But it had all gotten better really fast. She’d ended up next to Matt at the starting line for the run. He’d looked over her Santa costume, which had basically been a red velvet bikini top, shorts with candy cane striped trim and a Santa hat, and said, “Well, Merry Fucking Christmas” in a very appreciative voice. A very low, sexy, appreciative voice.
Of course, the fact that he was completely hot and dressed in red velvet shorts with candy cane striped trim, a Santa hat…and nothing else…hadn’t hurt.
She’d laughed and said, “First one to the finish line buys the other eggnog.”
“You’re an eggnog girl, huh?” he’d asked.
Thanks to the shots of peppermint schnapps she’d done prior to putting on the skimpy costume, she’d winked at him and said, “You have no idea what I’d do for a good glass of eggnog.”
“Well, I would very much like to find out,” he’d said.
“I’ll see you at the end.”
“Yeah, you will.”
And they took off running. But neither of them beat the other. They stuck side by side until they got to the finish line three blocks away. Then they ducked into the first bar and asked for eggnog. The bar wasn’t serving eggnog, however. Neither were the next three bars they tried.
They’d reconnected with their friends, including Matt’s soldier brothers, who assured Lindsey that he was a great guy who was exactly who and what he said he was. Her friends had snapped a picture of Matt and his driver’s license so that they could turn it over to the police if Lindsey didn’t show up back at home in one piece. And Matt had not only let them take the photos to ensure Lindsey’s safety, he’d even dialed his mom’s phone number and let Lindsey talk to her. And then he’d talked to Lindsey’s mom. Who had instantly loved him.
It had been a you-definitely-get-it moment that made her feel safe and respected. With a guy she’d felt an instant attraction to. And they had a similar sense of humor and, maybe just as importantly, their mothers did too.
They’d planned to go on to another bar from there, but before they’d stepped inside, Lindsey had pulled him to a stop and suggested they head to a grocery store instead. A street car ride up St. Charles Street, a carton of eggnog and a bottle of rum, a blanket, and a park bench in Audubon Park had turned into their first date.
They drank down a third of the eggnog and then poured the rum straight into the carton. They’d talked. Drank. And kissed. And when he said, “Being with you is so easy,” she’d said against his lips, “It might be the eggnog.” But he’d just smiled and said, “I don’t think so.”
In that moment, she’d wanted to kiss him for the rest of her life. She’d wanted to drink eggnog with him every year for the rest of her life. She’d wanted to sit on this bench in this park in every season of the year with him. For the rest of her life. And she’d thought she was completely crazy.
Until he laughed. There was something about his laugh. And the way he looked at her. And hell, the way he drank eggnog with her with a Santa hat on his head as if it was the best time he’d ever had. She’d realized right then that she was going to do something she’d never even considered for a second before that night. She was going to take a guy she’d just met home for a one-night stand.
That one-night stand had turned into the last, and best, relationship of her life.
“A powdered sugar shaker?” Addison asked, pulling Lindsey out of her reminiscing. “Gee, Santa, how did you know that I needed one of these?” Her eyes were on her husband.
Santa chuckled. “I have my ways, Mrs. Trahan.”
Addison kissed him on the cheek and got up off his lap.
Lindsey took a breath. She really needed to be distracted right now. Or she needed more punch. But instead of heading to the drink table, she stepped forward to be next on Santa’s lap.
“Oh, hang on,” Logan said, making her pull up short. “Ashley’s next.”
Lindsey glanced at her friend. “Oh, there’s a certain order?”
“Well, Santa’s got the gifts sorted,” Logan told her with a wink. “We wouldn’t want to get those mixed up. I mean, what would Ashley do with handcuffs or a powdered sugar shaker?”
Ashley laughed and stepped past Lindsey. “Yeah, gee, I have no idea.”
Lindsey watched as the younger woman settled onto Santa’s lap and looped her arm around his neck.
“Whatcha got for me, Mr. Claus?” Ashley asked.
“You don’t have a wish list, Miss Ashley?” Santa asked.
“Oh, well, how much time do you have?”
“Why don’t you tell me your number one?”
Ashley, being Ashley—a little playful and a lot I-don’t-really-give-a-fuck—took a hold of the lapel of Santa’s jacket, leaned in, and whispered in his ear. Santa coughed slightly and laughed and it was clear that Ashley had shocked him.
Santa’s surprised laugh sounded different than the one he’d been, apparently, putting on as part of his act and there was something about it that seemed familiar. Lindsey couldn’t tell which of Logan’s friends this was though. Everyone from the support group was present and accounted for, but there were several guys who would think it was fun to dress up as Santa and hand out naughty-ish Christmas gifts to their group. She knew almost immediately that this was one of three guys. This had to be either James, a firefighter with Caleb, Josh, the guy who filled in as bartender for Gabe and Logan at their tavern, or Owen, Josh’s cousin and business partner in the Boys of the Bayou swamp boat tour company. Any of the three would totally get into playing hot Santa.
“Oh, I forgot. Also—” Ashley leaned in to tell Santa more.
Lindsey couldn’t help but grin. She really liked Ashley’s this-is-who-I-am-love-it-or-shove-it attitude. She’d never been that girl. Though she’d certainly been more carefree at Ashley’s age than she was now. She didn’t think the other woman was even twenty yet. But Ashley had something Lindsey hadn’t at age twenty. A little boy. Which made her blithe attitude all the more admirable. But Brayden was a character too. He was just a little over two and he loved to make people laugh. He was always smiling, loved to be the center of attention, and had future class clown written all over him. Lindsey knew people looked at the bright pink tips in Ashley’s short, dark hair, her nose ring, and her tattoos—along with her attitude—and thought that there was no way she was a good mom. She knew because she would admit, to herself only, that she’d wondered about the girl who had started with the group at age seventeen. But Ashley was confident and, more than anything, she loved Brayden with her whole heart. Everything she did was with him and his security in mind. It was why she and Brayden’s dad were on-again, off-again. He wanted to marry her. Ashley wanted him to finish college and get a good job first.
“Well, I hope these will go…with all of that,” Santa said, after Ashley finally finished telling him about her Christmas list.
He handed her a little package that she ripped open while still sitting on his lap. She pulled out two sheets of paper, looked at them, and laughed. She held them up. “Temporary body tattoos.” She turned them to read them off. “Suck this. Lick here. This way—with an arrow pointing to...I guess wherever you want it to point.” Ashley laughed. “These are great. Thanks, Santa.”
Lindsey caught Lexi grinning and figured Lexi had given Logan the suggestion for her friend.
Ashley gripped Santa’s chin and held him still while she kissed him. It was more than a peck for sure and Lindsey wondered what was going through Santa’s head as Ashley finally relinquished her spot on his lap.
All of the guys from Autre were single, so if it was one of them, they’d probably be all for stuffing Ashley’s stocking. So to speak.
Lindsey almost laughed out loud at her thoughts. But that’s what these people did to her. They helped her relax and just enjoy the silly, funny moments.
And the more she thought about it, the more sure she was that Santa was Josh or Owen, two of the four guys that ran the swamp boat tour and fishing compa
ny out of Autre. They loved to flirt with all the female tourists who came to take tours, but none of them were married. Lindsey had first heard about the company—and the guys—when Gabe and Addison’s kids had gotten into alligators and had taken an airboat ride on the bayou. But she’d learned more about them since Dana and Logan had gotten together. Logan hunted and fished with the Landry boys regularly and Dana had been to a few crawfish boils and barbecues down there. It didn’t take too many stories to peg them for fun-and-family-loving guys. Dana really enjoyed them all and Lindsey had promised to go along to one of their parties sometime.
Those were the kinds of things she needed to make more time for. She needed to have fun and make memories and build her friendships. She needed to laugh and dance and play games and be silly sometimes. Matt was home for a few months at a time and then gone again for months. And it was his passion. He was an amazing soldier. He believed to his core in what the Army stood for and did. He’d never be happy doing anything else. She knew that. So, she needed to stop living her life as if she was just waiting around for him to come home again. When the boys had been littler, it had been easier to justify staying home and making their lives as routine as possible. But now they were older. Eight and seven. They were going to sleepovers and establishing relationships outside of the family and enjoyed having babysitters over once in a while. It would be fine for Lindsey to go out more.
“Oh my God!” Bea exclaimed as she opened her gift from Santa. “This is best!”
She held it up. It looked like a stuffed gingerbread man tree ornament. But he had a huge candy cane penis that stuck out straight. Then she squeezed him.
“I’ve got your North Pole right here,” he said.
Everyone chuckled.
Bea squeezed him again.
“How many licks does it take to get to the center of the gingerbread man?”
Bea was giggling now and seeing the tough-as-nails grandma who was known for telling them exactly what she thought, for better or worse, giggling uncontrollably made everyone else laugh harder.
“Okay, Roxanne, you’re up,” Logan announced, his face bright. He was clearly thrilled with how much fun everyone was having.
Roxanne, another of the older women in the group, sat on Santa’s knee, but didn’t snuggle into him the way Lexi and Ashley had. In fact, she barely perched there, facing forward with her hands braced on her thighs.
Lindsey watched, amused by seeing the slightly bitter and crotchety Roxanne on Santa’s lap, realizing that she was going to be the last to sit there, unless one of the guys decided to actually take a turn.
“Anything on your list, Roxanne?” Santa asked.
“World peace.”
Santa grinned at the woman’s dry answer. “That definitely puts you at the top of the Nice List.”
“Oh, good,” Roxanne replied. She shifted, clearly uncomfortable on Santa’s thigh. “How about just peace within my household for the duration of the Christmas break from school?”
Santa chuckled again. “Seems like a reasonable request. I’ll see what I can do.”
“What? You don’t have that in your bag?” Roxanne asked, with an eye roll that was as much a part of Roxanne as her big, red-framed glasses and her vaping habit.
“No, but I have something that someone told me you could really use.” Santa handed her a wrapped gift that was clearly a book.
“Please let this be a book about how to outwit your teenage children,” Roxanne said.
Santa grinned. “That was not what your friends said you most needed.”
“My friends are stupid, then.”
He laughed, but Roxanne tore the paper from the front of the book. She looked at it and then she shocked everyone by grinning. “Okay, well this isn’t bad.”
“Hold it up!” Bea, who was, no doubt, the friend who had recommended the book, said.
Roxanne turned the book so they could all read the title.
50 Ways to Eat Cock.
Lindsey snorted. It was a cookbook. A chicken cookbook. But it was hilarious. Roxanne called her ex-husband a cocksucker on a regular basis.
Chuckling, Roxanne stood, turned to Santa and blew him a kiss. Logan managed to catch a photo of it too, which was amazing.
And then there was no one left but Lindsey.
She stepped up, waiting for her turn.
“I did not tell you to get Lexi handcuffs,” Lindsey heard Caleb say to Logan.
She glanced back to see Logan grin at the other man. “You’re not the only one I asked for ideas, bro. You’re not the only one who knows her.” Logan glanced at Lexi. “Maybe you don’t even know her best.”
Caleb actually growled at that and Lindsey felt her eyes widen as she faced forward again, fighting a giggle.
Santa caught her eye and patted his lap. She lifted a brow. Well, that was a little…sassy of him. And she felt herself smiling because of that. She had to admit that this was fun. It had been Logan’s idea but Santa was playing right along, the perfect kind of flirtatious, hot, mysterious guy to be giving out naughty gingerbread men and body glitter.
She approached him and took a deep breath as she slid into his lap.
Matt would think this was fun. He’d be encouraging me to sit here and play along and open a funny gift.
She knew those things were true. So she didn’t feel bad about the wow that went through her head as she sat down on Santa’s very muscular thigh. His big hand settled on her hip and he slid her back further onto his lap. And she let him. Because this was all just for fun.
And she was a red-blooded, heterosexual woman who really appreciated the male body—especially hard ones—and who hadn’t been up against any in quite some time.
“So, Lindsey, what can Santa bring you?”
She opened her mouth to reply and suddenly gasped. Because Santa’s hand closest to the crowd was still resting somewhat innocently on her left hip, but his other hand was running up and down her other thigh. His fingers grazed the edge of her skirt. And then just under the edge of her skirt.
“I, um…”
“Maybe some eggnog-flavored body lotion?”
Lindsey froze. The second Christmas she and Matt had been together, he’d given her a tube of eggnog-flavored edible body lotion. Not only had it been hilarious, but it had been a lot of fun later that night.
She swiveled her head to look at Santa. “You talked to Matt?” she asked. No one knew about that body lotion.
“I’ve got my ways,” he said. “I know a lot about you.”
Suddenly she felt choked up. Logan and Dana had gotten in touch with Matt for gag Christmas gift ideas. That was so nice. Dana knew her well enough to come up with something appropriate, but they’d wanted it to really be amazing. And they’d wanted to include Matt in the fun. That was amazing.
She sniffed. “What else do you know?”
“I know that on Christmas Eve you and your two boys will watch It’s a Wonderful Life.”
She smiled at that. “Doesn’t everyone watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve?”
“Matt never did until he met you.”
Longing, nostalgia, and a strange mix of sadness and wow-these-guys-really-worked-to-make-this-special hit her. She nodded. “That’s true.”
“He’d also never had marshmallow popcorn.”
“It’s the only thing to eat during It’s a Wonderful Life.”
She realized that his hand was still stroking up and down her thigh from her knee to just under the edge of her skirt. But it didn’t make her uncomfortable. Maybe it should. Okay, it definitely should. But it felt strangely soothing. She took a deep breath. She needed to get off of this lap.
Soon. In a minute. Eventually.
She had the strangest desire to lean in to him. To shift so that maybe he could reach just a little higher on her thigh. Maybe put her head on his shoulder. And take a deep breath. She had a feeling that he smelled really good.
And all of that did make her feel bad.
“Yeah, about that…”
She turned to look at him. “What?”
“Well, your gift wouldn’t fit in the bag.”
“Oh?” Okay, that got her attention. She didn’t need big gifts. Or any gifts. But if someone was going to give her one, a big one was just fine with her. “Where is it?”
“The other room. Want me to show you?”
A thought occurred to her. “Did Matt have something to do with it?”
“Yep.”
In ten years, she and Matt had had three Christmases together. Matt knew that she was okay. Basically okay, anyway. When he was there, it was a huge celebration. When he wasn’t…it was like every other day. But Christmas…well, that was their holiday. When they’d met, when they’d fallen in love. He’d proposed to her the second Christmas they were together. So he always made a big deal of it, even when he wasn’t there in person.
She popped up from Santa’s lap. “I’m ready.”
He stood too. “Okay, then there’s just one thing we have to do first.”
“What’s that?”
He pointed at Logan who was holding up his phone for a photo. Then he pointed to the mistletoe overhead.
Was she willing to kiss the guy who, while he might have gotten a little handsy, was about to give her a great big Christmas present from her husband? Damn right she was.
“Nobody can fight mistletoe, right?” she asked.
“Absolutely.” Santa stepped closer and ran a hand down the front of his shirt.
Lindsey felt something niggle in her mind. Or maybe her heart. That gesture, dragging an open palm down the front of his shirt, was something Matt did. Before he was going to say something important. Before he accepted a medal. When his dad told him he was proud of him. It was a combination of preparation and pride.
Then she saw it. As that feeling of déjà vu was still rippling through her, she saw the long scar running down Santa’s index finger.
Eggnog Makes Her Easy: A Boys of the Big Easy Holiday novella Page 2