by Qwillia Rain
Breathing heavily, Elf fought to bring her heart under control. As arousing as his words were, she still hesitated. “I…I can’t.” Elf’s voice broke. The fantasy pulled at her senses, but some small part of her knew surrendering this battle could destroy any chance she might have of surviving this affair. She was already exposing her heart to untold damage simply by agreeing to this liaison. Allowing herself to submit completely to his attentions would leave nothing for her to fall back on. No small crumb of pride would remain for her to hold up as an example of how she protected herself from allowing him full control over her.
* * * * *
The door was locked and chained. The rumble of Dayton’s SUV had departed the parking lot, but Elf didn’t move away from the door. Just as he had last night, Dayton had stripped her out of her elf costume and under garments. He stuffed her into the toffee silk shirt and chocolate-colored skirt she’d worn for the day and followed her back to her apartment. No mention was made about the gift she’d balked at accepting and refused to use. Once again the oils were applied, this time the soothing scents of cinnamon, clove, and apple were massaged into her skin. Unlike the previous night, Dayton made no effort to coax an orgasm from her limp body. Focused only on easing the tension in her frame, he kept his touch relaxing.
Elf wasn’t sure if she was thankful or depressed at his altered attentions. A part of her worried his drawing back stemmed from her reluctance to bring into play his latest gift. Logically, she believed him when he assured her that her fear was understandable and his interests were attuned to mutual pleasure, not just meeting his needs. Her worries were such she didn’t feel comfortable voicing them to Dayton.
But she did have someone she could talk to. Crawling between the covers of her bed, Elf snagged the phone from her nightstand and dialed.
“It’s about damn time.” Jodi’s groggy voice greeted her after the fourth ring.
“Did I wake you?” She glanced at the clock and cursed. “I’m sorry, go back to sleep…”
“No way,” Jodi replied. “I’m dying here waiting to find out what you got today.”
“A…” She could feel her face flush with embarrassment even as she blurted it out, “a butt plug.”
The silence on the other end of the phone increased the heat in Elf’s cheeks. “I just…I didn’t…” She didn’t know what to say.
“So the Sexy Santa of San Diablo is into anal,” Jodi quipped, laughing at the groan Elf emitted. “What did you think of it?”
“I didn’t.”
“What do you mean you didn’t?” Jodi asked.
“I froze.” Elf flopped back against her pillows and glared into the darkness over her bed. “I stuttered and stammered and I wussed out.”
“Well, considering you’ve never even had vanilla sex, it’s understandable…” Jodi started.
“Look who’s talking,” Elf taunted, “You’ve never had sex either, but I don’t see you using a plug.”
“Actually, I have.”
Elf held the phone away and stared at it for a moment. “You’re lying.”
“Nope,” Jodi assured her. “Remember that catalog we looked at last Christmas?”
“Yeah.” She recalled it was the very same one that had helped her identify her first gift.
“Well, they had a two-for-one special about six months ago.”
“Two for one?”
“Never mind. Suffice to say, I was curious and I bought a small.”
“And?”
Jodi laughed, “I tried it.”
“And?”
The laughter grew louder, “Aren’t you getting a little personal?” Jodi teased.
“Damn it, Jodi, how am I supposed to make decisions if you won’t help me out a little?” Elf grumbled.
“What did you want to say?”
Elf didn’t have to think about it. “Yes.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“It seemed too much.”
“How?”
“I’ve already agreed to sleep with him for a week. He keeps stressing that it isn’t a relationship,” Elf tried to explain. “It just seemed like, agreeing to that was going too far.”
“How so? You’re already going to be having sex with him. The collar you’re wearing shows him that you’re willing to submit to his requests. How is anal sex going too far?”
Her friend’s reasonable tone seemed to scoff her rationalizations for denying her curiosity. “Would you let a guy do that to you?” Elf decided to turn the tables.
“If I trusted him, yes.”
Jodi’s matter-of-fact response surprised Elf. “Really?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Jodi paused. “Maybe it’s just me, Elf, but the books we’ve read make me curious. All the research I’ve done and the toys I had to keep hidden from Lorraine didn’t changed that. You can call me weird or whatever, but if I loved a guy and I trusted him not to use it against me, I’d do it and enjoy it.”
Elf didn’t know how to respond to that.
“You love him, don’t you?” Jodi asked when Elf had remained silent.
“Yes.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Yes.”
“I sense a ‘but’ in there. And I’m not talking the one with two ‘t’s,” Jodi quipped.
“I just don’t want to lose the last bit of control I have,” Elf explained.
“I understand. You have to do what’s right for you, Elf. If keeping this one thing reserved for a man you love and who loves you, is what you want, then I’m not faulting you,” Jodi assured her.
“I just…” Elf paused, “I just need to know that even with everything I’ve done, and am going to do, I kept one small part of me safe.”
“Safe?”
“It’s gonna hurt like hell when this is over,” Elf admitted. “Much as I know it shouldn’t, my pride is going to take a beating and I just need to know that I didn’t give him all there was to give.”
“Not to be a devil’s advocate,” Jodi replied. “But, have you considered maybe this is your opportunity to explore every sexual fantasy you’ve ever had. With a man you trust implicitly. By not doing this, you’re denying yourself more than you’re denying him?”
Elf thought about it. “I hadn’t looked at it that way,” she confessed.
“Keep in mind, too, that Dayton is living his fantasies, as well.”
“So?”
“Who’s to say, despite all his denials and plans, his emotions don’t get wrapped up in this, too? He may find it just as hard to let you go when the week is up, as you’ll find walking away from him will be.”
“I can only hope,” Elf whispered. “I can only hope.”
Chapter Fourteen
Christmas Eve was only twenty-four hours away. One more day and the waiting would end.
Watching him now as he cuddled a young boy on his lap, Elf again wondered if she would be capable of walking away from the affair with her pride intact. She’d relinquished her heart with no regrets.
“He was always such a caring boy,” spoke a quiet voice beside her, startling Elf from her thoughts.
“Excuse me?”
“Dayton,” the woman was older, possibly in her late sixties more likely in her early seventies. Her brown eyes glittered with affection as she watched the man seated in a battered folding chair, head bent to hear the request of the child in his lap. “He was always taking care of the younger children.”
“You knew him?”
The woman smiled at Elf. “Oh, yes. He was placed here just after his parents were killed.” Streaks of gray had overwhelmed the dark blonde strands of her hair and time had added numerous creases around the deep brown eyes, but quiet strength was still present in the direct stare and squared shoulders.
“How old was he?” Elf turned her attention back to the man under discussion.
“Oh, my, I believe he had just turned eight. He was such a quiet child. Kept to himself most of the time. Dayton Kringle was a boy sent by the
angels to watch over others. He always made sure the younger children were protected both here at the home and at school. The older boys looked up to him once he proved he wouldn’t be intimidated.
“Even after he left, Dayton made sure the others were well-protected and taken care of by the older children.”
Elf watched as another child took the place of the last and Dayton smiled and eased the nervousness of the little girl. “Did he have any relatives?”
“No, Dayton was alone in the world after his family was taken from him.”
“Where did he learn about making toys?”
“He learned to work with wood when a cabinet maker helped to remodel the kitchen of the orphanage.”
“How old was he?”
“Barely nine, perhaps ten. He loved working with the different tools Charles brought him. The toys were something he experimented with on his own.
“Dayton would carve toys for all of the children from the scraps Charles would give him. He always fixed any broken ones.” The woman nodded at an older child hovering near the doorway just beyond the chair Dayton occupied. The girl smiled and hurried away.
The line of children had dwindled and Elf knew there would be a few minutes of visiting before Dayton would signal her to join him. Much as she anticipated the short journey back to his apartment, she craved a few minutes more with this woman. An opportunity to learn just a bit more about the man she loved didn’t often present itself. “How long was he here?”
“Until he left for college.”
Elf was surprised. “Wasn’t he eligible for adoption? Or foster care?”
“Oh, Dayton rejected any attempts at placement.” The older woman read Elf’s surprise easily. “Any time a couple expressed an interest in adopting him, Dayton would refuse to meet them. He wanted nothing to do with having another family. As for foster care, Dayton was placed once in a home when he was ten.
“Not long after, he appeared back on our doorstep. His lip was bloodied, and he had several bruises on his face and back. Two other children were with him.”
“What happened?”
“Apparently the woman in the home had a vile temper, and when Dayton stepped between her and her own child, she turned her temper on him. Dayton waited until evening, and left the home with the other foster child and the foster mother’s seven-year-old daughter.”
In her mind, Elf could picture Dayton as a quiet ten-year-old, facing up to an adult, and not backing down when he deemed the situation wrong. “He must have been very brave.”
“Yes, brave, but also very much alone.”
The girl returned through the door behind Dayton as he set the last child on his feet, and handed him a small wrapped package. Smiling shyly, she approached the chair, and offered a plate of cookies, and a glass of milk to him. He took a cookie as well as the milk, and said something to the girl that had her blushing and nodding. Stepping away, the girl moved to a group of children, and passed the remaining cookies around to them.
As Elf watched, he finished the cookie and milk before rising to his feet. His gaze easily found her in the crowded room before moving to the woman beside her and lingering there for several seconds. After setting his empty glass on the table beside his chair, he moved toward her, and Elf knew her chance to learn anything else about him was at an end.
“Hello, Sister Agnes.” Dayton leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to the older woman’s cheek. “Not telling nasty stories about my past, are you?”
“Dayton, you have been missed.” Sister Agnes reached up and patted his bearded cheek. “The children enjoy your visits. You are such an angel to do this for them every year.”
“Hmmm” ‑‑ he looked down at her ‑‑ “avoiding the question.”
“Of course, boy, we women have to keep you on your toes somehow.” Turning to Elf, Sister Agnes nodded, “Perhaps someday you can come for a visit, and I’ll tell you all about his years with Lady Catherine’s. Now I must see about getting the youngest ones into bed.” Exchanging another brief hug with Dayton, Sister Agnes moved off.
Elf hoped her expression didn’t reflect the secrets she’d learned about him. His eyes studied her for several moments.
“You ready to go?” he finally asked.
She nodded, “It’s been a long day.”
Settling his hand at her waist, Dayton led her to the room where they’d left their coats. The velvet toy bag was gathered from beside the chair. Several children ran to offer final hugs good-bye, before he opened the door and followed her into the chilly winter evening.
* * * * *
As she drove to her apartment with Dayton following, Elf thought again about Sister Agnes. If the older nun ever saw some of the gifts her “sweet boy” had bestowed on her these last ten days, her heart just might skip a beat. Elf’s had, but not for the same reason.
Her smile widened when she recalled this morning’s present and its delivery. Her gold chain had been loosely clamped onto her erect nipples, still damp from his attention. Following that, he added the short links connecting the rings to her belly chain, and then came the careful placement of the beaded chain between her thighs. Dayton had focused on dressing her, his usual playful teasing and caresses absent as he eased her panties on and tucked her breasts into the matching bra. Stockings, slacks, blouse, and shoes quickly followed before Dayton placed a large flat package in her lap.
While he watched from the wingback chair beside the window, Elf slipped the silver bow from the ivory box and lifted the lid. Beneath the vellum note lay a stack of matted illustrations fifteen inches high and seventeen inches wide. Wrapped in plastic, she lifted print after print until all eleven were spread over the bedding. Every one of the images was vaguely familiar. Tracing a fingertip over the colorful depiction of a couple intimately entwined and facing one another, Elf remembered seeing something similar in a copy of the Kama Sutra. “They’re beautiful,” she murmured.
“They are,” Dayton agreed his eyes focused on her as if determined to read the most remote expression fluttering across her face. “You’ll need frames, but otherwise they’re ready to hang.”
Returning each of the prints to the box, Elf lifted the paper and read the note.
My Elf,
Only one day remains. Although my own imagination seems to be endless when providing ideas for how I want to indulge my desire for you, I thought we might find inspiration in renderings from a famous text.
I’m sure, during our days and nights together, we will get an opportunity to try each of these eleven illustrations. Perhaps even more can be explored.
I’m sure we could invent a position or two of our own, should it be necessary.
Twenty-four more hours, My Elf…
Santa
The box rested beneath the garment bag holding her elf costume on the passenger seat. When Dayton had stripped off her costume and underwear, then removed her all the chains except the one at her throat, he’d mentioned the prints.
“We’ll take them to your apartment.” His fingers deftly redressed her in her slacks and blouse before he changed out of his Santa suit. Jeans and flannel shirt were pulled on before he carried her things down to her car.
At her apartment, Elf waited near the door until Dayton disappeared down the hall toward her bedroom. Shaking her head at his determination to make sure there were no threats prowling her home, she hung her coat in the closet, tossed her garment bag over the sofa, and moved to turn the lights of her Christmas tree on. The long flat box was placed beside the gaily wrapped packages her mother had left.
Settled on the carpet, watching the twinkling lights reflect off the silver and gold ornaments, Elf wasn’t aware Dayton had returned to the living room until she heard him calling her name.
“Damn it, Elf, where did…”
“I’m right here,” she laughed. Twisting just enough to see him standing near the door, she patted the carpet beside her. “Come join me.” The hall light illuminated his features. He’d tossed h
is leather jacket over her garment bag and stood, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at her tree.
When he reached to switch the lights on, she stopped him. “No, don’t do that. I like having only the tree lights on.” Shifting to face him, she wrapped her right arm around her drawn up knees, and again tapped the floor with her left, “Sit with me.”
Again he ignored her invitation. Rounding the sofa, he dropped into the overstuffed cushions. Stretching out his legs, he crossed them at the ankle. His arms separated, one hand moved to rest in his lap while his left dropped onto the armrest, fingers absently drumming.
Propping her chin on her knees, Elf watched him deliberately ignore the Christmas tree. Moving from the shelves to the prints on her walls, Dayton never allowed his eyes to return to her tree.
She wondered what he thought of her apartment. All four and a half rooms ‑‑ bathroom, bedroom, living room, dining area, and kitchen ‑‑ would easily fit in the living and dining rooms of his penthouse. Glancing around, she noticed her Christmas stocking dangling from the edge of one of her bookshelves, held in place by a carved resin Christmas elf. The wreath on her door matched the one hanging on the wall between the kitchen and dining room. Poinsettias decorated the table cloth, with napkins in the same fabric.
She tried to recall the decorations in Dayton’s home, but she couldn’t remember seeing any. The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed. A man nicknamed the Sexiest Santa of San Diablo had nothing in his home indicating the holiday season had arrived. “You don’t have a Christmas tree,” she blurted out, her head rising off her knees.
Dayton watched her face blanch as she made her declaration. Under his breath he cursed. To her his response was cool, “No. I don’t.”