Chapter 5

five

?. . .?

Pepper

What do you do when you’re a simple elf artist now married to Santa? What do you do when Santa is also the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen? You want him to be inside you all the time. Every minute of every hour of every day, you can’t stop thinking about him. You’d think it’d be exhausting, but it’s not. What’s even wilder is he’s the only person I’ve ever found attractive. For hundreds of years, I thought I was broken, but here we are… and every day since the giving tree united us has felt like a dream. I’m profoundly overwhelmed by everything but also comforted by it. I don’t know how that works, but it does.

Like now.

Eating lunch with my… Nick.

Naked.

On a blanket in front of the eternal fireplace in his office.

I can’t get his taste out of my mouth .

I don’t want to.

Crunching on another chip, Nick’s entire body vibrates with his holly, jolly Santa laugh. He doesn’t know he has it yet, but it started the day after we… first, you know. So much of him has evolved since then, including his Santa glow. Though his body—I hope that never changes besides on Christmas when he puts on the suit—is still cut and delicious.

Nick pats his abs and lounges back, putting his feet out in front of him and exposing that special bit I can’t stop staring at. “That was quite the lunch, Pep,” he praises, and I feel it glow to my toes through our bond.

Tucking my knees to my chest to hide my erection, I paste on an uncomfortable smile.

I don’t want him to tire of me.

Nobody wants a sex addict for a partner. We already have enough sex. I can’t help I’m this attracted to him.

He talks about anything and everything, and I listen to his plans for new toys, building the elves a spa, and how he wants to be the best Santa. This is not the man I fought with for months—the one who’d never sleep and was almost always surly, hopped up on hot cocoa. This man is what we need in the North Pole.

Can I tell you a tiny, bitty-bitty secret? Something I will never say aloud—I always disliked Nick’s father. Sure, he was nice enough to everyone, but it never felt sincere—at least, not in my lifetime. My parents said he was different in the beginning, more friendly and… jolly. Apart from painting all the murals in the North Pole—including the one on Mrs. Claus’s ceiling, now our temporary bedroom—I only met the former Santa a handful of times .

My parents have a small cabin in Santa’s Village on the outskirts of town, and growing up, we never socialized with the elves like others do. My mother wasn’t gifted fertility until her eight hundredth and sixtieth year—the oldest elf on record to be gifted motherhood. I didn’t grow up in the workshops. Both of my parents retired from the fourth floor when I was born. I never had a typical elf upbringing. I didn’t attend elf school with the others. My mother and father taught me. I've always been a loner, whether I liked it or not. Apart from my parents, who I’m very close with, I don’t have anyone else. One of these days, I’ll gather enough courage to ask Nick about officially meeting them. There were the obligatory greetings after the plum was picked, but nothing since.

It doesn’t help that I’ve kept my distance, not wanting Mom and Dad to think of me as a failure.

Until this week, I wasn’t sure what I was.

A set of fingers snaps in front of my face, and I blink up at a concerned Nick. “Pepper, are you alright?”

“Yes. Why?”

“You’ve been staring into the fire for a few minutes.”

“Oh. Whoops. Sorry.”

“Something wrong?” he asks.

“No,” I lie, not wanting to push him too far, too fast.

Nick’s disbelief bleeds through our connection, and I sigh, knowing we need to talk.

“Why did you show up today after we agreed not to cross paths until dinner? Considering I can’t keep my hands off you,” he addresses, not at all angry, just curious.

Blush burns my cheeks at his admission, and ballerinas dance in my belly at how sincere he sounds about his desires. “I—” I clear my throat, wanting to sound more put together than I feel. Navigating this new life has been scary. “I felt the magic.”

“When I was with Harriet?”

“Yes. It was so strong, and I got worried. I didn’t know what was going on. I was already in town, talking to some elves about stuff I wanted to have done at the house. I needed to make sure you were okay.”

Nick nods along like he’s listening, and his emotions are calm and oddly devoted through our connection.

Chewing my inner cheek for a moment, I decide to push a little further, knowing we haven’t spoken much about anything except the sex part because any time we are together, we’re… you know. This is the first time in days we’ve been able to spend any normal amount of time together without me ending up impaled on him. Not that I’m complaining. It just doesn’t leave much room for real-life talk.

“While I continue to work on getting our house in order, I want us to try to visit my parents sometime. If that’s okay.”

“Yes.” Nick’s brows furrow as if my asking is silly. A wave of confusion floats through the connection. “Of course, that’s okay. I’d love to meet them. Well, I guess I met them already, but now they’re my family, too. So yes. You set the time. We’ll be there. But we have to have sex at least a few times before we go because…” He gestures between us and his already hard cock. “You know why.”

Excitement bubbling in my gut, I nod enthusiastically and clap my hands like a lunatic. “Yes, yes, of course. That won’t be a problem. I’m… Thank you!” Launching myself at Nick, he falls onto his back, laughing, and I go with him. As I do, I slide him into me and give us more of what we crave.

I’m crazy about this man and don’t want it to ever end.