Ian: Did you have fun at the party?
Elly: I did… Bob loved his gift, and I got a nice one myself.
Ian: You didn’t set the Christmas tree on fire or spike the eggnog out of spite? :)
Elly: No… Well, someone did spike the eggnog, but I had nothing to do with it.
Ian: It’s about time for me to make some of that myself. Have you ever heard of George Washington’s eggnog?
Elly: No? I don’t think so…
Ian: Maybe we can make it tomorrow.
Elly: Okay, that would definitely go along with our plans.
Ian: Bright and early, right?
Elly: Yep!
Ian: I’ll text you when I’m on the way.
Elly: Sounds good! I’ll see you tomorrow!
Ian: Goodnight beautiful. Sleep well.
Elly: You too.
I think we’re going to have a lot of fun tomorrow…
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ian
I woke up the next morning and practically hopped out of bed. It felt like Christmas morning, even though the holiday was still several days away. I was looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, seeing my parents, and watching my niece and nephew open their presents, but I was looking forward to spending the weekend with Elly a whole lot more. There was no doubt in my mind that I had fallen for her. I hated spending the night without having her by my side and in my bed. Thankfully, we had the weekend to make up for lost time.
I should check and see if she’s awake.
Ian: What did the jar of peanut butter say to the grape on Christmas morning?
Elly: Good morning… I have no idea.
Ian: Tis the season to be jelly!
Elly: That’s the best you could come up with?
Ian: I just woke up. I haven’t even had coffee yet. You were supposed to laugh…
Elly: I haven’t had coffee either.
Ian: Can I get a do-over?
Elly: Sure. :)
Ian: What do you call a frozen elf?
Elly: Uh, I have no idea.
Ian: An elfcicle!
Elly: That one was a little better.
Ian: Good, hopefully you smiled.
Elly: I did.
Ian: Can I pick you up in an hour?
Elly: It is going to take me longer than an hour to get up and get ready!
Ian: Fine, an hour and fifteen minutes. We said bright and early.
Elly: You got the early part down, but it doesn’t look very bright…
Ian: It will be in an hour!
Elly: Ugh. Fine.
Elly was awake, which meant we were going to be able to get an early start like we planned, even if I teased her about it. I quickly showered, fixed a cup of coffee, and got dressed while I drank it. I was so energized that I really didn’t need the caffeine, but it was habit. I drove to Elly’s apartment and was in the elevator with ten minutes to spare. I could have wasted a few minutes on her floor, but I figured she wouldn’t mind if I was a little early. I sent her a text message to confirm, and when I got to her door, she opened it before I could knock.
“I’m ready.” Elly smiled.
“We’ve got a few minutes…” I stepped into her apartment. “I can think of a good way to spend them.”
I pulled Elly into my arms and kissed her. There was a lot of passion on both sides—she missed me as much as I missed her. My hands traced her curves, and by the time our lips parted, I was tempted to suggest that we delay our departure by a few hours—or longer. I rationalized it in my head, but there would be plenty of time for that after we got finished decorating her apartment. We might even get a chance to finish Uncle Nick—or start it and turn it off again within a few minutes. I doubted I would be able to focus on anything other than the beautiful woman in my arms.
“You were the one that wanted to get an early start…” Elly looked up at me and grinned.
“Yeah, we should do as much shopping as we can before the stores get crowded.” I nodded.
“Is that the reason?” She tilted her head. “Or are you just eager to get me alone?”
“That might have something to do with it.” I laughed under my breath.
Our first stop was Dillinger’s Department Store. Elly got a gift card from her Secret Santa at Thornton Advertising, and she wanted to spend it. A Christmas tree was top priority, so we started there. The selection was still pretty good, despite the holiday being so close. We were somewhat limited by the size of her apartment, but we finally found one that she was happy with. After we got it loaded in the cart, we walked over to the ornaments and started looking at the selection. Elly found a few packs that looked interesting and put them in the cart. We moved on to the premium ornaments, and I could tell that she was a little shocked by the price when she started looking at them.
“You really don’t have any ornaments?” I raised my eyebrows.
“No.” She shook her head back and forth. “I don’t even know what happened to the ones that were passed down from my grandparents. I’ve never seen them on my dad’s tree, so they’re probably still at my mom’s house…”
“Maybe you can ask her?” I shrugged. “If she’s not using them…”
“Yeah.” Elly nodded. “There were a few that I made in school. It would be fun to have those on my tree, even if they’re not the best.”
“Is there anything else that you want?” I motioned to the premium ornaments.
“I see a few…” She sighed. “I just don’t think I can blow a whole paycheck in one aisle.”
“If there’s something you really want, I don’t mind buying it for you.” I took her hand. “Seriously, it can be part of your gift.”
“Nah, I don’t want to take your money…” She shook her head quickly.
“Fine, then I’m just going to buy all the ones that you were looking at.” I started loading them into the cart.
“I really didn’t like that one…” She picked one of the ornaments up and put it back on the shelf.
“I know you liked this one.” I picked up the Beauty and the Beast ornament.
“It’s just so expensive.” She sighed. “Disney certainly loves to slap a high price on everything they own.”
“We’re getting it.” I put the ornament in the cart.
Elly and I had some tug-of-war over what I wanted to buy for her, but she finally stopped fighting when she realized that I wasn’t going to put everything back. She had a tree, and she needed ornaments, so I had no intention of giving up. Christmas lights were next, followed by a few decorations for her apartment, and I convinced her to let me buy the nice stocking that she wanted to put back. The compromise was that she would pay to have her name embroidered on it. What she didn’t know was that it was going to be temporary—my grandmother made stockings for everyone in the family, and I was pretty sure that Elly was going to have one of her own at some point.
She started working on my brother-in-law’s stocking before he even popped the question.
After our trip to Dillinger’s Department Store, we made a few more stops to pick up additional decorations, and the stores were starting to get crowded. Elly disappeared on me when we got to the outdoor mall, and when I finally found her, she had several bags of stuff that she purchased on her own. I assumed she was just trying to make sure I didn’t buy everything she looked at—which was kind of cute in a way. I wanted to give her the world, and she wouldn’t even let me swipe my credit card for a few nice things that I felt like she deserved. She had to know that I wasn’t going to break the bank—unless she didn’t realize how successful Alexander Software really was.
“I think we’re all set.” I loaded the last few bags into the car—and shifted a wrapped present that was already in my trunk into one of them.
“What was that?” She tilted her head inquisitively.
“Something for later…” I looked at her and smiled.
“Is that my present?” She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward.
“No peeking.” I nudged her.
“I guess I do need something under the tree.” She bit down on her bottom lip and grinned.
“This won’t be staying under the tree long.” I shook my head back and forth. “I’m giving it to you tonight.”
“Interesting.” She nodded. “I was planning to give you your gift tonight too.”
“You bought it?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
“You’ll just have to wait and see…” She laughed and walked towards the passenger side door.
“Oh, we have two more stops.” I walked over and opened the door for her.
“More stores? If they’re as crowded as this place, we may not be able to find a parking spot.” She sat down in her seat.
“You can always find parking at the liquor store—and the grocery store.” I laughed under my breath. “We need to pick up the stuff for George Washington’s famous eggnog.”
“Ah, I forgot about that.” Elly grinned.
I drove to the liquor store, and Elly was pretty surprised when she saw how much liquor was in the eggnog, she got pretty worried. The recipe called for brandy, whiskey, Jamaican rum, and sherry wine. The grocery store was a quick run-in to grab eggs, sugar, milk, and heavy cream. Elly thought she had some of it already, but I didn’t want to have to go out again because we were missing an ingredient. It took us several trips to get everything from the car to Elly’s apartment, and as soon as we were settled, we ended up on the couch—not thinking about Christmas decorations at all as our lips made up for the time they had spent apart while we were shopping for holiday cheer.
“Thank you for today.” Elly looked up at me when our lips finally parted. “That was a lot of fun—even if you did spend more money on me than I wanted.”
“You’re going to have to let me spoil you some.” I brushed a strand of hair out of her beautiful misty gray eyes.
“I’m just not used to it.” She smiled. “I’ve had to take care of myself for a really long time.”
“Not anymore.” I shook my head back and forth. “You can have a tree with golden branches and diamond ornaments if you really want it.”
“Well why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” She threw her head back and laughed. “I tortured myself over which shade of green I wanted!”
“Maybe next year then.” I lifted up and leaned back on the couch. “Are you ready to get started?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t have any eggnog yet…”
“Good point.” I nodded. “Why don’t you start taking the ornaments out of their boxes while I fix that—then we can put up the tree.”
“If that eggnog is as potent as it sounds, we may not get very far…” She laughed and sat up.
“We’ll be fine.” I chuckled under my breath and walked to the kitchen.
The eggnog sounded a lot more potent than it was, but it definitely had a kick. The eggs, milk, and heavy cream were used generously to offset the alcohol. Normally, I would have liked to let it sit in the fridge overnight to thicken it up some, but we didn’t have time for that. I poured two glasses of eggnog, and we sipped it while we assembled the tree. It required a lot of fluffing, but it looked nice once it was sitting in the corner of Elly’s apartment. The lights were next, and we plugged them into the wall as soon as the strands were in place.
“It does look like Christmas…” Elly smiled and leaned her head against me.
“Yes it does.” I nodded.
“Okay, which ornaments should we put on it first?” She turned towards the ones that were sitting on the table.
“Hold on.” I walked over to the bag and pulled out her present. “Why don’t you open your present first.”
“I’m not ready to give you your present.” She winced. “I want to wait until we get my apartment decorated.”
“It’s okay.” I put the box in her hands. “Open it.”
“Okay.” She smiled and started tearing the paper.
“Hopefully, you like it as much as a big bag of coffee and a gift card to Dillinger’s.” I chuckled under my breath.
“This is…” She titled her head as she opened the box. “It’s an ornament!”
“Yes.” I nodded.
The present I picked out for Elly was a hand-blown glass ornament that had been painted. There was a silhouette of a couple holding hands on the front, and a sunset painted on the back that gave the appearance that they were watching it go down.
“The first…” She read the words that were painted above the couple’s head and then looked at the words on the bottom. “…Of what I hope will be many.”
“That’s exactly how I feel right now.” I put my hands on her hips. “I hope this our first Christmas together—and far from the last.”
“Me too.” Elly looked up at me, and I saw tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “Thank you! It’s perfect!”
I pulled Elly into a tight embrace and kissed her. We got lost in that moment for several minutes—two people that believed every first we shared was the beginning of a new tradition—our tradition. After our lips finally parted, Elly put the ornament front and center on the tree. I hoped that I would get to give her a new ornament every single year until she needed a tree that wouldn’t fit in her living room. There was no doubt in my mind that Elly was the woman I wanted to spend my life with. I didn’t need weeks, months, or years to know what felt right. Lightning had struck in the perfect spot when we found each other. Neither of us were looking for love, but it was looking for us.
“I think I’m going to need more eggnog.” Elly held up her empty cup.
“I’ll get you a refill.” I reached out and took the cup from her hand. “Why don’t you find a nice spot for that Beauty and the Beast ornament.”
“I still can’t believe you bought this for me.” She held it up. “It was way too expensive.”
“I saw you eying it.” I shrugged. “I figured there was a reason.”
“Yeah.” Elly nodded and walked to the tree. “When I was a little girl, I didn’t have many movies that I was allowed to watch on my own. This was one that my parents approved of, so I ended up watching it so many times that I memorized every single line…”
“Did you watch the new one?” I refilled her cup and walked back into the living room.
“No.” She shook her head back and forth. “I almost did—but that movie just reminded me of a time that didn’t exist anymore. A time when I was happy…”
“Are you happy now?” I handed her the cup.
“I am.” She sipped her eggnog. “Happier than you can ever imagine.”
“Then maybe we need to add that movie to our list?” I raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
“Yeah—maybe.” A smile spread across her face. “Of course, we have to finish Uncle Nick first!”
“I say that if we don’t finish it by Christmas, we just try again next year.” I chuckled under my breath.
“That might be a good idea.” Elly nodded. “And if we don’t finish it next year, there’s always the year after…”
“And the year after that.” I pulled her close. “We’ll keep trying as many times as it takes.”
I kissed Elly again, and that kiss lasted so long that my head started to spin. I almost dropped my eggnog before it was over. We teased each other for several minutes before we finally went back to decorating her apartment. We didn’t have a mantle to hang Elly’s stocking on, so we hung it by the television—with care. There weren’t many decorations left to put up, but her apartment already looked like it was ready for Santa Claus to arrive. It was already dark by the time the last decoration had been placed. We could have gotten finished a lot faster if we hadn’t ended up in each other’s arms so many times—but that just made it even better.
“It looks beautiful.” Elly smiled and looked around her apartment. “Thank you so much for this.”
“You’re the one that had to find a little holiday cheer before it was possible.” I took a sip of my
eggnog and smiled. “Should we try to watch Uncle Nick now? Actually, we should probably order some food…”
“Hold on. I’ve got one more thing…” She walked over and picked up one of the bags that was sitting behind the couch. “Can you give me a few minutes?”
“Sure.” I shrugged. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No.” She shook her head and smiled.
Elly walked down the hallway of her apartment, and I sat down on the couch to wait for her to come back. I pulled out my phone and looked at some options for dinner. I didn’t order delivery very much and was surprised to see that there were a lot more restaurants available where she lived. My house wasn’t in the middle of nowhere by any means, but she lived in the heart of the city. I selected a few that I liked and reached for the remote so that I could get our movie ready. I really didn’t think we were going to be able to finish it. It was beginning to feel like not finishing the movie was our new tradition.
“Hey Ian?” Elly’s voice echoed from down the hallway. “I do need your help with something.”
“Okay.” I put down my remote. “Where are you?”
“My bedroom.” Her voice echoed again, and when I stepped into the hallway, I saw a door that was slightly ajar.
I had no idea what Elly needed help with, but I walked to the end of the hallway and pushed on her door. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head as soon as the door swung open. There were several lit candles, and Elly was laying on the bed—in sheer white lingerie that left nothing to the imagination. My cock sprang to attention immediately, especially when I saw the look in her eyes. I took a step closer and noticed that the bottom part of her lingerie was covered in little cherries that led to—her cherry.
I guess we’re skipping the movie…
Chapter Twenty-Five
Elly
I had no idea what I was looking for when I managed to get away from Ian at the outdoor mall. I knew what I wanted, and I knew that the time was right, but I needed something that would make it special. I thought I could find some lingerie that was holiday-themed, but when I saw the one made out of white sheer and adorned with cherries, I knew it was absolutely perfect. I had trouble focusing on the decorations because I was so excited to put it on and convince Ian to join me in the bedroom. I could tell by the way he looked at me when he opened the door that I wasn’t leaving the room with my cherry intact.
Her Secret Santa Page 18