Dear Shy Guy: The Matchmaker Series
Page 7
“I love you,” I whispered before I even realized I’d said it.
Christopher pulled away from me, and the expression on his face brought the sun right in front of me.
I turned my face to the sun.
Christopher
It was Christmas time, and I hadn’t seen much of Nat that month. She put in long hours from mid-November on. While I missed her, we didn’t live far from each other, and it was only a month. Give or take.
I moved out here right at the beginning of the summer. Living here, becoming part of the family, had been the best thing I’d ever done for myself. My parents had come out to see me, and they were so happy for me that they were talking about getting an apartment here so they could spend more time with me. They loved Nat, and my father and Dmitri got along like they’d known each other all their lives.
It was perfect. Except for one thing.
I drove over to the mall, close to closing time. Nat told me that it slowed down the last half hour, and since I wanted to talk to her, I figured this would be a good time to catch her. I parked and went in to the center of the mall where the Christmas Village was, and the #10 Santa Lane. Dmitri was playing Santa, which was a good thing. Nat and Aleks had told me that he’d had a scare last year that kept him from being Santa. Nat told me her dad was depressed all during the time he wasn’t working, and that she hadn’t realized how much he loved his job until then.
Marina, Nat’s mom was the picture elf. Nat was the helper, getting the kids to sit with Santa, and then shooing them out.
Nat looked around and she lit up when she saw me. I went to stand in line. She motioned for me to come around the back way, and I shook my head. She smiled and turned her attention back to the two little boys in front of her.
I let a couple of kids go in front of me, and then it was time to close. Marina took the last picture, and when the little girl had left with her mom, she turned to me. “Christopher, I didn’t know you were coming by today. How are you?”
“Can you do me a favor?” I asked.
“Sure, honey. What?”
“Will you get a picture of me and Nat? It’s our first Christmas, and…” I smiled sheepishly.
Her face broke into a delighted smile. “Of course I will.”
At that moment, Nat came up and hugged me. “Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. What are you doing? Can you hang out with me?”
“I want to get my picture taken.”
“With Santa?” Nat looked incredulous.
“No, with his irresistible helper.” I snuggled her to me.
She laughed. “Okay, if you don’t mind serious elf going on here.”
“I’d like to have serious elf pay me a visit later,” I whispered in her ear. Her neck turned red and I could feel myself getting hard. Down, boy, I thought. Not in front of her mom.
We sat together in the Santa chair, and Nat sat right on my cock. She could tell what I was thinking, so she wiggled in my lap, just a little.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I said.
“Good. Merry Christmas to me,” she laughed.
“Hey, trying to take a picture here,” Marina said.
“Behave,” Nat said to me, and turned to smile at the camera.
“Before you take it...” I raise my voice so Marina can hear.
Dmitri, still in Santa garb, comes to stand at the door of the Santa shack. He gives me a thumbs-up.
“There’s something missing. The elf doesn’t have her gift. But I brought it,” I said, pulling the small box from my coat pocket. “If you’ll have it,” I said quietly to just Nat.
Her mouth dropped open into a small ‘O’, and she reached for the box like she was moving through water.
“What is this?” she whispered.
“Your Christmas gift. It’s a little early, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”
She opened the box and saw the ring. When I’d first seen it, it reminded me of her. Bold and gorgeous, drawing your eye right to it.
“Marry me,” I said, looking at her. “You are the love of my life. Marry me and be with me forever.”
She nodded, for once at a loss for words. I could hear the camera clicking in the background as I slipped the ring on her finger and she cupped my face in her hands.
“I love you—” Nat said.
“—just as you are,” I finish.
The End
This story would not be possible without my wonderful collaborators. We have so much fun coming up with the themes for these books, and I am grateful to be a part of this with them! Make sure you check out all of our Matchmaker books.
Valentine’s Day is for romance —
and we’ve got you covered this year!
Fifteen Amazon best-selling authors have once again joined forces to bring you the swoon-worthy heroes that you crave. Get ready to devour this matchmaking series set in a shared world!
True love and happily-ever-afters ... one quickie at a time!
Dear All Star Player by Tracy Lorraine
Dear Baby Daddy by Alexis Adaire
Dear Double Team by Olivia Hawthorne
Dear Future Husband by Angel Devlin
Dear Hungry Wolf by Vivian Ward
Dear Lonely Heart by Fiona Starr
Dear Mr Firefighter by Kelli Callahan
Dear Mr. Heart On by Frankie Love
Dear Mr. Maybe by Dori Lavelle
Dear Mr. Right Now by Kim Loraine
Dear Mr. Temporary by Rebecca Gallo
Dear Phoney Finance by Alexx Andria
Dear Sexy Swimmer by Dee Ellis
Dear Shy Guy by Laney Powell
Dear Worst Enemy by Sher Dillard
The Spar Island Girls
This story, along with the others that I’ve done with this amazing group of authors, is part of a series of my own called the Spar Island Girls. This is a group of girls that grew up in Bristol, Rhode Island. Off of the city, there’s a little set of islands that are always shifting—there’s more of them exposed at low tide. They’re more land spits in Mt. Hope Bay than islands. But people like to go out there and hang out for the day, and that’s what my Spar Island girls do.
Their parents were all friends growing up, and they would take their boats out and go hang out for the day. Even though most of the girls have moved away, they have never forgotten those friendships.
And there you have it—the Spar Island Girls. Look for them as me and my author besties keep bringing you our delicious collaborations!
Meet Casey in His Naughty Nurse. Part of The Halloween Honeys stories. (Spar Island #1)
Head to a holiday dinner with Nadia in Hot Apple Pie. Part of the Second Helpings Short Stories. (Spar Island #2)
Follow Cate in Naughty or Nice. Part of the Santa’s Coming Short Stories. (Spar Island #3)
Find the start of something new with Annalise in Snow Job. (Spar Island #4)
Look for Nat’s grand scheme in Dear Shy Guy. (Spar Island #5)
Follow Jyn as she finds what she never knew she wanted in Spar Island #6…
There are more coming! Look for them each month!
Xoxo
Laney
I'm a Midwestern lady, living life in the Rocky Mountains. I adore strong men with hearts of gold (even if that gold may be a bit imperfect) and that's what drives me to write the stories about them. The longer I do the romance gig, the more firefighter calendar pics I seems to collect. That's normal, right?
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Get in touch with me at
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thelaneypowell.com
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The Spar Island Girls
His Naughty Nurse (The Halloween Honeys)
Hot Apple Pie (Second Helpings Short Story)<
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Naughty or Nice (Santa’s Coming Short Story)
Snow Job (Resolution Pact Short Story)
Dear Shy Guy (The Matchmaker Series)
Blue Swan Cove
Big Mistake
(written with Tessa Blake)
Affair With The Billionaire
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Episode Four
Episode Five