17. Ivy

17

ivy

T he Christmas market was magical. I had an entire bag full of things I’d purchased, too excited to be surrounded by everything to hold back. We’d had apple cider while exploring all the stalls and bought matching pajamas—which felt like a very couples thing to do, though, after last night…

Maybe we were.

Neither of us had bothered to put a label on it; maybe that was fine for now. Talking with Sarah had reminded me of that. That this wasn’t my home. I might have come from here, but Florida was where my life was.

What did he want, though? He hadn’t brought up what happened after. When I went home, back to my life, everything would change.

I didn’t want to think about that. Not now. Not when I had this time with Teddy.

“What do you think, sweetheart? Did you find everything you want?” He leaned over, pressing his lips against my forehead.

I looked down at the bags we were both carrying. “Oh. Yeah, I guess. Do you want to head back to your house?”

He ran his hand through his hair, messing up the brown strands. “I was actually thinking we could go talk to my dad.”

“Oh?” Was he thinking about our earlier conversation?

“About your family. He knows everything.”

I blinked. “Are you sure?” I’d mentioned it yesterday, but hadn’t expected him to act on that request so suddenly.

“Yes. Of course.”

“But don’t you have things you need to do?”

Teddy laughed. “Sure. There’s always stuff to do around here. Same with the company. But some things are more important.” He looked directly at me when he said that, like he was saying the words, you’re more important.

My stomach filled with butterflies, and I couldn’t explain why I was having this reaction to something so simple—something that should have been a given—but it warmed my heart to know he cared about me finding my family.

“Why?” I whispered.

He shook his head. “I can’t explain it. It just feels like something I need to do.” He wound our hands together. “Something we need to do.”

Why? I wanted to ask again, but part of me could feel it too. Like there was something more tying us together than just chance. That all of this felt a little like fate.

“Thank you,” I whispered, holding back all my other thoughts.

Maybe one day I would share them.

There was a piece of paper in my pocket with my grandmother’s name and a hole in my heart that felt suspiciously smaller today.

I didn’t know how I could possibly thank Teddy for this. For bringing me here, for giving me this. Giving me the chance to have a family.

After we’d gotten back to his house in the early evening, I’d stripped off my outer layers, leaving on my sweater and a pair of leggings, but I discarded the rest by the door.

Teddy made us dinner, and it wasn’t lost on me how domestic all of this felt. I was pretty sure I was eating way better than I ever had while working at Christmasland, and I’d never felt so cared for in my life.

After eating, we’d both sat on the couch, cuddled together under a warm blanket as another Christmas movie played in the background. This time, though, I wasn’t paying attention to it, too focused on the man next to me. My entire body was on fire, and each of his little touches against me, the way his fingers kept skimming up my thighs, all of it was driving me crazy.

“Any ideas on what you want to do tomorrow?” Teddy asked, running his fingers through my wavy hair. I’d braided it this morning, but he'd taken them out as soon as we’d gotten back from the market.

“What’s still on our list?” I asked, trying to distract myself from my needy thoughts and the heat pooling lower in my body.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. Had it been there all along?

Sometimes I didn’t know what he had up his sleeve.

I unfolded the paper. Teddy had added little check marks next to what we’d completed so far, including our mistletoe kiss. Though I hadn’t envisioned it happening when it did, I couldn’t say I wasn’t grateful for it. Especially when it had led to last night.

Moving closer to him on the couch, I rested my head on his shoulder.

Teddy and Ivy’s Christmas Checklist

1. Bake Christmas Cookies

2. Decorate A Christmas Tree

3. Take a Sleigh Ride

4. Drink Hot Chocolate While Watching a Christmas Movie

5. Build a Snowman

6. Make a Gingerbread House

7. Go Ice Skating

8. Visit The Christmas Market

9. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

10. Hang Stockings

11. Matching Christmas PJs

12. Buy and Wrap Presents

13. See the Lights

14. Kiss Under the Mistletoe

“Technically, we’ve taken a sleigh ride,” Teddy said, pointing at that line. “But that was before we made the list, so I think we need to take another one.”

“So we still need to…” I ran my eyes over the list. So far, we’d marked off baking cookies, decorating the tree, drinking hot cocoa, and watching a Christmas movie, and today, we’d marked off visiting the Christmas market. I’d bought some presents today, but we hadn’t technically wrapped them yet, which seemed like a package deal. “How are we going to get all of this done before Christmas?”

Teddy winked. “One at a time, Poison Ivy.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I looked down at the paper. “I don’t even have a stocking so we can hang them.” I looked at his fireplace mantle. The fire was cozy and warm, but it definitely needed stockings before Christmas. “I should have gotten one today.”

“I’ll take care of that,” he promised. “Also, the town has its annual ugly Christmas sweater party on the twenty first. So, we can mark that off then.”

“What you’re saying is we need to obtain actual ugly Christmas sweaters?”

Teddy grinned. “Who said anything about obtaining them?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a whole closet full of them hidden somewhere in this house or something?”

“And what if I do?”

“You’re crazy.”

He flashed his teeth at me, leaning in close to nip at my nose. “If you hadn’t figured that out by now, sweetheart, I’d be a little worried.”

I laughed. “Theodore Claus, you really are something.”

Teddy’s hand slid between my hair and my face, cupping my cheek as he ran his thumb over my cheekbone. “And you, Ivy Winters, never cease to be the most beautiful woman in any room. Even in an ugly Christmas sweater.”

He leaned in, placing his lips against mine, and I melted. Stroke after stroke, he coaxed me open with his tongue until I was a panting, writhing mess beneath him. I moaned into his mouth, and it was like it unlocked something inside of him.

I panted when we pulled apart, and Teddy slid off the couch, moving in front of me. He pulled my knees apart, positioning himself between them .

“What are you doing?” I asked, looking down at him.

Teddy guided my leggings down over my legs, pulling them off my body. “Having my dessert.” He licked his lips, his gaze focused on my panties.

“Teddy—” I squeaked, cheeks heating.

“Told you I was going to make you come on my tongue, sweetheart. I need to taste you.” He rubbed his nose over my entrance, inhaling deeply.

My whole body was on fire. And yet, I wanted it. All of it. Whatever he was willing to give me.

He pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh before hooking his fingers into the sides of my underwear, slowly dragging them down my legs. It was torture.

“Please,” I whimpered. Teddy knew what he was doing to me, driving me wild. Not giving me what I wanted.

“What do you want, baby?” He murmured, his hands wrapped around my ankles after he divested me of my panties.

“Your tongue,” I moaned. “All of it.”

He gave a satisfied hum. “Good girl.”

I preened from his praise, which was only made better when he swiped his tongue over my slit, and oh. “Do that again,” I begged.

He looked at me from between my legs with a wicked grin. “My pleasure, sweetheart.” His fingers pried me further apart, bearing everything to him, but he didn’t move. “Such a pretty pussy, and it’s all mine.” Then he brought his mouth to my needy cunt, burying his tongue inside me.

“Yesss,” I moaned as he licked me thoroughly, drinking me up like he was dying of thirst and I was the only thing that could sate him.

He was magical, that much I knew to be true. There was definitely something magical about the way he was using his tongue, driving me higher and higher .

And when he refocused his efforts, sucking my clit into his mouth, giving me stimulation that I didn’t even know was possible? I came faster than I ever had before, crying out his name.

He didn’t stop working me through it, lapping up my release as if he’d die without it.

Teddy licked his lips, standing up to bring our mouths together, letting me taste myself on his tongue. It was dizzying, how fast he could work me up.

“You’re way too good at that,” I said as my breathing finally evened out.

“Oh, baby.” He smirked. “I’m just getting started.”

Hefting me into his arms, he carried me into the bedroom, doing just as he promised.

9 days until christmas

“We’re so happy to have you, Ivy,” Teddy’s mom said, smiling at me as soon as we entered his parent's house.

Their house was nothing like I’d imagined. Unlike Teddy’s quaint and cozy cottage, their large house was on the top of a hill with large windows on almost all sides, giving you a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the North Pole down below.

“Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Mrs. Claus.”

“Oh, please. Call me Carol.”

“Right.” I nodded, looking around for Teddy.

He’d taken my coat to hang it up, leaving me and his mother in the entryway. I’d worn a white sweater with a plaid skirt and heeled boots, grateful for the opportunity to wear something that wasn’t snow boots or leggings for once. He’d cleaned up, too, wearing a pair of slacks and a forest green button up shirt.

We drove over in Teddy’s truck—the same one he’d picked me up in for our first date, though I hadn’t asked how he had it here—which I was very grateful for since it meant we’d had heat for our drive over.

I followed his mom into the kitchen. “Do you know where Teddy went?”

She waived me off. “Oh, he and his father are always up to something.” She flashed a smile. “How’s your first Christmas in the North Pole going?”

I ignored the way she said first, like there would be more. “Amazing, honestly. Teddy’s made it really special for me. Definitely makes up for all the ones I missed as a kid.”

His mom turned to the oven, checking on whatever was cooking inside. The place smelled heavenly—like warm baking bread and delicious meat cooked tenderly with spices. I wondered if this was what it felt like to have a family. To eat dinner with them, surrounded by the people you loved, eating a meal cooked for you not because they had to, but because they wanted to… My heart ached.

“Did you… know my mom?” I asked, biting my lip. I didn’t know how long she’d been at the North Pole.

She frowned, moving around the kitchen. “I wish I did. By the time Nick and I were together, she’d already left the North Pole.”

“Oh.”

Carol gave me a sad look. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you more.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It’s okay. Your husband told me where I could find my grandma. I guess I’m just working up the courage to go over there. ”

She came over and squeezed my shoulder. “She’s going to love you.”

Nodding, I sipped on the glass of wine she slid in front of me.

“You two seem like you’re getting pretty cozy.”

I blushed, thinking about last night. How he’d gone down on me like it was his favorite taste in the world. “Oh, well…”

“He really likes you, you know? I’ve never seen him like this with anyone he’s dated. He’s never even brought a woman home with him before.”

He had mentioned no one had ever been in his house. But was I truly that special? And did it matter if I was going to leave?

Smiling at his mom, I slid onto a barstool. I didn’t have an answer for that. “He’s a great guy. You raised him well.”

She gave me a beaming smile. “I know.”

Teddy came into the kitchen, dropping a kiss to my cheek before going over to help his mom get dinner ready.

And oh , my heart. I wasn’t sure what he was doing to it, but I knew I wasn’t going to survive if he kept this up.