Fletcher
Maybe I have a thing for Santa.
If he’d been okay with his quiet Christmases in the last few years, no longer was. Because he was happy to have Micah in his arms every day and excited to teach Emery everything he knew about music. He hadn’t expected how busy he would be. Certainly not as busy as he used to be during their tours. He had been on Santa duty for a week already and he wished that he had all the free time to be with Micah.
Keeping their relationship a secret hadn’t lasted very long, not when he’d seen the sadness in her eyes the day she came into the store to celebrate his birthday. He’d wanted to hold and comfort her, kiss and remind her that no matter how terrible her stutter made her feel, it didn’t take away all the hard work she’d done over the years. And fuck, he loved knowing that she leaned on him during an emotionally trying time.
The first time he’d heard her stutter, hadn’t known all that he did now. He didn’t know that she spent her whole childhood tripping over words and being told that if she worked harder, it would go away. Seeing her so sad, pushing through the worry in her heart to celebrate him made love her even more.
And I should have been better prepared for these feelings .
Which was why it was bothering him that he hadn’t told her about his other job. Sure, she wasn’t a fan of the holidays, but she didn’t hate it. But he had certainly convinced himself that she would want nothing to do with someone who looked forward to Christmas every year. She’d invited him to spend the holiday with her and Emery, but Micah still only celebrated it because of her daughter. What if she had a negative reaction to his Santa role? What if that was a deal breaker? It was silly to sit in these assumptions when they hadn’t talked about the holidays much.
Every morning, he said he’d tell her and then as the day progressed, he’d forget. It wasn’t like he was keeping a life altering secret, didn’t want to lose the two important things in his life over something like this. Then again, not telling her might actually backfire on him. As usual, he let those thoughts and fears fade away as he stepped into his role.
He’d been wandering the Village for over two hours by the time he took his first break—hot cocoa and chocolate chip biscotti to keep up spirits—with his helper elves, Portia and Kyle. The kids had been working at the Village as long as he’d been Santa, but that was their first year working alongside him. In the week since they’d started their routine, had also noticed that Kyle had a crush on Portia, who returned the sentiment but was too awkward to do anything about it. He was in the middle of watching them flirt awkwardly when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Erin
Who’s the girl?
What girl?
Looking around where they were seated at the fountain—he’d taken off his Santa coat and tied up his hair so nobody would approach him during his break— frowned and then focused on his phone as another text came from Erin.
Erin
Oh, sorry. Who’s the woman?
Still confused, E.
Of course he now knew who she was talking about, but had no idea how Erin knew about Micah. His best friend was a badass lawyer and clearly a super sleuth, because within seconds of his previous text a photograph appeared on his phone.
Erin
The woman in this picture of you taken by some tabloid slime ball.
swore under his breath, but zoomed in on the picture—they looked happy. They were coming out of the Mermaid Mart after shopping for yet another cooking session together. Micah was laughing and had one arm wrapped around her, while the other hand held onto their shopping cart.
Fuck, she’s beautiful. Takes my breath away.
Her.
The one I thought got away.
Erin
Now your rejection of me makes sense.
*eyeroll emoji* I believe someone else did the rejecting.
Erin
Only because you looked distracted.
How long has she been in town?
She lives here, is from here.
Erin
What’s her name?
Nope. Don’t need you looking her up and finding all kinds of reasons why I should stay away.
Erin
Whaaaaaat? I’d never do that.
Sure, whatever you say.
My break’s almost over, so I’m gonna go.
Erin
I can’t believe you still do this. Hank would be so impressed.
That’s why I keep doing it.
After staring at the picture for a few more minutes, tossed his hot cocoa cup and napkins into the trash, then sent the picture to Micah. With a wide smile on his face, grabbed Portia and Kyle so the three of them could head back out. The minute he slipped the coat back on, he was suddenly swarmed by tons of kids. Even if he thought it was high time parents stopped perpetuating the idea that Santa was real, he was really happy when kids were excited about Santa. It did mean he made a little more money for a few weeks in December and that was nothing to sniff at.
“Hi Santa,” a soft voice said, interrupting his thoughts. “Can I get a picture?”
looked down at the tiny ball of fluff grinning up at him and chuckled. “Absolutely.” He squatted beside the kid and flashed his biggest smile as their parent took a picture. With that done, waved at the kid and stood back up, all his bones and muscles protesting.
“Yo, rockstar. Lemme get in on a selfie.” A teenager sidled up to him and threw an arm around his shoulders as they stuck a hand out with their phone. grimaced as the picture was taken and then grunted once the kid was gone.
“I can be your personal security if you want, Mr. Kelley.”
turned to Kyle with a deadpan expression. “We talked about this, Kyle. It’s either or Santa, none of that Mr. Kelley bullshit.”
“Does that mean I can be your personal security?” Kyle asked, almost like he missed the point of what was said.
Sighing heavily, he shook his head. “I’m good, Kyle. But thanks for the offer.”
“I was thinking—” Portia bounced around to walk backwards in front of “—maybe you could hold fort at the fountain for a few hours, that way everyone can come find you.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“Then I can get my friends to help out with security too,” Kyle added and realized it was pointless trying to explain this to the kid.
“What do you two do before you’re here for your shift?” Even though they’d worked together all week, they hadn’t actually had much time to talk like this. He wanted to get to know his elves, if only for the time they were together.
“I work at Stardust Diner through the week and Kyle helps out at his father’s office,” Portia supplied before coming to a stop as a bunch of kids came charging at them.
“During the school year too?” asked as he squatted again, bringing himself to the level of the kids as they crowded around him for a picture.
“Yeah,” Kyle said with a long-suffering sigh. “I mean, it’s not fun. But my dad pays me, so I guess it’s okay.”
nodded, smiling at the kids as he waved them off and to Kyle he said, “I have an opening at the music store, if that’s more your thing.”
“Seriously?”
“I know you have a crazy amount of information about music stored in that brain.” Kyle looked like he was going to pass out, so gripped his shoulder to steady him and smiled. “It’s only a job offer, Kyle. Come by the store in the new year and we’ll figure something out.”
“Thanks, Mr. Kelley. I mean, ,” Kyle fumbled and blushed, which made Portia giggle softly. smiled and carried on with his walk, listening to his elves quietly chatter behind him.
Hours later, was on his final break of the evening. He had another forty-five minutes of Santa duty before he could go home, and he was ready to collapse into bed. Hell, he’d get out of work early if it meant spending another evening with Micah. Now that Emery knew about their relationship, they didn’t need to sneak around. But still, he didn’t want to put them on the spot by showing up at their house randomly. After his birthday, Emery hadn’t brought up the relationship or said anything at all. And at first, that felt weird. But outside of a ‘please don’t hurt her’ comment, the teenager had nothing else to say and appreciated that.
Now, he and Micah could date for real. He could wander around Sirena Beach with her, see her hometown through her eyes. Enjoy the place the right way. Plus, if she wanted to, Emery could go along with them. The options were endless. would be lying if he said the thing taking up most of his brain space was the knowledge that he could possibly get Micah into his bed soon too. It wasn’t like she had flat out told him sex was off the table, he figured that while they were sorting through their relationship, sex would not be a priority. Which, to him, was totally fine.
But all the memories from the night they shared kept filling his brain and it was starting to become too much.
At the sound of buzzing, swapped the paperback—a tattered historical romance he found in the locker room—for his phone and smiled at the text.
Micah
Damn, I look good.
Where did you get this?
And why do you have this?
Before he could unlock his phone to reply, another two texts came through.
Micah
Fletch?
*sad face emoji* I miss you.
I miss you too, love bug.
As for the picture, a friend sent it. Wanting to know who you are.
Smiling, scrolled up to look at the picture again. With this thumb he stroked Micah’s face and shook his head. No way was it possible that he’d won over this woman. He’d seen that unfiltered joy on her face every single day since their trip to the tasting room. The way he felt about her was scary, but it also felt right. He couldn’t wait to tell her as much, to see her beautiful brown eyes widen in shock before they lit up with joy.
Micah
And what did you tell this friend?
That you’re none of their business, you’re mine.
Micah
Ooh, possessive. Weirdly sexy.
Is that a good thing? I can’t tell.
Micah
I don’t either. But you’re mine, I’m yours. We can be possessive together, Fletch.
*kissy face emoji*
What are you girls up to tonight?
Micah
Last minute Christmas shopping, maybe some hot cocoa.
Think you might have some time for me later?
I’ve always got time for you, love bug.
Micah
I’ll see tonight, then. *kissy face emoji*
I love you , he said to himself, shaking his head at how ridiculous he was being. Almost fifty and still giddy about texting with his girlfriend , making plans and sending emojis. The man that met Micah the first time never would have imagined he’d do this. Not because he was a badass rocker, but because romance and love and all that other stuff were so alien to him at the time. He might not have been bedding groupies every night, but he’d done his fair share of one night stands. And when you were famous, the number of people who wanted to climb into your bed were endless.
Then he saw Micah in the crowd at their show and everything fell into place.
Switching his phone to vibrate, he shoved the device into his pocket so he could go find his elves. Something told him Kyle and Portia were slowly building a relationship and he hoped that it lasted for a long time. They deserved it. Hell, right now, everyone deserved a good relationship. Like he did with Micah. The thought of seeing her that night, knowing that when he got home he’d get to be with her had him beyond excited. And for the first time since he’d become Santa, he couldn’t wait for it to be over.
went through the rest of his shift on autopilot. Despite the late hour, there were still so many kids hanging around, but meeting them blurred together. The only time he was alert and conversing was when he encountered some of Hank’s old buddies. They insisted on shooting the shit and talking about the store, to find out if had changed anything about the place. After Hank died, he hadn’t invited any of his old friends back or given the producing music thing another thought. But clearly these old men thought that’s what he should have done. Once they’d berated him—“we’re messing with you, kid“— was left alone with Portia and Kyle. His elves were also starting to fade and even though they had the same breaks, it was grueling work walking around and interacting with people for so many hours at a time.
So when Kyle suggested ending the night with a special hot cocoa—spiked with Baileys Irish Cream which was only served after 9 p.m.— didn’t protest. Kyle and Portia were standing by the photo booth waiting for their turn to get their pictures taken, while stood to the side and sipped on his drink. He was so distracted by watching his elves being awkward with each other as they flirted that he missed the tiny humans charging at him. Saving his drink in the nick of time, straightened up and smiled at the gang of kids beaming up at him.
“Mr. Santa, do you make wishes come true?” a little girl in a pink Santa outfit asked.
“That would be so cool, wouldn’t it? However, I can pass the message along to the Fairies.”
The kids gasped and giggled, which made snort. He’d had similar conversations with kids over the years, so he had a script of some kind already in place. The little girl waved for him to bend, so carefully squatted to her level and smiled as she whispered in his ear, “I wish for a unicorn, but I’ll also accept a pony.”
And then the rest of the kids started whispering their ‘wishes’, which he committed to memory with a smile on his face. Once they were all done, he straightened up and hid the wince at the crick in his back.
“I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” he told them and the kids cheered before running off. scribbled the long list of requests into his notebook and pocketed it before heading to where his elves were bent over a strip of photos.
But before he could get their attention, a familiar voice filled the air.
“Oh my god, you’re Santa Claus?”
spun in place, eyes wide as he came face-to-face with Emery and Micah. The teenager was grinning as she bounced in place, while her mother looked as shocked as he was. Blowing out a slow breath, he shook his head and changed course to walk over to them. He could feel everyone around them watching, but didn’t care.
“Why didn’t you say anything? This is like the coolest thing ever,” Emery added, tugging at his Santa coat with unrestrained glee.
“Thanks,” he told the teenager and then looked at Micah with a cautious smile. “Mick.”
“ Claus,” she said softly and he grunted, shaking his head.
“Don’t say it too loud, it’ll stick.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
pulled off his hat and tucked it into the pocket of his coat. “A few years. Hank enlisted me and I kept doing it in honor of him.”
“Right.” Micah nodded and finally allowed himself to look her over when her attention was drawn to Emery. Her dress wasn’t revealing or would even be considered sexy, but God , she looked good. With an open collar and buttons down the front, the dress hugged every curve. A matching belt wrapped around her waist and was tied in a bow, tucking in at the sides. The top three buttons were undone, flaunting all that brown skin. Her bare legs ended in her white Chucks.
“It looks good on you,” she said softly and blinked to focus on her. “Being Santa. The coat, the hat, the gray in your beard. You look happy.”
If only you knew how happy I looked when you’re around.
“Kids are weird, but fun when they’re not crying or screaming for attention.”
“Take the compliment, Fletch.”
He laughed and bowed his head slightly. “What are you two doing here?”
“This is where Em decided she wanted to do last minute shopping and drink cocoa. Why didn’t you tell me?”
made a face at the question, because even though she didn’t ask it accusingly, he felt that way. “Honestly? I don’t know. Figured that since you didn’t care for Christmas, this might be something of a deal-breaker.”
“No way you thought that,” she whispered, frowning slightly. “It’s kinda hot, actually.”
“Really?” He arched an eyebrow as Micah gripped the front of his coat and tugged him towards her.
“Maybe I have a thing for Santa and you helped unlock it.”
Holy shit . swallowed as he set his hands on her hips. She licked her lips and dragged her hands up over his chest and around his neck, smirking as her eyes met his. Her gaze moved up and a soft laugh fell from her lips. followed her attention and found that they were standing below a sprig of mistletoe. He’d noticed it sprinkled all through the Village, but he never imagined he’d be standing there with Micah.
“It’s the rule, right?”
“Absolutely,” she mumbled as their lips met in a slow kiss. Micah’s fingers tightened around the back of his neck and he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping into her mouth as he tipped her back slightly. She moaned and flicked her tongue against his, their bodies pressed together firmly as they held each other.
Someone started whistling “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and leaned back to find Emery standing a few feet away, eyes averted from them. He chuckled at the frustrated look on Micah’s face.
“I’m almost done with my shift, we’re still on for tonight?”
She nodded, brushing his hair behind his ears. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Santa .”
A shiver of pleasure ran up his spine at the rasp in her voice on that last word and he stole another kiss before forcing himself out of her arms. With a playful tap against Emery’s shoulder, joined his elves to finish their shift for the evening.
Then he could lock himself away with Micah for the rest of the night.