Bad Santa Read online

  “She pretended she was afraid of heights. She didn’t even look embarrassed. And she asked me to her party again, or if I couldn’t make it, to a private party tomorrow.”

  Rachel sighs, frustration all over her face. “It doesn’t matter how she got you to go over there, I saw her hugging you. She had her arms around you. You weren’t exactly fighting her off until I arrived. Do you think I’m blind? Enough. I’m not putting up with any more of this crap. I’m going home.”

  I take hold of her wrist to stop her walking off. I have to make her see what really happened here. “Yes, she did hug me. That caught me off balance. But if you’d waited a bit longer, you’d have seen I wasn’t ever going to hug her back. Not in a million years. You’re the only one I want to hold. The only one.”

  “But you were supposed to be at work. How can I trust you? Whatever you say, you lied to me, Flynn.”

  “I took time off for you. I wanted to have everything ready for you. I’m sorry how it looked. If I’d known that was going to happen I’d have told you, but you know how I like to surprise you. And I have plans for the weekend. A weekend just with you and no one else.” She has to believe me.

  And then I see that she does. She smiles. “And that’s why I turned up early. I wanted to surprise you, too. By baking you a chocolate cake.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Rachel

  Typical guy, his face lights up at the mention of cake. I can’t resist adding, “And I was going to wear this little apron to serve it up, and nothing underneath…”

  “Fuck, Rachel. You’re killing me. The night is still young. We can go back to my place. Start Valentine’s Day over.”

  It almost makes me chuckle how keen he is.

  “But the cake ingredients ended up there.” I point back at the pile beside the car, but it’s dark, and there’s nothing much to see.

  “Where?”

  I lead him over to the mess and show him where I tipped everything.

  “You’ll make some wild woodland creature very happy,” he says. “But it’s just as well you didn’t go to all the trouble of baking.”

  “Why?”

  “We wouldn’t have had time to eat it. Not unless we scarfed it all in one night. Hey, you’re shivering. Let’s get back in your car for a moment.”

  I have no idea why he’s on about not having time to eat a cake. There’s always time for cake.

  “I haven’t given you your Valentine’s surprise, yet,” he explains when we get in.

  “You sent me a lot of surprises. Thank you for the flowers and chocolates, and your messages.”

  “There’s another surprise. We’re going to Prague for the weekend.”

  “You… what… where?”

  “Prague. You said you never went anywhere without making plans. So this weekend you can.”

  “You’re crazy. I love that you’re crazy. But you’re totally mad. I’ll have to find my passport. I don’t have the right clothes for Prague. I don’t have any… what do you spend in Prague, anyway?”

  “Crowns. Czech crowns. I have enough for both of us. I’m assuming your passport is in a file marked ‘passport’ where you keep your paperwork, where else?” And he grins, because he knows I have everything filed in the right place. It’s my job, I can’t help it.

  “And your normal clothes are fine for Prague,” he says. “If you need more, I’ll buy them for you at the airport or when we get there.”

  I give him a big hug, and he hugs me right back and dries my tears with his big thumbs. Then we have a kiss to end all kisses.

  “And there’s just one more thing,” he says. “Something I totally forgot to mention.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I love you, Rachel. I love you so much. More than words can say. I should have told you earlier. I’m just sorry I didn’t.”

  And my heart melts all over again before I say it right back.

  EPILOGUE

  Rachel

  It’s two years since I met Santa on the children’s ward at Podminster General hospital. That’s a real two years, not the Flynn type where you count a few days before and after the turn of the year. He’s still making me laugh. He’s still delighting me with surprises, and I’ve learned to love them as much as I love him.

  We’re regular visitors to the hospital. Robbie is home now and doing well, so he’s not there, but though the faces change, the ward is always full of children. Sometimes it’s heartbreaking to see them, but Lisa says our visits help.

  Flynn has rented a few different costumes now. Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were a particular hit our first summer together. Even though I told Flynn no Star Wars costumes, he said he wanted to see how much the kids would love them. And they did, even the twelve- and thirteen-year olds who tend not to go crazy about visiting cartoon characters.

  Sometimes, Flynn just talks to the older ones about school and music and sports and stuff like that, and what they want to do when they get out of the hospital. They want to know what it’s like in the middle of a fire, or rescuing someone from a crash, and if he gets scared. He always tells them how everyone is scared some of the time. I think it helps them.

  After the Star Wars visit, Flynn surprises me again in bed, though after a few months I shouldn’t have been surprised by anything. He gets out my “light saber” and shows me how good it can be in the hands of the guy I love and trust.

  With my hands tied, and a blindfold covering my eyes so I’m unable to see what’s happening, the buzz of the vibrator gets closer, teasing the most sensitive part of me, and then retreats, three, maybe four times, each withdrawal pulling moans of need from deep in my throat, my hips bucking toward the toy.

  Flynn takes me to the edge, but not over it, over and over, until I’m well-and-truly begging, and then he plunges the vibrator deep inside me, the unexpected movement making me gasp.

  “You can take it, baby,” he says, though I’m hardly listening, need and desire taking all my focus.

  The toy doesn’t fill me as much as Flynn does, not even close, but he uses it with the precision of a maestro, thrusting it in and out so fast, so expertly, it touches and vibrates against every nerve ending of my inner wall. So good!

  Bombarded with that kind of stimulation, I have no defense, and I come, crying out so loud I blush to think of it afterwards, my body shaking and bucking on the bed.

  He pulls off the blindfold and unties me quickly then, rubbing my wrists to make sure I’m not sore.

  I smile at him and push him onto his back. He could overpower me in an instant, but he lets me have the upper hand for a moment. I straddle him and lower myself down onto him, gasping in delight as my body stretches to take him in.

  Rising up, I slam down again, grinding against him.

  “Touch yourself for me,” he says, his voice rough.

  His hips thrust under me, urging me on, fucking me from below, as I ride him and smile like a harlot. Yes! I want to tease him as he teased me, and I slow down for a moment.

  Looking him in the eye, I rub the knuckles of one hand back and forth over my engorged nipples, the fingers of my other hand between my legs, pleasuring myself as our bodies rise and fall. Watching me always drives him wild.

  “Oh fuck!” he says, and I stop moving to squeeze my breasts together. Sticking out my tongue, I bend to slowly lick the tips, going from one to the other, tormenting him.

  “Fuck, Rachel. Have a heart,” he urges.

  But I don’t stop.

  Suddenly, he growls, and flips me over. I giggle at finding myself lying on my back, impaled under him. He plunges into me then, over and over, hard and fast like a man possessed, taking me like he will never get enough of me.

  He can have me—all of me. I’ll never have enough of being taken by him. He lets me be myself. And I love it. I love him.

  As he shudders and fills me with liquid heat, and I come right after him in a glorious confusion of shuddering limbs, I know already, that we belong together forever.


  “Mmmmh, that was good,” I say when I’m lying in his arms. I could stay here and never move again, ever.

  “I could tell you liked your light saber.” He grins.

  “I did.”

  “Well, that’s just the start. Shame I have to go to work right now.” And he whispers in my ear what he’s going to do when we next play with the toy. And even knowing him as well as I do, I redden, and he laughs. He always gets a kick out of making me blush. Not that it inhibits him about doing anything. I like that.

  I’m sure that kind of playtime for two is not what Lisa had in mind with her gift, but I know she’d be happy it’s not wasted. In any case, I’ll never tell her things Flynn and I do. That’s all about the things we share. Too personal to speak about. I hardly recognize myself in bed, but that’s all because of Flynn, and only for him.

  I want everyone to be as happy as he makes me. Except maybe Karen. She moves away from the area, and I’m not sorry at all.

  Lisa’s wedding goes off without a hitch. She doesn’t make me wear puce. I have a beautiful pale peach gown, in a simple bias cut that swirls around me, and cream roses. The women at the wedding love the dress. Flynn loves me in it and can’t wait to get me out of it. “Reminds me of the peach water. Do you remember?” he asks.

  “Yes.” How could I forget that first time in my kitchen, the first time I ever really let myself go?

  I’ve stopped trying to second guess what Flynn will do next or what he will arrange for me to do with him. He makes me feel warm and cared for whatever we do, so I don’t mind if our dates are… unexpected.

  I’m having more fun, enjoying life like never before. And if it means a bit of risk, it feels safe with him. I’m not alone. The unplanned and unexpected adds an edge of excitement to everything.

  Flynn’s off-beat travel plans—mini-breaks and summer trips with me—are now the subject of comments from the guys at work. The one-month bets have been off for a long time now.

  A trip with Flynn is always an experience, even when we just go to a hotel for a weekend. I don’t really care where we go, but he likes to expand my boundaries in all kinds of ways, in bed and in the world. But, Bolivia, really? Our summer destination. It’s better when he doesn’t tell me, so I don’t worry and just have to go and enjoy whatever he has organized.

  But now there’s the Christmas party at the hospital, and we are Santa and his elf again. Lisa says she’s really looking forward to it. The only trouble is, I seem to have put on even more weight since the first time I wore the thing. Last year wasn’t too bad, but this time…

  Flynn

  I knock on the bathroom door for Rachel, but she’s not coming out.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “The costume is tighter than ever.”

  “Let me see,” I say. “Is there anyone else in there with you?”

  “No.” She opens the door, and I see the problem. “The tunic is not meeting up at all. I can’t fasten it. You let me eat all the things,” she says, accusingly. “You take me out to dinner all the time. We have to stop.”

  “Yes. But I like you exactly how you are now, not too skinny,” I say. “Lovely and soft.”

  And it’s true, it’s exactly how I like her. But I like her at any size, and I don’t want her unhappy.

  “There’s lovely and soft,” she says. “And there’s podgy. That’s me. Podgy.”

  “That’s so not true. You’re beautiful.” I can’t believe she thinks about herself like that. “Anyway, let me see if I can squeeze you into the costume, somehow, and get it fastened. Lisa might have a couple of pins if we need them.”

  I try, but I can’t get the thing to close around her.

  “You’re not really all squishy,” I say. “It’s all around the front,” and then we look down at her stomach. It’s only slightly more rounded than usual, but our eyes widen at the same time.

  “You can’t be,” I say. “When was the last time you…?”

  “I don’t know. In the summer some time.” Her cycle has been all over the place since she had a few bad headaches last year, and her doctor said she might want to stop taking the pill. “There was that time at the end of August when the condom broke…”

  “Yes, I remember.” How could I forget? That was another one of those memorable nights with Rachel, though there are so many of those. “We’re going to have a baby,” I say and hug her tight, and then I stop in case I damage her.

  “You don’t mind?” she asks.

  “Of course I don’t mind. Do you?” I hope she’s not upset.

  “No. But why didn’t we do it on purpose, if we both want a family?”

  “Too much planning involved. Maybe nature knows best.”

  “I think I just did the most unplanned thing I ever have in my life,” she says.

  Rachel

  The pregnancy news overtakes all thought of what we’re there to do at the hospital.

  While I stand there stunned, Flynn gets down on one knee in his Santa costume.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I always thought I’d marry you before we had kids.”

  “I thought I’d marry you first, too.”

  “So will you marry me?”

  I look at him. “I wasn’t expecting this. But I guess I’m not surprised that you surprised me.”

  “Are you going to say yes?”

  “Yes. Of course, I’m going to say yes. I love you.”

  He gets up and puts his arms around me. “I love you, too, Rachel Barnes, and it’s just as well you said yes, because I did a very bad thing.”

  “You did?”

  “I was going to tell you on Christmas Day, but I arranged our wedding already.”

  It’s the surprise to end all surprises. Typical Flynn. I want to ask all kinds of questions. I think about all the work involved in organizing my wedding to Patrick. And how I wanted to get every detail right, so that it would be perfect. But all the planning meant nothing when I was marrying the wrong person.

  “We’re going to get married on the beach in Mauritius. I booked everything but the dresses and flowers. I just reserved a dressmaker so you can have whatever you want, and Lisa too, and you can choose your flowers when you get there. I can do parties and hotels, travel and fireworks on the beach, but I know nothing about dresses and flowers.”

  And I hug him so tight, because he thought of everything. And I don’t have to worry about a thing.

  “Do you know how much I love you?” I say, his white fluffy beard tickling my cheek.

  “Not half as much as I love you,” he says. “Let me go and find Lisa and I’ll see if she can fashion up a cloak or something to cover the gap at the back of your costume. We had better get this show on the road before someone wants to use the bathroom and finds it otherwise occupied.”

  “Yes, Santa,” I say. “Bad Santa.”

  “That’s for later,” he says. “I’m going to be a very bad Santa indeed.”

  ****

  If you enjoyed Bad Santa, here are more steamy stories to enjoy with love from Mia …

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  Check out Mia’s Amazon author page for the complete list of titles

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  In the mood for something decadent, delicious, and provocative? Meet Mia Madison, purveyor of Forbidden Fantasies Romance. Come in, sit back, and relax. The candles are lit, and the dancing shadows on the wall promise sexy, seductive tales of spine-tingling love, leading to a pleasure-drenched happy-ever-after.

  You'll discover young women eager for experience, who have scorching encounters with older men who know exactly what they're doing between the sheets. In Mia Madison's world, anything can—and does—happen. So, leave your inhibitions at the door and come along for the ride.

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