Monsters Under Mistletoe

1. Willow

Chapter 1

Willow

W illow sat at her computer Friday, Monday, and Tuesday before it finally hit her that if she didn’t order something now she would have nothing. There would be nothing worse than presenting an empty box on Friday to Ogar. He might complain, he might tease her, or endlessly hang it over her head. She didn’t want either of those options, so while everyone was eating lunch together, she stayed huddled in her office and wandered around the Crystalnet.

What to get a massive, goofy minotaur with no respect for anything.

Ogar invaded her mind again as she flipped through simple gifts. Things she didn’t have to think about. Gift certificates to resorts or activities, all those are neutral options. Yet the thought of him seeing one of the lazy excuses for a gift that he gave people returned to him made her unhappy. It would only encourage him to keep doing it! The only reason for these silly gift exchanges was to show for their coworkers to feel seen. Willow made it a point to know a good gift idea for everyone she worked with. She didn’t have to be buddy-buddy with everyone. Just know them enough to have a thoughtful gift.

Not a gift card to the local spa down the street from his house like he got someone every fucking year . It was just offensive how much thought she was putting into it.

Then she happened upon one of her favorite clothing stores. They had a new exercise line and she stopped to stare at the main ad. It was a shorter dwarvish woman to the left, a taller human woman, and a minotaur to the right, all in swanky jumpsuits with their names on it.

“Perfect!” she hissed.

Ogar always talked about wanting a matching jumpsuit like official teams wore. Even better, she found one in royal purple and gold like the King’s Fall Knights, Ogar’s favorite Sportsball team. Done and Done.

“See, I hate your stupid, big guts and even I can find something nice for you!”

And it was only 40 silver, with fast shipping, his name stitched on the back, and gift wrap. I’m a fucking genius! The pure joy she got from possibly giving him the perfect gift and the person he got would get a bland gift card? She grinned to herself, sitting back in her chair, shoveling her home-made pasta salad into her mouth.

Willow scrolled through the boutique, just as a little treat for being so ingenious, while she waited for confirmation. She didn’t have time to go and pick it up, so she’d had it shipped to the school. Thankfully, the confirmation hit her email and said it’d show up at the school that morning wrapped. As she mindlessly wandered, just before she flipped back to actual work, she caught it. Holiday printed intimates. She snickered with wicked delight as she opened up to their lingerie. Not that she needed anything. Willow was painfully single.

Hard to find love or even a fuck buddy when one is Monday through Friday at an elementary school. She would never trade her job for the world… but she wouldn’t mind running into a children loving, buff, massive, sexy person who enjoyed tossing her onto furniture and ravishing her after a long day. Willow was scrolling through lacy thong after sheer bralette, bemoaning her love life when she stopped at the last piece.

It was a pretty black, lacy bodysuit with a removable crotch. It was scallop edged, cross strapped on the back, simple but elegant. What she was caught on was the mistletoe… just above the crotch. It was named ‘Kiss me under the Mistletoe’ and she choked on her pasta salad. “Noooooo! That’s fucking hilarious.”

There was no one to kiss her under the mistletoe, and she had no need of a lacy one piece… but wearing it under a dress once or twice couldn’t hurt? Right?

“This is a me-present!” She huffed, dropping her empty lunch container on her desk and clicking checkout.

A knock on the door made her body jerk. Willow scrambled to click the button to pay and change the browser as the massive minotaur that was the bane of her existence walked into the room. “Hey, what’s up?”

Willow squinted at him, a deep-seated scowl on her face. “What’s? Up?”

“Yeah, you didn’t grab lunch in the cafeteria with the rest of us?” He crossed his arms over his chest as he sauntered into her room like he owned the place.

“I was working ,” she motioned at her computer with a flippant hand and huff.

“And you’re not supposed to work through lunch,” he teased, his hip against the side of her desk.

She hated the curl of his lips, the way his brow was raised in challenge, and how his pretty chocolate fur fell around his horns and floppy ears. Willow looked up at him from her chair and for a moment, only a completely bonkers moment, she remembered how strong he was. Ogar’s massive, strong, children loving, and sexy!

The horror prickled her skin as she launched out of her chair. Even on her feet her face only came to the center of his chest. She jabbed a finger into his rock hard peck and tried to push him back. Ogar only flexed, making her wrench her digit back.

“Oh, and you’re the workers rights enforcer around here, huh? Some of us have to complete actual lesson plans.”

“I have lesson plans,” he huffed, stepping back from her desk.

“Oh yeah? What’s it look like? Hmm? Monday, let’s play dodgeball. Tuesday? Hmm, I think they should run around and throw water balloons at each other!” She put her hands to her hips, taking wild shots at him with her sharp words.

“Oh, and your lesson plans are so much better? Monday- read a book. Tuesday- read a book. Oh I wonder what we’ll do Wednesday? No need, we’ll read a book!”

Willow’s mouth dropped open, scrambling for the words to correct him. Red burned across her face and chest. Her fingers curled into fists, her nose scrunching. Before she could squeak out words, fury boiling her insides and causing her voice to die in her throat, a finger tipped her chin up. Her mouth shut with a click, her gaze glued to his face in ire.

He smirked. “Careful, you’re cooking all that knowledge up there.”

“How dare you!” she hissed, swatting away his hand. “Did you come here solely to harass me about not eating lunch with everyone?”

“Am I not allowed to notice when a coworker misses lunch?” he retorted, his golden nose ring flopping with how hard he huffed.

“ Pleaaaase , like you notice anything about me or our coworkers. It’s not worth your so precious meathead time, huh? Let me guess, you got your secret Krampus person another giftcard to Co-Lilies Spa?” She snatched up her lunch container and stomped around his massive ass to get to her bag on one of the desks. Her desk space was small, to say the least. When there were no kids, she left it on a desk for ease of access. She clicked the lid onto the container and stuffed it into her bag.

All the hairs on her arms stood on end, her shoulders shooting up to her ears, when she felt a presence directly behind her. His smug chuckle filled her ears as he spoke, “Guess you’ll just have to wait and find out Friday.”

Her eyes widened as her stomach curled up into a tight knot. Oh no… of course! Their meddling principal looked so smug as she pulled his name from the bowl. Willow watched him speechlessly, as he sauntered from the room, humming some jolly tune. Gobsmacked. Bewildered. Willow was frozen in place for a long moment. Ogar got me? Why did her stomach do summersaults at the idea?