Their First Noelle
Page 4
I’m kind of falling in love with you. Please let me stay. P.S., I’ll outlive your great-grandchildren. Ten generations removed.
No way would they want her to stay.
They’d given her the privacy of the bedroom to dress. She walked out to the living room, finding them waiting patiently side by side, though the long couch gave them room to spread out.
“I’m an elf,” she blurted.
They both sat back. Nick looked amused. Kris looked—something more.
“Say what?” Nick laughed. “Can you speak like that Arwen chick? I will worship at your feet if you can. Sexiest thing I’ve ever heard, other than your orgasms. Put the two together and I’ll never let you out of the house.”
“This isn’t a joke, Nick,” she said.
“What is it, then?” Kris asked.
“The truth.” She shrugged. “I’m a recently retired elf. For the past two centuries, I’ve worked at the North Pole.”
Kris lifted one dark brow. “For Santa, I suppose.”
“Yep.” She could see the human stubbornness kicking in. They didn’t believe her.
“Bullshit,” Nick said.
Yeah, not even a little bit. Given most humans didn’t believe in Santa, it didn’t surprise her. But it hurt.
“For two hundred years?”
She dragged a hand through her damp hair, noting the way they looked at her. Damn them both if they expected an apology for—what? Her genetics? “Elves have a very long life span. We don’t normally come to the human world, but—”
“Okay, I’ve heard enough,” Kris said.
“Falling in love shouldn’t be so easy.” She blinked back the tears. She could cry later. “Nothing that hurts like this should be easy.”
“I accepted you,” she said, voice thick. She pulled on her coat and reached into the inner pocket. Carefully, she drew out the sleigh bell. “This is very special. It’s a wish I’d hoped I’d never want to make.”
“Noelle—” Nick began.
“It’s my way home.” She set the bell on the coffee table. She couldn’t stay, no matter how much she wanted to. “But I don’t belong there any more than I do here.”
****
The door to the apartment closed quietly.
I accepted you. The words burned in Nick’s mind. She saw nothing wrong with them. She saw the world through eyes free of prejudice. Who had that kind of innocence?
“I think she was serious,” Nick said.
“I know.”
“I mean, telling the truth, serious.”
“I know,” Kris said.
“You got anything more than ‘I know’ in your vocabulary? If you know, then why the fuck did we let her walk out?”
Kris picked up the bell. “It’s still warm.”
Nick surged to his feet, pacing the living room. “She’s the best thing to come into our lives in—”
“You heard her, Nick.” His fist closed tight around the bell. “She’s over two hundred years old. How does she have a life with two men who’ll be lucky to see eighty?”
“Oh,” Nick said. He inhaled deeply, exhaled with a drawn out, “Fuck.”
The living room clock chimed midnight.
“Merry Christmas.”
“No,” Kris said. “We can’t let her go.”
“Thank God.”
They ran down the stairs, nearly barreling through the locked front door.
“Um,” Nick said, “how did she lock the deadbolt behind her?”
“Hello, we’ve agreed she’s an elf. How the hell is a locked door outside the realm of possibility?”
“Good point.”
They pounded down the street after her. Noelle turned as they skidded to a stop, feet digging up a spray of snow coated slush.
“How did you lock the door?” Nick asked, breath heaving.
“Way to stick to priorities, Nick.”
Noelle wiggled her fingers. “Magic. Or lock picks. Whichever makes you more comfortable in your denial.”
“We believe you,” Nick said. “For all the good it does. You’ll outlive us by centuries.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Kris held out her sleigh bell. “We’re not just friends anymore, Noelle. We’re more and you know it.”
She shivered. “Your world is very lonely, even for your own kind, but—”
“It isn’t lonely anymore,” Kris said.
“Not with you here,” Nick added.
“But your lives—”
“Will be long and merry with you around, beautiful.”
“Stay,” Nick said bluntly. “For as long as we get.”
“You can’t ask me this.” Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. “It’s too much.”
“What does this do?” Kris demanded, holding up the bell. “A wish, right? What happens if I ring it?”
“Don’t,” she said.
Kris shook his wrist and the bell rang out, its tone long and pure. When it finally ended, a man they recognized stood on the street.
“Humph, I’ve been hoping you’d ring,” the newcomer said, then reared back. “Where did you get my bell? Where is Noelle?”
“Right here, sir,” Noelle said, arms crossed.
“Why did you hope she’d ring?” Nick asked.
“I’d planned to ask her back to work,” Santa said.
The fuck if a man in a red suit took Noelle away. He glared at Kris. “Why the hell did you ring the bell?”
Shrewd blue eyes evaluated them all. “But perhaps she’s found a new home?”
“Not exactly, sir, uh, Mr. Claus.” Nick practically choked on the name, but the man had appeared in front of them, red suit, bushy beard, and all.
“I told you the truth about myself and you didn’t believe.”
“No,” Nick said. “We believe, but you’re right. Beautiful, I can’t imagine even a year without one of you.” He caught her hand, bringing her chilled fingers to his lips. “We’re selfish enough to ask you to stay anyway.”
“Do you love her, boys?” Santa asked.
Noelle’s jaw dropped open. “Santa, that’s hardly fair—”
“It’s fair,” Nick said without hesitation. “I love you, Noelle.”
Kris nodded. “I love you, too.”
“You have found a new home,” Nick said. “You belong with us.”
“Noelle?” Santa smiled.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I love them both.”
“Well,” Santa said with a hefty sigh. “You’re doing good work here, so I won’t punish you with their life span. Instead, I gift them with yours.”
“What?” Nick couldn’t say who said it first.
“Merry Christmas, dear.” Santa pressed a gentle kiss to Noelle’s forehead and vanished as quickly as he’d appeared.
“Thank you,” Noelle said softly. “So much.”
“Did he—did we really just get our Christmas wish?” Nick felt sure his breath had been kicked clear to the North Pole. He drew Noelle and Kris into his arms. They held tight, anchoring each other. “Of course, we only really get our wish if you stay.”
She smiled shyly. “Are you planning to keep me tied up?”
Nick grinned. “As often as you’ll let us, beautiful.”
She pulled their faces close for a kiss.
“Then I guess I’ll stay.”
The End
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