Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
T he first thing Noah saw was Harper sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, her pretty mouth forming an O of utter surprise and her eyes just as round.
The next thing was the group of well-dressed elderly monsters seated at a long table behind her.
Shit on a stick. The goblin at the café had said nothing about a reception committee when he’d asked where he could find Harper. They’d just grunted out directions without making eye contact. Friendly. Not.
As he wended his way down the neat pathways to the big old building, he’d rehearsed like crazy what to say to her. But now, standing in the doorway, he quaked in his boots as Harper’s face flushed red and her mouth opened and shut like a fish on a hook. The rather bedazzling elderly woman at the back of the room beckoned to him. “Come in young man, come in. We weren’t expecting another candidate, but we’re happy to see you.”
Expecting another candidate. For what?
As Noah stumbled into the room, Harper looked like she’d just been scalded with boiling water. She jumped out of her chair. “Gran, I really have to go.”
Gran . So the sparkly old lady was Harper’s gran. Made sense, she was unmistakably elf.
“Don’t be silly, darling. We have another Santa here to audition. Come in young man, here are the lines you need to read.”
Santa? WTF.
Somehow, Noah’s feet propelled him forward.
As he got closer, he heard the immaculately dressed vampire next to Gran murmur, “Oh my. You are perfect .”
Noah’s cheeks flushed bright as he felt the vampire’s eyes traveling up and down his body with more than friendly interest.
“Erm, what exactly am I supposed to do here?” he asked.
“Just read through these lines with Harper, our elf over there.” Glitter Gran flapped a piece of paper at him imperially, which he dutifully took.
Not game to ask anything else, Noah walked stiffly into the center of the room. He dared to glance at Harper, smirked stupidly and mouthed, “Hi.”
She stared at him stonily, then mumbled, “Hi.”
Clearly, time had not improved her opinion of him.
And then he looked at the piece of paper and all the letters jumbled in front of his eyes.
Noah scratched his forehead with his thumb. Scuffed his feet. Felt his face getting hotter and hotter. Out the corner of his eye, he could see Harper pacing up and down, biting her thumbnail.
Awk-ward!
“Look… I—er, I can’t read this,” he said gruffly after a moment. “I’m sorry. Big mistake me being here. I should go?—”
“Please don’t,” the vampire purred.
“Do stay,” squeaked the small birdlike creature, fluttering its rather bald wings.
“Please go ahead and read the lines,” Gran commanded, fixing him with a gimlet stare.
Noah’s fingers shook as he held the piece of paper in a vise-like grip. “I can’t.”
“Please just do as she says,” begged the vampire.
“I can’t read it…” Noah muttered. “Because I’m dyslexic.”
There was a flabbergasted silence.
“Well, it was a very courageous step to audition then,” Gran said with a beaming smile. “Bravo.”
He should tell them he hadn’t intended to audition, that he’d only come to find Harper. But it all seemed too hard. Noah felt totally helpless, held to ransom by a bunch of aging monsters.
“Give us a moment,” Gran said, then gathered her little bevy around her. A lot of loud whispering followed. Noah stood there like a spare part, Harper a few feet away. He tried desperately to catch her eye again.
Finally, she glanced at him and raised her shoulders in a shrug.
After a few more moments, Gran cleared her throat. “We all think you’re the perfect fit for our Santa. We’ll find a way for you to learn the lines. Maybe Harper can read them out to you until you’ve memorized them. We’re delighted to offer you the part of Santa in our Christmas show.”
Noah was about to say no. But then those words, Harper can read them out to you, somehow cut through the fog in his brain.
If there was any way to get Harper to talk to him, surely playing Santa to her elf would have to be it.
And desperate measures, Noah realized, required desperate means.
He smirked nervously. “Okay, well, er, thanks. Then yes, I accept.”
Harper stomped off down the footpath at speed, but Noah, with his long strides, easily kept up.
As if it hadn’t been a big enough shock having him burst into the room back there, Noah had somehow landed the part of Santa in the Christmas show. And to add a cherry to the whipped cream on top of this whole disaster, Gran had told her to go find him a Santa costume in the props room.
So now they were winding their way through the gardens, making stupid polite conversation about his fishing trip, about her job here, as if nothing, nothing was wrong, when everything was.
She tried to deny that she liked his big body falling into step with hers. Tried to deny that she’d missed the act of simply walking with Noah. It had always been one of the things she loved about their friendship. On weekends in springtime they’d go for walks in the woods around Motham Hill, marveling together at the tiny buds on the trees and the crocuses poking through the earth. On balmy summer evenings they’d stroll along Motham River or the beach, finding shells. Their hands close, their arms bumping, the chemistry like sparkly fireflies darting in the air around them.
Or so she’d thought…
He was glancing sideways at her now, his brows ruffled in a frown.
She couldn’t take it any longer. Harper stopped and burst out, “Why did you really come here, Noah?”
He drew to a halt, turned to face her and said softly, “To see you Harper.”
If she hadn’t known better, the warmth in his gaze would have made her think he’d missed her, that he wanted her…
Don’t kid yourself.
She barked out a laugh. “And now you’ve landed yourself a thespian role. Which is kinda awkward if you can’t learn your lines.” She paused, frowning. “Why’ve you never told me about your dyslexia?”
Noah chewed on his lip, squinting into the winter sunlight. “Never felt it was that important.”
That stoked the flames of Harper’s simmering rage. Like other things you didn’t feel the need to tell me. The words rose up her throat like bile, but she swallowed them. This wasn’t the moment to have it out with Noah. Because if she started, it would be like a faucet bursting. Messy.
“Guess that’s your business,” she said with a shrug. When Noah just stood gazing at her, she rolled her eyes. “Well, come on, then, I’ve got to get back to the café soon. Biff hates serving customers.”
“I noticed." Noah’s lips quirked into a grin. It hitched at the corner of his mouth, causing a deep indent in one side of his bearded cheek. Just one side. Blessed asymmetry. Harper’s knees went weak before she remembered he wasn’t hers to have weak knees over. She took off again, her sneakers flying, the cold air sharp in her lungs. “Where are you taking me?” he asked as he caught up.
“To the theater.”
“Seriously? The Monsters of Mercy have their own theater?”
“They have everything. Spa, swimming pool, gym, sauna, a hairdresser, and a beauty salon.”
“Remind me to retire to this place.”
She almost retorted, “Yeah, Dina would love it.”
Harper took a deep breath and pulled herself together. She was reminding herself of her mom right now.
“Here we are,” she said and led him into the rather grand theater building. It was dark inside, and chilly, and as she led the way to the back of the stage, round to the props room, Harper was aware of Noah close behind her in the narrow space. So close she could smell his warm skin, that delicious Noah smell he always had after he’d scrubbed himself clean of fishing for the day and came to visit her at the café. The tang of spice, the smell of male, all wrapped into memories that made her heart jerk painfully.
She flicked on the light in the props room and Noah exclaimed, “Wow, all this for one Christmas show.” He stared at all the costumes strung around the walls and in boxes on the floor.
“They do other plays throughout the year. And I think they rent the space out too. Gran said the outfits for the Christmas show are at the back.”
As they rummaged through everything, taking out the different outfits and checking them out, it almost felt like old times, when she’d drag Noah to a thrift shop and make him wait while she tried on clothes. Except there was a whole lot of baggage between them now that was much bigger than any of the boxes in here.
“This looks like an elf outfit,” Noah said as he held up a small green and red dress, made of a soft felted material and scalloped like leaves at the hem
“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” Harper almost snatched it from him. But not before she’d registered Noah registering how teeny-tiny it was. She went back to searching, feeling suddenly hot all over.
“Here, I think this is mine.” Noah pulled out a big red Santa outfit.
When he held up the baggy costume, she forgot for a moment that she was angry, and burst out laughing. “That is way too big, even for you Noah.”
“What d’you mean, even for me?” He mock scowled, then made a punch at his flat abs. “I’ll try it on, shall I?"
Oh heavens. “Sure.”
“Don’t look.”
Before Harper could even reply he’d ripped off his shirt. Then his pants. Harper suppressed a little gasp at the sight of him in nothing but bright blue boxers. Gods, two months at sea had toned those strong selkie muscles even more—the guy was fully ripped. His tail flicked cheekily out of a slit in the back of his boxers, sleek and shiny.
Harper pretended to be engrossed in a rack of clothes, humming a Christmas jingle.
“Done and decent,” he said after a minute.
Harper spun round. Okay, so not completely decent. She tried to stop her gaze from snagging on the slice of perfect pecs visible below the unbuttoned Santa jacket. Tried not to notice that when Noah tugged in the huge waist of the pants, a nice slab of tan abs was clearly on view.
“There’s no hole for my tail. Fuck this is uncomfortable.” He turned and glared at his tail bunched up in the back of his pants, the end just flipping over the waistband.
Harper giggled. “It looks like you’ve got a fully loaded nappy.”
“Crapped my pants, you reckon?” They stared at his reflection in the mirror on the wall, and then they were both laughing. “Probably did,” Noah said ruefully. “Coming to see you was enough to make me shit myself. I was that scared.”
She looked at him sideways and fiddled with the elf outfit in her hands. “What d’you mean?”
Noah turned to face her, bunching the enormous Santa pants around him with one hand. “Oh come on, Harps. You know we didn’t part on good terms. You never returned any of my calls and when I got back, Mal said you’d changed your number so I couldn’t find you.”
“But you did anyway.”
“Yeah, after I’d begged Mal on bended knees to tell me where you were.”
“Hmmm. He didn’t hold out for long.”
“I bribed him with my next catch of snapper. Why didn’t you want to see me?”
“You tell me, Noah.”
He looked at her blankly. There was nothing for it but to spit it out. “I saw Dina. While you were away. Coming out of the of the obstetrician’s office in old Motham.” She bit her lip to hold back the pain of the memory.
He stilled, his spine stiffening.
“Why didn’t you tell me it’s your baby?”
“What!” Noah’s eyes bugged. “You think that baby’s mine? Are you crazy?”
A little flicker of hope took hold inside Harper. But she needed more than that to believe him. “What else am I to think? I saw you hugging her on your boat that night, and then you wouldn’t tell me what was going on. Next thing, I see her with a baby belly, and she says it’s a secret until daddy gets home.”
“Yeah.” Noah sniffed. “Well, the daddy isn’t me.”
“No?”
“No! Hell, Harps, do you really think I’d go back to Dina? After the way she behaved? I’d have to have rocks in my head. Gods, as for having a child with her…” He shuddered.
Harper’s heart was singing so loudly she wondered if he could hear it.
“I just thought… I mean, she’s beautiful,” she huffed lamely.
“So?”
“Like… I mean, stunningly beautiful.”
“Yeah, on the outside. Only goes skin deep. Besides… so are you.”
“So am I what?”
“Beautiful.”
Harper blushed to the roots of her hair.
“But we’re just friends, so it doesn’t count,” she muttered, hugging the elf outfit, while Noah stood there with the Santa pants bunched in his fist.
She felt his dark gaze on her. “I really hope we can be friends again. I’ve missed you, Harps.”
“Yeah, I’ve missed you too.” But her heart dropped a little. She’d been hoping he’d say he wanted to be more than friends. Still, at least Dina’s baby wasn’t his. The way he rebutted that statement, she did truly believe him.
But a girl had to double, triple check. “So it’s really not yours?”
“Really not. Hand on my heart. She just needed to tell someone, and I guess I was who she thought of. And then you saw her with me, and yeah… it all went pear-shaped after that.”
“I was just hurt that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me what was going on. And then when I saw her outside the doctor’s, I admit, I jumped to the wrong conclusion. I’m sorry, I should have asked you first.”
“That’s okay. I guess neither of us have had great role models on the communication front.”
She nodded.
They’d discussed their childhoods often enough in the past. How Noah’s alcoholic dad had walked out when he and Wyatt were kids, how Harper’s parents were never happy; her high-breed human dad resenting her mom being elf, even though he’d defied his family to be with her. They’d separated when Harper was sixteen. She guessed her misunderstanding with Noah made sense in light of that. He was right, they’d had useless role models. She was just thankful they were setting the record straight now.
“I was no better,” Noah continued. “That night, with Dina turning up out of the blue, plus all the stress of leaving the next day…she’d made me promise not to tell anyone she was pregnant, and I always keep my word, you know that, Harps. So when you said you didn’t want to have dinner, I didn’t know what to do. Plus you wouldn’t answer any of my messages or calls after that.”
She hung her head. “Sorry. That was shitty of me.”
“I’d say on a scale of shittyness, it was a ten out of ten.”
She whacked him playfully with the elf outfit.
“Anyway, it’s good we’ve cleared things up,” she said lightly, “because it would be difficult to be your elf if we weren’t talking.”
They stood there in silence, as if they both had so much more to say, then Noah asked, “Can I give you a hug?”
“Yes, you can give me a hug.” She put the elf costume down and walked into his arms, feeling suddenly shy.
But then he hugged her, and the awkwardness vanished.
Feeling his big arms around her, his hands resting lightly on her back, she wished he’d just hold her a little tighter, and she couldn’t help wriggling closer.
With the Santa jacket undone, Harper found her nose pressed against Noah’s bare chest. Gods he smelled good. His skin was amazingly soft, like velvet over rock-hard muscles. She couldn’t stop her hand sneaking up and resting on his pec, her little finger touching his nipple.
It pebbled. Noah let out a thick grunt. And then Harper felt something else against her belly. Something lengthening and hardening.
Was that… oh goddess, was that what she thought it was?
Harper’s senses spiked, a treacly warmth spreading between her legs, making her slick with need.
The air in the room hummed with electric energy.
Suddenly Noah pulled away. “Hang on a sec, losing my pants here,” he growled.
Harper glanced down. The Santa pants had sunk low on his hips, exposing most of his bright blue boxers. In the second before Noah’s hands hitched them up, she got a tantalizing glimpse of a very big bulge packed in there.
A. Very. Big. Bulge.
Excitement spurred through her, the throb between her thighs intensifying at the thought that hugging her had turned him on.
But damn, she couldn’t confirm what she thought she’d seen because he’d already turned his back to her.
And then Noah said in a strangled voice, “Harps?”
“Yes Noah?” she replied breathily.
“Have you got a sewing machine?”
“Of course, you know I love sewing.”
“I’ll need you take these pants in for me. Maybe tonight, if you’re free?”