I swallow hard before answering. “I didn’t lie.”
“Really? Because I think you did.”
Despite the situation, annoyance kicks up in my gut. The man is attractive, but he’s not a mind reader. “And you would know that how?”
“Because I’m Santa Claus. I know when you’ve been bad or good.”
A smile curls at my lips, and soon I’m laughing. A full body laugh that radiates from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head.
“Atta girl,” Cole chuckles with me. “I didn’t like to see you upset.”
Fire curls deep inside me from his praise, but I’m not going to lie. It felt good to laugh with him, and I do feel better now.
Our laughter dies down and Cole shifts in his chair, adjusting the traditional Santa hat on his head and stroking his beard. One that isn’t fake in the slightest. The perfect mix of silver and gray is more attractive than it has any right to be.
“Vixen,” his voice is softer now. “Would you please tell me why you’re here? It’s Christmas Eve, shouldn’t you be with someone you care for?”
I sigh, wringing my hands. I told him about my family situation last year, so I don’t need to repeat that part of my life. “The only one I care for is Holly, but she’s at work now.”
“No boyfriend?” I shake my head. “Girlfriend?” I shake my head again. “Partner?”
“No,” I frown. “That’s actually why I’m here.”
His eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and I realize how that must’ve sounded. I place my hand on his velvet covered forearm.
“Oh no! I didn’t mean, well, that’s not why…Oh, god! This is so embarrassing.” Before I can pull back my hand he places his over mine and squeezes, trapping it there.
“Vixen,” he soothes. “Whatever it is, you don’t have to be embarrassed. You can tell me.”
Call it stupidity. Or maybe it’s Cole's soothing touch, and his ability to make me feel safe enough to answer his question, but I finally do.
“There’s something I want,” I admit. When he doesn’t speak, I add, “There’s something I want for Christmas, and Holly told me to ask Santa. Maybe he has a Christmas miracle left to give me.”
“I see,” he mutters.
For a moment I think he’s going to tell me to leave, that this is inappropriate like I first thought it to be, but then he leans back in his chair and pats his hand over his tree-trunk thigh, holding out his other hand.
I stare at the offering, unable to be sure if this is really happening. But I know it is. I woke up this morning, had a nice day at home baking cookies before I came to the mall with Holly to walk around and look at lights. She was the one who told me to do this, that it was a good idea, and now it’s coming to fruition.
“Well, Vixen?” Cole asks. “What are you waiting for?” He pats his thigh again. “Sit on Santa’s lap and tell me what it is that you want.”
Chapter Three
Icansaywithouta doubt, I’ve never sat on a man's lap before. Okay, I’ve never sat on a man's lap as an adult before. I’m fairly sure my mom brought me to a mall Santa when I was a little kid, but I don’t have any photographic proof. Even if I did, he was not Cole Saint. In my hazy memory, he was a portly old man over the age of seventy who smelled of mothballs and cigarettes.
Cole smells like pine needles and burning firewood on a cold winter’s night. His thighs are strong beneath my plush ass, and I do everything I can to ignore the fact that I’m seated just above his cock. I have no doubt if I shifted just right, I’d be able to feel what he’s packing, but I put that naughty thought out of my mind as quickly as it came, wrapping my arms around his neck to keep myself in place, his soft belly pressing into my side.
He secures one of his arms around my back, resting his strong fingers in the slight dip of my waist, the other remaining on the arm of the chair. I’d wish he’d put it on my thigh, but that would be indecent.
“Is this okay?” He asks.
My skin tingles in every place we touch, and while it’s odd to be in his lap, it feels more than okay. It feels…right.
I tuck that thought away and answer, “Yes, it’s okay.”
“Good,” he hums. “I’m glad.”
We stare at each other, and the world loses focus. I forget that I’m in the middle of a mall. That it’s Christmas Eve, I was ghosted by a man whose name I can’t remember anymore, and I was going to go home to an empty apartment. That this is my friend’s dad and he’s simply playing a role. The only thing that matters is this moment.
