by Olivia Noble
Well. Jeez, Mom. Thanks.
That’s not a lot of pressure, at all.
I climb off Sven and begin pacing back and forth in my bedroom, hand in my hair.
“Uhhh,” I say. “Umm. Well, he’s really busy with hockey, Mom.”
“Oh, I understand, honey. I feel so guilty to even ask. But it would mean a lot to your Mom and Dad. This old couple could use a little pick-me-up this season. Some holiday cheer. It would warm our hearts so much if you could even get him to stop by for one day to meet us.”
Suddenly, I turn to gaze at Sven with scrutiny. I observe his features thoughtfully, noting his resemblance to his twin brother. The strong chin, those Nordic blue eyes. A smile slowly creeps over my features.
Sven is shaking his head as the idea dawns on me. “No,” he mouths, waving his hands.
“You know what, Mom? Sure. I’ll bring Sebastian home with me.”
“Oh, thank you, baby! I’m going to tell your dad right away. You have no idea how happy this will make him. To see his little girl all grown up and getting married. I’m sure it will instantly fix everything that is ailing him.”
We say our goodbyes and hang up, and I look sheepishly at Sven. “Sooo…”
“No. No, I’m not doing it.”
“I need a replacement,” I tell him, eating my words from earlier.
He groans. “Mary! I can’t just leave at a moment’s notice. I have clients who are depending on me.”
“Well, you said you didn’t know how you were going to wait a month for me to get home, right? Problem solved! You’re coming to Snowflake Creek.”
“As your fake fiancé?” he asks me.
“Yes!” I respond with excitement, running to Sebastian’s sock drawer. I dig my arm inside, and feel around for the small velvet ring box. Returning to Sven, I kneel before him dramatically and open the box. “Sven Andersson, will you please fly home to Minnesota with me and pretend that you gave me this ring to help cheer up my poor, elderly parents this holiday season?”
He grumbles. “Well, when you put it like that, I’d be a douche to refuse, right? But Mary, it really will be hard to cancel everything…”
“I’ll just put a note about a family emergency on your website. You’re allowed to take a vacation once in a while. I bet most of your clients will be on vacation soon, anyway.” Shuffling closer on my knees, I press my body against his legs and hug his massive calves. “Pleeeaasse, Sven, I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” he asks, with interest.
“Anything,” I say, giving him puppy dog eyes as I slide my hands over his lap, inching up to his groin. “I’ll be your personal Christmas sex toy for all of December. Literally anything you want, I will do for you. I could wear cute little outfits, or do naughty roleplays…” Palming the length of him through his shorts, I can feel the heat of his growing erection. “This is such a huge candy cane, Santa. I bet it’s very tasty. Will you let me suck on your candy cane?”
He has a sharp intake of breath. “Oh my god, Mary, you’re going to be the death of me,” he groans, rising to his feet, and grasping my shoulders to help me stand. “I want all of those things you just said—and much more. But once I start touching you, I’m not going to be able to stop. I still have these appointments at the gym, and if we’re flying to Minnesota tonight, I need to tie up a few loose ends. Will you come along with me?” He interlaces his fingers with mine. “And put on that sexy workout gear of yours?”
“Sure,” I tell him. “As your Christmas sex toy, I am not allowed to refuse any request.”
He grins, pulling the diamond ring out of the box and sliding it onto my finger. It actually looks really good on my hand, and it gives me a little tingle in the pit of my stomach to see Sven placing it on there. It feels somehow far more comfortable than it ever could have if Sebastian had given me that ring.
“I actually picked it out,” he confesses, staring down at my hand. “I encouraged him to get this one, because I could imagine it on you so clearly.”
“It’s my favorite,” I tell him. “You chose perfectly.”
Sven’s eyes twinkle similar to the diamond. “Reduce, reuse, recycle, I guess,” he says with a chuckle.
Chapter Nine
I was surprised when Sven didn’t drive to our normal gym close to home. Instead, he took us to a fancy gym in Beverly Hills. Like, a super fancy gym. I purchased his plane ticket while he drove. I am glad he’s coming along with me, because I wasn’t ready to leave him either.
His first appointment at the gym was with his cousin, Klaus. A handsome orthopedic surgeon from Sweden who was only in town for a medical conference, and very annoyed that we were late. To my surprise, Sven wasn’t there to train him—it was the other way around. Klaus had Sven perform a series of exercises to examine his knee injury.
“I really think you could play hockey again very soon,” Klaus is saying. “It’s healing up very well.”
“How long until I can get back on the ice?” Sven asks.
Klaus shakes his head. “Not yet, man. At least another month. I know it feels like a long time, but if you tear it again, you’ll just need another surgery and lose more time.”
Sven nods sadly. “Okay. I understand.”
“Have you ever seen him play?” Klaus asks, turning to me. “He’s like lightning on the ice. Sebastian could never hold a candle to him, back home. I think that’s why he was always so jealous of our Sven, here.”
“Really?” I say with a smile.
“Sven was one of the most sought-after players in Sweden,” Klaus says proudly, patting his cousin on the back.
It’s crazy how much they resemble each other. They look more like twins than Sven does with his actual twin. Let me just say that this family has very good genes. Staring at the two of them makes me feel like I’ve been flipping through the pages of a stylish men’s magazine.
“Klaus is just exaggerating,” Sven says modestly.
“Is your name really Klaus?” I ask him. “Like Santa Claus?”
He laughs. “You are at least the fifth American woman to ask me that since I’ve been here. It’s pronounced Kl-ow-se, not Claws.”
“Like Cloyster, the Pokémon?” The most sexual, vagina-shaped Pokémon of all time.
“Not exactly,” he explains. “It’s a shortened version of the name Nikolaus.”
“Oh. Like Saint Nicholas. Jolly ol’ Saint Nick. Santa Klaus.”
“I guess so,” he answers with a sigh.
Sven laughs. “Don’t worry, he’s used to being teased about that. His American colleagues have nicknamed him Dr. Christmas. They had a mug made for him, and now it’s catching on back home. His secretary put a sign up outside his practice that says Dr. Christmas.”
“She also put up a few dozen Christmas trees, and covered the place in decorations to the point you would think I was a pediatrician and not an orthopedist,” Klaus explains. “It’s embarrassing.”
“He loves it,” Sven jokes.
“So,” Klaus says, fixing his eyes on me with scrutiny. “I hear you finally grew to see Sebastian for the scumbag he is?”
The question makes me a little uncomfortable. “I didn’t really see it coming.”
“No one believed me about Seb,” Klaus says. “I was the first one in the family to stop speaking to him, back when I was in med school and he tried to steal my wife. Just to prove he could. He didn’t even like Lilly. Luckily, she was the wisest, most intelligent woman I’ve ever known, and she wouldn’t fall for his bullshit for one second.”
“Yeah,” I say weakly. “I wasn’t that wise or intelligent.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean—” Klaus begins.
“No, it’s fine. So how long have you been with your wife?” I ask him. “Do you have any kids?”
His expression suddenly darkens, and his eyes are lowered.
Sven puts a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Lilly passed away two years ago,” he explains.
“Oh my gosh, I’
m so sorry,” I say quickly, tripping over my words.
“It’s okay,” Klaus says, with a wave of his hand. He gives us both a small smile. “I’m still trying to figure out how do this whole life thing without her. No one expects to be a widow in his 30s. Anyway, I am going to head back over to the conference hotel, catch a few seminars. You kids have fun. Hope you’ll come home and visit soon, Sven. Aunt Agnes misses you.”
The two men hug goodbye, and Klaus also gives me a hug before leaving. I watch him go sadly. “That’s awful,” I say to Sven.
“She was a great girl,” Sven says, nodding. “I was the best man at their wedding. Klaus was always close to us growing up, and I always looked up to him—seeing the way he loved Lilly. It was so special. Despite having such a short life, I don’t feel like she missed out on much, because Klaus gave her a lifetime of love condensed into one decade. Maybe more than most people even manage to get in their whole lives.”
Slipping my hand into Sven’s, I wonder if he is thinking of himself. I wonder if he feels like he’s never been loved. “I guess they didn’t waste any time,” I whisper to him.
He looks at me and nods. Then he clears his throat, and looks at his watch. “Okay, Mary—it’s time for your surprise. Are you ready?”
“Sure,” I say with a suspicious smile. “Where is it?”
“Over here,” he says, guiding me to the punching bags. He pauses to send a few texts on his phone, before pulling out his signature punching-bag photographs. He places one of Sebastian with an extremely pretty girl on the punching bag. “I thought we could get in a bit of a warm up before your surprise. This is Seb’s newest conquest, Marianna. That sounds a little like Mary, doesn’t it? Except more feminine and exotic.”
I start punching the bag as he instructs, and continues trying to get me upset and riled up.
“She also looks a little like you, don’t you think? Except younger. And thinner.”
I keep punching.
“It’s kind of like he just upgraded and traded you in for a newer model.”
I stop. “Okay, that’s just mean, Sven. I don’t want to punch a picture of both of them. I don’t know her. She could be perfectly nice and was just misled by hm, the same way I was. Maybe he didn’t tell her he had a girlfriend. In fact, if she’s younger, isn’t it worse? She could have thought she was important to him.”
“You’re right,” he says, nodding. “I figured that you might get sick of this soon, so I got a different image for you to punch, just in case.”
While he hunts for it in his gym bag, I wipe the sweat away from my forehead. “You know, I haven’t really been working out with you to impress Sebastian, or get a revenge body to bother him, or find an outlet for any anger toward him.”
“Then why are you doing it?” he asks.
“I wanted to spend time with you,” I respond.
He smiles at me. Then he slides a picture of himself onto the punching bag. “I want you to show me how pissed at me you were yesterday when I dumped you on the bed and walked away.”
I immediately smash my fist into his face. Not his actual face, but the one on the punching bag.
“How pissed would you be if I did that to you again?” he asks.
“I would kill you,” I tell him jokingly.
“Good. I want you to show me, get out all your anger.”
I actually do have more anger than I expect, because I manage to beat his face until it breaks. The picture of his face, that is. And as he keeps taunting me, I keep unleashing my anger into his broken face until it gets even more broken. It’s rather satisfying.
“She’s perfect,” says a voice from my side. “Absolutely perfect.”
I turn around to see one of the biggest up-and-coming directors in Hollywood, standing and watching my workout.
“I told you that you’d love her, Michael,” Sven is saying to him.
“I need you to come by the studio and audition for me,” the director is saying, extending his hand with a card in it. “I have seen some of your work, Mary Frost, but I never would have considered you for a role in an action movie if it wasn’t for my personal trainer, here. He assured me that you had plenty of grit and ferocity that your previous roles haven’t showcased properly.”
“She’s a firecracker,” Sven says, with a smile. “I can barely keep up with her.”
“I can tell from the way she punched a few holes in your face,” Michael says with a chuckle.
I stare at the card, unblinking, kind of in a daze. “You’ve seen my work?” I ask him, in amazement.
“Oh, yes. That pilot you did was spectacular, and such a disappointment it didn’t get picked up. That’s more due to the politics of network television than your acting skills, believe me. But hit me up whenever you get a chance, Mary Frost, and we will talk about your future.”
“I will—but I’m flying home to Minnesota for the holidays,” I explain to him. “I will be gone for a few weeks.”
“Whenever you get back then,” he says, with a wave of his hand. “This project isn’t shooting for months, I just like to get a head start on the important casting decisions. Sven, thank you again. She is a doll.”
With that, he flounces off.
I turn to Sven in amazement, still holding the card between my fingers. “You did this for me?”
“Surprise!” he says, with a smile. “That’s why I’ve been trying to get you to the gym all day. I put in a good word for you with everyone I know in Hollywood, and I’m starting to get some bites. I’ve been trying to schmooze them a little and use the gym like a golf course for making connections.”
I can feel myself getting emotional. The tears are coming, and I don’t know how to stop them. “Sven,” I whisper. “No one has ever supported my career like this before. Sebastian made fun of me and wanted me to quit. He thought being his little housewife was the most important thing I could ever do with my life.”
“Sebastian can go eat a bag of dicks,” Sven says.
I take off my gloves and look around the sophisticated gym.
“Is there somewhere I can change?” I ask him, despite the fact that I did not bring a change of clothing.
“Yeah,” he says, taking my gloves and putting them into his gym bag. He guides me over to a set of doors leading to posh individual changing rooms. “You can use these. But what are you changing into—”
I grab his shirt and pull him into the changing room with me, and close the door behind us. Then I throw my arms around his neck, and smash my lips and body against his.
Chapter Ten
“Mary,” he whispers between kisses.
I want this man so badly right now. My hands are on his pants, rubbing and stroking him until I can feel his throbbing hardness. He groans and picks me up to place me to lie down on an elegant upholstered bench in the corner of the room. I feel dizzy with need as I fumble to remove his clothing, but he grasps my wrists and looks at me.
“You know that you still have to audition, right?” Sven asks. “He didn’t promise you the role yet.”
“I don’t care,” I say.
“Mary, I don’t want our first time to be in a gym changing room.”
“But this is a really nice gym changing room,” I argue.
He smiles. “How about I just take care of you?” he whispers, grasping the waistband of my yoga pants and tugging them down over my hips and legs, along with my underwear. Before I can say anything, he is kneeling between my legs, with his mouth nestled against my wetness, and his tongue gently encircling my sensitive bud.
My hips lift as I moan and press myself into his face, seeking more. He teases me, dragging his tongue up and down my folds, and plunging his tongue into me a few times before he begins suckling on my clit. And he is really, really good at sucking on me. Wow.
“Sven,” I whisper, rocking my hips against him and tangling my fingers up in his hair. “Oh my god.”
He lifts one of my thighs to rest over his shoulders to give him b
etter access as his finger joins the action, gently parting my folds and sliding into me, pulsing deep at the same rhythm of his tongue against my clit. I can feel the tension building as my orgasm approaches, and my hips buck against his mouth.
He inserts another finger, stretching my opening and filling me up a little better as he finger-fucks me into oblivion. When the waves of orgasm hit me, I am twisting and writhing against him as I cry out his name.
“You taste so good,” he says as he removes his fingers and cleans me up with his tongue, lapping up every drop.
My body feels spent and weak, and I can’t move or speak for a few seconds. When he repositions himself to kiss me, I wrap my arms around his neck and cling to him. I don’t even realize that he’s pulling my clothes back on until it’s too late.
“What about you?” I ask with disappointment. “I want to feel you inside me.”
“Later,” he says with a chuckle, kissing my forehead. “Mary, I’ve been waiting so many years to be with you. I told you that once I start, I won’t be able to stop. It might look suspicious if we’re in this changeroom for ten hours. And we’ll also miss our flight.”
“The flight!” I say with alarm, as I remember our plans. “Oh, you’re right. You haven’t even packed yet.”
“We will have plenty of time to enjoy each other later,” he assures me. “I will have to give you tons of time to make up for all the years we missed out on.”
“And tons of cock,” I inform him.
“Yes,” he says with a chuckle. “Trust me, there won’t be any shortage of that. Besides, there can’t be much else to do in Minnesota, right? Isn’t that why you’re really bringing me along? To keep your body warm so you don’t freeze to death on your Christmas tree farm?”
I laugh softly at this. “I think you’ll enjoy Snowflake Creek more than you think.”