Jingle Spells (24 page)

Belle flicked her wrist and pointed the wand to the bare corner of his living room. A surge of white, glittering light shot from it, and in an instant, there was a seven-foot Christmas tree in the corner. With another swipe, a silvery swirl wrapped around the pine branches, leaving lights and ornaments behind it until the tree was completely decorated.

“Are you more of a star or angel kind of guy?”

“What?” His heart was pounding too hard in his chest to grasp what she was asking him.

“A star, I think.” A quick jab of her wand conjured a shining silver star on the top of the tree. When she was done, she slipped her wand back into her purse and calmly sat down on the couch.

Nick swallowed hard and stepped backward from the tree and its conjurer until his back met with the brick of his fireplace. “What is going on?”

Belle sighed and patted the couch beside her. “I'm sorry for the theatrics, but I need you to listen and believe what I'm telling you. We don't have much time. Christmas is less than a week away.”

Christmas. Witches. Santa. Magick. The words swirled in his mind as he tried to make sense of it.

“Nick, please sit down. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm the same person you've seen every day of the last six months.”

“Not exactly,” he sputtered.

“Yes, exactly. We just didn't talk much about ourselves.”

“If we had, would you being a witch have come up?”

“No. We can't tell humans our secret. It's for our protection as much as yours.”

“But you're telling me now.”

“Only because I have no choice. You are the chosen. The next Pere Noel, Sinter Klaas or Babbo Natale. If you choose to accept this honor, you
will
be Father Christmas.”

“And if I don't accept your crazy offer?”

The light faded from Belle's green eyes. “If you decline, you need only take a sip from this flask. You will remember nothing about this offer or anything that you saw. It will be as though it never happened. It will also be as though
we
never happened. The next time you see me on the street, I will be just another stranger.”

There was a sudden, restrictive tightness in Nick's chest. He didn't think he wanted to be Santa Claus, but he didn't want to lose Belle, either. “Wait—can't we just go back to yesterday like this conversation didn't happen?”

A small smile curled Belle's lips. “No, I'm sorry. I assure you that I am as disappointed as you are by this development. There are only two choices. You come with me now to Evergreen Industries and become the next Santa Claus, or you drink from the flask, and you and I are done.”

Nick eyed the flask and slowly eased back down onto the couch. “What's in that thing?”

“Cocoa.”

He arched a dark brow at her. “Just cocoa?”

“It's a special batch.”

Nick sank back into the cushions. “If I turn down the job, what happens on Christmas Eve?” Part of him couldn't believe the words coming from his own mouth. Santa wasn't real. Flying reindeer didn't exist. His parents bought all his presents. He remembered the crushing disappointment when his father told him the truth. The magick of Christmas had died for him in that moment, leaving only a hollow, commercial shell behind. And yet there was enough of a spark in his mind to wonder what would happen if what Belle said was true.

“I'm not sure. We've never had this happen before. I'll go back and see if a new Santa can be chosen in time. If not…” A shimmer of tears formed in her emerald eyes. “…I failed. And for the first time in hundreds of years, there will be no Christmas.”

Nick wanted to reach out to her and comfort her. Belle had always been so even-keeled. She came off as a no-nonsense businesswoman with her sharp suits and slicked-back hair. This was the first time he'd noticed a crack in her emotional veneer. “What happened to the previous Santa Claus? Is he…uh…” He hesitated to ask a teary woman if Santa was dead.

“He's fine,” she said with an irritated tone lacing her words. “Kris disappeared in the night, leaving us high and dry with days left until Christmas. We've looked everywhere for him, but we haven't had any luck yet.”

Santa went AWOL? This job might not be as merry as it seemed. “Will you excuse me a moment?”

Belle turned to him with concern, but nodded. She probably thought he was about to sneak out the back door but was polite enough not to follow him, anyway. “Of course.”

Nick brushed past her and slipped into the guest bathroom. Hovering over the sink, he splashed cold water on his face. He braced his arms on the porcelain edge and looked at himself in the mirror.

Was it possible that Santa Claus was real? Disappointment and disillusionment had hardened him to the season. It was supposed to be about love and family, giving and sharing. Instead, it had become about Black Friday sales and the latest, impossible-to-find toy. People would spend the whole month gorging on cookies and candy and turkey, while tossing a token can of expired peas into the food drive bins at work.

That's why Nick had mentally checked out. If he just pretended Christmas never happened, he wouldn't have to face the reality of what it had become.

But maybe he was wrong. Maybe there still was some magick left in the season. If there was any chance that he could have back the holiday of his childhood, he would take it. But even with wands and elves, was it even a possibility? Was his own heart too hardened to embrace Christmas again?

His own dark eyes reflected to him, a faint shimmer of tears blurring his vision. Perhaps it wasn't too late for him or for others like him.

He snatched the towel from the nearby rod and dried his face before going back into the living room. Belle was still sitting patiently on the couch when he returned.

She stood up and turned to face him when she saw him walk back into the room. Belle had such a fragile beauty about her. There was something about the golden waves of her hair, large jewel-tone eyes and creamy, blush cheeks that reminded him of a china doll. He'd thought at first he might break her, especially considering he was a foot taller and at least eighty pounds heavier. But Belle had a spine of steel and enough ambition for two or three people. He loved the contradiction of her.

For the last six months, she had been the highlight of his day. Even before he laid a hand on her, he'd timed his breaks so he would see her at the coffee shop. She was always so businesslike and proper. He had wanted to see her wild and free. And he had, many times. She was never as beautiful as when she came undone in his arms. But Belle had never let him see all of her. She held so much back.

He never expected her secrets to be so earth-shattering. And yet, once the panic subsided, the truth had suited her so perfectly. This was the puzzle piece he was missing. The mysterious details of Belle's life that he'd craved all this time. And he'd only gotten a tiny taste of the true woman. He wasn't ready to drink the cocoa and let her go just yet.

“Do I have to decide right now?”

She shook her head. “We still have some time. I can take you to the Evergreen offices first. I'll introduce you to the clan and show you around. It will give you a better idea of what you're signing up for. It isn't all like the children's books, but it's still quite magnificent. Then you can decide.”

Nick could deal with that. If things got too weird, he could always drink the cocoa, walk out and go back to being his old, cynical self. “Let's go, then.” He grabbed his coat and keys off the kitchen counter. “Do you want me to drive? I don't even know if you have a car.”

Belle smiled brightly for the first time today, and it made his heart feel lighter to see her happy again. “We don't need a car.”

Nick frowned. “It's a long walk. What are we going to take? A broom?”

Belle chuckled. “Only the Autumn Clan rides brooms. We're going to
apparate.
It's faster and one of the only ways to get inside the building with our extensive security system.” She reached out and took his hand.

Nick wasn't sure he even knew what
apparate
meant.

“You don't get motion sickness, do you?” she asked.

“What?” Nick said, turning to her with concern.

And then they were gone.

Sixty-Three Hours until Takeoff

B
elle looked at her cell phone and frowned. She'd just received a text from Holly. Apparently, she and Ginger had a bit of an issue at the Mexican border and had missed their chance to intercept the Corvette. Since neither of the girls had ever set foot out of Colorado, they were unable to envision the location in their mind. And witches and wizards could only
apparate
to locations they had been before.

Awesome. The longer they waited, the farther Kris and Merry traveled without them.

Things weren't much better at Evergreen Industries.

Cole stuck his head into Belle's office, the stress of the last few days visibly lining his face. “Has he signed yet?”

“No, he hasn't signed yet,” she snapped. He'd asked her this question at least ten times since Nick came. “We've started the orientation process to get ahead of the game, but Nick hasn't signed the contract or tried on the suit.”

Cole rolled his eyes and bashed his forehead forcefully against the door frame. “Remind me why I was chosen to be the CEO?”

“Because you're the oldest Evergreen and the most responsible of the four of us.”

“And you're the baby,” he noted, “and everyone does what you want. So get out of this office, find Nick and do whatever it takes to convince him to take this job. Today.”

Belle watched Cole disappear down the hallway in a huff. Usually, Cole was a lot more easygoing. If any of the Evergreens were going to send wizards and witches fleeing from the sight of them, it was usually Belle. She was tiny, at five-foot and an angel's hair tall, but feisty enough that her size didn't matter. She could intimidate the smallest elves and tallest wizards alike.

She didn't like to think of herself as intimidating. That's not what she wanted to be. She kept the employees of Evergreen Industries happy, but productive. Christmas was no small undertaking. There were procedures to be followed, checklists to tick off and policies to uphold. If that made her come off as strict, she'd live with that for the sake of the children. She didn't have time to waste on silliness.

And she didn't have time to waste on Nick, either. When she said he didn't have to decide right away, she thought a tour and a couple of hours would do the trick. It had been two days and so far, nothing. It was a big decision, but it was now or never.

Belle grabbed her tablet and headed out in search of Nick. He'd spent the morning touring the underground toy and ornament production floors with Ethan. The security system showed his last badge swipe was the cafeteria. They'd gotten him a temporary card to move around the facility and get comfortable. It had proven to be a useful tool in keeping track of him, as well.

She summoned an elevator and headed to the cafeteria to find him. As she entered the large dining hall, she stopped short. It was lunchtime, and the room was quite full, but it took only a moment to locate Nick. The six-foot-two construction manager was seated in a green plastic chair more suited to an elf. His knees protruded over the top of the table, so he had to lean in between them to reach his tray of food. It looked miserably uncomfortable. Belle could hardly stand to sit in those chairs, and she was one of the tiniest witches in the building. Despite all of that, he was smiling and chatting animatedly with the crowded table of elves around him.

Belle couldn't help but smile. Despite her reservations, the snow globe knew better. Perhaps Nick would fit in here just fine. Now it was only her selfishness motivating her reluctance for him to become Santa.

Honestly, she didn't know why she cared. Whether he became Santa or not, Belle had lost her morning coffee breaks. If he left, he wouldn't remember her. And if he stayed, things between them would be…complicated to say the least. She certainly couldn't continue her affair with him as Santa. That was just wrong on so many levels. And she had no intention of being the next Mrs. Claus, either. She couldn't bake or knit, and the idea of doing either bored her to tears.

Her only real choice would be to sit back and watch as another woman took her place. Maybe a human, maybe a witch. Their Santas usually came married, so it wasn't an issue they had dealt with in her memory. It was miserably selfish, but Belle knew she would rather Nick leave and Christmas be ruined than to watch him with another woman for the next forty years. She didn't realize she had such a jealous streak, but it seemed to run deep where Nick was concerned.

Either way, in the end, Belle was left with nothing. Well, not
nothing
. She still had a job to do. They needed a Santa, and Nick needed to make a choice.

Nick turned in her direction and noticed her watching him. He waved, and all the elves at the table turned and waved, too. Despite the pain of losing Nick, Belle knew she had to smile and wave back. She didn't want her feelings on the situation to influence Nick's decision. This was his life on the line, not hers, even if it felt that way at the moment.

Nick said a few things to the elves, and then stood up from the table with his lunch tray. He weaved through the tiny tables to where she was standing. “Afternoon, Belle.”

“Hi, Nick.”

“I was thinking about you when the glockenspiel chimed ten this morning.”

Belle couldn't help the blush that instantly colored her cheeks. “Shh…” she whispered. “No one knows about all that.”

“We're in a crowded, loud room. Who's going to hear us?”

“Elves, Nick. Those big ears aren't just for show. If you're done eating, dump your tray, and we can go somewhere more private to talk.”

They went out into the hallway, and Belle gestured for him to follow her to the nearby Cranberry conference room. She shut and locked the door behind them. Nick immediately rounded the large meeting table and walked to the wall of windows that looked out over Gingerbread. “It's hard to look at this town and see things the same way I did three days ago. I drove by this building every day and never imagined there was a toy production facility run by elves fifty feet below my tires. And do you know how many times I've gone hiking or mountain biking on Mistletoe Mountain? And to think there's an entire wizard village up there, and I never knew it.”

Belle sat at the edge of the table and crossed her arms over her chest. “You weren't supposed to know. Not everyone is allowed to see.”

“That's a shame,” he said, turning from the window to face her. “Most people could use a little more wonder and magick in their lives. Adults, especially. They lose the childhood wonder too soon.”

“We do what we can,” Belle explained, “but most adults have lost their ability to believe.”

Nick nodded and took a few steps closer to her. “Despite all the wonderful things I've seen and learned, I've still missed you these last few days.”

Belle straightened up a bit, stiffening at his approach. She had wanted to keep this discussion professional. “I've been here the whole time.”

He leaned into her, pressing his palms into the hardwood table. Nick loomed over her with his large frame, forcing her to lean backward or find herself in a compromising position on the conference table. If she caught one of her employees like this, they'd find themselves in her office getting a reprimand.

“It's not the same,” he said, his dark eyes focused on her lips while he spoke. “I've been able to touch you, taste you, nearly every day for months. Then all of a sudden, everything changed.”

His voice was low, his words like a verbal caress. Belle was too close to Nick not to respond to him. The warm scent of his cologne teased at her senses and took her back to his house. To the smell of him on the pillowcases. It made her want to inhale deeply and keep that part of him with her when she lost the rest. An ache of need gnawed at her center, forcing her to clamp her thighs tightly together. A lot of things may have changed in the last few days, but her body hadn't gotten the memo.

Nick frowned at her silent rebuff of his advances. “What's the matter, Belle? Have I lost my appeal now that I'm not the unsuitable boy from the wrong family? Is the thrill gone if I'm a part of your world permanently?”

She had thought that once. The thrill of seeing Nick had to be because of the secret, forbidden nature of it. Belle swallowed hard, and his eyes focused on the movement of her throat. Her breath was rapid and quick, moving in time with the desperate beating of her heart.

She was wrong. Nick knew all her secrets, had nearly become an integral part of Evergreen operations, and she wanted him more than ever.

Nick leaned in closer, his lips a whisper away from her own. Any movement would bring them together, and Belle knew that if she kissed him, she wouldn't be able to stop.

“I'm sorry, Nick.”

“For wha—?”

Before he could finish his question, Belle vanished and reappeared on the other side of the room. Nick stared at the empty table in front of him for a moment, not quite sure what to think.

“For that,” she said.

Nick jerked to face her direction. She expected him to be angry, but his lips twisted with amusement. His dark eyes watched her with appreciation, although he didn't approach her again. “You know, our affair could be that much more interesting for all the new tricks you could bring to the bedroom.”

“Nick…” Belle began, not quite sure what to say to him.
I can't date you if you're Santa
seemed silly.

He didn't wait for the words. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “So if you didn't come to see me for a jolt of caffeine, what do you want, Belle?”

“I need you to make your choice.”

“You said I had time.”

“I said that two days ago, Nick. It's December 21. You have to choose. The suit or the cocoa.”

“That depends,” he said. “You said the cocoa would make me forget you.”

Belle was afraid he would focus on that. “And everything else you've seen and heard while you were here,” she reminded him.

“So if I go home, I won't remember anything I've seen, and you and I are done.”

She nodded.

“And if I stay?”

“You and I are still done,” she said, as much as the words pained her.

“Why? Is there some sort of conflict of interest? Are we forbidden to be together if I'm Santa Claus?”

“No.”

“Okay. I know it's not a human-witch thing. I've seen two of your brothers roaming around the building with human women. So what is the problem? Will my hair turn white and my belly get flabby the instant I put on the suit?”

“You'll age normally. Your appearance will be a direct result of your lifestyle like anyone else.”

He ran his fingers through his dark hair in irritation and considered her words before he spoke again. “So I was right before. You were just using me as an escape from your world. Now that I'm a part of it, you don't want me.”

“That's not true.”

His dark gaze pinned her in place, his voice low. “Then you
do
want me.”

A shiver of desire ran down her spine at the deep rumble of his words. She did want him. But that didn't matter. “It's complicated, Nick. Once you become Santa, things will change. I would be the village outcast if people found out that we were having an affair.”

“What if we were dating?”

Belle narrowed her gaze at him. “You're splitting hairs.”

“No, I'm not. Meeting up for sex once a day in secret isn't dating. Dating involves dinner. Talking to one another and getting to know each other.”

“To what end?”

Frustrated, Nick threw up his hands and turned his back to her. “What, Belle?” He spun back and took a few large steps toward her. “Do you think that if we really date and people know about us that we'll end up married? Is the idea of being Mrs. Claus so terrifying that you won't even consider it?”

“Being Mrs. Claus is different than just being Mrs. Nick St. John. It's not what I've pictured for my life.”

“And you think being Santa Claus is what I pictured for
my
life?
Come on, Belle. My whole world changed with a flick of your wand. Don't you think I'm having a hard time adjusting to this new reality, too?”

Belle dipped her head and gazed at the berry-hued carpet. He was right. She wasn't taking his feelings about this into consideration like she should. “You're right. I'm sorry. But I don't want your choice to be a reflection of whether or not we're going to be together. Being Santa is a huge commitment. You can't just change your mind and return to your normal life. What if we break up a year down the road? Then what? If you choose to be Santa, you need to want to be Santa in your heart, with or without me.”

Nick's brown eyes looked her from top to bottom as he processed her words. The heavy inspection brought heat to her cheeks and her belly. How would she survive life with Nick here, unable to touch him the way she craved?

“Okay. I've made my decision. I will accept the job offer on one condition.”

Belle's breath caught in her throat. This was the moment. Yes or no, Christmas depended on his answer. “Yes?” she managed in a hoarse whisper.

“You have to agree to go out to dinner with me tonight.”

 

Dash offered to drive Nick back to his place that afternoon to pick up some of his things. After Christmas, they would worry about selling his house, moving all of his belongings up to the lodge, and dealing with his company.

Nick called the members of his crew, gave them paid vacation through the New Year and had Ben close up the house they were working on. They were thrilled. It didn't cross their minds that he wouldn't be back. He was hoping to sell his company to one of the guys. That way everyone could keep working. “Are you going to miss construction?” Dash asked from the living room.