I ran my finger over them, a shudder running through her body.

“You’re so cute. I think I want to keep you in my bed forever.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, I pulled away. If we didn’t leave the bed soon, we wouldn’t make it out all day.

And as much as I wanted a repeat of last night, I had promised her the perfect Christmas.

“Looks like the snowstorm has settled down,” I said, looking out the window.

“Oh.” Was it just me, or did Ivy look a little sad about that?

“We can go into town, though. The Christmas Market is happening this afternoon.”

“Christmas Market?” She perked up. “That sounds amazing.”

I traced circles over her bare shoulder. “It is. And we can mark a few more things off our list.”

“Mmm.” She closed her eyes, and I placed a few open-mouthed kisses on her bare skin. I hadn’t left any marks on her last night, but fuck, I wanted to. Wanted everyone to know who’s she was.

My girl. My Poison Ivy.

Getting out of bed, I headed to the bathroom to turn the water on in the shower. I knew we'd never leave this house if I stayed in bed with her.

Stepping in, I let the water run over my body, grabbing my body wash to pour some into my hand.

Ivy opened the shower door and snuck in with me, a little mischievous smile spread over her face. She wrapped her arms around me, running her fingers over my abs.

“Good morning,” I chuckled, ignoring the press of her nipples against my back.

“Hi,” she said, pressing her lips against my back.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?”

“No point in wasting water, right?”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my Ivy?” I asked, turning around to face my little elf. Mine. I shouldn’t use words like that, but it was so hard not to when she was naked and wet in front of me.

In my house.

My bed.

My woman.

She blushed. “I’m just being practical.”

“Practical. Hm .” I pressed my rapidly hardening cock against her stomach.

“Yup. Saving water.” Ivy ran her tongue over her lips. “No other reason.”

She took the body wash out of my hands, squirting some into her palm, soaping them up.

“Ivy,” I warned.

“Mhm?” She ran her soapy hands over my chest, fingers trailing across my abs.

I groaned. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“That’s the idea, Theodore.”

“ Evil,” I groaned, though if I was being honest with myself, I’d let this woman do whatever she wanted to me. She was an addiction, and I was quickly growing more attached to her than I should be.

But how could I not when she looked at me like that, with those big blue eyes and that silky hair that I wanted to wrap around my fist? I was fucked. Truly.

“God, look at all this snow.” Ivy’s eyes were wide. The storm had dumped a bunch of fresh, powdery snow outside, which was glittering from the morning sun. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out—perfect for a trip into town.

“Do you want to walk?” I asked, not looking over my shoulder as I went to check on Buddy in the barn. “Or we can take the snowmobile—” I had my truck, too, though I doubted the roads would be clear yet. And I didn’t want to risk getting stuck somewhere. The walk wasn’t bad, especially on a day like today.

Plus, maybe the cold, crisp air would help me clear my head.

Ivy didn’t respond, and when I looked behind me, frowning at the lack of my strawberry blonde girl in her fluffy white coat, I was suddenly assaulted by a ball of cold snow.

Right at my face.

She shrieked with laughter.

“Oh, you’re going down,” I said, scooping up a large handful of snow and molding it into a ball before throwing it at her and hitting her shoulder.

This was war.

“Guess you’ll have to catch me first!”

Ivy threw another snowball at me, missing me this time, at least. She laughed the whole time as I launched more snowballs at her before running after her. We kept it up for a few minutes, pelting each other with snowballs, till we were both covered in snow, and even the tip of Ivy’s nose was red from the cold. It was refreshing to see her like this—a genuine smile on her face, happiness radiating from her.

Even as she ran away from me, she was fast, but thanks to my longer legs, I was faster. Catching up with her, I scooped her up into my arms, throwing her over my shoulder.

“Caught you.”

“Put me down!” Each word was punctuated by more giggles. “Teddy!”

I smacked her ass. “Who’s the naughty one now?”

She pinched mine in return. “Still you, Theodore.”

Her eyes sparkled when I put her down, wrapping my arms around her waist and picking her up into my arms. Ivy wrapped her legs around me, and I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Kiss me,” she answered, breathless.

She didn’t even need to ask—I always wanted to kiss her.

It had taken us almost twice as long to get there after we’d both had to change, soaking wet from playing in the snow, but we’d made it.

Booths surrounded us on all sides. The North Pole was notorious for celebrating the season, even during the busiest time of the year. Even though the toys were all done, and most of the work was already completed for my dad’s runs, everyone pitched in here.

Ivy’s eyes were wide when I turned to her.

“This is… Wow. And I thought Christmasland was magical.”

“I told you there’s nothing like Christmas at the North Pole.”

She snorted. “Yeah, you weren’t kidding.”

Taking her hand, I guided her down the first row. Every booth was full of handmade items, like scarves and, blankets, and even jewelry.

Reaching out, I grabbed her hand, interlacing our fingers together. “Most of the elves here have some sort of hobby. They make stuff all year, and each Christmas, everyone buys goods from each other.”

“That’s incredible. I wish I had the time for this.”

“You will.” I squeezed her hand.

She bit her lip. “How do you know?”

“Just do. I have this feeling, sweetheart. That everything you’ve ever dreamed of is going to come true.”

“Oh.” Ivy turned, the tips of her ears and cheeks turning the same color as her jacket. “I don’t know about that…”

But I could feel it. As much as I knew what a child wanted for Christmas. “You’ll see,” I said instead.

Ivy’s phone rang, and she looked down at it in surprise, like she’d forgotten it could make a noise. “Oh. This is Sarah. I should really answer her. I don’t want her to think I was kidnapped or anything.”

“No,” I agreed. “Definitely wouldn’t want that.”

She nodded.

“I can’t tell her, can I?” Ivy whispered.

“That you’re here?” I frowned. “She might not believe you.”

“I know.” Her shoulders drooped. “But it’s weird not to tell my best friend about this. I’ve never kept a secret like this from her before.”

“It’s okay.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Do what you feel is right.”

“Hello?” she said, picking up.

I could hear her friend on the other line. “Hey, girl! I hadn’t heard from you in a few days, so I thought I’d call to check in.”

“Oh.” She looked over at me, biting her lip. “Everything’s great, actually.”

Ivy motioned she was going over to a bench to sit down, and I nodded.

Wandering through the market by myself, I smiled as a pair of little snowflake earrings caught my eye. They reminded me of the necklace Ivy wore around her neck—the one she never took off. She’d said it was her mother's, and the only thing she really had from her.

But maybe I could give her something back.

“Teddy!”

“Oh, hi, Mom.” I looked up, finding my mother bundled up in a red coat, her silvery-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. I’d gotten most of my features from my dad, except for my mom’s eyes.

The fact that my father had fallen for her never surprised me. Sometimes I wondered how he’d convinced her to stay. Was loving someone enough to ask them to make that big of a sacrifice?

Could I make it? I wondered what it would it be like to never call this place home again. The thought hurt, but not as much as it did thinking of never seeing Ivy again. Never holding her.

One night, Teddy, I scolded myself. We’d only been together one night. I couldn’t be thinking about things like forever already.

Mom looked around. “Where’s your girl? I thought maybe I’d get to meet her.”

I didn’t even bother to correct her when she called her my girl. Because it felt right. She was my girl.

And I was going to make her see that.

“Ivy’s over there,” I said, pointing towards the bench, where she sat chattering into her phone excitedly. “Her friend called.” No doubt to make sure she was okay because I’d been monopolizing all of her time.

Not that I was going to complain. It had been an eventful few days.

My mom raised an eyebrow. “And how’s everything been?”

“Good.” I cleared my throat. “We’ve been working through a list of Christmas activities together.”

“Oh, that’s so romantic.” She pressed her hand over her heart.

“ Mom,” I protested, feeling embarrassed.

“What?” She shrugged. “I think it’s very sweet of you, Teddy. Making sure her Christmas is a good one. ”

But was that all it was? No . It never had been about that at all. It had always been me being greedy and wanting to spend more time with her in whatever way I could.

And now she was here. Last night she’d been in my arms. I’d held her tight and nothing, nothing had been the same as being with her. But did it matter if she didn’t want to stay? What were we even doing?

“When are you coming over for dinner? Your dad and I would still love to have you both.”

“Tomorrow night?” I asked. Tonight, I planned on making dinner and cozying up by the fire next to Ivy. I wasn’t quite ready to give that up yet. Plus, if a repeat of last night happened, I wouldn’t complain. Just looking at her took my breath away.

Ever since the shower this morning, I’d been desperate to have her again.

“Tomorrow’s perfect. I’ll make a roast.”

“Thanks, mom.” I leaned forward, kissing her cheek. “But don’t scare her away, all right? I want her to actually like me.” I wanted her to more than like me, but I couldn’t admit that to my mother.

She gave me a little pout. “So you’re saying I can’t show her your baby photos?”

“No. Definitely not that.”

“But you looked so cute when you were small enough to fit into your dad’s hat—” I narrowed my eyes at her. “ Fine,” she huffed. “No baby photos. But I can’t wait to meet her.”

“I know, mom.”

Hopefully Ivy would enjoy it as much as my mom would. She’d never had a family of her own, after all. Would it be weird for her to be a part of mine?

Would she even want that?