Naughty Elf: Mistletoe (Santa’s Naughty Elf Mates)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

MIZ

That night after dinner, Ryan entwined our fingers together while we sat on the couch watching a movie Ellie picked, an animated tale that made us all a little teary-eyed at the end. We then rushed upstairs with her, Ryan to make sure she brushed her teeth before bed, and me to tell her another bedtime story.

I found Ryan draped across my bed with his hands laced behind his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting to take you to bed. My bed." He hopped up and pointed at the middle dresser drawer where I kept my pajamas. He winked, almost closing both eyes. Even though he was silly, I loved every one of his gestures.

"Thank goodness. I didn't think I could sleep with you all staring at me all night." I grinned to take the sting out of my words. The pictures were lovely, but I didn't understand why Ryan put them in the guest room where I was staying.

"They used to hang in my bedroom." He took my hands in his and brought my knuckles to his lips. "I took them down when John died. It's still hard to look at them, but this feels like closure." He caught me looking at them again and sighed. "This goes against our contract. I should have talked this through with you. I can put them away if you'd rather sleep here tonight."

"I want to sleep with you, wherever that is," I said.

He visibly relaxed and smiled. "I hoped so."

I'd been in Ryan's bedroom several times to run errands for him, such as dropping off his laundry, picking up a sweater, finding a clean pair of shoes, and more. This was the first time we would be there together.

A warm breeze stirred the curtains above the bed and dim light from the side lamps pooled on the floor. The room had always seemed dark and uninviting before. Now, I felt welcome. I slipped into my pajamas in Ryan's bathroom and rushed back upstairs to brush my teeth before returning to his bed. He sat with his back against the headboard, a book in his lap.

"You can move your stuff down here, if you'd like," he said.

I hated to be the one to say it, but someone had to. "This is moving fast."

"We're fated mates," he said like it solved everything. Maybe it did. No one else was my fated mate, so it stood to reason, that was why my previous relationships failed. Fated mates didn't solve everything, though. I was still the forgetful and easily distracted elf Santa had kicked out on Christmas Day.

"I'll sleep down here," I said, "but you need to talk this over with your therapist before I move my clothes."

"Our next session is Thursday," he agreed.

"No sex until at least Thursday, then."

He whined. "Really? I wanted you to fuck me."

Tiddlywinks, he was so tempting, but I held my ground. "Not until after your therapy session."

With a sigh, he dropped his book on the nightstand and threw back the covers, showing me his gorgeous cock in all its glory, standing proud above his trimmed triangle of pubic hair and his thick, round balls. He made his way to his dresser for a pair of boxer shorts, and I clasped my hands behind my back so I wouldn't reach for him.

I slid into bed on my side with my back to him. It was warm in the room, but I huddled in fetal position, clutching my shoulders to occupy my naughty hands. It was going to be a long couple of nights.

Over the next few days, I appreciated the pictures on the guest room walls as though they were the finest art at the museum. Ellie accompanied me, her eyes drawn to the face of the father she'd never see again. Her face was damp more often than not, but she smiled more and more, too.

"What's so funny?" I asked when she giggled at a top-row photo one night before bed.

"I thought I'd forgotten what he looked like," she said. "He had a dimple in his chin, like mine." She tapped her chin. Hers was so slight, I only noticed when she placed her index finger over it, but her papa's was visible in the photos where he wasn't sporting a beard.

"The photos help you remember?"

She nodded. "I still remember his laugh. For a long time, he didn't, before …" She trailed off, and my heart broke for the child whose only goal had been to make her papa laugh. "He would have liked you." She was so sincere.

I stifled a chuckle. I was certain her papa would not approve of anyone trying to steal his man, even if we were fated mates.

On Thursday afternoon, I plopped myself at the kitchen table while Ryan and Ellie went to their family therapy session. It was hard for me to concentrate on the bedtime story I'd been working on for Ellie, but I typed a few thousand words before they returned.

Ellie entered the kitchen with the most delicious-smelling takeout. Instead of the happy child who had left the house, her eyebrows hunched above her tear-stained face.

"What happened?"

"Daddy's mean." She dropped the containers of food on the table and rushed out.

Ryan stopped the swinging door with his hand just before it hit him in the face.

"Everything all right?"

"I merely suggested we might need to move. I noticed the guest bed is a little too small for two people to share comfortably."

I couldn't complain. I'd enjoyed sprawling on top of Ryan.

"What about the basement?" I asked.

"I wouldn't make my worst enemy sleep in that basement!" He laughed. "John's parents occasionally visit from California, and my parents still want to drive down when my mom feels better." He sighed. "The fae snowbirds are moving south. They've got a sign up and everything. I'd hate to let the opportunity pass."

"Let me talk to Ellie." I hopped from my seat and scooped up my phone and portable keyboard. It came in handy for typing out bedtime stories. Now that I also had a tablet, I had two different devices with the same application to save and continue my stories. When I was stuck, I switched devices and got unstuck.

I dropped my phone and keyboard in the guest room and made my way to Ellie's, knocking on her closed door.

"I'm still mad at you, Daddy!"

"It's Miz."

A moment later, the door opened, and Ellie wrapped herself around me. Her tears sank through my thin t-shirt.

"I don't wanna move," she said.

"Even if it's two houses away?"

"No!"

I picked her up, and she clung to me like a monkey, arms around my neck, legs wrapped around my leg as I balanced her on my hip.

"My memories are here," she said.

"They're not," I said, carrying her back to the guest room and all the photos that would come with her, no matter where she moved. "Your memories are here," I pointed at the wall. "And here." I tapped her temple.

"But what if I forget? I want to be able to come back here and remember."

"You never know," I said. "A new family might have a child around your age. It might be the best thing ever."

She squinted at me, scrunching her face into sharp angles.

"Even if they don't," I continued, "I bet they're nice people who will let you come inside, maybe even take some pictures to help you remember."

She nodded, and her face opened up so it no longer squeezed around her nose. "I could take pictures now."

"You could."

She wormed her way down and darted back to her room for her tablet.

"We shouldn't take pictures on empty stomachs," I reminded her as we hurried downstairs.

"Okay."

After dinner, while Ellie ran around the house snapping pictures of every corner, crevice, and unpatched nail hole, Ryan and I walked to Ellie's swing-set in the back yard. It was another beautiful night, still warm with no humidity. It already felt like summer. Summers at the North Pole were short and fleeting, so I was more than ready to experience a full-blown heat wave.

Sitting on an outdoor swing in early June in a t-shirt and jeans was a world away from the sweater and coat I would still be wearing back home. No, not back home. The North Pole was where I used to live. This was home, with Ryan angling his swing so his knee bumped mine as he rocked, and Ellie snapping picture after picture of the flower beds, cracked patio, and walls.

"How did your session go?" I asked when Ellie had walked around the side of the house.

"We cried about the pictures of John. Ellie wants two of them in her room." He leaned into me and grasped my thigh above where our knees touched. "When I mentioned I met my fated mate, the therapist had Ellie leave the room, and we talked about what that meant. You were right to slow things down, especially after your heat, but I'm ready to see where we go from here."

"Your therapist agreed?"

"Yes. She said she especially liked the contract we have for your work. Keeping the same boundaries for consent will help here, too."

I couldn't resist a playful smirk. "You mean sex."

He didn't even try to hide his grin. "Of course."

He didn't waste any time, either. After we tucked Ellie into bed, he swaggered to the door while I tried to focus on my bedtime story. It took all my willpower to continue pointing at the words while I read what I wrote.

Finally, I heard Ellie's soft snores. I eased off the bed, careful not to wake her. I'd waited long enough for my alpha.

When I reached the stairs, I hopped down them two at a time. Ryan hated the carpet, but it silenced my footfalls.

I found him on his back in the middle of his bed, one hand stroking his cock while the other stretched his hole open for me. He already had two fingers inside and was working in the third.

"Look at you," I said, taking in his flushed cheeks and the ruddy blush covering his chest and abdomen. "Want some help?"

"Need you inside me," he said. "Couldn't stop thinking about it."

All week, I'd been daydreaming about claiming my alpha with my slick slathered over my own cock. My shorts already felt damp. I was ready to stop thinking and start doing.

I tossed my clothes into the hamper and stalked over to the bed. Ryan never took his gaze from me. Usually, I shied away from alphas, choosing to top with betas only, but I recognized the pure hunger and primal need in his gaze. He wanted my cock as much as I wanted to give it to him. I'd never met an alpha like him before.

I made quick work of slicking up my cock. I rubbed the excess around Ryan's stretched hole, teasing his lubed fingers with the real thing.

"Slick me, omega mine."

I laughed as my fingers replaced his. He was warm, and his body so pliant as I stretched him with three fingers. I angled for his prostate, and he cried out.

"More. Now. Please."

I'd never done it this way before, face to face with a much larger alpha. When I hesitated, he curled his legs up toward his chest and tossed a pillow under his lower back. "Hurry up!"

I scooted forward on my knees, gathering more slick for my cock before pressing against his entrance. He grunted as I pushed into him. The head of my cock slipped past his rim into blissful perfection. Each inch inside him was a test of my willpower. Already, I was so close to the edge. There was nothing in the world as exquisite as Ryan's body welcoming me home, claiming my cock the way I wanted him to claim me as his omega.

His forehead glistened with sweat. He angled his chin up, exposing his neck to me in a show of submission I hadn't expected or known I craved. I leaned over him, angling for his prostate.

I wasn't going to last, and I wanted him to enjoy it, too. With my hand still coated with slick, I grabbed his cock and worked it in time with my thrusts. His precome added to the glide of my hand on his cock. Our bodies slapped together harder, faster. My orgasm hovered just out of reach until Ryan uttered a strangled sound and hot cum spurted over my hand.

He was so gorgeous when he came, back arched, bottom lip pinched between his teeth to stifle a groan. He continued to thrust his hips, riding out his orgasm.

The sensation of his channel pulsing around me with his release brought me with him over the edge. My cock pulsed and twitched in time with the sparks behind my eyelids as I came.

I collapsed on top of him. Without a knot to hold me in place, I slid out of him too soon. I missed the connection. I was too far away to kiss his mouth, so I latched onto his chest while my hands worked double-time on his knot.

I pulled off his nipple to ask, "Does it hurt when your knot isn't in my hole?"

"No. Keep doing what you're doing. It's wonderful."

I shifted my attention to his other nipple, giving it a hard suck before kissing my way down to his cock. There was no way I could fit his knot in my mouth, but I worked my tongue around his foreskin and teased his tip while I reapplied more slick. With my hands moving one way and my mouth moving the other, I learned what made Ryan squirm and moan beneath me.

When his balls edged up around his knot, I slipped my fingers inside him to tease his prostate.

"I'm gonna?—"

That was all the warning I had before his thighs squeezed around my ears and hot cum jetted into my mouth. I swallowed and swallowed, continuing to lick and suck until he was spent and his knot had deflated in my hands.

His legs flopped to either side of me and he patted my head, tangling his fingers in my hair. "Fuck, Miz, that was amazing."

"Yeah?" I crawled my way up his chest, and he pulled me the final inches to reach his mouth. He rolled on top of me, his kiss all-consuming as he nipped, licked, and swallowed his fill.

"You taste so good with me on your tongue." With a final chaste kiss, he rolled to his side. He continued to plant tiny kisses down my arm until the sensation raised goosebumps on my skin.

"I never thought fated mates would be like this," he whispered.

"What, compatible?" I laughed.

"Yeah." He glanced at me through his eyelashes. "I was vers before John, but he didn't like to switch. I'm glad you do."

I'd always hoped I would find either my fated mate or someone who liked everything I did. So far, Ryan was the perfect partner for me. I especially loved how well he'd taken care of me during my heat. No other alpha I knew would have been as generous. Ryan had pampered me through it, when I'd been taught it was something omegas had to endure.

"What are you thinking?" Ryan asked, smoothing my hair behind my ear.

"I was lucky to have you during my heat."

"I wasn't too rough?" He grimaced. "I wasn't able to hold back a few times. I thought I might have hurt you."

"I loved every minute of it." Who knew I wanted to be overpowered by my mate so hard he left bruises on my hips? Well, now I knew. My cock was already perking up just thinking about it.

"I have work tomorrow," he reminded me. "Save whatever you're thinking for tomorrow night."

I grinned. "First, I'm going to destroy you and Ellie at board game night!" I'd borrowed the idea from my fellow elves, who played games to celebrate the start of the weekend. Too often, I'd been unable to join because I was behind on my work.

"You're on," he mumbled, already half asleep.

I grinned up at the ceiling, wondering if Santa could see me now. If he could, that was a little invasive. I didn't want to think about how much he saw while we were sleeping or awake. Still, I hoped he could see how happy Ryan made me, and how much happier Ryan and Ellie seemed to be since I'd entered their lives.