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1
CARLY
The elf costume was too sexy. It was the type of costume women wore to bars on Halloween. The sexier, the better.
The problem was, it wasn’t Halloween. It was Christmas Eve Eve, and a bunch of kids were waiting outside this door.
I pulled the neckline up as high as it would go, trying to minimize my cleavage. Then I tugged on the hemline of the skirt to ensure my butt cheeks weren’t showing. Hopefully, the red-and-white striped, thigh-high tights would be just enough to make this look goofy. Not sexy, not seductive, but cute.
“Who’s ready to see Santa?” I said as I pushed the door open.
Kids cheered, all smiles. The group was smaller than I’d expected. Just a dozen or so children—all had parents who worked with me. But now I’d gotten those twelve-ish kids all ramped up with no guarantee Santa was on site. Please, God, tell me I didn’t have to entertain these kids by myself.
I loved kids. Wanted a couple of my own someday. But I always felt awkward around them, like I’d missed some sort of training on how to interact with humans under the age of twenty.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!”
At the sound of Santa’s voice, my breath caught. The voice was deep and confident and very, very familiar. That could not be Blake Kincaid, president and CEO of one of the top coworking space franchises in the country. My boss hadn’t covered his hot body with a Santa suit, stuffed it with padding, and tossed a beard over that gorgeous face. No way.
It turned out, that was exactly what had happened. He came through the door, beard, wig, hat, and costume in place. He had a big bag slung over his shoulder and the biggest smile I’d ever seen on that face of his. Theonlysmile I’d ever seen on that face of his. Too bad the beard mostly disguised it.
All eyes were on Blake now, which was good news for me and my skimpy costume. I tugged at the hem as I stepped back to stand next to the chair covered in a red velvet cloth. That was where Santa would sit. Was that called his throne?
I was so lost in thought, I forgot I was standing in front of a roomful of kids until I turned and saw Santa staring straight at me. The kids were looking at him, but his eyes seemed to burn a hole right through me. If not for that smile beneath his beard, I would assume he disapproved of my getup, his expression was so intense.
“Let’s see what we have here for all of you,” Santa said.
He pushed through the crowd of kids now swarming him. He was walking straight toward me.
“My little helper here will hand out these gifts while I talk to you. “Miss…Elf?”
He didn’t know my name. Not a surprise. Unless someone had a director title here, they might as well not even exist to Blake Kincaid.
The real question was, did I give my real name or a fake one? I opted for real.
“Carly at your service,” I said, giving a little curtsy.
What was that all about? I even grabbed the left corner of my skirt and lifted it slightly. I just hoped that didn’t show more of the strip of thigh I was trying to conceal. His gaze dropped noticeably, though, and I knew he got a peek at something.
Great. The guy didn’t even know who I was, and he was seeing more of me than any coworker ever had. He had the power to yank me off the payroll so fast, I wouldn’t know what hit me, and he’d have every right to. I was severely violating the company dress code.
“Carly will hand out these gifts,” Mr. Kincaid said as he set the bag on my side of the throne and sat on it. “Maybe line the kids up.”
He leaned over and whispered that to me, probably intending for only me to hear it. He wanted me to hand out gifts and line the kids up at the same time? No, I should line the kids up. Then each one would sit on his lap and get a toy at the end.
Crap. Someone should have given me a little instruction if they were going to volunteer me to do this. I blamed the HR director, Laurie, who said I would make the perfect elf. I was obviously a last-minute replacement for someone much thinner and shorter. Someone who would have made this elf costume look more North Pole and less…porn star.
“Okay, everyone, let’s line up,” I said.
I ushered all the kids toward the other side of Santa. Getting them into a line was not at all easy. They were jockeying for position—namely, first position. I had to finally tell them they needed to be good for Santa. After all, he had a naughty list.
Santa’s eyes were narrowed at me when I resumed my spot. Something flashed in them that I couldn’t quite define. And then his full attention was on the kids, and I was left to unscramble my thoughts.
Should I be in fear for my job right now? Should being near the head of the company make me nervous? Anxious? Probably. But somehow, all I could think about was how hot Blake looked in that Santa costume, which was the most absurd thing ever. Who looked hot in a Santa costume?
The truth was, Blake would look hot in anything. Pretty much every woman in this company fell all over herself when he walked through the office doors. A few of the men too.
Each kid gleefully unwrapped a gift after sitting on Santa’s lap. After glimpsing a few of those gifts, I was sure this guy had an “in” with Santa somehow. He’d bought something smallish that they hadn’t told him they wanted. He just somehow knew. Download codes for video games, books, puzzles, craft kits… I watched it all, torn between wishing I was the one on Santa’s lap to wondering who’d set all this up. Surely, the Scrooge of WorkBetter Spaces, LLC could not have done all this on his own.
