Chapter Fifteen
Kendrick
“This is delicious,” I sighed, cradling the cup of hot cocoa between my palms.
After our shower, and orgasms, Balfour had insisted on ushering me back to the warmth and softness of his bed. And, honestly, I wasn’t complaining. It was kind of nice to have someone pampering me the way he was.
Plus, I was tired and aching. My muscles were letting me know in no uncertain terms just how much I had put them through the last few days.
As much as I had wanted Balfour to fuck me earlier, I had to admit he had made the right call by saying no.
And, I had gotten a very unexpected and frankly mind-blowingly excellent blowjob.
He had turned the heat back up in the cottage, telling me he had dialed it back because I was so hot during my heat, and the place was warming up nicely.
My only complaint was that he had covered up his nakedness with a pair of red and black plaid pajama pants.
They looked so fucking sexy on him, it made my mouth water.
And to see him actually wearing something with colors and a pattern, his long hair disheveled around his shoulders and down his back… I could stare at him all day.
No wonder the man chose to wear nondescript clothing all the time, with colors matching his beautiful hair and eyes. If he actually wore something with color, no work would ever get done in Santa’s Village. Everyone would be too busy drooling over Bal.
I was currently sipping cocoa from my mound of pillows, while Balfour fussed about in the kitchen, coming into the room carrying a tray of warm, iced cinnamon rolls.
“It’s not as good as Pops’ cocoa, but it will do,” Balfour commented, setting the tray down on the bed. He handed me a small plate containing two warm rolls, and waited patiently while I sat my mug down on the nightstand.
Sniffing the rolls, I sighed happily. “It feels just like Christmas morning.” I bit into one sweet treat, moaning my appreciation as the flavors exploded on my tongue. “Though I’m not usually lazing in bed, being waited on. Not that I’m complaining.”
I watched as he slowly chewed his own bite of roll, his Adam’s apple moving as he swallowed. “You deserve to be pampered after a heat. All alphas should pamper their omegas after a heat.”
Our eyes locked for a minute, before we both looked away, neither of us sure what to say after that declaration.
He wasn’t my alpha and I wasn’t his omega, but Goddess, I wanted him to be. And I had no idea how to process all the things I was feeling for him. All the things I wanted.
After my initial dislike of him in my brother’s honor, my giving him crap had been just that.
He had been easy to tease, to rile, to push his buttons.
It had been fun, because he gave back as good as he got, and I loved it.
Now he was the first person I texted when I had a funny story to share or watched a new show I thought he would like.
He was one of my best friends, even if I had never told him as much.
I didn’t want to lose that. There was no way this–whatever this was between us–could work. It was impossible, wasn’t it?
He was an elf, for fuck’s sake. He wasn’t even human. Not fully. And he lived in Santa’s Village. He was The Santa’s head elf. He was four hundred and something years old.
Nope, we wouldn’t possibly ever really be able to sustain an actual relationship. I lived in the human realm. I had a job I loved, friends, a life in Sweet Alps that I was going back to tomorrow.
But Keegan lived here. He and Nik were happy.
Keegan had built a different life from the one he’d had in the human realm.
A life with a lover who adored him, and two amazing kids.
A life where he taught gingerbread classes, and put together the gingerbread contest, and did…
whatever else it was my brother did. The main thing was, Keegan was happy. He and Nik made it work.
Could Bal and I make it work? Would I be willing to give up my life in the human realm?
Would I be allowed to? Nik was a Kringle, The Santa, and he had Christmas magic passed down from his family on his side.
Bal was an elf, and while I knew he had some elf magic, it wasn’t anything he could use to the bend the rules here in Santa’s Village.
I wouldn’t be just allowed to move here, to see if dating him would work out.
Would I even be happy living in Santa’s Village, if I could? Visiting was completely different than uprooting my entire life and living here twenty-four seven.
I honestly didn’t know if I could.
I didn’t have a clue if Bal would want me to. Or if he even felt any of the things I was feeling.
Sure, the sex between us was off-the-charts dynamite, but sex was just…sex. It didn’t make a relationship, or a life. Not really. It was a tiny part of it, when you really thought about it.
And I had no idea where Bal’s head was at. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure where my head was at either. Maybe I was still cloudy from my heat?
“Where’d you go?” Bal’s soft question brought me out of my runaway musings.
I gave him a small smile, taking another bite of my cinnamon roll, and shook my head. “Just lost in thought. Nothing exciting.”
“In that case, wait here.”
“I can get up, you know!” I called playfully, though I was enjoying all this pampering. It was a side to Bal that was completely unexpected, and I was eating it up.
He returned with a red stocking, obviously filled with things, and a fancy wrapped box. The green foil paper shone under the bedroom light, the red and gold bow and ribbon done in some intricate design I would never even attempt.
Sitting the box next to me on the bed, he handed me the stocking. Taking it, I asked, “For me?”
“Yes,” he sat at my hip on the bed, and reached for his cocoa. “I’ve listened to Keegan go on and on about your family's Christmas morning traditions long enough to know how to do this. Or close enough. I’m sorry you had to miss it with your family.”
I shrugged, but excitedly fiddled with the stocking, trying to look like I wasn’t trying to peek inside it. Stockings were the best part, in my opinion. Even with my brother and I both being adults, our parents still filled a stocking for us every Christmas.
“Open it,” he chuckled, his eyes filled with merriment. “It’s not that exciting. I wasn’t sure what all to put in it. I’m sure your parents will have one for you, but I…I don’t know, I wanted to give you one from me.”
I stared at him, swallowing down the emotion clogging my throat, and ran my finger over the soft plush material. “I didn’t get you one.”
I felt really bad about it, too. But I had picked out a present for him, when Keegan and my mom and I had gone shopping.
“I don’t expect anything, Kendrick.”
“I did get you a present though,” I told him excitedly. “It’s in the closet over there.”
He turned to look at the closed closet door, before turning back to stare at me, a tiny bit of excitement filling his eyes. “You didn’t need to do that.”
But he crossed the room and fetched the wrapped present from the top of the closet. I’d had it gift wrapped, so it at least looked way better than I could have done, but still it was nowhere near as fancy as the present he had brought me.
He sat it on the bed next to my present. “Open your stocking.”
So, I did. Pulling out lots of my favorite candies, a new bookmark, some fuzzy, fun Christmas socks, and other odds and ends. Grinning, I thanked him. “You found all my favorites.”
Color flushed his high cheekbones. “I might have texted your brother. He’ll likely never let me forget it either.”
“I know that had to be tough for you,” I teased, handing him the large box. “Open your gift.”
He gingerly pulled at a piece of tape, careful to not rip the paper. Dear Goddess, he was one of those people. “You really didn’t need to get me anything,” he repeated.
Sipping the last of my cocoa down, I shrugged. “Well, I thought we were spending Christmas with my family, and I figured we would need to keep up appearances. You know, of being a couple in love.”
His gaze held mine for a few seconds, before he went back to picking at the taped ends.
“Oh my Goddess!” I exclaimed impatiently. “Just rip it! We aren’t using it again. Part of the fun is ripping the paper!”
He snorted at me, and kept at his careful picking, until he had the white box unwrapped, the paper in one whole sheet. Folding it carefully, he set it aside. Opening the lid, he pulled out the sweater I had picked out for him.
The material was super soft and it was a bright, cobalt blue. Brighter and more colorful than anything I had ever seen him wear, but the color had caught my eye. I couldn’t stop staring at it, thinking how pretty it would look with his coloring.
Bal stared down at the garment in his lap, running his finger over the soft material.
“I thought the color would look good on you,” I said softly, suddenly feeling very unsure about my choice. Maybe I should have gone with a book or something. Something not so personal. “You don’t need to wear it. You can take it back. It might not even fit.”
Bal’s head came up, and there was something in his eyes, a soft look I had never seen before. “It’s lovely, Kendrick. Thank you.”
He placed it gently back in the box, then handed me the gift he had brought for me, clearing his throat as he did. “I hope you like this.”
Unlike him, and despite the truly magnificent wrapping job someone had done, I ripped the paper with no shame. Opening the box, I gasped when I pulled out a large snow globe. Staring at it with wide eyes, I realized what it was.
The scene inside had a couple kissing in front of a fireplace, a sprig of mistletoe above their heads. It depicted a redheaded man, and a much taller man, with long silver hair. It was Nik and Keegan’s living room, and I shook it, watching the snow fall around the kissing couple.
Blinking sudden heat from my eyes, I stared at Bal. “It’s us.”
Bal nodded, looking shy, and picked at the blanket with his hand. “It is.”
“But…how?”
How had he had this made? This had to be a custom job, and why this scene? What did it mean? It had to mean something, didn’t it?
He grinned, and that grin went straight to my heart, filling it with warmth and my stomach with all kinds of butterflies. “I have my ways. I am the head elf in Santa’s workshop. If I can’t get something special made, we have a problem.”
“It’s beautiful, Balfour,” my voice was thick, the words rough. “Thank you. I’ll cherish it.”
He looked down at the floor, scuffing the thick carpet with his bare foot. “Well, like you said, we needed to keep up appearances. I figured it would be sappy enough to convince Nik and everyone else.”
Of course, that was the reason he had given it to me. I needed to stop reading all kinds of things into it.
“Of course.” I placed it carefully on the nightstand next to me, where I would be able to stare at it. Faking a yawn, I slid down into the softness of the blankets. “I’m pretty sleepy. You would think I had slept enough the last few days.”
I suddenly needed some space, to be alone, with all the things I was feeling.
To remind myself, that whatever had happened between us during my heat, whatever Bal had made me feel, it wasn’t real.
Sure, he’d helped me through it, but it was nothing more than an alpha helping an omega.
A friend helping a friend. Keeping up appearances for this ruse we had started to get through the holidays.
“Heat is hard on your body.” He stood. “I’ll let you get some sleep. We have Christmas with your family later.”
I nodded, closing my eyes. “And tomorrow you take me home.”
I wanted him to say he wanted me to stay. That he didn’t want to take me home. That he wanted to make our fake relationship real.
Instead, he said nothing, just quietly left me alone in the bedroom. After three days and nights, wrapped in his arms in this bed, it felt too large, too cold. It felt wrong.
Balfour
Past…
Me: OMG the new elf we hired in electronics is stalking me. I’m sure of it.
Nemesis: They aren’t stalking you.
Me: He is everywhere! Everywhere I go, there he is.
Nemesis: It’s a small village. Complete coincidence.
And don’t you run the electronics department?
Seems to mean you will see him like…I don’t know, every day.
And you are the head elf. Doesn’t he report to you?
Or something like that. What is it exactly you do, besides stalk around, grumbling about schedules?
Me: I do ALL the things. Your brother insisted I come for dinner and guess who else was there? Seated right across from me! Smiling and batting his eyes the entire night! No matter what I said, he giggled! It was maddening.
Nemesis: You’re right, he must be stalking you. You aren’t that funny. I mean, I think you’re hysterical but only when I’m fucking with you and your stupid schedules.
Me: See! I TOLD you. Totally stalking me.
Nemesis: You want me to talk to Keegan? I’ll totally tell him no more ambush dinner fix ups.
Me: You would do that?
Nemesis: What are friends for?