Cole is Holly’s fifty-year-old dad, whom she loves very much. He’s off limits. So I’ve done everything in my power to forgetabout him, including my failed attempts at dating and one night stands. But I’m not going to lie and say I was always successful, that I haven’t thought about what it would be like to feel his mouth on mine, his coarse beard tickling my lips. To scream his name while he took me hard and fast over any flat surface we could find.
My nipples tighten painfully, and arousal curls in my lower belly. God, this was such a bad idea. I should have fought Holly harder about doing this. I didn’t think seeing him again would have this much of an immediate effect on me, especially after so long and fighting so hard to keep his memory from my mind. Moreover, I didn’t think seeing him in a full-blown Santa get-up would do it for me.
Boy was I wrong. Very wrong.
“Vixen?” Cole blinks at me as if he’s seen a ghost, his large body leaning forward in his massive ornate velvet green chair with arms. The kind with a quilted back and golden framing—a perfect throne for Santa Claus.
“Um…hi,” I say, holding my hands behind my back.
“What are you doing here?”
I look down at my black ankle boots and click the heels together. They’re my favorite pair, perfect for the winter weather outside but also stylish and comfortable. I click my heels together again like I’m Dorothy, and the action will teleport me to my warm bed in my apartment. Truly, I was so dumb for coming here. Especially after Holly bolted.
“Vixen,” he says my name again, but this time he sounds worried. “Did something happen to Holly?”
My gaze snaps to meet his. He’s standing out of his chair, tall form tense with panic. I take a step toward him automatically with my hands up, shaking my head.“Oh, she’s fine! I promise she’s fine. She just left, actually. She got called in for a shift at the hospital.”
Cole’s shoulders relax and he exhales a long breath, rubbing a hand over his face and beard. “Thank god.”
He drops into the chair, his considerable shoulders leaning heavily against the back of it. His legs part open and his perfectly veined hands that I memorized as they gripped his hot cocoa mug last year fall to the carved golden arms, gripping the wood beneath his thick fingers.
“I’m sorry I worried you.”
His eyes find mine again. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”
We stare at each other for I don’t know how long, like two deer caught in headlights. Neither of us sure what to say next.
The change in song over the speakers from “Jingle Bells”to “Santa Baby” has Cole licking his lips. His brow furrows like he’s trying to fight himself on something, before his gaze begins to lazily peruse down my body.
He stares at my breasts that strain against the tight V-neck of my dress, his bowed lips parting and breath quickening before he trails further down to my soft belly and expansive hips, ending on my stocking covered legs.
My pulse picks up and all the moisture in my mouth drains to my pussy.
Did Santa Claus just check me out?
Cole’s intense gaze veers to mine, and by the wide flare of his nostrils and whites of his eyes, I’m guessing he’s registering what he allowed himself to do. That he very much checked out his daughter’s best friend in the middle of a mall in Santa’s cabin on Christmas Eve.
He clears his throat. “Why are you here, Vixen?”
My spine straightens, and some of the arousal zaps out of me by the cool tone that’s appeared in his voice. It’s a reminder that I shouldn’t be here.
“No reason,” I reply. “I’ll go now.”
I take two steps toward the exit sign I see at the back of the cabin, doing everything in my power not to cry. There’s no reason I should be crying. It’s not like I should be disappointed he’s acting cold, when a moment ago he was checking me out, or the fact I won’t get to do what I came here for. I didn’t even want to sit on his lap in the first place.
Did I?
“Vixen,” Cole barks. It reminds me of how a parent would scold their child.
I stop in my tracks and look at him. I’m closer to his chair now, off to the side of it and only a foot away from him.
“Come here.”
My body moves like there’s an invisible string attached. I step in between his legs, the velvet pant legs of his lavish Santa suit brushing against my knee-length dress.
He leans forward just enough that the heat of his body warms me, and our eyes become level with each other.
“Didn’t you know that Santa doesn’t like liars, Vixen?”My throat tightens and the arousal that started to dissipate comes back in full force. Why was that so fucking hot? I don’t think he meant it to be hot, but…
