“Yeah, I think it will be,” he replied, holding her gaze, meaning so much more than whether or not he’d like the drink in his hand. “Oh, I also brought you this. Wanted to make sure you weren’t starving again.” He pulled the waffle wrap from his pocket, setting it on the counter.
Her face lit. “You know how to spoil a person, Prince. Thank you.”
“Are you doing anything after you close up?”
She stopped unwrapping the food and frowned at it, as though she was suspicious of what was contained inside the wrapper, like there was something attached to her acceptance of it. He jumped in before she could say anything.
“I just thought you might like to see my beehives. I can show you them while you eat. That’s all. I did offer before, remember?”
The softness returned to her face. “Oh, okay. I just need to clean up a little and lock up.”
“Fine. I’m going to finish this delicious Mexican hot chocolate while I wait.”
She shook her head and laughed.
After she finished cleaning, she zipped herself into her coat, slipped on her knit beanie and locked the trailer. She pulled out the waffle wrap and Mason pulled another from his pocket.
“Oh good, you got one for yourself this time,” she said while peeling the paper from hers.
“Unless you’re so hungry you need two of them again.” He offered it to her.
She froze. “Oh God. Did I eat your dinner yesterday? How rude of me.”
“It was fine. I wasn’t even that hungry. This one’s different. It’s a falafel waffle wrap.” He enjoyed sharing his dinner with her.
Natalie took a bite from hers, moaning like she had the day before, as though it was the only way she could appreciate anything she put in her mouth. He bit back a grin. He loved the moans of pleasure she made. It made his heart beat a touch faster.
He unwrapped his own food. “Thanks for, you know, covering for me earlier today. My dad is great but I’ve made some mistakes in my life and, for once, I’d like to not be under that shadow.”
She glanced at him. “I get it. Family may love you but that doesn’t mean they always understand you.”
“Yeah.”
It was quiet for a few moments before she said, “Do I need to put on one of those beehive outfits?”
“No, they’re pretty much inside the hive full-time at this point.” Although, he wouldn’t mind seeing her in a beekeeper suit. Mason pictured Natalie being with him during the warm summer months as he tended his hives and then tackling her in the nearby field and peeling the suit off. It was a new fantasy he never expected to have before.
“Oh, yes, vibrating together to generate heat.”
He almost choked on his food at the thought she’d read his mind before remembering they were talking about bees. He did his best to recover, keeping his words light. “Yup. That’s right. The bees. Vibrating.”
“Speaking of vibrating. Stan. More specifically how and what and why?”
“Are you asking for Diva Santa’s origin story?”
Laughter crackled from her. He imagined it was the same sound shooting stars made as they flickered across the dark sky, like a melody. “That’s what you call him?”
“It fits, don’t you think?”
“Like a glove,” she replied.
“Stan Anderson’s story isn’t too different from Superman’s.”
“He comes from another planet? That makes so much sense.” She touched his arm excitedly and it reached his soul. He wasn’t sure how it was possible to be both at ease with her, but also have all this energy within him ready to burst out.
“Non-holiday season he’s a roofer but, during the winter months, there isn’t as much work going on. One year, my dad hired him to be one of the parking attendants, so he could earn a little extra cash until business picked up again. He was a good guy, quiet, kind of unassuming, not that you need a ton of charisma when directing people where to park. This same year, our regular Santa got in trouble for tax fraud or something. I don’t know. He just disappeared because of some kind of legal trouble he was in. So, I was going to do it until we could hire someone else but my dad’s really old cheap Santa suit from storage was too small for me, like comically too small. The sleeves went up to here.” Mason demonstrated by making a chopping motion halfway up his forearm.
“Like Santa went through a growth spurt?”
