by Taryn Quinn
Wow. My accountant was a shark, but I didn’t realize she was in heat. “Brenda, please step back.”
She swung around with a glass of Merlot in her hand. “You’re a Grinch this Christmas, Kandy.”
The whole room went quiet. Lincoln stood still with a huge red velvet sack open in front of him. He was in full Santa Claus mode—wig, beard, even his padding on. The whole deal. His blue eyes were tired, but they were clear and bright with a touch of hesitation.
I swallowed and lifted my chin. “Who let Santa in the building?”
A murmur washed through the crowd. Employees and their significant others made up over fifty people in the room. Most sneaked off to do things in their office I didn’t want to think about, but it seemed everyone and their damn mother were here right now.
Just wonderful.
I crossed my arms. “Well?”
“I did.”
I turned to Mel’s voice. I frowned. Her Santa suit was half off and Parker Murdock was hovering closer than was warranted.
I turned to find Linc handing out gold boxes with huge red bows to each of my employees. Tagged boxes.
I glanced at Mel again. She was nibbling on her lower lip as she reached back for Parker’s hand. All right, now I was completely confused. What the hell was going on?
“Kay.”
I ignored the shiver of goosebumps over my skin. He had been labeled as asshole status. I was not going to be turned on, nor would I be charmed by him in a Santa suit. No freaking way. “I don’t want you here.”
I wouldn’t look up at him. I couldn’t. I had to be strong. A few weeks—maybe a year—then I would totally be over him.
I could do it.
I was a strong, independent woman who loved Christmas, goddammit. I wasn’t going to let this man ruin it for me. Even if he was standing here, voluntarily, in a Santa suit. That didn’t matter.
I would not be swayed.
“Kay, please look at me. Hear me out and if you still want me to leave, I’ll leave.” He took my hand in his and placed a small gold box in my hand. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“We can talk here.” I knew if I left the room with him, I’d be toast. I’d do something stupid. I’d already attacked him once in his damn Santa suit. And that was before I knew what he could do with…well, with his sack of tricks.
“All right.” He cleared his throat and looked around. “Are there any kids here?”
“What? No.” I dragged my thumb over the sparkly velvet bow of my gift.
“Good.” He dragged his Santa hat off. “I was an asshole.”
I threw a startled glance at him. “Yes, you were.”
He slowly peeled his beard off and his silky white eyebrows. “I didn’t want you to go. I wanted you to stay so badly that I pulled a dick move.” He blew out a breath. “Open the box, Kay.”
With shaking fingers, I tugged the edge of the bow free and it unraveled in a spool of sparkles and softness. I lifted the top of the box. The contents blurred as I blinked away tears. I traced the tip of my finger over the wide, sneaky smile of The Grinch inside the box. “Why are you giving me this?”
“I’m tired of hating Christmas. I learned to love it again thanks to you, and our time at the cabin.” The room went wild with conversation, but slowly died down when Linc held up a hand. “You came with me to satisfy an agreement, but you did so much more. You gave me Christmas back. You showed me what it was like to…” He huffed out a breath. “You’re really going to make me do this in front of people?”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. I couldn’t speak around the stupid waterworks tracking down my face.
He came up to me. “I’m turning in my Grinch, my Scrooge, even my man card at this point if you’ll come back to me. I was a jerk. I thought you were going to leave and I…I couldn’t do it, Kay. I couldn’t lose you, so I pushed you away.”
“What? Why would you think that?” I used the back of my hand to dash away tears.
“At the pier.” He yanked off the white gloves of his costume and tossed them on the chair with his wig. He cupped my face, and his padding bumped me back. “Shit. This was a lot better idea in my head.” He ripped off the jacket and the Velcro fastenings of his foam padded vest. Underneath was a black T-shirt, molded to his amazing chest.
He pulled me into his arms as he buried his hand in my hair, wrecking my ponytail. “At the pier, I heard you say you were leaving.”
I tried to remember my conversation with Mel that night, but everything was fuzzy from fatigue and shock. He wanted to be with me? For real?
Oh my God.
“I don’t remember. I just meant I’d be back to help with work things. New Year’s parties.” I laid my hand on his chest. “I didn’t want to go. I loved—”
“Loved?” he asked.
“I love the cabin.”
He frowned and tipped up my head to meet his gaze. “Is that all you love?”
“Linc, it’s only been—”
“It doesn’t matter.” He didn’t look at all the people staring at us. He didn’t look away from me at all. “I’m sunk. It doesn’t matter if it takes you a little more time to catch up.”
“Sunk? Catch up? I think I’m going to have a heart attack.” My chest was so tight and there was a whole lot of rushing blood in my head.
He laughed. “Done. One hundred percent in love with you, Kandy Noel Kane.”
There was no way. He couldn’t be saying what I think he was saying.
Also, how did he know my middle name? I didn’t remember telling him. Was it Santa’s magic?
Or maybe just Lincoln Murdock magic. Even better.
“I’ll bring you around to my way of thinking. But for now, I just want you with me. The rest will get worked out. Tell me I’m not too late, Kay.” His perfect blue eyes were as steady as a flame, as serious as the heart attack I was pretty sure I was having.
I shook my head. “No. Not too late. I love you too, Linc.”
“Thank fuck,” he muttered right before his lips descended on mine. The room whooped and I distantly heard a few groans of disgust. I didn’t care. I held onto him and I was never going to let him go.
He pulled away and grinned down at me. “Just don’t make me name one of our kids Kris Kringle or something.”
“Kids?” I squeaked.
“Oh, yeah. Definitely kids. You’re totally marrying me. I won’t be taking no for an answer.”
“Married?”
“Catch up, Miss Kane. We have a lifetime to plan.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, a laugh bubbling up and out of the terrible rock I’d been carrying around in my chest for days. “Sounds like a wonderful plan, Mr. Murdock.”
Epilogue
Lincoln
Two Years Later
December 23
The door clicked shut and I heard the snick of a lock. “What are you doing?” I asked as I looked up from the pile of Santa gear.
Kay dropped her ankle length red skirt to the floor and stepped out of it. She unbuttoned her red velvet coat with white cuffs as she stalked across my office. “We have fifteen minutes. You need to make them count.”
I turned around to lean against my desk. She was a sight to behold. Then again, I was partial to my wife pretty much all the time. “Mrs. Claus, are you demanding services?” I crossed my hands over my belt to hide the fact that I was already more than willing to help the cause.
“It’s your fault I’m in this state.” She shrugged her jacket off and tossed it on one of the leather chairs in front of my desk.
I sucked in a groan. She’d had to buy new lingerie and her lacy green bra pushed up her growing breasts. They swayed tantalizingly, distracting me from standing strong. We had to be down at the party in twenty minutes, but Christ, she was a sight to behold. Her belly was rounding slightly with my baby and her amazon legs were toned and mouthwatering.
I’d had them around my neck just this morning.
But tha
t didn’t seem to matter. Kay was in her second trimester and I’d become her cock on command. Not that I was complaining—much. We just had a roomful of people downstairs, including our families. Nosy ones, who would break into my damn office without a thought.
“Kay,” I said warningly.
“I locked the door. Strip.” She yanked me down to her mouth.
I tried to be strong. Not that hard, but I gave myself points in my head. My fingers snaked into her hair and I took control of the kiss like she needed me to. Our mouths clashed and her groan poured over my senses.
When she was like this, she was so wound up, she would either end up tearing my back up with her talons—fucking prenatal vitamins made her nails into iron—or sobbing. There wasn’t much in between. One made me feel like a god, the other as useless as fuck.
I’d take the talons today, please.
She jerked the big buckle of my Santa suit and my pants loosened enough for her to get a hold of my cock. She purred into my kiss. “God, I love your cock.”
I swallowed. Dirty talk had also been a side effect of her pregnancy. If she wasn’t careful, I’d keep her pregnant every damn year.
She tipped her head up and drew her nail along the hem of my T-shirt, dragging it up as she watched my face. “I need you inside me, Linc.”
“Fuck,” I muttered and cupped her breast until her nipple overflowed the cup. I drew strongly on the tip until her head dropped. Choosing between her tight nipple and her elegant neck was impossible.
I brought my hand up to her neck and grasped it lightly.
She moaned out my name, her other hand ruthlessly gripping my cock.
Evidently, fifteen minutes was going to be more than enough. I spun her around against the desk, bracing my arm against her belly so they were both protected. She splayed her hands on my desk and my cock hardened even further.
This desk got more play since we’d been married, for damn sure.
I dipped my other hand between her thighs. “You’re fucking soaked.”
“All I could think about was you up here in that damn suit. My hormones have made me a filthy Santa luster.”
I laughed into her ear. “You’ve been a filthy Santa luster since the first day you walked into my office.”
She rubbed her ass against my straining dick. “There’s probably something wrong with me. I don’t really care.” She lifted a hand to my dark beard. “I kinda wish you’d had the white beard on already.”
“Now that’s wrong.” I tucked two fingers into her pussy with a groan. Soaked didn’t even cover it. She’d been halfway across the finish line before she’d even walked through my damn door.
“Yeah, I know. God, no one touches me like you do.”
“Damn fucking right they don’t.”
She turned her face and rubbed her cheek against my jaw. “My possessive husband.”
I tugged down her panties and dragged the head of my cock through all that perfect silky wetness. I slowly inched inside of her, then brought my hand up to cage her throat. I dragged her head back until I could drag my teeth along her earlobe. “I’ll show you possessive.”
“God, yes.”
I felt her swallow under my fingertips. The love and trust she showed me still felt huge each time. I’d learned to give her everything—even this harsher side of me. And the last month she’d craved even more. Pushed me for more.
I drove in the last few inches and held her there as our bodies acclimated. Her softness to my hard, her heat to my need—the sweet perfection of this first moment before we lost ourselves to the passion that never ebbed.
“Linc.” Her voice quivered and her nails dug into my thigh. “Please, I need…”
“I know, babe.” We lined up as if we’d been made for each other. I drew out of her slowly and my chest and gut clenched at the soft mewl she made. I snapped my hips forward and she cried out my name.
Her whole body shuddered and I gritted my teeth against going with her. I could have. Some nights, it was all I could do to keep up with her needs. But here and now, I was with her all the way.
I turned my arm around and found her slick clit. My cock powered into her and she grabbed my wrist.
I held onto her neck with my other hand. Just a little more pressure. “I love when you cum around my cock.” I hissed. “So fucking tight around me.”
She whimpered.
“Let go, Kay.” I always had to let her know it was okay. This time, she tangled her fingers with mine between her legs and I almost lost it. The smooth pads of her fingers rubbed just right along my shaft and I burned faster than I’d meant to.
Her walls pulsed around me, drawing me deeper inside her. My hand slid from her throat to her breast, tugging at the sensitive tip to guarantee she went over.
Sweet Jesus, I was going to come already.
“Don’t make me wait, Linc. Please.”
I lifted one of her knees onto my desk and the angle was all that she needed. She slapped the desk, and the little Christmas tree on my desk shuddered. “Harder. I’m not going to break, goddammit.”
My spine heated and I grabbed her hips to fuck her the way she needed. The way I needed. The little bells on the tree rang out with our frenzied pace. She pushed back against me with every stroke until her thigh trembled and I heard the anguished cry I’d been looking for. I coasted up her waist and cupped the little bump of her belly holding our child safe and emptied myself into her.
When my brain unscrambled and my lungs recovered, I dropped onto the leather chair behind me. I dragged my wife onto my lap and looped my arms around her. My Santa suit trousers were around my damn ankles and my shirt was bunched up. On the upside, my wife’s naked back was plastered against my belly, and her superior ass filled my lap.
She melted against me and brought my hands up to cover our son before lacing our fingers together with a sweet sigh.
We’d just found out the week before and she’d already started attacking the nursery with blue and gray paint. I got to do the parts that required a ladder, otherwise she relegated me to building the furniture. I was more than okay with that.
I tried to buy my way into a nursery set—signed, sealed, and delivered by people who knew how to build the damn things without a twenty-page diagram. That had been a mistake. A huge one. My ears had only recently recovered from that tirade.
Good thing I loved her because she was a terror when she didn’t get her way.
“I needed that.”
I tucked my chin into the warm, cinnamon-scented crook of her neck. “That’s what you said this morning too.”
“No, I wanted your mouth this morning.”
I snickered. “That’s true.” She’d left me hard as a damn pike before running out the door for a meeting about today’s party.
She wiggled herself off my lap and stood. She flipped her blond curls over her shoulder then shimmied her glorious tits back into her bra. “I never knew riding a beard could be so stimulating. It’s your fault for showing me.” She leaned over me, bracing her hands behind me on the chair.
“Pleasure to be of service.” I tipped up my face for a kiss.
She grinned against my mouth and wrinkled her nose. She swiped her thumb across my upper lip. “You’re covered in lipstick.”
“I got attacked by my beautiful wife.”
She rolled her eyes and slapped my shoulders. “Get up. You’re on my jacket.”
I leaned forward. “I suppose I can’t go down looking like this.” I swiped my hand over my beard. “Young Santa?”
Kay snapped out her crushed velvet jacket with a sigh. “You crushed my suit.”
I nodded at the matching skirt on the floor just inside the door. “You started this.”
“Arguing with Arturo from Mama Vincente’s stirred me all up. I needed to let off some steam.”
I pulled up my pants. Where the hell had my belt gone? I spotted it under my desk. “What happened?” I asked as I crouched to reach it.
Sh
e waved her hand. “Nothing important. My mother called and added to the food order but forgot to tell me.” She blew her bangs out of her face. “Things like sterno and trays don’t mean anything to her. Let alone the fact that what she wanted wouldn’t fit on the table—never mind. I fixed it.”
“Of course you did.” I kissed her temple and crossed to the bathroom to put on my beard. I paused with the facial glue in my hands as she crouched to wiggle into her skirt.
“Stop looking at my ass,” she called out.
“You have a damn fine ass.”
She grinned over her shoulder and tugged her jacket into place. Her belt was cinched under her bump. She was goddamn adorable. She sashayed her way over to me and leaned against the doorjamb. “Forgot to say hi.”
I applied my beard. “Hi.”
“It never gets old watching you turn into Santa.”
“Good thing, since you stripped me out of it ten minutes ago.”
“Am I hearing a complaint?”
I pressed my lips together against a smile. “Nope.” I skipped the makeup today. I was still ruddy from banging the hell out of my wife. Once my wig and hat were in place, I added a new piece to the suit this year—a pair of little round glasses.
“Okay, now you’re just adorable.”
“Did I lose my sexy Santa status?” I tugged the padded vest off its hanger.
“When you put that belly on, it makes all my girl parts flutter.”
I slapped the Velcro down over my chest and belted the red velvet coat over it. “You should be positively vibrating.”
She stepped forward, her ruby red heels clicking on the marble. “I still am.” She slid her arms around my waist, our bellies bumping. “I love you something crazy, Mr. Murdock-Claus.”
“I love you too, Mrs. Murdock-Claus.”
She pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. “Now let’s get this party over with so we can go to our cabin.”
“I like the way you think.” I brushed my thumb over the Grinch figurine I kept in the pocket of my suit. Just a little reminder of what I’d been, and who I’d become thanks to this woman. I trusted that I’d never go back to that dark place again.