by Liz Meldon
Until finally he just took her. Hard and fast, he pounded into her, each pump of his hips sending a hum of pleasure through her. Their lips found each other, muffling their symphony of moans and cries and grunts and growls. Each thrust made her forget where they were, made her forget the hell she had endured over the holiday season, made her forget all the petty bullshit. There, just for a moment, all that mattered was her and Jack, together—the rest was just background noise. Static. A blip on the radar, there one second and gone the next.
Her second climax took her completely by surprise. Less see-all-the-stars-in-the-universe-y than the first, it still stole her breath away, feeling less like an explosion, all fire and heat and force, and more like a waterfall—rushing and soothing, but still oozing with raw power. She clung to Jack briefly before capturing his lips in a slow, deep kiss, whimpering when he bit her lip, perhaps harder than intended, and lost his rough rhythm. Jack’s pace stuttered, and he came with a shudder, tearing his lips from hers and showering her neck with affection.
Elise held onto him tighter as he wrapped his arms around her, hands clasped behind her lower back, and sighed contently against her skin.
“Merry Christmas, Elise.”
“You’re a bit early, Jack.”
“Christmas Eve still counts as Christmas.”
She grinned and kissed the side of his head, his hair smelling faintly of some coconut styling product.
“Okay,” she whispered, a sleepy contentedness settling over her. “It still counts. Merry Christmas, Jack.”
What the hell had he just done?
Besides, you know, had fantastic sex.
As Jack untangled himself from the gorgeous woman in front of him, her raven-black hair adequately mussed and her makeup a little smudged, he mentally scolded himself. After all, he was a dad now. He probably shouldn’t be having random hookups with women he barely knew.
In public, no less.
Yet as he knotted the used condom and tossed it in a nearby trash can, he decided he wasn’t going to beat himself up too bad. This was Elise, the woman he’d been dreaming about on and off for the better part of a month. She’d joked about dinner, but he actually wanted to treat her—and kiss her good morning tomorrow, wishing her a proper Merry Christmas in bed. He hadn’t meant to take things as far as he did. When she gave him the doll, all he had wanted to do was kiss her—and then one thing had led to another.
“So,” she said, chuckling, “that was…” Jack braced himself, waiting for the fallout, but it never came. “That was awesome.”
“I think I put you square on the naughty list.”
Elise shrugged. “I don’t mind. It’s been a whole year of nice, honestly.”
“Then I’ve broken a record streak.” He finished buckling his belt, smirking at the blush slowly creeping across her cheeks. When he was done, he caught her hand and gave it a little squeeze. “Honestly, though, I don’t do this often. I just… You…”
“I don’t make a habit of it either,” she told him, returning the squeeze. “Seriously.”
Not that he had any right to judge what she did in her free time and who she did it with, but the thought that this stunning woman had made an exception for him made Jack’s chest swell with pride.
“Why don’t we—”
“What,” a shrill voice cried, “is going on here?!”
Jack whipped around to find a sweaty-faced manager glowering them down, her clipboard gripped so tight in hand that every knuckle was white.
“Penelope, I—”
“Explain yourself. You have thirty seconds to convince me why you even deserve this job,” the woman snarled, pointing her pen at Elise with a glare so venomous Jack couldn’t help but want to situate himself between the two women. He stepped protectively in front of Elise, fixing this Penelope woman with a scowl of his own, but the slight pressure from the hand on his arm made his hackles settle.
“Penelope,” Elise said as she stepped around Jack, her hand still touching him, “I’m done. I quit.”
Nine
Eggnog Time
Elise took slow but purposeful steps on shaky legs as she left the Bennington’s locker room for the last time—ever, if she had her way. Well, actually, that would be if Penelope had her way; Elise was prohibited from ever applying to this location again. Although Penelope hadn’t witnessed her and Jack in the act, nor had the cameras captured it—the warehouse nook was a well-known spot for doing something you didn’t want management to see—the woman had her suspicions about what had gone down, and Elise didn’t do much to deny it.
She’d simply had enough. Retail made her want to pull her hair out on a good day, but retail during the Christmas season? Elise was done. She was done practically living here, even if it had given her enough savings to finally breathe easy again while she looked for another job. She was done getting yelled at and belittled by customers and management alike. She was done feeling like she was the only person trying some days, while other employees slacked off, skipped out, or didn’t show up. She was done feeling subhuman.
Was it professional to walk out on Christmas Eve after having sex with a customer in the stock warehouse? Not even a little. But she had to get out. She couldn’t do this for another two weeks. She couldn’t even fathom how she would have survived Boxing Day, given how frayed her nerves—and self-esteem—were after the last few weeks.
Jack was the light at the end of the tunnel—full stop. While it felt like everyone in the store was watching her march for the front doors, as soon as she saw him waiting there, a bag in hand containing his daughter’s perfect Christmas gift, her vision narrowed in on him. Everything else disappeared. By the time she reached him, her legs no longer felt like they were made of jelly—still wobbly, but not as bad.
He tipped his head to one side, wearing a sexy little half smile that she wanted to lick.
“You okay?”
“Been better,” she admitted, taking the hand he offered her and letting him lead her out of the store. The chaos continued behind her as more customers rushed in, desperate to find what they needed before closing. His gentle hand squeeze did not go unnoticed, and as they strolled through the sliding doors and into the cold, she squeezed back.
“Did you get into trouble?”
“Well, because I said I quit before she could fire me, technically I didn’t get fired,” Elise told him. “And they have no footage of us, nor did Penelope actually see us, so…”
Who knows if one of the stock guys caught anything, but given how tight a unit they were—and heavily opposed to meddling middle management—she hoped she could count on their silence.
Hand in hand, they walked to a sleek black Mercedes, which didn’t surprise her at all, and, as Jack faced her, fat, fluffy snowflakes started to fall across the parking lot. Elise looked up, smiling, and let herself be enthralled, only for a few seconds, with the beautiful image of snowflakes cascading across the glow of the parking lot lamp lights. When her gaze shifted back to Jack’s, she found him watching her with an almost too-obvious affection, the kind that made her stomach clench and her cheeks warm.
“So.” He dug his keys out of his coat pocket and unlocked the car. “Dinner?”
“After tonight?” Elise laughed, the weight of her last shift, one in which she had worked for the last seven hours without a break, sliding down her back. It would probably drown her if she let it. “Drinks, I think.”
Jack smirked. “Why not both?”
She inhaled a lungful of crisp, cold air, watching it fog in front of her as she let it out.
“Both,” she agreed. “Both sounds perfect.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as he kissed her, a crown of snowflakes in her hair—and a flicker of love in her heart.
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Thank you so much for reading! You’re awesome. Seriously. Go treat yo’ self for being such a fabulous human being.
If you enjoyed HOLIDAY HELL and want to support the Erotic Short Shorts series, please consider leaving a review at the retailer of your choice, including Goodreads. Reviews help indie authors thrive. I also use reviews as a way to gauge what series to work on next, and if there’s enough love for Jack and Elise (or any of the Erotic Short Shorts couples), then I’m totally open to writing more about them!
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Liz
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About the Author
Liz is a Canadian author who grew up in the Middle East. She has a degree in Bioarchaeology from Western University, and when she isn't writing about her own snarky characters, she is ghostwriting romance novels, loitering on social media, or taking care of her many animals.
As a freelance ghostwriter, she has written over a dozen books ranging from romance to horror, full-length to novella-sized. A handful are currently on the market, and she stalks their "authors" with fiendish delight. She loves writing realistic characters in fantastical settings.
More from Liz Meldon:
Erotic Short Shorts – an Erotic Short Story Series
Happy Hour (2016)
Holiday Hell (2017)
Bliss (2018)
All In Trilogy – a Contemporary Erotic Romance Trilogy (2017)
Finn (#1)
Cole (#2)
Skye (#3)
All In Trilogy: Book Bundle + Bonus Content
Lovers and Liars: Immortal Wars – a fantasy and paranormal romance series based in the Lovers and Liars Universe
Court of the Phantom Queen (2017) – Book #1 (fantasy romance, novella)
Apollo’s Priestess (2017) – Book #2 (shifter paranormal romance, novella)
To the North (TBD) – Book #3 (fantasy romance, novella)
Lovers and Liars – a Paranormal Romance Serial
Manhattan (2014) – Book #1 (FREE)
Vancouver (2015) – Book #2
Westwick College (2016) – Book #3
Tuskin Island (TBD) – Book #4
Games We Play – a (Vampire/Hunter) Paranormal Romance Duology
The Fool (2015) – Prologue
The King (2016) – Book #1
The Queen (TBD) – Book #2
It Begins Here: An Anthology (2015)
It Ends Here: An Anthology (2016)