Chapter Three
As the woman dressed as a sexy elf turned away, Enrico checked the shiny gold nametag over her heart. Celyn. So this was Celyn Berry, the woman he had come to check out.
She was just as beautiful as the letter she had written that continued to warm his chest. Looking in her eyes, he’d seen no darkness, no meanness, no hatred. Just sadness and exhaustion. Probably because her brother was on the other side of the world instead of at home with his family.
That first look in her pale green eyes also told him that she was the woman he had spent the last several hundred years wishing and dreaming and searching for. A woman whose love for others equaled his own.
But would she be willing to relocate to be with him and become one of Santa’s helpers?
Or would he have to walk away from his life of service to the world in order to be with her?
As she crossed to the bar to talk to her coworkers about his drink order, Enrico could not look away from her swaying hips.
His cock swelled and hardened to its full length as her full ass moved.
He slid his hands in the pockets of his coat to camouflage the erection from the woman standing behind the bar staring at him with undisguised interest.
Celyn returned a few minutes later empty-handed. “I’m sorry, we don’t have anything like what you requested. We do have some hot coffee, and Micah makes a wicked chocolate martini, if you’d like one of those instead?”
Enrico smiled as she moved close once again, which was fine with him. He liked her in his space. He’d love to take her somewhere private so they could explore every inch of this intense attraction blossoming between them.
“No, thank you,” he said. “Since it’s closing time, would you join me for a hot chocolate and piece of pie at that all-night diner across the parking lot?”
He waited patiently as Celyn thought over his invitation. When she glanced over her shoulder, he followed her gaze to the bar. Her co-workers were grinning and nodding their approval.
The woman grinned as she made shooing motions. “Go on, Celyn. We’ll finish up here.”
She turned back to him and smiled shyly. “Okay, but I need to change clothes first,” she said.
“But I like what you’re wearing. It suits your loving, giving personality to a T,” he said, reaching out and settling one hand on her shoulder. She frowned up at him in confusion.
“Do I know you?”
“Not yet, but I’m hoping we’ll get to know each other very well very soon.”
“But who are you?”
That question stopped Enrico for a moment.
Then he decided to go with the truth. The last thing he would ever do was lie to this woman, even if the truth was a bit more than most humans could understand.
“Enrico Leonardo Francisco. But my friends call me Elf. You could call me Enrico or Rico, if you’d like. ”
“Elf? Like one of Santa’s helpers?”
“Exactly.”
“What do you mean exactly?”
Instead of answering her question, Enrico flipped the lock on the front door before leading her across the bar to a hallway to the side of the bar. He nodded to the two still standing behind the bar.
“Good evening.”
“Good night,” they replied in unison.
“Enjoy your day off, Celyn,” the man added with a grin and a wink.
Enrico nodded as he led the woman down the hall.
There were three doors on the side wall and a door at the end he felt certain led to the parking lot behind the building.
The first door had a sign that read “Bucks”.
The second door’s sign read “Does.” The third door had no sign on it, which he assumed meant it was for staff only.
He stopped and allowed Celyn to step past him. She opened and looked over her shoulder at him, her expression uncertain.
So he made the decision for her. “I’ll wait out here while you do whatever you feel you need to do.”
Celyn looked nervous as she nodded and closed the door.
He wished she had invited him to help her change, but it was too early in their relationship for such things.
Stepping across the hall, he leaned against the wall, counting seconds in his head.
Three hundred and twenty seconds later, the door opened and she stepped out wearing bright blue leggings tucked into high-topped sneakers, and a bright yellow sweater under a puffy purple vest. She had a large orange carryall slung over one shoulder.
“Ready?” he asked as he straightened and held out one hand.
Celyn nodded as she laid her hand on top of his.
He smiled as he threaded their fingers together then followed her to the door at the end of the hall.
He was surprised that the alarm advertised in a sign beside the back door did not sound when she pushed it open.
Maybe the warning in the sign was deterrent enough to keep people from sneaking out without paying their bill.
Once they were outside and the door clicked closed behind them, Enrico led her around the corner to the side of the bar where the shadows were deeper. Stepping behind a crepe myrtle, he turned to face her before pulling her into his arms.
As her body pressed against his, Enrico could feel her need, want, and arousal. It matched the one thrumming through him with each beat of his heart. He was not surprised to find she fit perfectly against him, their curves and hollows lining up as if they were two halves of a whole.
With his arms around her and his cock pressed into her lower abdomen, he looked deep into her eyes before whispering, “To answer your earlier question, I am one of Santa’s elves.”
Celyn looked startled.
Then she appeared skeptical.
Finally, she seemed pissed.
“You’re crazy aren’t you?” she asked as she began to struggle against his hold. “Why am I always attracted to the crazy ones? Why can’t I meet and fall for a nice, normal, good-hearted man? Let me go.”
“No,” Enrico said, holding her easily.
She froze at his response and tilted her head to glare up at him. He took the opportunity to slide a hand around the back of her neck and hold her head still as he bent close enough to kiss her.
As soon as his lips touched hers, she froze and something clicked in his heart. It felt like the piece that had been missing all his life slid into place and he found his home.
****
With the scent of apple pie and cinnamon swirling in the cold air around them and his lips brushing over hers, Celyn lost the battle with heart, mind, and body over getting the fuck away from this man.
Melting into his muscular chest, her arms slid around his middle and she clung to him as his lips parted over hers and took the kiss deeper.
She couldn’t believe this was the man who had just walked into her life less than twenty minutes before.
There was something about him that called to her. Something that made her want to open up his skin and crawl into him.
She could not believe the arousal and need that began to rise in her like spring sap in a maple tree. She’d never felt such intensity before in her life. She’d learned to trust her gut during her time in the Marines, and it had saved her life, and virtue, on multiple occasions.
Ever since Enrico had walked into the pub, her gut had been screaming at her to grab hold of this man and hold on tight for however long he would have her.
As the kiss went on and on, deepening by slight increments, Celyn felt as if she was flying, spinning tighter and tighter circles, like they were on one of the wild rides at fairs and carnivals.
The ones she always avoided because they messed with her balance and caused her stomach to flip and turn.
Only instead of wanting to throw up, she wanted to go higher and faster and twistier.
When Enrico’s tongue finally retreated, hers could not help but follow. She needed more. And more and more and more.
That thought startled her, as did the thought that this kiss, this man, this entire situation was so right that it had to be an exhaustion-induced dream. At least it wasn’t one of the nightmares that normally plagued her dreams.
She took her time to thoroughly explore his mouth and teeth before dueling with his tongue. Her hips began to brush back and forth over the long, thick, rigid length of his cock that pressed into her lower belly, proving she was not the only one affected by this little interlude.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered long moments later when he finally tore his lips from hers.
“We really need that private room,” he murmured in her ear. Moving his lower body away from hers gave them both a moment to catch their breath. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, “How about that pie and hot chocolate?”
Celyn opened her mouth but could not speak so she closed it again.
He'd short-circuited her brain during that kiss. She’d never been kissed so thoroughly or completely that she forgot everything.
There was nothing running through her normally hyperactive brain.
No worries, no to do list, no thoughts of anything or anyone except kissing this man again.
Looking up at Enrico, she forced her head to move up and down in a nod. Pie and hot chocolate sounded wonderful. Then she could head home to deal with whatever disasters might have occurred while she’d been at work.
When she wobbled when he eased back another step, he took hold of her hips.
Once she was steady on her feet, he released her body and took her hand in his.
She did not fight him when he laced their fingers together and guided her out from the dark shadows of the trees and back into the lights provided by the streetlights around them.