Page 14 of The Santas Who Stole Me

She gulps, shifting her attention back to the news, while Zee and Keeper watch her with smug faces.

“Great, we’re all on the same page. Chad dies, Georgie stays,” I add with a shooing motion to my brother and best friend. I add a glare to tell them silently yet politely to get the fuck out.

“Chad dies,” she agrees with more enthusiasm than most people have about death. She’s gonna fit right in around here.

“And Georgie stays,” Keeper repeats, staring at her, gauging her reaction. I know he’s thinking of ways to keep her here, but he isn’t putting her back in Zee’s basement that’s for fucking sure. I will fight them both if they suggest it. Seeing her last night ripped out a piece of my heart, and I won’t let anything like that happen again.

“I’ll stay until we deal with Chad. Thanks for helping me. I’m used to going at things alone, so I don’t know.” Her eyes are glassy and she sniffles.

Fucking Keeper is making her cry again. I’m going to punch him in the balls.

He loops his arms around her and pulls her into a bear hug.

“We will take care of it,” he tells her and kisses her head, promising to find her later.

“Come on, cookie, we have work to do. Keeper and Zee need to figure out a plan.” Holding my hand out to her, she takes it with a wave goodbye to the guys. We make our way through the house to my favorite room, our gym. Can’t be an assassin with a big gut, so we have to stay in shape. On the way, I point out things we have in our house, and she seems particularly interested in the indoor pool. I try not to beam too hard when she sees the gym. It’s filled with every top-of-the-line equipment or machine you could want, and in the middle is a boxing ring. I know she isn’t ready for that just yet, so we are going to do some bag work. My fingers untwine from hers, and I bring over the pink boxing gloves I left in here. I motion for her to hold her hand out, so I can wrap them.

“Boxing? I’ve never done that.” There is hesitation in her voice and she frowns while trying to focus on her feet.

“You’ll be fine. You may be small, but you got in some good shots yesterday. You need focus and to know where to get your hits in.”

“I’m guessing you’re an expert in fighting in your line of work then?” Georgie asks.

I wonder if it’s sinking in that I kill people or if she realizes, even worse, I really like my job.

“I’m an expert at everything I do.”

She rolls her eyes, and I place the second glove on.

“Keeper and I are brothers. When we were little it was just me and Keeper after we lost our parents for a while. We eventually lived with my gram in a rough neighborhood. Keeper was always fighting my battles for me, it’s where he got his nickname, taking care of me. Once, this crew jumped me, and Keeper stepped in, but they broke his arm. I tried to fight back, but I couldn’t; I felt helpless, and I couldn’t stand it. I figured out how to fight, worked hard, and a few months later, I found them and broke both arms on each of them.”

“I’m glad you two had each other.” Georgie squeezes me in a tight hug, causing my throat to go dry.

I’m engulfed in her sweet scent and her warmth. I didn’t want her pity, but to know I understand her. Still, I can’t resist her pressed against me, and I squeeze back and hold her longer than I should. We have work to do after all. “Knowing I could fight if I needed to helped me back then.”

She looks at me knowingly.

I have no clue if this will help with her trauma, but it’s worth a shot.

“So teach me to break some arms then.” She gives me a sly smile as she steps back and hits her gloves together, crouching down, looking fucking adorable.

“Let’s start at the beginning. Feet placement and how to roll your body weight into the hit. Then we will get to the dirty stuff.”

She licks her lips, and I like how her mind already went there. My gaze traces her body, and I know she felt everywhere they lingered.

“I meant fighting, cookie.”

She scoffs and then follows my lead with her feet placement.

“You know I was with Keeper last night, we uh⁠—”

“I figured with the rumpled sheets and your naked ass in his tub. Come on, head in the game.” I throw a punch to her side. It should bother me more that she slept with him than it does. Seeing how peaceful she looked in the tub this morning, I couldn’t find it in me to be mad or jealous. We agreed that we would let her pick. She will pick me. I’ll be the best fucking boyfriend she has ever seen. “I’m not going easy on you.”

She steps up to me, repeating my movements and hitting me in the side the same way. Good girl. We run through the basics for another hour or so. Georgie tells me about her life before she met Chad, how she was on track to open her own bakery, and that she was adding baked goods to a local restaurant to get money to help her hide. I push down my hatred for that asshole and my thoughts to chain her up so no one can ever hurt her again. Thinking about chains, I imagine what it would be like if I was tying her up, fucking her face, pussy, and ass. Damn she looks good when she rocks on her feet making her tits bounce. I’m so distracted Georgie lands a hit right to my jaw, causing me to grunt.

“Gotcha.” Smiling, she pumps her arm in the air, throwing her gloves off.

I toss my gloves too and grab her around the waist. She easily slides into my arms, and I pull her up so her tits are in my face. Instinctively her legs wrap around my back, and her arms loop around my neck so she’s gazing down at me.