Chapter 4
FOUR
REMINGTON
The door to the Firth Mountain Smokejumper crew room opens, and a wind-blown Jade strides through it. She shouldn’t look so boner-inducingly gorgeous looking like that, but she does.
She’s wearing a wool green dress, red-striped tights, and a hat and pair of shoes that are unmistakingly elf-like.
While the dress itself is perfectly innocent, the way it clings to her chest is anything but. I instinctively rub my fingers together imagining how it would feel to peel that dress off of her.
As for her bow-shaped lips… She’s wearing a shade of red on them that should be illegal.
I don’t know whether to fall down at her feet and beg her to take me to bed or ask her to please stop torturing me like this. If she keeps it up, I’m going to lose the circulation in my dick. Never mind losing my bet with the guys.
“What is she doing here?” I ask.
My boss, Calloway, follows my gaze and grins. “Mav’s sister volunteered to be your elf this year.”
“Fuck,” I mutter to myself and turn to the kitchen. I’m going to need a moment to collect myself. And maybe another minute to stand in front of our industrial-sized freezer to kill the boner that’s already threatening to form.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I mumble to myself.
“What was that?” Maverick asks, appearing out of nowhere.
“Nothing.”
I shake my head. So much for standing in the freezer. If I do that now, he’ll ask questions. Instead, I detour to the counter and grab another bag of cups. We probably already have enough in the hanger, but I need a moment. Otherwise, I’ll risk scaring one of the children running around outside with the boner I’m now packing.
One week. I’m not even going to make it one whole week into this bet if Jade keeps tempting me like this. Part of me wonders if Maverick put her up to this.
The other part knows better. The part that once saw him put the fear of God into the kid who showed up to take her to the prom when she was in high school.
He’d never risk the possibility of me successfully seducing his sister. He’d rather do my paperwork for a full year than put her in my bed.
That’s why I can’t give in to this urge to make her mine. I’d be ruining a friendship that is practically like family.
There’s only one thing I can do. I have to think pure, clean thoughts. I have to do the job I was brought in to do without giving myself—or my lust—away.
Grabbing the red velvet hat with white trim, I shove it on my head and head back out into the fray. I drew the short straw and have to play Santa this year. So that’s what I’m going to fucking do.
An hour—and dozens of children with varying levels of enthusiasm for Santa—later, I’m not sure how much longer I can last.
I used to think I’m a decent person. Not a saint, or anything. But I treat the women I casually date well. I brake for squirrels. I’m a God-damned firefighter, for fuck’s sake.
But somewhere along the way, I must have done something shitty.
That can be the only reason why I’m being tortured like this.
As if on cue, Jade bends over to speak to one of the last children standing in line. She angles her body to show off her ass and legs. An ass and legs that are all too tempting.
“Fucking hell,” I mumble under my breath.
“What was that, Santa?”
Blinking, I glance back down at the child currently seated on my lap. I turn my attention back to him and gently pull his hand away from my beard.
“Sorry, son,” I say in a deep voice. “Santa was a little distracted.”
“By your elf?”
My eyebrow shoots up. Fuck. If a six-year-old noticed the way I’ve been ogling Jade, there’s no way other people—namely her brother—haven’t caught on too.
I could lie. But I don’t think Santa is supposed to lie to kids. Instead, I nod. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. She’s really pretty.” He clears his throat. “Look, Santa, I have a question.”
“I’ll give you an answer if I can. But first, tell me your name.”
“I’m Tucker.”
“Hello, Tucker. I’m R—Santa.”
“Duh.” He rolls his eyes. “Everyone knows who you are.”
“Well, sure.” I chuckle. “Go ahead and ask your question.”
“Here it is.” He takes a deep breath. “I do all my work at school. I don’t push my little brother. I hold his hand when we cross the street.”
“It sounds like you’re being a very good boy.”
“Then, why don’t you bring me as many things as the boys at school get?” His question knocks the air out of my lungs. It hits a little too close to home for me.
Before I can recover, he keeps going.
“The other boys get video games and drones. And I mostly get things like books and crayons. Not that I don’t like those,” he rushes. “I just… I wonder why our gifts are so different.”
Swallowing past a lump in my throat, I see his mom standing to the side. She’s holding another little boy’s hand and is taking photos of us with her phone. She’s smiling, but it’s the look in her eyes that tells me the story.
She’s tired. She’s sad. She’s doing the best that she can, but it isn’t always enough.
Clearing my throat, I lean my head closer to him. “Believe me, I know you’re a good boy. I know you’re helping your mom.”
“I am.”
“Good.” I squeeze his shoulder. “Now, there’s something you should know. Video games and drones might be fun at first. But they don’t last forever. And there’s still an even greater gift.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s love. It’s something you can’t see. It’s something you feel.”
His face lights with understanding. “You mean, like the way my mom loves my brother and me.”
“It’s the best gift anyone can get.”
“So I already have the best gift.”
“That’s right.” I pat his shoulder as he hops off my lap. “Now, keep being nice to your brother and good to your mom. Everything will work out.”
As he scrambles away, I make a note to find Tucker’s mom later and offer to buy him and his brother whatever is on top of their Christmas lists this year. If she protests, I’ll tell her I know all too well how hard it is for a single mom. I’ll even tell her I’m just paying it forward.
I glance over Tucker’s shoulder, expecting to see his mom. But instead, my gaze lands on Jade. She’s watching us both with wide eyes. Her lips are slightly parted and her cheeks are flushed.
Clearing my throat, I tear my gaze away from her and finish my talk with Tucker.
After he leaves, Jade and I seem to tiptoe around each other as the last handful of children take their turns. When it’s all over, I push myself up from the chair and head back to the kitchen. This time, it’s not to kill my libido. Instead, it’s to escape the old wounds my conversation with Tucker opened.
Pressing my palms to the counter, I lean over it and take deep breaths. I close my eyes and try to erase the memories of my mom looking dead tired night after night. Working herself to the bone to make sure I had a good Christmas.
A hand rests on my shoulder and I spin. Jade takes a step back, two cups, and nearly stumbles over her elf shoes.
“Sorry.” I grab her arms to keep her standing. “You startled me. Did you need something?”
“I thought you might be thirsty.” She holds up one of the cups. “I brought eggnog.”
“I appreciate that.” But I make no move to take the cup from her. I’m too busy staring into her eyes.
“What you said to the kid…” Her gorgeous eyes start swimming. “You’re a good man, Remington.”
“No. I’m not.”
Especially, because I’m about five seconds away from wrapping my arms around Jade and kissing her until neither of us can think straight.
This is a bad idea. Terrible. It’s the complete opposite of a good idea.
Yet even as my brain is screaming to pull the ejection lever and get the hell out of here, I can’t seem to ignore the pull between us.
Our lips are about to touch when the station’s garage door opens. The children assembled let out a chorus of screams as jingle bells sound through the air.
That must be the reindeer arriving. That’s the only explanation for why the kids are losing their shit at the moment.
It’s enough for my brain’s demands to kick back in. I stop, my lips a breath away from Jade’s. I don’t know whether to be thankful or pissed that we stopped before things got out of hand.
I’m in such a mix of emotions and pent-up sexual frustration, it takes a few moments to realize there’s a cold, wetness on the front of my Santa suit.
Jade and I look down at the same time.
She gasps. “Oh. Shit. I spilled eggnog on both of us.”
“That’s no problem.” I give the front of my suit a little shake. “See, it’s already gone. Nothing sticks to this.”
Her dress is another story. The wet spot on the front of her dress seems to be growing larger. “I—I—“ She takes a step back from me. “I better go take care of this.”
“Wait.” I start after her. “Let me?—”
But she’s already gone around the corner before I can finish the sentence.