“Did you steal that?” I asked through residual laughter.
“Nope. I paid for it fair and square.” He rolled his shoulders back, the picture of confidence.
I shook my head.
“Can’t believe you paid money for that,” Tin teased.
“Guys, it’s not starting up.” Max frowned. “Why isn’t it starting up?”
We all gave our full attention to the fantastical contraption. I had no idea what I was looking at, but it was glowing and humming, as if it was trying to do something.
El leaned over to fiddle with a few parts, then straightened up again. “It’s super close. Just needs one tiny bit more to get it going, I think. Anyone got anything else we can add?”
He looked around at us. Tin and Max were starting to look worried.
“Oh!” I snapped my fingers as I remembered the mistletoe. Tin had slid it into my hair with a gentle kiss just before we were chased out of Monica’s work party.
I pulled it out and twirled it between my fingers, then twisted to give El a peck on the lips. He smiled, the glint in his eye telling me he was remembering the fun we’d had in that office just as well as I was.
Stepping forward toward the sleigh, I gave Tin a kiss too.
“I told you there was more than one way to feel cheerful.” He grinned, and I couldn’t help laughing as I added the mistletoe to the globe.
Just as the green sprig disappeared in a swirl of sparkling magic, a fat white flake landed on the back of my hand.
I gasped and looked up. The sky was dark, my breath misted in the freezing air, and it had finally started to snow.
White flakes fell from the sky, and even though it was technically bits of ice floating down toward us, my heart felt warmer. I knew it would be snowing where my parents lived, where my whole family was gathered at this very moment. The kids would be in bed by now, as well as most of the adults, but I knew my dad and a few of my aunts and cousins would still be sitting around the fire, sipping on mulled wine and chatting quietly, the tree lit up in the corner. It made me feel closer to them, even though I couldn’t be there.
An arm circled my waist from behind, and a hard chest pressed against my back. I craned my neck to see El holding me, his face tipped up to the sky just like mine.
Max stepped up on my right and gently leaned into my side, and Tin appeared at my left. I took Tin’s hand, twining my fingers with his, and laid my head on Max’s shoulder.
For a brief moment, we all just looked up to the sky, watching the falling snow envelop the world around us in white and silence.
A humming noise brought our attention back down. Magic rippled from the snow globe and spread over the whole sleigh, pulsing just once, and then slowly, the sleigh started to float, perfectly level with the ground.
As the sleigh rose, my heart fell. I hadn’t known it was possible to feel so happy and so sad at the same time. I was overjoyed that we’d succeeded, that I’d been able to help three magical Christmas elves fix their sleigh, that kids would get their presents the next morning. But I was crestfallen that they were about to leave.
I’d have to go back up to my sad, lonely apartment and spend the rest of the night alone after all. Would I ever even see them again? Did elves have cell phones? Would they even want to give me their numbers?
With the rejuvenation of the sleigh, the guys sprang into action. Max pulled his tablet out, tapping at it and staring intently at the screen. El fiddled with the engine, then closed the lid as Tin folded up the tarp. Once they’d both jumped inside, El started flicking switches and turning knobs on a complicated-looking control panel.
Only Max still stood on the ground as the sleigh hovered a foot in the air—I couldn’t even give El and Tin a goodbye kiss.
I knew it was childish and probably selfish, but I didn’t want them to leave. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
The Snow
“All right! Let’s jingle bell rock and roll.” Max leaned around me to toss the tablet onto the seat. Tin had taken his coat off and was rummaging in the back, straightening things that had fallen askew when they’d crashed.
Max didn’t even look at me as he spoke—none of them did, absorbed as they were in the task of getting the sleigh moving.
I knew they were focused and committed to their jobs, but was Max really going to brush past me and jump into the sleigh as if I didn’t exist? Were none of them even going to look at me or wave goodbye? Were they really going to leave just like that?
Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and I looked down, focusing on the snow starting to coat the ground. I couldn’t watch them leave me without so much as a word.
Strong hands circled my waist, and I let out a surprised squeak as Max lifted me into the sleigh. El pulled me down next to him, and I had to lift the tablet out of the way as he pulled me to his side. Max jumped in, took off his coat, flung it at Tin’s head, and plonked down next to me, grabbing the tablet out of my hands.
“Top-secret Christmas information here. Elf eyes only.” He winked and started poking the screen again.
I just blinked at him, my mouth hanging slightly open. I’d been convinced I was about to be left behind, sad and lonely, in the shady parking area behind my shitty apartment building, but here I was, sitting in the middle of an actual fucking sleigh.
“You didn’t think we’d leave you behind, did you, Sadie?” El draped an arm over the back of the seat and flashed me an amused smile.
I cleared my throat. “No?” It came out like a question. I didn’t want to lie to them, but I also didn’t want them to know how quick I’d been to assume the worst.
Tin leaned over the back of the seat and planted a kiss on my cheek. “We’d never just leave you, baby. No way we’d let you put in so much time and effort and not let you see the results. Also, we’re gentlemen elves—we don’t hit it and quit it.”
That made me chuckle, and I relaxed into the seat. It was the softest black leather, trimmed in red, and the shiny dark green dash and controls matched the sleek exterior. The knobs, buttons, and displays lit up and sparkled like Christmas lights.
As I took it all in, I realized I was boiling in El’s coat. Frowning, I took it off, and Tin pulled it out of my hands to tuck in a corner with the others.
“How is it so warm?” I asked, looking around. The sleigh was modern and really sleek looking, but the top was completely open. Although now that I looked up, I could see the snow wasn’t reaching our heads. It just melted away about a foot above El’s red hair.
“Magic.” El shrugged. “It looks open, like a proper sleigh, but there’s a domelike shape over the top of it, keeping us warm and safe from snow, rain, and birds.”
“What about planes?” I asked.
“The navigation system picks them up. We fly lower than most commercial aircraft anyway, and humans can’t normally see us, remember? There hasn’t been a run-in with a plane since . . .” He scrunched his face up, thinking hard.
“Nineteen sixty-four,” Max supplied.
“Right. Ready?” El flashed me a smile, and a bubble of excitement made me squirm and bounce in my seat like a kid.
He pressed a few more buttons, pushed a lever, and then we were flying. We lifted off the ground so smoothly my stomach didn’t even drop. The sleigh glided over the city, El maneuvering it expertly with a lever that seemed to control altitude and a small oval-shaped steering wheel.
I looked up to watch the snow falling softly, then leaned over Max to see the lights of houses and buildings whoosh by. Then I looked to the sides, the front, the back, watching the horizon, the twinkling lights of the coastline.
“Would you stop wriggling around?” Tin chuckled. “You’re gonna throw us off course, and we’ll crash again.”
“Shit.” I planted my feet and sat on my hands, my eyes going wide.
“He’s just teasing.” Max smacked Tin on the back of the head. “It’s almost impossible to make these things crash. Now, let’s get to work.”
<
br /> “Good thing we’d finished most of the city before we crashed,” El said.
“That means the most densely populated areas are done,” Max explained, his face back in the tablet.
“What? How?” I frowned. It was barely six when they crashed. “Wouldn’t people have been awake?”
“Yes, but magic!” Max leaned in and whispered the word as if it were a secret, chuckling. “We can’t start delivering until the sun has set and it’s officially nighttime, but obviously not everyone goes to bed that early. So the presents delivered before the occupants are asleep remain invisible.”
“Yeah, it’s a similar kind of magic to what cloaks the sleigh,” El added.
“But what about the people who stay up all night? Do they just not get presents?”
“At some point, no one is watching the tree. Even if it’s just for a moment,” Tin called from the back.
I wanted to ask more questions, but we’d started flying closer to the ground.
The sleigh slowed, hovering just above the roofline of a busy street filled with tightly packed townhouses. We were on the outskirts of the city, in a much better area than the one I lived in.
Tin swung his arms at the pile of presents in the back—or rather piles and piles, some in sacks, some stacked so high I couldn’t believe they weren’t falling out of the sleigh, so many presents they seemed endless. The amount of room back there was definitely a magical situation, because the sleigh was not that size from the outside. Magic swirled from his hands—brilliant, shimmery white magic that twirled around the gifts. Some of the items disappeared, and tendrils of magic went shooting to every house on the street, disappearing inside.
It happened in a matter of seconds, and before I could blink, we were on to the next street. El steered with confidence; Max kept an eye on everything, ticking things off a long list; and Tin practically danced around in the back, flinging magic and presents all over the place.
Between Christmas magic making everything go super fast and the guys’ proficiency, we completed an entire neighborhood in under ten minutes.
“This is incredible,” I breathed.
I pulled my boots off and crossed my legs on the seat, watching them work and taking in the stunning views from the comfort of the warm sleigh. After a while, something occurred to me.
“Hey, what about that whole chimney thing?” I asked. “Obviously all the presents are being delivered by magic. I mean, you guys don’t even get out of the sleigh. Did Santa ever go down chimneys?”
They all laughed, but it was El who answered, his eyes on the horizon. “Nah. Santa always did it with magic. But we do fly pretty close to the rooftops, and he wasn’t always kept invisible to the humans. Plus, in the nineteenth century there was this notorious thief in Europe who would climb down chimneys to access wealthy people’s homes. Somewhere along the way, the stories got crossed, and I think that’s where that comes from.”
“Huh.” I tilted my head. “What about the cookies?”
“There’s no way one man could eat that much,” Tin answered as he swirled more magic, delivering a continuous stream of presents as the sleigh flew through the sky. “But we do take some from time to time—the ones that look good, homemade.”
I turned to look at him. “How can you tell from out here?”
He winked at me. “I told you I was in charge of snacks, right?”
“That doesn’t actually answer my question.” I rolled my eyes, smiling, but turned back to the front.
Tin looked so damn cute, slinging magic, his T-shirt stretching over his chest as he worked. El was the picture of cool, one hand on the steering wheel, the corded muscle in his forearm dancing with every slight movement while his other arm rested on the seat behind me. Max was the quietest, constantly prodding his tablet. In his defense, it was hard to get a word in edgewise with Tin and El.
He looked so handsome, his profile strong, his broad shoulders just begging to be gripped . . .
I bit my bottom lip and shifted on my seat. I’d gotten what I wanted, and more, with Tin and El, but Max and I still had unfinished business. Business my body was ready to get back to if the building pressure between my legs was anything to go by. But now wasn’t really the best time . . . was it?
I leaned into El’s side, and he wrapped his free arm around my waist. Trailing my fingers through his soft auburn hair, I whispered in his ear, “I have a question.”
He hummed, keeping his eyes ahead.
“What’s Max doing exactly?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. He flicked me a quick, amused look before leaning his head to the side to whisper, “Keeping an eye on progress, ticking off the list. Nothing that he can’t be distracted from for a while.”
I was trying to be subtle, but El obviously knew exactly what I had on my dirty mind. I gave him a kiss on the neck, and he squeezed my waist before I pulled away to face Max.
I tucked my legs under me, my knees pressing up against the side of Max’s thigh, and propped my head on my hand, watching him.
After a few moments, his lips pulled into a smile, and he glanced in my direction. “Yes, Sadie?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged, pitching my voice low. “I just like watching you work. You look so sexy.” I lifted my head and stroked the back of his neck with the tips of my fingers, dipping them under the collar of his T-shirt.
His smile fell, and he swallowed, that adorable blush creeping up his cheeks. It was so cute how he could be confident and crack dirty jokes when we were in the moment, rubbing up on each other, yet be so bashful too.
“Thanks.” He kept his eyes on the tablet but stopped tapping and scrolling. I had his full attention.
I scratched the back of his neck with my nails and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I want to finish what we started in the store earlier.”
Pressing my boobs against his arm, I nipped the shell of his ear before trailing kisses down his neck. His pulse thudded under my lips as he tilted his head, giving me better access.
His defined chest started to rise and fall more rapidly as his breathing shallowed. The tablet was quickly abandoned in a nook next to the seat, and then his hand was at my cheek, his gentle fingers nudging my face up so he could kiss me.
The first time we kissed in the store, we were hesitant, unsure, slow. This time, when we kissed, it was instant heat. His tongue demanded entry, and I allowed it willingly, sighing against him.
He angled his body more toward mine as we kissed, his hands on me making me feel as if I were soaring even higher than the sleigh in the sky.
I trailed my hand down his front, taking my time to feel the hard planes of his body under the soft white cotton. When I reached his pants, I fumbled to undo them, and he dropped his hand down to help me. We got in each other’s way, our fingers bumping as we smiled against each other’s mouths, but eventually we got the fly open.
I didn’t waste any time, reaching into his briefs and wrapping my hand around his length. He was so hard—silk covered steel. As I stroked him, Max moaned and licked his lips, his warm breath washing over my face. His eyes were hooded as he watched what my hand was doing in his lap, his wet, plump lips parted.
I pushed the fabric of his underwear down, exposing his engorged length, giving him a better view. After another few strokes, I scooted back a bit and leaned down to take him into my mouth.
Three groans sounded from around me. In such close quarters, it was no wonder we had an audience. The thought of Tin and El watching as I licked and sucked Max, taking him deeper into my mouth, sent a thrill of desire shooting down my spine.
I moaned around him, and he grunted, threading his fingers into my hair, messing up my ponytail.
The bench seat was roomy when the three of us were sitting on it. But with me perched sideways with my face in Max’s lap, my feet ended up pressed against El’s thigh, leaving my ass in the air.
I was hoping El might take it as an invitation and was more than pleased when he rea
ched out and stroked me over the fabric.
El didn’t mess around, dragging his hand up over the curve of my ass and grabbing the edge of my tights. I felt the tug of another hand and knew Tin was helping him. They worked together until my tights and underwear were at my knees, my skirt pushed up around my waist and my ass and pussy totally exposed.
“Fuck.” El groaned as he stroked me again, his fingers spreading the moisture.
“So beautiful,” Tin breathed, dragging a hand down my back and squeezing my ass. Then they were both touching me.
I was moaning on every breath, my mouth on Max’s cock messy and uneven now that I was lost in my own pleasure. Two hands played with me between my legs—sliding in and out, rubbing, teasing, thrusting—as I struggled to focus on giving Max a blowjob.
“Are you wet, Sadie?” Max asked, his voice strained and gravelly.
I released him from my mouth and looked up. “Yes.”
“She’s fucking soaked,” El added.
“Are you?” Max kept his gaze on me, his chest heaving. “Are you soaked for us? You like having all our hands on you?”
“Fuck.” I had to take a breath before I could answer properly—the hands between my legs were moving faster, rubbing harder. “Yes. I’m dripping wet for you. I like having you all touch me. I like having you all watch me. And when we have more room than this, I want all of you at the same time.”
Tin cursed under his breath, making incoherent sounds at my naughty words.
Max’s mouth curved up in a little grin, his eyes glinting. He liked that. A lot.
“Stop,” he ordered, and the hands between my legs immediately pulled away. I whimpered and frowned at him before I could stop myself.
“Your next orgasm is mine,” Max said, pushing his pants and underwear down his legs. He snapped his fingers, and a condom appeared in a swirl of red magic. He slid it down his length as I sat up and pulled my tights off the rest of the way.
It Started With a Sleigh Page 11