Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Ford
We drive over, my truck tires crunching over the heavy amount of snow that accumulated overnight.
Inside, the residents are gathered for breakfast, so we have a few minutes before I’ll make an appearance.
She leads me to her office, which is really just a desk outside of her boss’s office, but she’s proud, and I’m thrilled for her.
My office is just a desk upstairs from my bedroom, after all.
And when I was her age, my office was one-eighth of a tent on an Army base halfway around the world.
“You like working here?”
She pulls out an elf hat from her bottom desk drawer. “I do. Even more than usual today.”
“You gonna be Santa’s little helper today?”
“I’ll be right beside you the whole time,” she whispers back. “Daddy’s little helper.”
My balls pull tight. “Keep that up, and they’re going to ask me to leave before we even get started because I’ve bent the elf over her desk.”
She giggles.
I’m only partly joking. I won’t fuck this up for her because I know this is important to her. Not many people would care this much about having Santa show up to talk to a group of people who haven’t believed in the magic of Christmas for sixty-odd years.
Except when Neely wants something and makes it happen like a force of nature, maybe that is the real Christmas magic. It didn’t take much for her to knock down my carefully constructed walls. And I’m damn glad she did.
I catch her face in my hands. “Can I kiss you here?”
Her eyes twinkle. “Are you kidding me? I’d be grumpy if you didn’t.”
I catch her lips in mine, soft and sweet, then lick against the seam of her mouth. She parts her lips, letting me in, and I take a last thorough taste of her before we need to be on our best behavior for a few hours.
She presses her hands against mine, holding on tight as I deepen the embrace. Fuck, I love this woman.
And I really love the dazed look she gives me when I finally let her go. “Ready?”
“Mmm.” She sways on the spot. “Daddy Christmas indeed.”
I raise one eyebrow.
She straightens up. “Come on, Santa. Let’s do this.”
She gives me a hefty bag of wrapped gifts, explaining that they’re books and puzzles and that the residents may swap them after they open them, so it doesn’t matter what order I hand them out. She tucks a bunch of candy canes into my pocket. “I’ll replenish these as needed.”
“Any excuse to put your hand in Daddy’s front pocket?”
She squirms. “Maybe.”
I laugh out loud.
An older woman pops her head in the door. “Oh, Neely! Is this our Santa? I heard a hearty ho, ho, ho.”
I hope that’s all she heard. Or maybe I don’t give a fuck who knows I’m head over heels in lust and love with a very grown-up little girl.
“Diane, this is Ford.” Neely slides a glance my way. A private, you’re mine kind of glance that makes my chest puff.
I hold out my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Thanks for joining us,” the woman says as she shakes my hand.
“Of course.”
I follow them both to the dining hall, where I make the rounds, shaking hands with everyone. Then I sit near the fireplace, on a nice wide bench, to listen to every secret Christmas wish the residents might want to share.
The first few people come up, get a present, tell me how much fun Neely is—I’m not surprised—and move back to their tables.
But then a tiny scrap of a thing, who introduces herself as Bertie, sits down next to me, in a real settling in kind of way, and explains she’s ninety-one years old and she won’t be rushed.
Neely smothers a grin. “I think that’s my cue to go get more presents from the office. Take your time.”
“And what do you do when you aren’t playing Santa?” Bertie asks, her eyes sharp and curious.
“I run the lighthouse just up the road.”
She winks. “I once dated a lighthouse keeper. Silent fellow. Patient. Had the stamina of an ox.”
I choke on what I was going to say next.
“Are you lonely over there?”
I think she’s teasing me. Pretty sure she’s joking.
I lower my voice so she’s the only one who can hear me. “Not anymore. I have a special someone now.”
“A Mrs. Claus?”
“We haven’t had that conversation yet.”
“What’s your hold up?”
“She’s younger than me.”
A sly smile spreads across her face. “How much younger? Is it our Neely?”
We haven’t talked about taking our relationship public, but I can’t hide how I feel about her. “Bertie, you’re going to get me in trouble here.”
“She looks happier today than she ever has in all the time she’s worked here.” Bertie stands up. I hand her a book, and she presses it back at me. “No, thank you. That little tidbit is all the gift I need this morning. I adore a secret love story.”
Neely arrives back, her arms full of presents, as Bertie strolls away whistling. “What did I miss?”
I straighten my suspenders. “She thinks you look happy this morning.”
“And did she correctly guess that you put this smile on my face?” Neely giggles. “I forgot to warn you that some of them are quite naughty.”
Another older lady sidles up beside my little elf. “That we are, Neely. That we are.”
“Darla, have a seat next to Santa.”
“Hello, Santa,” she purrs.
I grin. “Hello, Darla. Have you been a good girl this year?”