Son of Krampus (Holidays of Love)

by Ellen Mint

  “Yes, for all of us. I should probably get to that,” Nadire said, waving her hand behind herself like there was a taxi waiting for her.

  Emeric raised a hand as if he was waving goodbye to an old friend. “Safe journey. Not that you need to be told. You’ll probably do that magic snowflake…Never mind.”

  She couldn’t help it, she snickered at his adorable bumbling, then burned bright red at finding it cute. Before taking a step back to her father’s workshop, and needing a cold shower prior to getting to work, Nadire said, “See you next week?”

  “Yes. You too. I mean…damn it. Good night,” Emeric fumbled. Before he made a fool of himself further, he turned on his foot and stomped down the sidewalk towards his hotel.

  And, before running up to grab his arms and kiss him stupid, Nadire windstrode home.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  DARKNESS ENCASED NADIRE, smothering all her senses but the twin ropes slithering under her naked breasts. Soft as silk, they wound around to cinch her chest tight. She took a breath, raising her ribcage as if fearing no air would enter. The snare wasn’t painful, only unbreakable as another pair twisted across the top of her breasts.

  Heat burned against her neck, the edge of something sharp tugging back her hair and a breath whispered down her skin. Nadire gulped, trying to not squirm as the invisible force knotted the rope against her spine.

  Each pull of the rope over her body was as gentle as a kiss, leaving a trail of famished goosebumps in their wake. She ached for more, for a warm palm to knead into the flesh where only a slip of rope had graced. Moaning at the thought, Nadire tugged on her arms causing a jangle above her head.

  Cuffs laced together her wrists, both extended high and hung off a hook impaled into the ceiling. She tried shaking them, to get a sense of where she was, but a slow chuckle rolled down the side of her neck. The claws tapped sharp points against the glistening skin of her décolletage as he began to glide the end of the rope over her shoulders and down through both loops pressing to her chest.

  “You think you can leave?” the voice rumbled deep as the grave. While knotting the rope through the bottom loop below her breasts, his free hand cupped her chin and tugged her head to the side. A hot tongue licked from the hollow of her collarbone up to her jaw, Nadire’s breath sputtering as her body quivered for more.

  The body-lacing rope made one last circle over her right shoulder before being knotted into place. She could feel it now, satin pressing against her cheeks from a blindfold. That was why she couldn’t see. About to comment on such, her breath snapped away when a powerful hand raked around the rope’s knot against her spine and hauled her backwards.

  Her feet slipped, her arms straining from their tether, but Nadire didn’t fall. The arms that had her at their mercy caught her and lips plunged to hers. His tongue parted her teeth and hungrily lapped his heat to hers. It tasted of a dark forest, of a heart beating erratically in fear, of naked bodies rolling under a blanket of bear fur.

  She returned the kiss tenfold, her body trying to mold to his, to lengthen the kiss to an eternity. But he yanked her back to her feet by grabbing the knot of rope in her cleavage. Just as she caught her breath, both his hands drew upward, palms cupping her breasts. Teeth nibbled down her throat, each bite growing progressively sharper until he bit so hard into her shoulder she wanted to scream.

  Nadire whipped her head to the side as if she could see the mark, but where pain had been, a pleasure erupted in its place. Her voice whimpered, her entire body ripe for a single glance of his fingers, but he’d stepped back. Left her waiting and helpless in the dark.

  “Tell me, Nadire.” The voice rose from its animalistic depths, a German accent slotting into place as it reached a tenor timbre. Just as she recognized who it was stringing her like a maestro’s violin, a pile of leather scraps dragged across her naked ass.

  He shifted to make another pass with the leather, proving to her that it was a flogger in his hands. As it drifted off her flesh, leaving Nadire gasping in air, a hand with long claws slapped against her stomach. Emeric’s hot breath pillared down her ear. “Have you been nice or naughty?”

  His hand raised back, prepared to make the first strike with the flogger.

  “Ahhh,” Nadire cried in simultaneous pleasure and pain. Her chin rose and the darkness parted, an undesirable light seeping through the blindfold. She barely had a chance to blink it away, when a cold surface dug into her chest.

  “What?” she muttered, rising away from a table. Her wrists weren’t bound, her chest was clothed, and she sat in… A groan rattled in her lungs that was anything but pleasurable as she turned to find herself in the same damn conference room. They’d been at it for three weeks already, Nadire forced to watch autumn slip away while she was chained to translating her father’s letters and also keeping the workshop on task and time.

  Sleep became a luxury, the North Pole never keeping hours that shared much in common with the rest of the world. Which meant she must have walked in and passed out while waiting for the others to arrive.

  A snicker at the long end of the table caused her to yank her head up. She feared it coming from Emeric, and whatever foolish pleas that’d slipped her lips during the dream made it to his ears. But as she turned, she caught Trevor with a smug look digging into his case files instead of their mess.

  “Welcome back,” he said, catching her eye burning into his.

  “It’s…” Nadire tried to find any excuse to explain away her unprofessionalism of falling asleep at the lawyer’s office and having an erotic dream. Digging into her sore neck muscles, which flared at the touch as if they’d had teeth chewing on them, she sighed. “It’s been a lot of long nights and little rest lately.”

  The lawyer chuckled as if he found it funny. “Good dream?” He turned his hungry eyes on her and Nadire had to pinch herself to keep from blushing. Before she could insist that there was none, Trevor clucked his tongue and sighed. “I almost didn’t want to wake you.”

  Fuck. What did she let slip?

  Okay, so she’d been having rather erotic and increasingly naughty dreams about the man she had to spend hours shoulder to shoulder with for the last month. At least they hadn’t slept together. Hadn’t even drawn closer than the occasionally accidental hand touch while passing papers. That should have been enough to purge whatever lingering idiotic lusts remained between them.

  But just when Nadire thought she was over this hump, there’d be another dream of her wrenching his clothes off in a meeting. Or the pair of them taking turns sucking and licking each other off in a hot spring surrounded by snowcapped mountains. Or of her being ridden hard while in the sleigh. God’s nails, that made inspecting the latest sleigh refurbishments challenging.

  Emeric Hellswarth was fast becoming an itch no amount of scratching would solve. Her only hope was to get this lawsuit mess over with then enroll in a nunnery for a few decades. After the last dream, her soul probably needed a good bleaching.

  “Sorry,” Nadire shook off the last lingering slip of embarrassment, “it won’t happen again. I’ll…” Somehow find time to sleep when not running five companies across the world. And, she groaned to herself, her foot bouncing against a special bag she brought for the day. She had a company party to attend later today. Maybe she could sleep come January.

  “What do we have next on the list?” she asked instead, focusing on Trevor so she didn’t hear the door to the office crack open.

  “Morning,” Emeric’s bright, almost cheery voice sounded nothing like the dark and imposing creature that strung her up like holiday lights. Nadire turned, hoping the sight of him without a trace of the Krampus touches to his body would shake away the dream. But, as she fell into his silver-blue eyes, the feel of his palm slapping her buttock rampaged through her brain.

  She was a mess, her body burning up in both embarrassment and lust as Emeric slid into the room. Like a debonair Duke of legend, he un-cinched his scarf with one hand and placed a cardboard t
ray of tall cups upon the desk. “Given the dour outlook on the weather this morning, I thought to bring sustenance. For you.” He picked up the far right white cup and passed it to Nadire.

  Placing it to her lips without a thought, she paused before drinking. His eyes sparkled and he said, “Black coffee with a dusting of cinnamon and a generous dollop of honey.” Just how she liked it. Another blush rolled up her cheeks at the thought. She tipped the cup back to try and drown out the taste of his tongue.

  “A latte with all that gobbledygook you insist upon.” Emeric all but slid another shorter cup no doubt holding three or four shots of espresso at Trevor. The man sneered at the offering but wasn’t about to turn down free coffee. Not this early in the morning.

  As Emeric went to pull up the third cup, Nadire smiled. “Let me guess, yours is a black tea with cream and a touch of clove.”

  His smile stretched above the near eclipse of the cup, Emeric’s bright eyes gleaming as he said, “You know me well.”

  You have no idea, Nadire thought, tipping her cup back for another taste when a shadow loomed through the door. Trevor was first to notice, rising from his chair and telling whoever it was that, “This is a closed meeting.”

  “Ah.” Emeric placed his tea on the table and scampered back to wrap a very friendly arm around an ice-white blonde in a tight suit. “Forgive me, this is why I was late today. Given how long this seems to be taking I thought to bring in my assistant. This is Katarina Grier, a fellow contract attorney out of Stuttgart.” His accent flared stronger as he spoke of his home city, or close enough to be, while the newest addition to the team practically beamed.

  Even after an ungodly long flight, this woman looked prepared to walk a runway. Mind you, a fashion show for the business savvy go-getter, who only had time for a face of striking but natural makeup and a ponytail that Satan himself couldn’t undo. Her cheekbones were practically unscalable, her eyes nearly as sharp as Emeric’s hue, and her skin was that complexion so pale veins were a radioactive blue.

  An instant dislike surged through Nadire as she rose from her chair, well aware that she hadn’t taken the time to put on any makeup or done much beyond brushing her hair. Even her wardrobe was comfortable while being clean, in comparison to Ms. Grier who looked ready to close a fifty million euro deal without batting a glued-on eyelash. And Emeric was still clinging a hand to her shoulder. It wasn’t draped clear across her back, he picked the one closest, but it flared up Nadire’s urge to snarl.

  Calm down. He isn’t yours. You don’t even want him.

  Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. There were parts of her that wanted him, to a demanding degree, but her mind knew what he was. And how dangerous he could be for her future.

  Putting on a smile, Nadire eased to the woman. “I’m Nadire,” she said while extending her hand.

  “Yes.” Her accent was there but tamped down like Emeric’s. “He has mentioned you often.” Those ice-chilled eyes rolled up to her boss and she damn near melted.

  A want flittered through Nadire’s head, of wrapping her hands about Emeric’s face and pulling him to her, but she swallowed it before it could catch. That cursed dream again. Why wouldn’t it evaporate already?

  Katarina snickered and, as if she was trying to whisper while making certain everyone in the room heard her, said, “Usually in rather direct terms.”

  Right. Nadire popped her lips, forgetting the woman to cast a cold eye over Emeric who was gulping at being caught. “Nice to know my assumptions are correct.”

  “That isn’t entirely…” Emeric tried to catch her, the hand that’d been clapped to Katrina’s shoulder reaching for Nadire, but she quickly sidled away.

  She could already imagine the curses he’d produce about her or her father. No doubt swearing that she was some she-devil that seduced him into a cruel trap. Or maybe he invented a story whole cloth to get sweet Katrina to feel sorry for him. Twist Nadire into the bitch who broke his heart.

  That killed the lingering wants dead, her anger stomping out any of the erotic fire as she spun on her heel. While marching to her stack, about to confer with Trevor over the next matter, a want yanked into her mind.

  ‘I want him to invite me to dinner.’

  It wasn’t hers. She was barely hungry after the very late dinner/very early breakfast. Oh, merciful Lord. A brick dropped into her gut as she watched how Katrina beamed doe eyes at Emeric. That sonnofa…

  “Shall we?” Katrina purred as if she hadn’t just thought about her boss asking her on a date. She unhooked a fancy briefcase from the side and presented her notebooks complete with perfect handwriting. While she stared at Nadire, no doubt hoping for the go-ahead, Nadire kept her glare aimed straight at Emeric.

  He knew what he was doing. He brought her in just to…to…

  “May I?” Katarina reached for Trevor’s pile, excising whatever she wanted for her boss.

  Nadire wouldn’t break from Emeric’s patronizing eyes. Certain he was watching she mouthed, “I’m on to you.”

  For his part, Emeric was good at playing the fool. He blinked in confusion, no doubt a white lie spinning in his head, but Katarina rescued him. Snuggling up beside him in that cozy but acceptable range, she twisted the letter to their resident expert and asked him in German to help her translate.

  Fine.

  Nadire slammed into the chair, her hand yanking over the next letter without a care what language it was in. She’d take on Aramaic at this point. Whatever game Emeric was playing at, he would lose. All she felt was burning anger at him trying to upset her with a wave of jealousy.

  No, that wasn’t what she felt. It was rage and loathing so bottomless nothing could overcome it. With a hand wrapped around her forehead so she needn’t watch Emeric and his little assistant giggle at each other, Nadire got down to business.

  As the day wore on, things did not improve. She tried to calm down, hoping that a bit of food in her system that wasn’t half sugar would help. But those damn thoughts that weren’t hers kept drifting through her mind.

  Even while filling out long pages of dull translations, Katrina couldn’t cease thinking about her boss. About the sight of his ass barely contained by skin-tight boxer briefs. About what his tongue lapping over the hollow of her neck felt like. About how it’d feel to knot her knuckles in his chest hair while riding him.

  Nadire kept walking out whenever one would start, moving stiff-legged to the drinking fountain to try and splash some common sense onto herself. It was rare for her to pick up on such stray naughty thoughts from others, but it felt as if every daydream of Katarina’s was being beamed directly into her brain. She must not only have a crush on Emeric but be deep in love with him for the emotions to be that strong.

  And he pulled her clear across the globe to sit in on all of these meetings without saying a word to her or Trevor. Maybe he was into her too. It’d been four months since the sushi restaurant. Given his father, it was doubtful he could keep it in his pants for that long. Perhaps those wants weren’t fantasies but selections on the menu for the night.

  With that sobering thought, Nadire had returned to work while trying to silence the chattering hungers from the other woman in the room. She hated to admit that, even with the constant thoughts of sex, Katarina was diligent in her work. They’d gotten through nearly twice as many letters as before.

  While Emeric and Katarina took up the north side of the table, Nadire orbited closer to Trevor. If she had a question, she’d turn to him. Mostly, because she feared if Emeric looked into her eyes he’d read her battling against his trojan horse. As the hours ticked closer and closer to freedom, Nadire was knee-deep into an old letter from her father regarding the hundred years war.

  He was far more interested in such battles than Nadire remembered. Not in a keeping a body count and trading card way, but growing concerned with each letter about the impact of an unending war upon the world. It was often Mirek who’d console him about such matters, which was even more of a surpris
e.

  “What do you think this letter is?” Nadire asked, turning the parchment toward Trevor. He’d been pacing about behind her, a phone pressed to his ear, but he paused to lean down and look. An innocent hand pressed to her shoulder while his eyes drew closer.

  “I think that’s an I?” he guessed, his oily head turning to her.

  Nadire nodded. “That’s what I assumed as well.” A smile twisted about her lips, when she realized just how close Trevor drew in order to look. He was damn near a kiss away. And she didn’t know what to do as he remained hovering near.

  From her purse, a handful of chimes went off. Nadire leaped at the distraction, Trevor thrown to the side as she hefted up her bag. While fishing out her phone blaring its alarm, her eyes drifted from the table to find Katarina head-bent into her work and Emeric glaring at her.

  Whatever for? Not caring, she woke her phone and laughed. “I didn’t realize the time. If you will excuse me.” Yanking up her second bag, Nadire smiled. “I have a party to get ready for.”

  Rather than wait for permission, she strolled to the door with her bag in hand. It was Emeric who turned to follow her, his head tilting, “Are you serious? It’s not even…wow, that is later than I thought.”

  “Perhaps we should order dinner?” Katarina innocently suggested. Nadire tried to get downwind, but she wasn’t fast enough to escape the want of Emeric licking honey off of her nipples.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  EMERIC KEPT HIS eyes ahead, paying no heed to Nadire slipping out of the room and leaving him alone with the man she could barely keep her hands off of. He had to admit, she was excellent at keeping it innocent appearing. A glance here, a mistaken knock of the shoulders there. But each time it happened, Emeric’s nose burned with the stench of wanton lust radiating off of Trevor. Not that he needed his gift to know the man was clearly up to no good.

  “What do you think?” Katarina asked, spinning around her phone to show off one of a dozen local places.